Civil Liberties
Related: About this forum‘No judgment, no discretion’: Police records that ruin innocent lives
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/06/22/no_judgment_no_discretion_police_records_that_ruin_innocent_lives.html
Routine release of police data on people convicted of nothing is undermining careers, volunteer work and travel to the U.S. for hundreds of thousands of innocent Canadians.
Mukherjee calls that Toronto Police position very rigid.
Im not justifying it, but we have not been able to break that log jam. Im hoping the current debate will result in some re-thinking so we can move the conversation forward.
In the meantime, Andrew says livelihoods are being lost to police record sharing without cause.
Im learning how many good people this is affecting that dont deserve this, he says. I feel like I cant shower enough to get this off of me. Its obscene.
barbtries
(29,735 posts)it's heartbreaking - like the dolphins caught in the tuna nets. and how about US Customs? i'm still stumped why they didn't let him go - the record if it is saved should at least be clear that there was no conviction, so what grounds to deny him entry?
shockedcanadian
(751 posts)but in my own circumstances the U.S Border guards let us enter. They detained but didn't deny entry to my wife and I. Quite frankly judging by the way in which the U.S Border Agent discussed the detainment with us he wasn't too happy himself and as much as he was trying to not give us too many details about why we were held it was at the request of Canada. As he told us when I asked if there was a problem "not with us, but you might want to speak to your government".
I don't have a criminal record, nor allegations against me. I have lived a model adult life, haven't so much as jay walked, would stand up for someone being bullied without a second thought. For eight years I have been fighting for details and due to our justice system which excludes the vast majority of Canadians from Access to Justice there is not much one can do, and agencies such as CSIS know this and therefore choose to suppress rather than address.
The best a Canadian can do is share their story with foreign agencies and let these agencies determine behind closed doors how to handle Canada's security apparatus reputation. This should mean less intel being shared with Canada, less respect for the validity and reliability of Canadian agents claims about a citizens risk. I expressed on here my story a couple of years ago and it garnered a good deal of attention. It is only now that the extent of the abuse in Canada's security apparatus is being unwound for others to see.
When you have the police operating as if they are the courts, ruining citizens lives without due process, you have a serious fundamental issue with democracy, rights, justice and freedom. I believe that Canada now falls into the "other" category when defining our system.