Latest news with #RenuMandhane
National Post
5 days ago
- General
- National Post
Jamie Sarkonak: Judge accuses officer of 'unconscious' anti-Black racism without direct evidence
Justice Renu Mandhane is one of Ontario's foremost judicial activists, so it should surprise no one that she'll stoop to using racism as a basis to let Black men off the hook for possessing illegal guns. Article content That's what happened at the end of March in the case of Robert Cameron, who had been pulled over and detained for having outstanding drug charges and a suspended license, and whose car, in the process, was discovered to be illegally housing an unlicensed firearm. Article content Article content The episode began when a Brampton police officer, Anand Gandhi, was notified by his cruiser's licence plate scanner flagged a nearby Jeep for a week-long impound due to the owner's active infractions. Given the pending charges, the officer called for backup just in case. He then approached Cameron's Jeep, identified him, handcuffed him, patted him down, and sat him in the back of the police car. Article content Article content 'Officer Gandhi specifically denied treating the accused differently or handcuffing him behind his back because of the way he looked, i.e. because he was a Black man,' wrote the judge. 'The officer maintained that it was his 'common practice' to handcuff and place suspended drivers in the back of his cruiser because it was a 'safe place' to speak with them.' Article content The judge noted that the officer had pulled over a woman earlier that day for driving on a medical suspension, but didn't cuff her or keep her in the police car. Her car, however, was not being impounded, and she wasn't said to have outstanding criminal charges. Article content After other officers arrived, the Jeep was searched for the alleged purpose of taking a pre-tow inventory. Some licence plates were found, which Cameron attributed to his girlfriend, as well as a gun, which was under a cargo mat covered by construction materials. Article content Mandhane didn't outright state that the gun was loaded, but she did note that ammunition was photographed by an officer after the weapon was made 'safe of any ammunition.' Article content The officer then placed Cameron under arrest for gun charges and attempted to help him reach his lawyer, who didn't pick up; 15 or so minutes later, he asked Cameron if 'everything in the vehicle' was his. (This, the Crown admitted, was an infringement of Cameron's Charter right to speak to counsel.) Article content The other alleged rights infringements were less clear-cut. Cameron's lawyer argued that he was unlawfully detained from the outset and that his car was subject to an unreasonable warrantless search, violating his respective Section 9 and 8 Charter rights. There is indeed precedent from the Supreme Court of Canada stating that it's wrong to detain a motorist in a police car without necessity (in that case, the driver didn't have outstanding drug charges) — but it's not enough to get evidence tossed if the officer operates in good faith. The Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal have also permitted warrantless inventory searches of cars in the past, but those precedents were not applied here.
Toronto Sun
7 days ago
- Politics
- Toronto Sun
LILLEY: Judge's crazy gun ruling brings court into disrepute
Outrageous ruling throws out serious gun charges and puts future prosecutions at risk over judge's imagined views of racism. Get the latest from Brian Lilley straight to your inbox Justice Renu Mandhane is pictured on March 10, 2020 when she was head of the Ontario Human Rights Commission in this Postmedia file photo. A Trudeau-appointed judge in Brampton has thrown out serious gun charges, claiming the accused was only stopped and searched due to racism. Justice Renu Mandhane, the former head of the Ontario Human Rights Commission, has put the future of many prosecutions in jeopardy with this flimsy judgment that must be appealed and overturned. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account Mandhane has sullied the reputation of the Peel Police Service, the officer in charge and let a man arrested with a loaded rifle in his car walk free without trial. In October 2023, Officer Anand Gandhi, a man originally from India who moved to Canada and became a police officer, was on patrol in Brampton. While driving past a red Jeep, Gandhi's automatic plate reader alerted him that the owner of that vehicle had a suspended driver's licence and the vehicle was 'impound eligible.' He was also alerted that the man was facing drug charges in Toronto. At this point, Officer Gandhi called for back-up and then proceeded to approach the vehicle where the driver confirmed his identity. At this point, Gandhi cuffed the man and put him in the back of the cruiser while an inventory of the vehicle was taken. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Adrian Wolley, president of the Peel Police Association, said that it's standard for officers to place suspects in the back of a cruiser and to conduct an inventory before a vehicle is impounded to ensure that no one can claim something was stolen. Recommended video 'To search the car is always done now,' Wolley said. 'We're not going to pop the engine and look through the glove box or anything like that, but we're going to go and lift mats or lift through bags and stuff like that because they could say, 'I had $5,000 cash, and the officer must have stolen it.'' Wooley said the search was legal and by the books, but Mandhane declared it an illegal search contrary to the Charter. She also found that the decision to put cuffs on the accused and put him in the back of the car was a Charter violation. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. To arrive at all of this, Mandhane relied on the notion that everything Gandhi did was because of racial bias and not good policing. 'On a balance of probabilities, I find that Officer Gandhi relied on information about the accused's outstanding charges (of which he was presumed innocent) combined with stereotypes about Black men being more prone to criminality and more dangerous than other people, to justify his decision to arrest and detain the accused,' Mandhane wrote. 'While Officer Gandhi's racial bias was likely unconscious and the product of our culture and his own worldview, that is not an excuse or even a mitigating factor in terms of the seriousness of the conduct,' she wrote. 'The fact that Officer Gandhi is himself is racialized — he is a Brown man — does not insulate him from the insidious power of anti-Black racism, stereotype, and racial bias.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. With this finding, Mandhane excluded the loaded gun, and anything the accused said, from being used at trial which means the man was let go. These are exactly the kinds of guns that the Liberals in Ottawa say they want to take off the streets; in fact, this model was banned five years ago, put on a prohibited list, but Liberal-appointed judges come up with rulings like this. Read More Meanwhile, legal, licensed gun owners who used to take guns like this to the range are prohibited from using them. They would face serious jail time for taking them to the range. If you possess an illegal Beretta CX4 and carry it around loaded in the back of your vehicle, you can be set free without even a trial, depending on your race — and if you can get before Mandhane. 'While firearms offences are serious, admitting the firearm into evidence in the context of this case would bring the administration of justice into disrepute,' she wrote. No Justice Mandhane, you and your decision bring the administration of justice into disrepute. Let's hope this outrageous decision is overturned. 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Toronto Star
02-06-2025
- Toronto Star
Judge tosses seized gun over racial profiling of Black driver, cites ‘systemic' problem inside Peel police
A Peel Regional Police officer engaged in the racial profiling of a Black motorist in an example of a 'systemic' problem within the service, a judge has ruled. The case, which resulted in the unravelling of a firearms prosecution, adds to a list of similar incidents that demonstrate a 'systemic and intractable problem' within the police service, Superior Court Justice Renu Mandhane said in a sharply worded ruling that excluded a rifle discovered in an unlawful search of a Jeep driven by a Black man.
