ANGEL & INSECT

ANGEL: Smacking down law and order overkill Leroy Smickle makes for an unlikely hero for Canadian civil rights. Late one night in 2009, the 30-year-old Toronto man was photographing himself wear­ing boxers, a tank top and sunglasses and holding an illegal loaded pistol. Then the cops burst in. With the new mandatory minimum sentencing pushed by the Conservatives, Smickle was looking at three years in jail. But Ontario Superior Court Judge Anne Molloy called the sentence cruel and unusual, effectively saying that mandatory minimums are unconstitutional. With the Conservatives hoping to soon pass the draconian omnibus crime bill C-10, in which mandatory minimum sentences feature prominently, Molloy’s saner approach in the courts shows just how half-baked the Conservatives’ whole approach to crime really is. Smickle was given five months house arrest plus time served.

INSECT: Canada’s Lawful Access law In a preposterous and scare-mongering statement on Monday, federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said people can “either stand with us or the child pornogra­phers” on a new online surveillance bill introduced this week. The Lawful Access bill would give police expanded access to Canadians’ web surfing habits and personal information, as well as the ability to track your cell phone—all without a warrant. Internet freedom and privacy advocates are appalled, and say current laws are strong enough to deal with 21st-century threats, including the e-prowess of pornogra­phers, Mafioso and jihadists. But the simplistic worldview expressed by Toews and his fellow Conservatives just doesn’t appear to have room for this kind of rational thinking.

Short URL: http://www.montrealmirror.com/wp/?p=29559