via Occupy London Ontario My concern with the bill is that it could result in police forming the MISTAKEN belief that it is illegal to be masked in a protest, essentially circumventing the first requirement that the protest must be an illegal one in and of itself. Being Masked During an Unlawful Assembly or Riot aglaw.ca/being-masked-unlawful-assembly-rio/ Yesterday I was interviewed for a Global National story about Conservative MP Blake Richards’ private member’s bill seeking to make it a criminal offence to be masked while participating in a riot or unlawful assembly and includes some harsh penalties (up to five years in prison, three years more than the current maximum penalty for participating in a riot) for those convicted of the offence. The bill has the support of the government and it is expected to become law. The Global National segment can be found here. Participating in an unlawful assembly or riot is already a criminal offence. The provisions are concerning in themselves as the language used to describe the offences is ambiguous. As a result what one party feels is just a protect another, such as the police, may feel has crossed the line into being a criminal offence. An unlawful assembly is defined in s. 63(1) of the Criminal Code as being when three or more persons are assembled for a common purpose and conduct themselves in such a manner that they cause persons in the neighbourhood of the assembly to fear, on reasonable grounds, that they will disturb the peace tumultuously or through the assembly provoke others to disturb the peace tumultuously. A riot is defined in s. 64 of the Criminal Code as an unlawful assembly that has begun to disturb the peace tumultuously. This bill, which is likely designed to target masked protestors who wreak havoc and violence on the streets, such as the “black bloc”, does not make it illegal to be masked while participating in a protest that is otherwise legal. The act of being masked only becomes a criminal offence in cases where the protest turns into an unlawful assembly or riot – both criteria must be met for the act to be illegal. My concern with the bill is that it could result in police forming the mistaken belief that it is illegal to be masked in a protest, essentially circumventing the first requirement that the protest must be an illegal one in and of itself. UPDATE: My colleague James Morton provided an interesting perspective here. Morton pointed out that there already is an offence for wearing a disguise to commit an indictable offence, and participating in a riot is an indictable offence (in fairness unlawful assembly is hybrid) which carries an even greater maximum penalty than proposed in this bill. This blog post was written by Toronto Criminal Lawyer Adam Goodman.
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 03:30:45 +0000
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