It is a welcome piece of news that that police may be sued for negligence for faulty investigative work leading to the prosecution of innocent citizens. The erstwhile law allowing only suits for 'malicious prosecution' required a virtually nsurmountable standard of proof beyond a reasonable doubt made doubly difficult by judicial bias in favor of police forces. Where is the proof of this bias? Just try and find successful cases where police have been held liable....
In those the rare cases in Toronto where police officers faced charges because their crimes happened to be videotaped by bystanders (although even that is not infallible - remember the Rodney King case? Racial bias is hardly absent in Canada..), we have seen police forces show up in force (pun intended) in court, ostensibly for educational purposes, but undoubtedly with the hidden agenda of exercising quite unsubtle intimidation of the judge(s) passing judgment or sentence on the police official(s) concerned.
However this new law also will not diminish vigilance on the part of citizens. Too often Supreme Court judgments can be rendered irrelevant by lower court judges 'finding' (if not inventing) 'distinctions' in the facts of the cases concerned. And since appeal court judges are reluctant to overturn so-called 'findings of fact' by lower courts, that is frequently that...
Strangely, the Supreme Court doesn't seem to care much when this happens....... well maybe this is not so strange after all, since according to Chief Justice of Canada Beverley MacLachlin - judges don't exist 'in a vacuum'.... No they exist in our real-world society of 'tangled webs', and bureaucratic, political and corporate corruption. The result includes judicial abuse, neglect and corruption as well - as shown by the actions of the US Supreme Court in 2000, awarding the Presidency to Bush Jr; despite clear evidence of voting 'irregularities' (that most slimy euphemism).
But then the 'justice system' (so to speak) has always been a place of awesome chaos and indecision, in which delay, obfuscation, prevarication, and obstruction have been the big players (along with big money of course) - something Mr. Dickens wrote about a century ago in 'Bleak House'.
Still, us poor folks have to keep on trying - to fight corruption. So here's another futile but quintessential plea to the Supreme Court.... make judges responsible as 'professionals' for their work, and make them liable for negligence. Give us po0r folks the right to sue these hoodlums in high places in the judiciary for damages....That would go a long way to reducing judicial abuse, miscarriage and obstruction, and deny judges their undeserved status as the last group of theoretical 'untouchables' in society, (excepting the American political leadership who no one can prosecute).
Harinder Jadwani
Brampton, Ontario
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