MARCHING AND THE LAW: PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS

MARCHING AND THE LAW: PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR RIGHTS

A pamphlet prepared by the Legal Committee Of the No One Is Illegal – March On Ottawa
Solidarity Across Borders

The following document has been prepared in order to give participants of the No One Is Illegal: March on Ottawa a general understanding of their rights and of the potential risks involved in participating in the march. If you have questions relating to your specific case we HIGHLY recommend that you speak with an experienced lawyer.
Note: This is a ROUGH GUIDE. We have only briefly canvassed infractions under the Criminal Code and some provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. We have not looked at possible municipal infractions or infractions under the Highway Safety Code.

It is important that everyone who marches is informed of his or her rights and risks. This pamphlet is only giving general information; if you have specific questions speak to a lawyer. People who are not lawyers may give you inaccurate information.

Legal Committee
Solidarity Across Borders

THE RIGHT TO MARCH

It is important to remember that your right to march is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that this right applies to you, no matter what your status is in Canada. Nevertheless, the right to march is limited. If some of the people in the march break some specific laws (including through violence, threats of violence or vandalism), the march can become “illegal”.
If the march becomes illegal, those who continue to march may be at risk of being arrested and charged under the Criminal Code.

RISKS UNDER THE CRIMINAL CODE OF CANADA

*NOTE* These risks apply to all people who are in Canada. The provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act will apply to you as well if you fall under that law.
Therefore if you are arrested under the Criminal Code of Canada the sections dealing with arrest and detention under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its regulations will also apply. It is very important to remember that if you are arrested under the Criminal
Code of Canada and that that charge is later dropped, you may still be detained under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its regulations if there are other grounds in your immigration file with CIC that justify your detention.

WHEN A MARCH BECOMES ILLEGAL AND OTHER RELATED INFRACTIONS IN THE CRIMINAL CODE

If the march becomes illegal you may be at risk of being arrested and charged with an infraction under the Criminal Code. The ground for arrest for taking part in an “Illegal Assembly” The right to march may be limited if any of these are present:

- Acts of violence (including verbal acts of violence or the reasonable possibility that the march will become violent)
- Vandalism
- Trespassing on private property.
- Issues of public security involved.

The police USUALLY give a warning to the marchers, allowing you to disperse or even correct the situation, before an arrest may occur. But you may still be charged as having been a member of an ‘unlawful assembly’ and this, even though the police did not give any warning or ask for the participants to disperse.
If the march becomes violent or disturbs the peace, or seems like it will soon become violent or disturb the peace, the march may become an “Unlawful Assembly”.
If you notice that the march might become or has become an illegal assembly, the law gives you the duty to leave the march; if you do not leave, whether or not you are yourself disturbing public safety, you may be arrested for taking part in an illegal assembly.

OTHER POSSIBLE CRIMINAL INFRACTIONS RELATING TO THE MARCH

a) Disturbing the peace (these can relate to noise complaints).If the police receive too many noise complaints and the noise is not reduced after they have informed us, there can be an arrest for disturbing the peace.

b) Mischief (these can relate to blocking a public road).Again if the police judge that the march has stopped in an area too long, they can make arrests under this ground.

c) Threats of violence, disobedience. Threats of violence can lead to arrests. This may also lead to arrests under the section relating to an “unlawful assembly”.

d) Offences relating to police officers (**refusing to follow a dispersement order made by the police).
If the police give instructions to disperse and people do not do so, there may be an arrest under this ground.

Protecting the Legality of the March

To protect the legality of the march the police have been given contacts of people from Solidarity Across Borders. These contacts are kept up to date on the plans of the march, and are in the best position to discuss police requests. These contact people will bring any important decisions to the larger group to discuss, as urgency permits. Often the police will attempt to engage marchers in “soft interrogation”, where they ask questions in a seemingly casual manner, in or out of uniform. These tactics are not welcome and are in bad faith. Marchers should feel no pressure to respond, and are invited to redirect any police questions to the Solidarity Across Borders contact people.
In order to keep track of what the police have communicated to the march, identifiable channels of communication are important.

YOUR RIGHTS AND THE POLICE

ID (IDENTIFICATION CHECK)

The police frequently ask people for their identification. Unless you are being arrested or suspected of committing a crime (or driving a vehicle), you are not obliged to give the police your identification. Therefore if you do not feel comfortable giving your ID to a police officer you may refuse. If the officer insists, just ask him/her if you are under arrest. If you are not, just leave or ask that you have a lawyer before giving your ID. If they have reasonable grounds to suspect that you have committed an infraction, they can arrest you; only then are you under a legal obligation to identify yourself.

IF ARRESTED

If you are arrested it is important to keep the following principles in
mind:
- You have the right to remain silent (except regarding the identification process: name, address and birthdate. And you may also voice your desire to
be represented by a lawyer).
- Anything that you say, to ANYONE, may be used against you.
- You have the right to be represented by a lawyer.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

i) No matter what the police tell you, KEEP SILENT!

ii) Though you may feel that you can explain what happened, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO BENEFIT IN SPEAKING TO THE POLICE…KEEPING SILENT IS ALMOST ALWAYS THE BEST WAY TO PROTECT YOURSELF.

iii) If you speak to anyone, including other people detained along with you, what you say can be used against you. Therefore do not speak about your case to anyone when you are detained. The police will often “plant” apparent detainees among real detainees to get people to give up information or make incriminating statements!

iv) You have the right to be represented by a lawyer. You have the right to INSIST on this before speaking to a police officer. THIS RIGHT IS WITHOUT EXCEPTION.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Stay in groups. Always be polite with the police. In any case, try and remember the name and badge number of the police officer that you are dealing with.
Also keep note of the people who are around you if there is an altercation with the police.
If you are not comfortable with how the march is proceeding you may leave the march at all times.

RISKS IN RELATION TO YOUR IMMIGRATION STATUS IN CANADA

Depending on your immigration status you may face more potential risks than other marchers may face.
The most important distinction is whether or not you fall under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its regulations.
Anyone who is not a Canadian citizen falls under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and its regulations. If you fall under this law, the risks that you may face can be different from those that people with Canadian citizenship may face.

SPECIFIC RISKS THAT ONE MAY FACE UNDER THE IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE PROTECTION ACT AND ITS REGULATIONS

(Note: this specific section does not apply to:
a) Permanent residents;
b) Persons who have been determined to be Convention refugees or persons in need of protection by the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB)

Under this law you may be arrested (even if there is no warrant out for your arrest) and detained following either an arrest or identification check by the police if you have problems with your immigration file or if the police officer believes that you may have committed a crime.

To give a few examples, you may be detained and arrested under this law by a police officer, who has either arrested you or is checking your name in their database, if:

a) You have an arrest warrant that was issued against you;
Or
b) You are in the computer databases of the police following a report given to them by Immigration Canada because you have not showed up for your last appointment with them;
Or
c) The police may decide to check with Immigration to ensure that you are in good standing with them. For example if after the police contact Immigration they realize that you have been in Canada after the expiration of your visitor's visa, Immigration may ask that you be arrested and brought to their offices, where you may be detained;
Or
d) The act for which they arrested you is serious enough for the police to consider that you may now be inadmissible to Canada and therefore detain you longer than those to whom the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act does not apply.

(*SEE SECTION ON GIVING YOUR ID TO THE POLICE)

The grounds for detention are:
- insufficient identity documents
- likelihood that you will not appear for further immigration procedures (including removal from Canada)
- being a danger to the public

WHAT AN ARREST COULD MEAN FOR YOUR IMMIGRATION FILE

An arrest in your file under the Criminal Code, whether you are a permanent resident or a person with temporary status, may complicate your immigration file. Possible complications include: longer delays before obtaining citizenship or permanent resident status and/or the prevention of renewal of temporary status if criminal charges are brought. An arrest may also, for some, depending on the charges brought against you and-or the charges already on your file, subject you to removal procedures. It is, for example, possible to remove a person from Canada if there are “serious reasons” to believe that they have committed an infraction, which is different from having been actually convicted of a crime in a Court.
As mentioned before, you may also be detained.The risk for people without legal status, and those with outstanding arrest warrants, is especially high.

A FINAL WORD…

This document has been written by the legal committee of the No One Is Illegal – March on Ottawa for informative purposes only. It is accurate to the best of our knowledge in June 2005. For legal advice, please contact a lawyer.