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(Pride Article)

 A Constitutional right is not a technicality. September, 2005

The article by Michael Coren in the Toronto Sun of August 20th, 2005, is typical of the views of thousands if not millions of Canadians and others around the world pertaining to so-called terrorist or criminal
suspects, and that is that they deserve to be accorded no constitutional rights at all. A talk TV show named "Legal Briefs" brought some of these comments on September 19th, 2005.

The comments were directed mainly at black criminal suspects who were recently apprehended in the on-going investigations of the murder spree that has infected and infested  our city this summer.
The picture is broader and we zero-in on the recent comments by right-wing journalist Michael Coren of the Toronto Sun.
Mr. Coren criticizes the assertion of individual rights rather than the acknowledgment of individual responsibility by those suspected of engaging in terrorist activities and by extension, criminal activities.  The assertion of individual and or constitutional rights according to Coren amounts to obstruction of justice at best or treason at worst. In other words, just because the state, nay, a few policemen suspect you to be a terrorist, even if in your heart you know that you are not a terrorist, you must not assert your constitutional rights and must submit totally to the imperatives of the demands of a few law enforcement agents. The rule of law must somehow be subordinated to the dictates of law enforcement and national security, no matter how malleable these concepts may be. However, Coren never seems to pose to demand that law enforcement agencies also acknowledge individual or collective responsibility  and accountability for their actions in case their operations turn out to be injurious to individual or collective rights. What does Coren have to say about the indisputable fact that the police in London, England killed in cold blood an innocent man by the name of Jean Charles de Menezes upon suspecting him of being engaged in terrorist activities but  without affording him an opportunity to assert his individual rights and claim the presumption of innocence? Isn't Coren aware of the atrocities and massive violations of human rights that have been committed through out history in the name of law enforcement and national security? Will those police officers who killed de Menezes acknowledge responsibility or will they participate in an inevitable cover-up masked by claims of having acted under the exigencies of an emergency? What has Mr. Coren got to say about the fact that despite the hysteria of 9/11, only one person throughout the world has been charged with participating in that horrible tragedy? Thousands upon thousands of people have been detained and tortured but without any shred of evidence that those individuals participated in that terror attack. They have not been charged.
Thousands were charged with mere immigration infractions and deported. Others were merely charged with belonging to terrorist organizations. Thousands of innocent women, men and children were killed in unjustified wars in foreign lands all in the name of preserving national security. Given the over-reaction that led to the killing of the innocent Jean Charles de Menezes, the detention, torture, and death of thousands of innocent people and unjustified wars, is it too much for an individual to assert his or her individual rights in conformity with the rule of law? Mighty is not always right, even under states of emergency. Be it in Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, Slave America Or "Civilized"  United Kingdom. Those who do not guard their rights are bound to lose them.

Munyonzwe Hamalengwa
Barrister and Solicitor
100 Westmore Drive
Unit 18A
Toronto, Ontario
M9V 5C3

(416)644-1106
email: mhamalengwa@sympatico.ca
web: www.munyonzwehamalengwa.ca

Member of:

Criminal Lawyers Association                                                   The Law Society Of Upper Canada

                                         Last Modified: February,21st 2006

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