Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
National

Feds Seek 3-Month Delay To Reassess Court Challenge Of RCMP Gun Data Destruction

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 04 Dec, 2015 12:25 PM
  • Feds Seek 3-Month Delay To Reassess Court Challenge Of RCMP Gun Data Destruction
OTTAWA — The constitutional challenge to a Conservative law that retroactively cleared the RCMP for destroying gun registry data has been put on hold while the new Liberal government reassesses its options.
 
The attorney general of Canada requested a three-month delay in the case, according to the office of federal information commissioner Suzanne Legault, in order to "consider its position in these proceedings."
 
Legault and the individual involved in the case, Bill Clennett, agreed to the postponement.
 
At issue is a highly controversial move by the former Conservative government last spring to retroactively rewrite a 2012 law after Legault recommended charges be laid against the Mounties for withholding and destroying gun registry data.
 
The Harper government reacted to Legault's special report to Parliament by creating a backdated loophole that removed any criminal liability for the RCMP actions. Moreover, it used its May omnibus budget bill to effectively turn back the clock to October 2011, altering the provisions of the 2012 Ending the Long-gun Registry Act and then having that old bill come into force months before it was even passed by Parliament.
 
The information commissioner called the Conservative move a "perilous precedent" that could be used by future governments to retroactively rewrite laws on everything from spending scandals to electoral fraud.
 
The Ontario Provincial Police, which had begun an investigation of the RCMP's actions following a referral from the public prosecutors office, dropped the case as a result of the Conservative legal rewrite.
 
Access-to-information experts said the unprecedented government move cleared the path for the destruction of documents and legislated cover-ups.
 
Last month, Canada's provincial information commissioners sought intervener status in the constitutional challenge at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice — a measure of the widespread unease wit

MORE National ARTICLES

New Brunswick Opposition Turns Over Atcon Computer Servers To The RCMP

New Brunswick Opposition Turns Over Atcon Computer Servers To The RCMP
Opposition spokesman Bob Fowlie says the servers were bought at a bankruptcy auction in 2013, but the party only became aware of the information on one of the servers recently.

New Brunswick Opposition Turns Over Atcon Computer Servers To The RCMP

Ontario Exempts Teachers Who Went On Illegal Strikes From Pension Rules

TORONTO — Ontario's education minister says an agreement allowing teachers who went on illegal strikes earlier this year to make pension contributions for that time won't apply to future illegal job actions.

Ontario Exempts Teachers Who Went On Illegal Strikes From Pension Rules

Hotline In Manitoba To Let People Know How To Help Syrian Refugees

Hotline In Manitoba To Let People Know How To Help Syrian Refugees
It will provide information to anyone looking to make a donation or who wants to volunteer with resettlement efforts.

Hotline In Manitoba To Let People Know How To Help Syrian Refugees

NATO Eager To Size Up Justin Trudeau Government As ISIL Threat Emerges In Libya

NATO Eager To Size Up Justin Trudeau Government As ISIL Threat Emerges In Libya
BRUSSELS — Stephane Dion hasn't even arrived yet in Brussels, but a lineup is already forming to meet Canada's new global affairs minister.

NATO Eager To Size Up Justin Trudeau Government As ISIL Threat Emerges In Libya

Ontario Prepared To Take Roughly 4,000 Refugees This Year: Minister

Ontario Prepared To Take Roughly 4,000 Refugees This Year: Minister
TORONTO — Ontario's health minister says the province is prepared to take roughly 4,000 of the 10,000 Syrian refugees set to arrive in Canada by the end of the year.

Ontario Prepared To Take Roughly 4,000 Refugees This Year: Minister

Opening Five Safe-Injection Sites Makes Financial Sense For Ontario: Study

Opening Five Safe-Injection Sites Makes Financial Sense For Ontario: Study
Ahmed Bayoumi, a medical researcher at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, says three such facilities in that city and two in Ottawa would make financial sense given the increasing effectiveness of hepatitis C treatment.

Opening Five Safe-Injection Sites Makes Financial Sense For Ontario: Study