Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - December 9, 1981, Winnipeg, Manitoba Writs threaten ancient right ramp seeks Power to enter Homes Ottawa of All the rights granted in Canadas proposed charter of rights and few go Back farther than the right to be secure against unreasonable search or citations in the volume ii report of the Mcdonald Royal commission on the ramp show that the Magna Carta itself put limits on the rights of the Crown to enter a mans House against his the poorest said a Long ago British May in his cottage bid Defiance to All the forces of the it May be frail its roof May shake the wind May blow through it storm May enter the rain May enter but the King of England cannot enter his Force dares not Cross the threshold of the ruined Tene of this prohibition has Al ways been far less Complete than his lordship but within months canadians seem Likely to see a new debate raging about in the King and his police should be Given new rights of entry into their that such legislation is in the cards was signalled last week by Justice minister Jean Chretien ironically enough at the very time the minister was preparing to carry our Fine new charter of rights off to Chretien statement in its own he came out flatly against the proposal being actively promoted by his Cabinet solicitor general Robert that the government lift its Foury Earold moratorium on the nefarious writs of Kaplan has been arguing that the police need the writs to swoop in on suspects believed to be engaged in drug but Chretien said other Means would be we Are concerned about the problems of the ramp in discharging their Respo Sibil he told Saskatoon conservative Ray Hnatyshyn in the commons ques Tion at the same time we Are concerned about the need of canadians to have their rights no suggestions the Mcdonald commission though briefly reporting the police refrained from making any a writ of assistance is an and a Brief description of what it and How it makes it Clear Why it can be one of the most effective tools put in the hands of a policeman vastly More efficient that the Standard search warrants granted by the courts to investigating police these As a judgment of former Federal court chief Justice Wilbur Jackett once explained Are search warrants unrelated to any particular suspected offence and issued to members of the ramp and other offi cers customs and excise personnel in the service of the government of Canada to have effect As Long As the Holder continues in the same the Jackett judgment goes on to observe that the court cannot refuse an application for such a writ As it has the Power to do in the Case of search warrants and that it confers author Joan Cohen Ottawa editor Ity on the person carrying it to exer Cise wide Powers of search throughout his career and without limit As to four statutes including the Cus Toms act and the narcotics control act provide for the use of these powerful search to be issued by the courts upon application by the appropriate Federal classic judgment jackets findings about the nature of these documents were brought Down in 1965 in a worried response to some routine applications for writs from the then Federal health the judg ment now has become a Canadian classic As an indictment of these 200 year old Searcha seizure tools though it took two More Federal court judgments Over the next both quoting jackets findings at to get his concerns noted at the political Back in the message finally got through perhaps because As Ray Hnatyshyn insisted on get Ting some answers in the Ron Basford moratorium later that year meant that no further writs were the number in use dropped from Over 900 when Hnatyshyn started asking questions to 80 All of these reportedly in the hands of special drug squad but As Well As suggests there is another Side to the in an appearance before the com Mons Justice committee the other Kaplan brought along a hens a writ Holder imported from the ramps Vancouver Branch to explain Why the police find the special search document so valuable in drug Henschell Brief testimony outlined methods used by drug distributors to avoid where they Henschel these operators avoid coming into actual Contact with the but those who do handle it Are prepared to move quickly to rid themselves of the incriminating Evi the in need the evidence to take to they move quickly to catch the trafficker while he still has the which As Henschel there often is not time for police to Stop off in court to obtain a search Justice department queried the other backed up Henschell saying that for Lack of the writs police Are often unable to act on tips often from Distant cities move in on drug Kaplan himself has referred repeatedly to the increasingly serious drug problem particularly on the West and even dubious opposition members seem anxious to hear former conservative solicitor general Allan Lawrence pressed him in vain to let the already overloaded Justice com Mittee conduct a special inquiry into the current drug trafficking drug problem ramp commissioner Sim who had sat quietly in the background during most of Kaplan Justice committee re plied if we could really sit Down and discuss with you the drug problem in the country and the drug problem in other parts of the world that is coming in our and then talk about an Overall enforcement approach and pol writs of assistance give police Searcha seizure Powers in any Home without a the writs would then fall into perspective As one Little part of a great Deal of what we part of that plea is Well Worth heed it after been Many years since any National body has taken a hard look at the drug situation in when it last the accent was on drug not on developments in drug distribution or Law enforce in fact it seems highly Likely that the kind of hearing Simmonds and Lawrence proposed will be on the Agenda for the next parliament along with proposals for government but whatever the governments re few outside the la enforce ment Field could want it to lie in such draconian Powers of search granted in the classic writs of assistance even with the careful discipline and internal accounting that Simmonds testifies is now required of the ramps 80 writ holding however Tough the no free society should willingly today give its police such a wide open right to enter its nor should it want even More limited right of entry to operate without some form of outside supervision just As Public perhaps some ideas on How this might be accomplished will be found in the much delayed report on search an seizure procedures from the Feder Al Law Reform now expected in the Justice department Hopes to have this report for guidance when it plans its next study sees Little Hope of curbing vandals by Eric Dowd special to the free press Toronto is like the destined to be always with us a study by the Ontario the most detailed made in offers Little optimism that the current High rate of Wanton damage to property can be easily the task Force admitted frankly there Are no simple no pro Grams that can be or Laws that will come close to Stop Ping vandalism More surveillance would it but would be impractical to keep watch on All properties Likely to be targets for Van dals the watch would Cost More than the offenders Are hard to catch dualism is the easiest of All crimes to get away a Vandal normally takes nothing away unlike a thief so unless he is caught in the act it is almost certain he will not get tougher Laws there is a widespread belief among the Public that courts treat vandals too but More severe punishment is unlikely to be much of a deterrent when the risk of getting caught is vandalism also is often committed without weighing the there is not even a hard Core of vandals to focus in a Toronto sampling 90 per cent of elementary and secondary students admitted they had committed some form of vandalism in the previous 12 the vast majority were like scratching school desks or writing on but about 25 per cent of students admitted damaging car or bicycle tires and the same proportion damaged Street gloomy conclusions there is also not much successful experience elsewhere to draw Many programs to counter vandalism have been introduced around the but the task Force concludes gloomily that there is Little to prove their effectiveness and a lot of Energy is being wasted on programs whose value is the task Force nevertheless offers some proposals to reduce one is that schools should teach Chil Dren specifically to respect property and avoid most vandalism is against Public property and students said commonly they did not see it As hurting anyone the task Force feels students can be taught that when the Community is a lot of individuals an other research finding was that Many Young people who committed Vandal ism vandalism reaches its Peak among 15yearolds and then tapers knew their conduct was but were not aware it was an and the task Force Felt they should at least be fully informed of the possible Legal consequences of their another proposal is that frequent targets should be made less Vulner Able school windows should be made of Hardert break for the task Force Points to More Vandal proof material being incorporated in Toronto subway construction and says some relatively simple changes can make buildings More be cause empty buildings Are More often it suggests schools be used More often for other Community Pur Young people particularly copy so damage should be re paired As quickly As possible the to Ronto transit commission takes a bus off the Road immediately a seat is slashed and does not put it Back in service until it is boredom blamed one of the most common reasons Given for vandalism is boredom and the task Force sees More recreational facilities As but says they should be As unstructured As even where there Are expensive organized recreational Young people often Are attracted to places like shopping malls and fast food where they can sit or stand watch others and interact As they see and planners for youth can learn from the task Force would not go for forcing parents of children found guilty of vandalism to pay compensation a Felt this would be equivalent to saying parents also were but it proposed the civil in which a victim can sue a Parent for providing he can show the Parent was negligent not always easy to prove be changed so the onus is on the Parent to prove he was not negligent when his child committed the it also feels juvenile vandals would have More respect for others property if More courts ordered them make the task Force is a Complex and varied problem and requires a comprehensive and varied and there Are mis Concep such As who commits and one is tempted to arriving Home re and finding the House broken into and every room i was consoled by a policeman that i was Lucky there was no unlike the House he was in a week earlier where ornaments and furnishings were food and paint hurled around and appliances left and thousands of dollars damage caused two when i wondered what kind of eight year old boys would do such a the policeman replied quickly not sir were Lightyear old budget tax changes help Hurt poor the recent Federal budgets claim to improve equity in the income tax system has been an exercise in according to the Canadian Council on social in its most recent the a cd says that most of the increased Revenue to be obtained by closing tax loopholes used by the wealthy will end up pack in their pockets due to reductions in Federal tax using figures obtained from the fed eral governments own budget the Csc claims that of the million in increased taxes to be paid by those earning and or 60 per will be returned to the same income group through tax taxpayers earning Between and will actually the government will take an additional but will lose for a positive redistribution to this group of when All taxpayers earning or More Are 98 per cent of the increased tax take from closed loopholes will be poured Back into their pockets due to lower tax while there is some equity in eliminating tax advantages that do not apply equally to All income we must question the Wisdom of this expenditure of tax the a cd newsletter for these upper in come the government is Frances Russell giving a whopping handout of the newsletter represents almost half the current Federal contribution to provincial and Munici pal welfare programs almost As much As the proposed funding cutback for health and pos secondary education or an amount sufficient to increase the child tax credit by about the child tax credit is the chief fiscal tool to redistribute National wealth to the poorest the newsletter paints a gloomy Pic Ture of the Outlook for Canadas despite the budgets bold Noth ing has been done to touch the Basic Mal distribution of income in Static for the last 30 the poorest 20 per cent of the population receives just four per cent of personal while the richest 20 per cent obtains 42 per Over 10 times As according to the three million canadians live in half of these Are on while the remainder Are classified As working provincial welfare rates Are not indexed and thus have not kept Pace with in it is estimated that the purchasing Power for single parents on welfare has dropped 16 per cent since single disabled recipients have experienced a loss of 20 per cent in their ability to buy the working Many of whom subsist on the minimum have been hit with a similar devastating loss in purchasing Between 1976 and the minimum wage As a percent age of average earnings fell by 14 per according to the lower in come canadians Are being extremely hard hit by the dramatic increases in food and housing since Energy costs have increased by nearly 50 per food costs by More than 13 per cent and rental costs by As much As 20 per Low and moderate income families those earning Between and 000 pay 17 per cent of their income on More than double what High income families by the end of this they will be spending 23 per cent of their income on food and an anticipated 40 per cent on homelessness and personal bankruptcy can be expected to Rise As inflation continues to erode the already meagre purchasing Power of single the the disabled and the working the newsletter provincial and municipal Wel fare systems will face rapid growth although provinces will undoubtedly try to make these systems More restrictive than they already the Public will wind up paying More to carry the the budgets response to this has been tax rates remain Static for taxable incomes below but Are reduced in stages going up the income reaching a maximum nine per cent Cut for those with taxable incomes of and the net effect of Ottawa planned drastic funding cuts in Transfer payments will be to if not virtually de doonesbury Canadas historic National social programs and throw More responsibility Back to the voluntary sector and an earlier age of the governments own budget papers Are a stunning indict ment of the regress Veness of Canadas tax while saying that one of the Basic criteria of a Good tax system is that individuals with the same income should pay the same amount of the government admits not Only that this is not True in but that Many poor and Low income canadians pay More actual tax than the very Canada had tax filers with incomes Over in of about paid no tax at All and another paid less than 10 per there were 740 individuals with incomes Over who paid not one Penny in Federal the individuals with incomes Over received an average Benefit of in reduced Federal in the Benefit to million tax filers with incomes Between and averaged Only even Ottawa is succumbing to pressure from special interest groups which could mean that if not of the loopholes the budget closed in Exchange for lower tax rates will now be and this while the poor in Canada clearly Are getting Kiwi Kips important one Why Hashaw Era been i Onwu Matamin mkt Justtna Talip min perhaps the Toms cd Eka 05 in because Sicko about it of us really wow Tholf maybe this is Wesho Ulp Ostuw 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