Latest news with #CharterofRightsandFreedoms
Hamilton Spectator
an hour ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Killer's deportation hearing abruptly postponed
GTA grandfather and convicted killer Vincenzo (Jimmy) DeMaria was scheduled to take the witness stand to fight his deportation to Italy on Friday when his hearing was abruptly postponed over abuse of process accusations. DeMaria, 71, a former Mississauga financial services manager and baker, has been accused by Canadian authorities of laundering money for international organized criminals. DeMaria never got the chance to testify on Friday, after a dispute broke out over the use of secret recordings made by Italian police between himself and Italian visitor Vincenzo Muià in 2019, while DeMaria was in custody at Collins Bay Institution in Kingston. The secret recordings were made as Italian police investigated the slaying of a leader of the 'Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, in Italy. Italian police came to Canada in 2019 as they probed the murder of Muià's brother, Carmelo (Mino) Muià, in Italy. Things heated up at the online hearing on Friday when Andrej Rustja, a lawyer for the minister of public safety, said that the government will not longer be relying on those intercepted conversations in DeMaria's deportation appeal. For years, DeMaria's lawyers have called the surveillance an example of 'foreign interference' which breaches Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms and amounts to abuse of process. They should not be admissible in a Canadian legal proceeding, DeMaria's lawyers argued. On Friday, they argued that the surprise announcement that the government would no longer be relying on the intercepted conversations disrupted their defence plans and amounted to abuse of process. The hearing has been postponed to Oct. 20. DeMaria moved to Canada with his family from Siderno, Italy in 1955 but never applied for citizenship. The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) has been seeking his deportation for years, alleging he is tightly connected to the 'Ndrangheta, or Calabrian Mafia, which authorities say has global scope. DeMaria served eight years in prison in Canada after he was convicted of second-degree murder for a 1981 shooting, which police said was over a $2,000 drug debt, police say. DeMaria's parole conditions bar his association with organized crime figures. He was detained in Collins Bay penitentiary after he was ordered deported in April 2018. He was released in 2020 over health concerns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
What Canada can learn from Australia on adequately protecting citizens at live events
In April 2025, a man drove an SUV through a crowd of people attending a Filipino cultural festival in Vancouver, killing 11 people and injuring dozens more. In response, the British Columbia government immediately commissioned an inquiry to examine the systemic causes of the incident and whether any lessons could be learned from the tragedy. Read more: The commission came up with six recommendations based on gaps in the current municipal application and approval system for public events across the province. One key recommendation was that all public events should be required to complete a risk assessment. This isn't currently happening across the province. The absence of such analysis poses a risk for public safety. Another recommendation was the creation of local knowledge capacity to support event organizers, particularly for small and rural events, where the expertise to conduct a basic security risk assessment is lacking. Forseeable tragedy As I argued in August 2022, the live events industry lacks the same level of professionalism as other occupations. Many of these small event organizers are amateurs who lack the resources to properly deal with the security risks involved in holding their events. Read more: These factors, combined with emerging security risks, meant that the tragedy at the Lapu Lapu festival could be considered a foreseeable event given the risk realities associated with modern mass gatherings. The inquiry report highlighted how B.C. is lagging behind other international jurisdictions in terms of legislative pro-activeness in securing public events. This policy deficiency is actually a Canada-wide problem; the country is woefully behind other western nations when it comes to securing public events. My doctoral thesis examined this very issue when I compared the regulation and application process to host public events in Canada and Australia's largest cities. Australia vs. Canada Firstly, it's important to note that Canada is a less safe country in terms of security than Australia, all things considered equal. Canada's porous border with the United States means more illegal firearms are entering the country, resulting in more gun violence than in Australia, where there are more restrictive gun ownership laws. The Lapu Lapu attack was not investigated as an act of terrorism, but in a related concern, Canada's intelligence-gathering and national security laws place it at a counter-terrorism disadvantage compared to Australia. Relatively speaking, research suggests Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms hinders its security services from being able to detect and investigate terrorism-related offences given the greater importance placed on individual rights compared to Australia, where there is no such Charter equivalent. Australia also has pro-active foreign intelligence collection capabilities to aid in its counter-terrorism efforts, while Canada's CSIS agency only has domestic capabilities. That essentially requires it to import intelligence from its allies. Given these facts, it would seem plausible that Canada would be at greater risk for security threats at public events — including terrorist attacks, active shooters, etc. — than Australia. When I compared the data between both countries in my research, it suggested Australia has more public event regulation than Canada. It was quantitatively shown that Australian officials require risk assessments and other proactive measures from event organizers, including for risk mitigation, while Canadian officials are mostly concerned with reactive security response plans — in other words, determining how organizers would respond to attacks after they occurred. An analysis of event application documents in both countries reveal that Australian municipalities disproportionately emphasize 'risk management' in approving events compared to Canadian municipalities. Three ways the B.C. report falls short The B.C. report missed out on examining several important elements. Firstly, it did not take a holistic, deep dive into just how vulnerable public events are to myriad security threats — like active shooters, crowd crushing and terrorist attacks — but instead focused solely on the hostile vehicle threat. It also failed to consider the urgency of governments to adopt policy changes in the face of emerging threats on public spaces, like drone attacks. Secondly, the report made no mention of the need for law enforcement to develop stronger ties to share intelligence with event organizers as a proactive measure to protect mass gathering events from violence. The Hamas attacks at a music festival in Israel in October 2023 highlight the worst outcome of such failures. Read more: Lastly, there was no call for action or recommendation for the federal government to play a greater role in providing guidance to the industry and lower levels of government. National security is a federal issue as well as the regulation of airspace for drones. In countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States, the national government provides guidance on protecting public spaces. There is no such policy leadership in Canada. The B.C. findings show Canadian authorities have a lot of work to do to make public events safer for Canadians. With the FIFA World Cup coming to Canada next year, Canadian governments still have time to implement corrective actions to ensure soccer fans stay safe. This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organisation bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Sean Spence, Royal Military College of Canada Read more: Calls to designate the Bishnoi gang a terrorist group shine a spotlight on Canada's security laws B.C.'s mental health law is on trial — and so is our commitment to human rights Vancouver SUV attack exposes crowd management falldowns and casts a pall on Canada's election Sean Spence provides security consulting services within the hospitality industry.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Supreme Court of Canada dismisses constitutional challenge of sex-work law
OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected a constitutional challenge of the criminal law on sex work, upholding the convictions of two men who argued its provisions are overly broad. The case tested key elements of the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act, which took effect in late 2014. The Conservative government of Stephen Harper brought in the legislation in response to a landmark Supreme Court ruling known as the Bedford decision. The law was intended to protect sex workers from third parties who commercialize the sale of sexual services and allow them to shield themselves from the dangers posed by some clients. Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine were convicted in Alberta of offences under the new law as a result of their employment in 2018 as paid drivers for an escort business, a commercial sex operation. The men successfully contested the provisions in question on the constitutional grounds that they deprive sex workers of the right to security. The first provision criminalizes receiving money or some other material benefit from the sex work of others in exploitative circumstances. The second provision prohibits procuring someone to offer sexual services for sale. An Alberta judge found the provisions were too broad because they apply to people receiving a material benefit from sex work who may otherwise be supporting the safety of sex workers. The Crown appealed, arguing the judge mistakenly concluded that the provisions violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Alberta Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, entered convictions against Kloubakov and Moustaine and referred the matter for sentencing. In its unanimous ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court said the material benefit and procuring offences at the heart of the case permit sex workers to take the safety measures contemplated in the Bedford decision. The court said that while the material benefit offence prohibits someone from receiving a financial or other benefit while knowing it flows from the purchase of sexual services from others, the scope is narrowed by exceptions that allow sex workers to protect themselves by hiring staff. A third party who provides security to someone who sells sexual services could do so lawfully, the court said, as long as they do not encourage the person to sell sex and provided the benefit they receive is proportionate to the value of the services they provide. The top court noted the legislated exceptions do not apply in circumstances that Parliament regards as exploitative, including when a material benefit is obtained through a commercial enterprise. The court said judges will determine on a case-by-case basis whether any given enterprise is a commercial enterprise engaged in the commodification of sexual activity. However, certain conduct does not fall under scope of a commercial enterprise, the court said. That includes: — an individual who sells their own sexual services, whether independently or co-operatively with others; — a third party, such as a driver, receptionist, bodyguard, or manager, who provides security services to someone who sells their own sexual services under a co-operative arrangement; — sex workers who operate indoors from a not-for-profit safe house; — and an individual or entity that merely rents premises to an independent sex worker and does not participate in turning sexual activity into a commodity. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2025. Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press
Global News
a day ago
- Global News
Supreme Court of Canada dismisses Albertans constitutional challenge of sex-work law
The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected a constitutional challenge of the criminal law on sex work, upholding the convictions of two men who argued its provisions are overly broad. Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine were convicted of criminal offences in an Alberta court as a result of their employment in 2018 as paid drivers for an escort business. The men successfully contested the criminal provisions in question on the constitutional grounds that they deprive sex workers of the right to security. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy A judge found the provisions were too broad because they apply to people receiving a material benefit from sex work who may otherwise support the safety of sex workers. The Crown appealed, arguing the trial judge mistakenly concluded that the provisions violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Story continues below advertisement The Alberta Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, entered convictions against Kloubakov and Moustaine and referred the matter for sentencing.
Vancouver Sun
a day ago
- Vancouver Sun
Supreme Court of Canada dismisses constitutional challenge of sex-work law
The Supreme Court of Canada has rejected a constitutional challenge of the criminal law on sex work, upholding the convictions of two men who argued its provisions are overly broad. Mikhail Kloubakov and Hicham Moustaine were convicted of criminal offences in an Alberta court as a result of their employment in 2018 as paid drivers for an escort business. The men successfully contested the criminal provisions in question on the constitutional grounds that they deprive sex workers of the right to security. A judge found the provisions were too broad because they apply to people receiving a material benefit from sex work who may otherwise support the safety of sex workers. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. The Crown appealed, arguing the trial judge mistakenly concluded that the provisions violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Alberta Court of Appeal allowed the appeal, entered convictions against Kloubakov and Moustaine and referred the matter for sentencing. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here .
