Tuesday, December 19, 2023

It's the Legal System

Certainly not a justice system:

A defamation lawsuit against the administrator of a Thunder Bay, Ontario, Facebook page can move ahead after an Ontario Superior Court judge denied a motion that referring to drag queens as “groomers” was protected under Canada’s freedom of expression laws.

(Sidebar: also, start home-schooling your kids.) 

**

More than a third of Canadians say they lack confidence in the youth criminal justice system, says in-house research by the Department of Justice. The findings were “cause for concern,” wrote researchers: “Thirty-nine percent reported not being confident.”

** 

Cabinet yesterday named former Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman and an ex-Ontario Liberal legislator to the bench. The latest judicial appointments follow a long list of rewards for Liberal Party friends and donors: “Should that or does that disqualify them from being appointed to the bench?”

** 

Everyone knows what censorship looks like, stupid:

Canada’s justice minister said he hopes to avoid accusations that the Liberal government is trying to regulate or curb speech with its planed bill to protect people from online harms.

“Where I don’t want this bill to go is down some sort of path where it looks like people are trying to tell you what to think, or how to criticize people,” federal Justice Minister Arif Virani told The Canadian Press in a wide-ranging interview last week.

“That’s absolutely not what we’re talking about.”

 

Repeal Bills C-11 and 18 then.

**

The Canadian Forces quietly decided against proceeding with a court martial for an army officer who called on police and military personnel to rise up against the federal government over COVID-19 pandemic regulations.

But the decision not to send Maj. Stephen Chledowski to a court martial highlights the double standard the lower ranks face in the military justice system, says a lawyer for Warrant Officer James Topp.

Topp, a reservist who appeared in two videos in February 2022 criticizing vaccine requirements for military personnel and other federal employees, was court-martialed in November.

“James Topp didn’t call for the overthrow of the government and wasn’t disrespectful to government officials, yet he faced a court martial, while (Chledowski) didn’t,” said lawyer Phillip Millar, who has served in the Canadian Forces and is a former Assistant Crown Attorney. “It’s a clear indication there is a double standard within the Canadian Forces.”

Chledowski was put under military police investigation after appearing in uniform in a February 2022 online video in which he accused federal and provincial politicians of being traitors and described the COVID-19 vaccine as “genocide.”

“I am calling on my military and police comrades to now stand up and protect your loved ones against this government-forced medical tyranny,” Chledowski said in the video, adding he was not vaccinated.

After a military police investigation, Chledowski, a battery commander at the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery School, was charged with two counts of Conduct to the Prejudice of Good Order.

But National Defence has confirmed to this newspaper that military prosecutors decided not to proceed with a court martial.

 


No comments: