Canadian Civil Liberties Association

Defending Canadian rights and freedoms since 1964. [email protected]

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

“As national human rights organizations working across every region of the globe, we are alarmed by the campaign announced by the United States Department of State to “dismantle” the International Criminal Court (ICC) “brick by brick”.”

On this World Day for International Justice, CCLA stands with nine national human rights organizations from @INCLOnet to urge states to defend the international rule of law in the face of attacks by the United States.

https://t.co/R4SxQlPiXg

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

Supreme Court Affirms Robust Duty to Disclose Police Misconduct Information in McKee

On June 26, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada released its judgment in EPS v. McKee, 2026 SCC 24. The CCLA was an intervener in the case. McKee concerned what information about police misconduct by officers involved in a case must be shared with an accused person before their trial. The Crown’s duty to disclose information relevant to an accused’s case is a constitutional obligation under ss. 7 and 11(d) of the Charter.

Consistent with the submissions of the CCLA and other parties, the Court affirmed that the Crown and police must apply a principled relevance-based standard to determine what is disclosable. Relevance is a “low bar” that simply requires information to be of “some use” to the accused’s case. It may be obvious, for example where the misconduct occurred as part of the investigation into the accused. However, it also includes misconduct outside of the immediate case. For example, if an officer has previously falsified their notes or racially profiled people. There is no closed list of records or types of information.

Importantly, the Court emphasized that it is the Crown, and not the police, that decides what misconduct information is disclosed to the accused. The police must always disclose relevant misconduct information to the Crown, which can also request and obtain further details. If the police seek to withhold misconduct information, the Crown too must be informed and makes the ultimate decision.

The Court also soundly rejected the submission of the Edmonton Police Service that an ‘administrative expungement’ of misconduct information under provincial police legislation alters the duty to disclose misconduct information. McKee sets an important standard that to ensure fair trials and prevent wrongful convictions.

The CCLA is grateful to the excellent pro bono representation of Chris Rudnicki and Theresa Donkor of Rudnicki & Company, and the pro bono agent services of Catherine Ouellet of Gowling WLG in this case.

The Supreme Court’s judgment can be read here: https://t.co/RZ99Fq43FY
CCLA's factum can be read here: https://t.co/k21zAUxT58

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

CCLA has written the Minister of Justice to urge the federal government to reject the recommendation of the Special Joint Committee on Medical Assistance in Dying to indefinitely exclude individuals whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness from MAiD eligibility.

https://t.co/yCURxw9SFZ

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025-2026 Bernard Chernos video/essay contest on rights and freedoms in Canada, hosted by the Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust. Thank you to everyone from across the country who participated!

ESSAYS:
1.Alexander Sharpe (Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, ON)
2.Chelsie Ji (Vancouver, BC)
3.H. Ho (North Vancouver, BC)
Honourable Mention: Noah Sparkes (Cape Breton, NS)
Honourable Mention: Jasmine Lazzari (Calgary, AB)

VIDEOS:
1.Leila Hunter (Toronto, ON)
2.Rosario Siu (Toronto, ON)
3.Jacob Than (Toronto, ON)
Honourable Mention: Noah Marr (Toronto, ON)
Honourable Mention: Jeena Aggarson (Calgary, AB)

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

National Indigenous Peoples Day is a time to celebrate, learn, and reflect on our collective responsibility to uphold the rights of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples across Canada.

Today is also an opportunity to reflect on the work that remains to advance Indigenous rights, justice, and self-determination. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) provides an essential framework for reconciliation, grounded in the recognition of Indigenous Peoples' inherent rights, dignity, and sovereignty.

UNDRIP calls on governments and institutions to move beyond symbolic commitments and take meaningful action to uphold Indigenous rights, including the rights to self-determination, land, culture, language, and free, prior, and informed consent. It also provides an important framework for advancing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) Calls to Action, which continue to serve as a roadmap for advancing meaningful reconciliation in Canada.

As we commemorate this day, we must renew our commitment to implementing UNDRIP and fulfilling the TRC's Calls to Action in law, policy, and practice. Reconciliation requires more than acknowledgment—it requires respecting Indigenous self-determination, protecting Indigenous rights, and ensuring governments are accountable for implementing both UNDRIP and the TRC Calls to Action.

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

This World Refugee Day, we're marking not just the resilience of people who have fled persecution to seek safety in Canada, but the urgent erosion of the legal protections meant to receive them.

The Strengthening Canada's Immigration System and Borders Act introduced new time limits on asylum claims, expanded the government's power to suspend or cancel immigration documents en masse, and weakened procedural protections for those seeking refugee status, like access to fair, independent hearings. These changes fall hard on survivors of gender-based violence and 2SLGBTQIA+ claimants, who often need more time and safety to disclose persecution before their claim is heard.

Layered on top of this is the Safe Third Country Agreement, which continues to push asylum seekers into dangerous irregular crossings or back into harm's way rather than offering safe, orderly access to Canada's refugee determination system. Protection shouldn't depend on which port of entry someone reaches or how many days have passed since they arrived.

On World Refugee Day, CCLA reaffirms that the right to seek asylum is a human right, and we'll keep pushing back against policies that treat refugee claimants as security threats rather than people seeking safety.

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

Parliament crossed a constitutional red line with Bill C-16, seeking to overrule the Supreme Court on the remedy for a violation of the Charter right to be tried within a reasonable time.

Watch the Director of the Criminal Justice Program, Shakir Rahim, explain why before the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs. The CCLA’s brief can be read here: https://t.co/lyZ2YedP36

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

L'ACLC, Hoodstock, la Clinique juridique de Saint-Michel et la Ligue des droits et libertés ont écrit hier à la première ministre du Québec pour lui demander officiellement de déclencher une commission d'enquête publique sur le racisme policier et le profilage racial au sein du SPVM.

« Le SPVM et les institutions policières en général n’ont pas le détachement nécessaire pour remettre en question les pratiques et la culture qui ont permis aux problématiques de racisme et de profilage racial de perdurer au SPVM. Seule une commission d’enquête publique disposant d’une indépendance complète peut remédier au bris de confiance actuel de la population vis-à-vis le SPVM », déclare Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, Porte-parole Québec et directrice des Libertés fondamentales à l'ACLC.

Lien vers la lettre ci-dessous.

***
CCLA, Hoodstock, the Saint-Michel Legal Clinic and the Ligue des droits et libertés wrote to the Premier of Quebec yesterday to formally request a public inquiry commission into police racism and racial profiling within the SPVM.

"The SPVM and police institutions in general lack the necessary detachment to challenge the practices and culture that have allowed racism and racial profiling to persist within the SPVM. Only a fully independent public inquiry commission can address the current breakdown of public trust in the SPVM,” says Anaïs Bussières McNicoll, Quebec spokesperson and director of fundamental freedoms at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.

Link to letter below.
https://t.co/jWcU7I7fkH

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

More than 60 civil liberties, human rights, faith based and community organizations just released a statement denouncing the adoption of Bill C-9, the Combatting Hate Act.

https://t.co/VFKtMgXxL1

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

CCLA joined over 35 leading civil society groups and experts today in calling the federal government out for failing to apply privacy rules and oversight to federal political parties.

The risks here are real--just last month, a political party-enabled data breach exposed personal information of 2.9 million Albertans.

Federal political parties have gone to great lengths to avoid subjecting themselves to any meaningful privacy restrictions, even as political campaigning relies on more and more of our sensitive data. In fact, the federal government just tabled a bill updating our privacy laws earlier this week, yet failed once again to apply these rules to political parties.

Join us in calling on the government to apply effective privacy rules to federal political parties by signing this parliamentary petition:
https://t.co/H8ysdeUvC7

Read the letter:
https://t.co/xFB0OuU19O

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

Aujourd'hui, l'ACLC et la @Liguedesdroits s'unissent pour réclamer une commission d'enquête publique sur le racisme policier au sein du SPVM et la fin des interpellations policières.

Les récentes allégations de racisme impliquant des agents du SPVM à Montréal-Nord sont profondément choquantes. Elles sont aussi le symptôme d'une problématique beaucoup plus large.

« Il ne s’agit pas d’un incident isolé », déclare Harini Sivalingam, directrice du programme Égalité à l’ACLC. « Les communautés qui sont victimes de profilage racial dénoncent depuis longtemps le traitement discriminatoire de la part des forces de l’ordre et les violations de leurs droits. »

« Ces groupes marginalisés, tout comme la communauté montréalaise au grand complet, méritent un processus d'enquête qui identifiera et corrigera les failles institutionnelles, la culture et le manque d’imputabilité qui permettent à ce type de comportements et de dénis de droits de perdurer », ajoute Me Sivalingam.

Les enquêtes menées par des institutions policières n’offrent pas les garanties d’indépendance et de transparence requises afin de répondre pleinement au bris de confiance de la population et des communautés directement touchées vis-à-vis les forces de l’ordre. La récente nomination d’un observateur indépendant pour suivre l’enquête du SPVM est elle aussi insuffisante. Une commission d’enquête publique est nécessaire.

***
Today, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Ligue des droits et libertés are joining forces to call for a public inquiry into police racism within the SPVM and an end to street checks.

The recent allegations of racism involving SPVM officers in Montreal North are deeply shocking. They are also symptomatic of a much broader problem.

“This is not an isolated incident,” said Harini Sivalingam, director of the Equality Program at the CCLA. “Communities that are victims of racial profiling have long spoken out against discriminatory treatment by law enforcement and violations of their rights.”

“These marginalized groups, just like the entire Montreal community, deserve an investigation that will identify and address the institutional failures, culture, and lack of accountability that allow this type of behavior and denial of rights to persist,” Sivalingam added.

Investigations conducted by police agencies do not provide the necessary guarantees of independence and transparency to fully address the breach of trust that the public and directly affected communities have experienced with law enforcement. The recent appointment of an independent observer to oversee the SPVM’s investigation is also insufficient.

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

A recent Ontario court decision recognizing homelessness as an analogous ground of discrimination under the Charter has sparked debate about the role of the courts in advancing equality rights. In this article, Harini Sivalingam argues that the ruling is not an example of judicial activism, but rather a reflection of the Charter‘s purpose: protecting those who face systemic disadvantage and exclusion. Recognizing the realities faced by unhoused people is an essential step toward ensuring that constitutional equality rights extend to those who need them most.

The link to the article can be found here.
https://t.co/krIf4ktx3y

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

On Wednesday, the federal government introduced Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, with the stated goal of making the online activities of Canadians safer. The bill raises significant civil liberties concerns, including through the limitless powers it grants the government and a new digital safety regulator.

Read more here.
https://t.co/y15eHfOt23

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

CCLA has filed its intervention factum in Saskatchewan v. UR Pride Centre for Sexuality and Gender Diversity – the first Supreme Court of Canada case to directly address anti-trans legislation in Canada’s history.

Read more here.
https://t.co/xiP3jY7T47

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

Open-ended obligations, sweeping regulatory powers and a looming social media ban for children under 16 in Bill C-34, the Social Media Safety Act, threaten civil liberties.

Read more:
https://t.co/87hnfsGjxA

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

CCLA will be intervening in the case of Irvine et al v University of British Columbia to support that universities remain spaces where critical thinking, respect for diverse perspectives, and robust public debate can continue to flourish.

https://t.co/WVm8eYDznl

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

CCLA joins other members of the National Employment Equity Council in calling on the Government of Canada to strengthen the newly established Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion by ensuring meaningful Black representation and explicitly recognizing anti-Black racism within its mandate.

Read more here.
https://t.co/zPN0IqPwMG

[Canadian Civil Liberties Association @cancivlib]

June is the start of Pride season across Canada! The CCLA celebrates the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities across Canada whose legacy of activism, courage, and resilience has shaped what equality looks like in this country. Progress is visible not only in our legal and cultural landscape, but in the lives of millions of Canadians who live more freely today than a generation ago. Despite this progress, there is still much work that lies ahead, and the CCLA remains steadfastly committed to that fight. Happy Pride Month to all!