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Originally Posted by CRS Wow, there is such a complicated answer to this question.....
Let's assume for one second that even with the charter of rights and freedoms, police can abuse their power, what is stopping them now...?
Likewise, if the charter of rights and freedoms was removed, citizens would no longer have any rights or freedoms so it wouldn't be really considered "abuse of power"...
Sort of a catch 22. |
Prior to the Charter citizens had rights under the Canadian Bill of Rights. All the Charter did was entrench the rights in the Canadian Constitution which was supposed to bring more consistency in how cases were decided.
However, from a realistic standpoint having the Charter does not mean any evidence obtained by the police by abusive means automatically gets thrown out of court and the accused goes free. The court has to factor in Section 8, 24 and 1 analysis. Because the circumstances/facts of each case are different the exact same police abuse in 2 different circumstances will lead to two different results. Eg. abuse of police power in busting someone with 5grams of cocaine vs abuse of police power in busing someone with 500kg of cocaine.
Hope that helps. What class is this assignment for anyways?