Canadian Commission for Public Complaints criticizes Supreme Court on handling of Doucet case
Equality group applauds RCMP watchdog findings suggesting Supreme Court failure in Nicole Doucet case
TORONTO, ONTARIO — (July 30, 2013)
The Canadian Association for Equality (CAFE) applauds the outcome from the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) that fully exonerated the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in their handling of the Nicole Doucet case.
“The findings discredit Nicole Doucet’s wholly unfounded claims of abuse by her ex-husband and suggest the Supreme Court committed an historic blunder in allowing her to go free after attempting to have her husband murdered,” said Malcolm Johnston, CAFE Director of Public Policy. CAFE sympathizes with demands that the Supreme Court reexamine this case, as well as with a call by Dalhousie Schulich School of Law Professor Archibald Kaiser for a public inquiry. “The courts lost their vision of the nature of Canadian society and the function of the criminal law,” said Kaiser in describing the case.
CAFE’s primary concern however is on legislative change that ensures gender equality in law, by properly protecting victims and adequately punishing criminals, regardless of gender.
“Nicole Doucet got away with a heinous crime by fabricating sudden abuse allegations that went entirely unchallenged at every step,” said Johnston. “This precedent can not stand. Legal traditions which privilege testimony of women over men and lead to outcomes that pervert basic justice must be reformed immediately.”
For CAFE’s previous Letter to the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, please visit our website at
http://equalitycanada.com/2013/06/25/supreme-court-sexism-lets-woman-off-for-counseling-to-murder/
CONTACT
Amber Taylor
Canadian Association for Equality
info@equalitycanada.com
416-479-0718
