Hamilton police board needs policy to prevent officer Charter breaches: former assistant Crown
CBC
A retired assistant Crown attorney is calling on Hamilton's police board to implement a new policy that could prevent officers from breaching people's Charter rights.
During the Feb. 29 police board meeting, Andrew Bell criticized the police service and the board about officers who violated a woman's Charter rights after smashing their way into her downtown apartment home to look for drugs in 2021.
The case against the Hamilton woman and the evidence officers seized — which included $500,000 of cannabis products, $50,000 in cash and some magic mushrooms — were thrown out of court because of police actions.
Bell proposed a new policy that would see the police chief notify board members whenever an officer was found to have breached someone's Charter rights.
Doing so, Bell said, would allow the board to inspect the case with the chief, learn from the mistakes and fix the problem.
"No criminal case should ever be lost or compromised due to a Charter breach by the Hamilton Police Service," he said, describing the raid as a "monstrous failure."
"It took more than two-and-a-half years and a judge to root out the problems. The police should've caught it and they didn't."
WATCH | The moment Hamilton police raided a downtown apartment unit
Bell said not implementing a policy like the one he is suggesting would leave the board vulnerable to hefty lawsuits, increase mistrust from the public and discourage recruits from wanting to join the police service.
Bell, who practiced in Hamilton, made the delegation at the meeting out of concern.
Board members Dr. Anjali Menezes and Coun. Cameron Kroetsch asked clarifying questions about his proposal and if any other police board had implemented something similar.
"I want this board to take action," Bell said. "Be a pioneer."
The 2021 raid was a no-knock raid, which is when police don't knock on the door, announce their presence and wait for someone to answer.
It was the second time a judge has found Hamilton police violated someone's Charter rights using a no-knock raid in recent years, according to publicly accessible court rulings. A judge gave a similar ruling on a police raid in 2019.
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.