Canada: Supreme Court finds mandatory lifetime registration unconstitutional
Canada, like the US, has a sex offender registry. Unlike the US, theirs is not public and contains nowhere near (not even close) to the restrictions of SORNA or any State.
Even with that, Canada’s Supreme Court was still offended by mandatory lifetime registration and declared it to be unconstitutional. The case is R. v. Ndhlovu, 2022 SCC 38.
Canada enacted a registry in 2004, but in In 2011, it removed the discretion of the government and the court to exclude someone from the registry. It also imposed a mandatory registration for life, for those who committed more than one sex offense. The Defendant, plead guilty to two counts of sexual assault against two people and because of the 2011 legislative changes in 2011, he was automatically subject to a lifetime registration. He challenged and the Court determined that the 2011 amendment violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (their constitution), which guarantees everyone the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
You can read the decision here: https://decisions.scc-csc.ca/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/19538/index.do
Good for Canada! Hopefully their southern neighbor will see the benefits of this.
This is also in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the UN in 1948.
US never signed on to those. I assume the prison machine in this country would be a problem for them.
Wow Canada glad to see that they allow for forgiveness after they serve their sentence.
My best friend, actually more of a little brother, is a dual citizen of the US and Canada. Through circumstances with notifying the sheriff’s department SORT unit in his county he has an arrest warrant outstanding for him here in Florida. He traveled to see family in Canada and his county was notified by DHS ICE when he crossed the border. The sheriffs department filed charges and the warrant was issued. My little brother has bear at least 50% of the responsibility for issue because he didn’t follow the procedures 100%.
The procedure he had to follow for reporting in Canada was so simple and uncomplicated. The local constable came one day and told him about the warrant and also told him there was no concern because the Canadian government had no intention of doing anything about the warrant.
He has absolutely no restrictions on his life there but can never return here unless the warrant dropped.
This news will only make his life simpler.
Go Canada! Hope we can use this in some way, we do have something similar to the Charter in which they reference (below)-The Declaration of Independence. After all, the Canadian Bill of Rights passed in 1960, ours, 1776…Sad.
“These provisions infringe on the right to liberty protected under section 7 of the Charter, ‘because registration has a serious impact on the freedom of movement and of fundamental choices of people who are not at an increased risk of re-offending.’” -Supreme Court of Canada
In case we forgot: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men…”