“Justice”

A crime is a crime. That should not be controversial. Yet in Canada today, whether a law is enforced often depends less on the Criminal Code and more on political fashion, prosecutorial discretion, or judicial interpretation. That is not justice. That is chaos.

This is not about ideology. It is about the basic purpose of law. If Parliament passes laws that are routinely ignored, softened, or selectively enforced, then the law itself becomes meaningless. And when laws lose meaning, public order erodes. Canadians are seeing the consequences of that erosion every day.

In his bill designed to “keep kids safe from predators,” Justice Minister Sean Fraser has proposed that Canada get rid of the six-month minimum for rape of a child under 16 — and every other minimum on the books other than for murder and treason.

It’s one of several problematic provisions buried in the middle of Bill C-16, which Fraser jubilantly tabled Tuesday. And to be fair to him, the bill isn’t completely bad: it would criminalize deepfake and bestiality porn, would make child sextortion a crime that comes with a minimum of one year in jail, and would supposedly make charges a little harder to kill when a trial runs over deadline. Those changes are very welcome.

Canada’s Superior Court judges are taking the federal government to the Federal Court , where one of the esteemed justices will rule on whether Ottawa owes all senior judges a $28,000 pay rise.

So, no conflict of interest there then.

More accurately, he or she will adjudicate on whether Ottawa behaved in a “constitutionally defective” manner when it ignored the recommendation of an independent commission to award a pay increase, on top of index-linked raises.

The judges’ association claims the case is not about the money — a clear indicator that it is absolutely about the money — but, rather, it is about protecting Canadian democracy.

What one more horrific attack reveals about violence, failure, and our fraying social compact.

I’m haunted by what happened to Bethany MaGee. Haunted by how, in the midst of something as ordinary as a subway journey, she found herself doused with gasoline and set ablaze. Haunted that she’s now in a burn unit fighting for her life. Haunted at the thought that, even if she survives, she’ll likely be scarred for life, not simply from the burns themselves, but from the emotional trauma.

An individual has had their “very serious” criminal charges thrown out by a Toronto judge and has been told to immediately go into witness protection after the Crown inadvertently revealed their relative is a confidential informant.

It’s an error by the prosecution that has put both individuals in “grave danger” of being killed, Superior Court Justice Kenneth Campbell wrote in his decision released earlier this month.

This will inspire confidence in the judicial system.