Image of person's hands holding pen and writing on a piece of paper

My Opinion

Why AG Doug Downey’s rejection of judicial candidates calls his motivations into question

November 17, 2023

The best tool against Poilievre is what any slippery witness deserves: aggressive cross-examination

November 3, 2023

Legalized cannabis still has a problem: broader search and seizure police powers

October 20, 2023

The Liberal’s Bill C-48, which toughens bail conditions, is not ‘smart on crime.’ It’s dumb policy

September 29, 2023

The unofficial police presence on social media tells us a lot

September 8, 2023

Political posturing about Paul Bernardo’s case is undermining the rule of law

July 7, 2023

Barring police uniforms in schools is a valid response to the concerns of marginalized students

June 9, 2023

Defence lawyers don’t advocate for their own interests, they advocate for justice

May 6, 2023

Pierre Poilievre is exploiting public safety fears to troll for law-and-order votes

April 22, 2023

We need to stop the FullStop

April 11, 2023

Municipal police boards should do their job of holding the cops to account

March 11, 2023

Rouleau’s Emergencies Act report has sharp words for the Ottawa Police Service

February 24, 2023

Ontario’s chief justice selection process should not be politicized by Ford and Downey

January 28, 2023

Why sending unsolicited dick pics should be a criminal offence

January 13, 2023

Dubious crime statistics: a disturbing trend of police and media misleading the public

December 3, 2022

Doug Ford finally paid the price for his efforts to ignore the Charter and break democracy

November 12, 2022

Doug Ford needs to show up and tell the truth at the Public Order Emergency Commission

October 28, 2022

Mandatory minimum penalties harm the justice system

October 20, 2022

What southerners can learn from the North about justice

October 16, 2022

A day in the life of a criminal defence lawyer

September 16, 2022

Journalists under attack

August 29, 2022

Alberta’s injustice system

August 5, 2022

How Doug Ford can improve justice

June 26, 2022

The Canadian Military Can’t Handle The Truth

June 13, 2022

Little Justice in the Jonny Depp and Amber Heard Trial

May 27, 2022

Is It Time To Dump the Jury System?

May 13, 2022

Access to justice demands that courts not go back to pre-COVID days

April 22, 2022

Restricting conditional sentences results in injustice

April 1, 2022

The dangerous politics of Tamara Lich’s bail hearing

March 11, 2022

No, Canada has not become a police state

February 25, 2022

Gun violence won’t be solved by tougher bail or harsher sentences

February 11, 2022

Trudeau’s new law to protect health care workers will make no real difference and it might make things worse

December 3, 2021

City Council should say no to increasing the Ottawa police budget

December 2, 2021

Canada’s great criminal defence brain drain

November 25, 2021

Doug Ford wants to pay your lawyer to plead you guilty

November 11, 2021

Ford use of the notwithstanding clause for election law was never about protecting democracy

October 26, 2021

The election confirmed that Quebec does indeed have a problem with racism

September 24, 2021

Sending a private investigator to follow a judge is not about ‘defending constitutional freedom’

July 16, 2021

Ford and Downey put their law and order promises into action in Justices of the Peace appointments

July 2, 2021

Trudeau government plays politics with pardon reform

June 18, 2021

Ottawa police and prosecutors were given a new power to unclog the court system. They’ve barely used it

June 17, 2021

Ontario prison inmate vaccination program a failure

June 4, 2021

Our criminal courts are controlled by unaccountable anonymous jail guards

May 14, 2021

Someone must police the police

May 14, 2021

The revival of the Law Reform Commission is money well spent in Freeland’s budget

April 30, 2021

Coded language from police officers is racism

April 18, 2021

No-knock police raids need to stop

April 1, 2021

Doug Ford is using the pandemic as a cover for partisan changes to the judicial appointments process

March 19, 2021

The life of a litigation bag

March 8, 2021

Federal government’s new legislation on diverting minor drug offences does not go far enough

March 5, 2021

Systemic racism is not irrelevant in sentencing Black offenders

February 21, 2021

Criminal Code needs reforming: Let’s breathe life back into the Law Reform Commission

February 5, 2021

There is no reason to delay vaccinating prisoners

January 29, 2021

When politicians turn a blind eye to abuse in jails a culture of impunity is legitimized

January 18, 2021

We need to stop ballooning police budgets across Canada

January 8, 2021

When an acquittal can mean no warm clothes to protect from winter’s chill

November 27, 2020

Solitary confinement is a form of torture

November 3, 2020

The U.S. justice system is broken

October 16, 2020

Chalking on sidewalks is not a crime

October 6, 2020

Why body cameras for police are a bad idea

September 18, 2020

Ontario’s plan to build new prisons is wrongheaded

September 8, 2020

Morneau should watch his back in light of RCMP investigation

August 25, 2020

Police require more training in Charter rights

August 7, 2020

Toronto police acted unlawfully in protest arrests

July 29, 2020

Police wrong to detain anti-racism protesters

July 28, 2020

Mandatory minimum sentences should be recognized as failed sentencing practice

July 13, 2020

Canada can – and should – facilitate release of the Two Michaels

June 26, 2020

Racism in Canada is real, despite the deniers

June 11, 2020

COVID-19’s profound impact on justice

June 2, 2020

Cuts to Legal Aid Ontario will be obvious post-pandemic

May 19, 2020

The government’s hypocrisy around COVID-19

May 1, 2020

How will courts function after COVID-19?

April 17, 2020

Spratt: COVID crackdown – Too many rules, too much punishment will jeopardize public support

April 17, 2020

COVID-19 and the state

April 7, 2020

COVID-19 and Ontario’s courts

March 24, 2020

Our jails are a petri dish for the rapid spread of coronavirus. Let’s release non-violent inmates

March 16, 2020

Opioid crisis lends weight to argument for decriminalization

March 10, 2020

Peter MacKay’s record on the justice file should be enough to lose him the leadership bid

February 21, 2020

Lametti’s sexual assault judicial training bill is all woke style, no substance

February 13, 2020

“Bell Let’s Talk” campaign and the reality of Ontario’s jails

January 24, 2020

Where is Ottawa when provincial cuts gut the criminal legal aid system?

January 14, 2020

‘Smarter and stronger’? New law is really a cruel gutting of access to justice for the impoverished

December 13, 2019

The Ontario Auditor General’s damning report

December 10, 2019

Everyone loses as the effects of legal-aid cut hit Ottawa

December 7, 2019

Ontario’s judiciary doesn’t need fixing

November 26, 2019

Another minimum sentence bites the dust

November 12, 2019

Behind the scenes of Doug Ford’s Legal Aid Guarantee

October 29, 2019

8 Ways to Fix the Justice System

October 29, 2019

Criminal justice policy should be publicly debated during election campaigns

October 16, 2019

How Trudeau Liberals failed on the justice file

September 23, 2019

Why Reactionary legislating makes for bad law

September 10, 2019

When Legal Aid is a political prop, Access to justice suffers

August 20, 2019

Baseball Bean Balls as a Crime

August 11, 2019

Newly Released Documents Show Doug Ford Lied About Legal Aid

August 11, 2019

More is needed than judicial education for sexual assault law

July 24, 2019

CCTV cameras don’t deter crime, so why does Ottawa want them?

July 24, 2019

Doug Downey: Who is Ontario’s Newest Attorney General

June 25, 2019

Doug Ford’s Legal Aid Guarantee

June 11, 2019

MMIWG Report: Stop your conspiracy theories – it was genocide

June 10, 2019

Take your stinking paws off the justice system you damn, dirty politicians

May 27, 2019

Ontario’s Legal Aid Cuts: David vs. Goliath

April 23, 2019

Wilson-Raybould was not wrong to record Wernick’s call

April 8, 2019

SNC-Lavalin affair raises the issue of the role of former judges

March 26, 2019

Gerald Butts’ quarrel with Jody Wilson-Raybould’s evidence falls short

March 11, 2019

Canada’s record suspension system is punitive and must be fixed

March 4, 2019

The real scandal in the SNC-Lavalin affair

February 25, 2019

SNC-Lavalin controversy could contain key to Wilson-Raybould’s shortcomings

February 11, 2019

Don’t expect new justice minister to deliver on progressive criminal justice reform

February 4, 2019

The presumption of innocence is for the court of law, not for protecting the reputations of the powerful

January 28, 2019

Liberals’ new impaired-driving rules will inevitably target minorities

December 21, 2018

Who is the best fictional lawyer of all-time?

December 10, 2018

Scheer’s guns and gangs strategy a simple plan for simple minds

November 26, 2018

Time for the civil bar to step up

November 24, 2018

With Bill C-75 Liberals Break Three Promises

November 6, 2018

Pot Pardons: My choice is what I choose to do And if I’m causing no harm It shouldn’t bother you

October 24, 2018

Kavanagh confirmation sows decades of judicial distrust

October 9, 2018

The Liberals are all vision, no reform

October 2, 2018

Among Premier’s influencers and the AG’s true role, Mulroney is absent

September 25, 2018

Feds need constitutional remedy on sexual assault intoxication defence

September 11, 2018

Getting to the real root of gun violence

August 28, 2018

After Danforth shooting, no solutions just political theatre

August 8, 2018

AG Mulroney’s big debut is a throwback fail

July 18, 2018

On gun violence, Jim Watson and John Tory shoot from the lip

July 7, 2018

Dear Doug Ford….

June 12, 2018

Diab: A Broken Extradition System

June 6, 2018

Corporate Get Out Of Jail Free Card Buried in Omnibus Bill

May 29, 2018

Time for the Law Society to turn its principles into action

April 26, 2018

Liberal criminal justice reforms a bold betrayal

April 9, 2018

Why the new justice reform bill, C-75, is anything but just

April 3, 2018

Pot bill’s sober second thought

March 27, 2018

Just say no to the police

March 13, 2018

More Tasers, more problems?

March 2, 2018

Kelly Egan and anonymous police officer wrote a hot mess of an OpEd

February 18, 2018

Tweet Less, Legislate More

February 17, 2018

Ottawa Police: Defying Logic and Misrepresenting Justice

February 13, 2018

The presumption of Innocence is for courtrooms, not politics

February 2, 2018

Trudeau’s Aga Khan vacation, get ready for Duffy part 2

January 31, 2018

Loblaws Skates on Price-fixing, Tried to Send Homeless Man to Jail

January 13, 2018

My predictions for federal justice reform in 2018

January 10, 2018

A Lack of Transparency at Jim Watson’s City Hall

January 3, 2018

Let’s talk about mental health

December 15, 2017

Bail reform: Naqvi tells Crown Attorneys to follow the law

November 20, 2017

Liberals break two and a half promises with new pot laws

October 16, 2017

Bill C-45: A half measure on marijuana

September 19, 2017

Harshing the buzz on Bill C-45

September 11, 2017

Justice by popular opinion

August 23, 2017

Why decriminalizing all drugs makes sense

August 15, 2017

Dislike of Khadr settlement does not entitle critics to disregard law or facts

July 25, 2017

Is it time to re-evaluate the jury system

June 27, 2017

The Ghomeshi rules: Bill C-51 creates unprecedented case of reverse disclosure

June 20, 2017

No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails

May 24, 2017

Judicial Poetry

May 9, 2017

The Liberal Marijuana Buzz Kill

April 19, 2017

Police Accountability: There is no right to silence

April 6, 2017

Liberals pick only low-hanging justice fruit with Bill C-39

March 21, 2017

Institutional bias favouring Crown attorneys preventing level playing field

March 19, 2017

Jim Watson and The Sound of Cowardice

March 19, 2017

Conservatives are up to their old disingenuous tricks

February 28, 2017

Plea Bargaining – A Deal with the Devil?

January 31, 2017

Naqvi: Solution to Court Delays – Call off your Crowns

December 12, 2016

The RCMP needs you scared — and the media seems happy to help

November 19, 2016

Are the Liberals missing the will to change the status quo?

November 8, 2016

Are the Ottawa Police Racist?

October 25, 2016

Criminal defence lawyers oil the machinery of justice, and we pay for that privilege

October 21, 2016

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the fairness when it comes to the justice system is priceless.

September 21, 2016

Liberals may change Minimum Sentence…. For the Worse.

August 22, 2016

Its time to record the police

August 15, 2016

Expect Delays: Right to a Speedy Trial

July 19, 2016

The Liberal Party’s War On Drugs

June 20, 2016

Ottawa Crown bury heads in sand on bail failures

June 2, 2016

The ‘Dickensian hellscape’ of our jails

May 30, 2016

Ottawa Police Training: Chief Bordeleau’s response

May 26, 2016

An Open Letter to Chief Bordeleau

May 23, 2016

Universal truths and criminal law reform

May 6, 2016

Private Member’s Bills: Torture Abhors a Vacuum

April 8, 2016

The Plight of the Accused: David vs. Goliath

March 7, 2016

Sex, Drugs, and Open Ice Holes

March 2, 2016

Think Making a Murderer can’t happen in Canada? Think again

February 22, 2016

Making a Murderer podcasting and Sunny Ways

January 22, 2016

Stow that spliff, Canada — you won’t be lighting up legally for a while yet

October 28, 2015

REDRUM – A Liberal Majority

October 21, 2015

Update: ‘Bona fide star candidate’: Emilie Taman

September 28, 2015

Human and financial costs of drug war just too high

September 27, 2015

Stephen Harper, just like Han Solo

August 8, 2015

The man who went into Rideau Hall the PM and left with his pants on fire

August 4, 2015

I went to the Ottawa Police Service Board meeting and you will never guess what happened….

July 28, 2015

My new Column, Ottawa police, carding, and failed logic

July 25, 2015

Emilie Taman for Ottawa-Vanier NDP

July 9, 2015

Crowdfunding Update

May 31, 2015

The Cost of Unconstitutionality

May 29, 2015

Crowdfunding the Constitution

May 20, 2015

Ottawa Police Backtrack on Gang Label

May 5, 2015

Bill S-7: Barbarically Unnecessary

April 30, 2015

Creative Reading: MacKay’s Response to the Supreme Court

April 23, 2015

Don’t expect fireworks at the Mike Duffy trial

April 16, 2015

Week in Review: All about the Duff (and my firms new web site)

April 13, 2015

The Logical Trap I Saw and Peter MacKay Didn’t

April 1, 2015

Bill C-56: Limiting Parole Limits Safety

March 30, 2015

Hypocrites in a hurry — Harper’s mad dash to pass C-51

March 20, 2015

National Post Debut

March 19, 2015

Sentencing and Fetal alcohol disorder: How the Conservatives killed the Bill and the Liberal Response

March 13, 2015

Assisted Suicide and Terrorism: Political Red Light Green Light

February 26, 2015

Justice Is Blind – Except for the Police

February 11, 2015

February 9, 2015

The Docket – Episode 9: Justin Ling and Terrorism

January 31, 2015

Life behind bars: the politics of despair

January 30, 2015

I come to praise Peter MacKay not to bury him

January 26, 2015

A Canadian Perspective – Serial: Episode 3

January 21, 2015

Peter MacKay’s Constitutional Blindness

January 20, 2015

For Pete’s Sake: MacKay’s Response to Maher

January 9, 2015

A Canadian Perspective – Serial: Episode 2

January 8, 2015

Fearon: The Supreme Court puts a telescreen in our pocket

December 31, 2014

Five Thoughts on Serial – Episode 1

December 30, 2014

Zero Tolerance for Barbaric Cultural Practices Bill

December 16, 2014

Harming Victims: The Government’s Biblical Ideology

December 13, 2014

The Docket – Episode 8: Victims’ Rights with Steve Sullivan

December 4, 2014

Goguen’s biblical law

November 26, 2014

The Strange Case of Franck Gervais: Impersonating a Soldier

November 24, 2014

Prison Nation: The Conservatives’ Obsession With Punishment

November 22, 2014

Major Criminal Law Changes Buried in Immigration Bill

November 17, 2014

The Forgotten Victims of Crime

November 13, 2014

The Docket Podcast – Episode 7: How a Bill Becomes a Law

October 31, 2014

Victims Bill of Rights : The Hidden Poison Pill

October 30, 2014

Here Come the Thought Police

October 25, 2014

Harper: Blurring Reality on Internet Spying

September 25, 2014

Harper’s Monstrous Criminal Justice Agenda

September 19, 2014

Firing blind: The Harper government’s bungled crime agenda

September 5, 2014

Canadian Police Militarization

August 27, 2014

Fact vs. Fiction: Rona Ambrose’s laughable claims about Conservative ‘evidence based policy’

August 22, 2014

Does a Police Army Make Us Safer?

August 15, 2014

Up in Smoke: A Lack of Rationality on Marijuana

August 14, 2014

Would the Conservatives’ Prostitution Bill Make Ezra Levant a Criminal?

August 13, 2014

Vacation / Surgery Post

August 12, 2014

Ottawa Judge Strikes Down Conservative’s Mandatory Victim Fine

August 1, 2014

The Conservatives Secret Prostitution Poll

July 30, 2014

A New Low: MP Goguen’s Rape Joke

July 8, 2014

With Great Power…. – Ottawa Police Found to have acted in Bad Faith

June 27, 2014

Transparency on the Charter’s Notwithstanding Clause

June 18, 2014

Parm Gill: An Excellent Member’s Statement

June 16, 2014

Dechert’s Rush: Cyber-Bulling, The Supreme Court, Internet Data Disclosure

June 14, 2014

Conservatives Play Ostrich with Evidence

June 10, 2014

Bill C-36: Prostitution and Ignoring the Supreme Court

June 5, 2014

Bill C-26: Sex Offenders and Registries

June 5, 2014

Victims Bill of Rights: Second Reading

June 4, 2014

The Docket – Episode 3: Senator George Baker

May 30, 2014

Bill C-13: Cyberbullying and Lawful Access

May 30, 2014

Police Record Checks: Another Attack on The Presumption of Innocence

May 22, 2014

Ottawa Crown Backs Down on Judicial Attack

May 16, 2014

Open season on judges?

May 14, 2014

The Docket – Episode 2: Adam Dodek and Carissima Mathen on the Government vs. the Supreme Court

May 9, 2014

The Docket – My New Podcast

May 2, 2014

RCMP: Making Plans for Nigel

May 1, 2014

Truth in Sentencing: Another Conservative loss at the Supreme Court

April 11, 2014

Conservative Silence: Reasonable Bail

April 10, 2014

Bill C32 – Victims Bill of Rights

April 3, 2014

Limiting Debate: Internet Privacy, The Conservatives, and Time Allocation

March 31, 2014

Peter MacKay and the Notwithstanding Clause

March 28, 2014

Conservatives’ Unconstitutional Parole Reform

March 27, 2014

Gilding the Lilley: Marc Nadon, The Supreme Court and Sun News

March 25, 2014

The Supreme Court, Marc Nadon and Conservative Folly

March 24, 2014

Jazz Cigarettes

March 16, 2014

Bill C-26 – Protecting Children and Disregarding Evidence

February 27, 2014

Another Minimum Sentence Bites the Dust

February 19, 2014

False Claims of Judicial Activism

February 18, 2014

Interview: Internet Privacy, Bill C-13 and the Surveillance State

February 13, 2014

If you have nothing to hide…..

February 12, 2014

Canadian Surveillance State

February 5, 2014

Truth In Sentencing Lacking in Bill C-25

January 24, 2014

Criminal Justice Fairness: Government Funded Counsel, Rowbotham Applications and Legal Aid

January 15, 2014

Media and Crime Statistics: A lack of critical analysis

January 4, 2014

Mandatory victim fines: It’s not about justice

December 23, 2013

Peter MacKay: Let Them Eat Cake

December 17, 2013

Presumption of Innocence: Fraying the Golden Thread

December 11, 2013

RCMP and the Senate: Crazy like a Fox

December 5, 2013

Bill C-556: The NDP and Random Breath Tests

December 3, 2013

Bill C-13: Voluntary Disclosure – Rob Nicholson’s Misstatements

November 29, 2013

Bill C-13: Cyber Bullying – A wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

November 26, 2013

Gilding the Lilley: Mandatory Minimum Sentences

November 25, 2013

Err Mer Gerd(stein)

November 22, 2013

New RCMP Information, Duffy, the PMO and Conservative Lawyer Arthur Hamilton

November 21, 2013

Part II – Bill C-489: The first wave of Victims’ Rights Legislation

November 19, 2013

Conservatives and the Courts

November 18, 2013

New Robocall Information: Hamilton’s Involvement

November 14, 2013

Unconstitutional Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Poor Policy, and MacKay’s Blindness

November 13, 2013

Justin Trudeau and Mandatory Minimum Sentences

November 11, 2013

Continued Ottawa Police Charter Ignorance and the Lack of Action

November 8, 2013

Bill C-489: The first wave of Victims’ Rights Legislation

November 7, 2013

Canadian Debtors’ Prisons, Victim Fine Surcharges, and Half Truths

November 5, 2013

Mayor Rob Ford: Search Warrants 101

November 2, 2013

The PMO, Arthur Hamilton, the Senate, and the Razor’s Edge

October 31, 2013

The Senate and Double Jeopardy

October 29, 2013

Evidence, Heroin, and Ideology Addicts

October 24, 2013

Ottawa Police, The Charter, and Chief Bordeleau’s Large Hands

October 17, 2013

Thoughts on the Speech From The Throne

October 17, 2013

Politics, Law, and Baseball

October 16, 2013

Poor Training or Rogue Police

October 11, 2013

Louise Arbour and the Defence Counsel Conference

October 7, 2013

Presumption of Innocence and DNA

October 4, 2013

Evidence Based Policy: Conservative Party Announces New Sex Offender Legislation

September 18, 2013

Ottaw Police, Mr. Skof, and the Ombudsman

September 16, 2013

The Right Not To Be Identified

September 14, 2013

Video Evidence – The Need for Police Video Recorders

September 13, 2013

Lawyers and Robocall Investigation – Part 2

September 12, 2013

Lawyers, Robocalls, and Interviews

September 11, 2013

Reasonable Bail – Reactions

September 8, 2013

Ottawa Police Use of Force

September 8, 2013

September 6, 2013

Reasonable Bail

September 6, 2013