Amelia Bredo In the recent federal election, the Liberal Party of Canada campaigned with the promise to “legalize, regulate, and restrict access to marijuana”. The current framework of criminalisation, the Liberals argued, traps too many non-violent offenders in the criminal justice system, which itself is expensive and supports organised crime, including the trafficking of hard…
Tag: Criminal Code
Criminal and Police Records: Are We Criminalizing Character instead of Crime?
Shelby Challis A judge once told me about his own personal run-ins with law enforcement agencies when he was in his 20’s. It was the late 1960’s and he was attending a number of anti-war demonstrations (though he later confessed it was more about finding the perfect opportunity to pick-up women than about following his…
Potty Privileges: The Fight for Transgender Rights in Canada
Tracy Wang Transgender Canadians have been waiting for almost two years since Bill C-279 was tabled to be granted legal recognition and protection of their rights. The legislation, formally titled ‘An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code,’ would include gender identity as a basis for hate crimes protection under the…
‘D’ Grade: A Look at Animal Welfare Policy in Canada
Celine Maiolino This past year was an exciting time in the world of animal welfare. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) agreed to replace their muskrat fur hats with a more animal-friendly alternative (although the decision was later overturned by the federal government), the Pope confirmed that all dogs do in fact go to heaven, an…
Fighting “Barbaric Cultural Practices” as Public Policy
Saad Omar Khan Sometime in his tenure as Britain’s Commander-in-Chief in India during a period of British rule in the nineteenth century, General Sir Charles Napier was approached by several Hindu priests regarding his aggressive crackdown on the practice of sati—the ritual burning of widows upon the death of their husbands. The priests’ objection to the colonial…
PPGR 