Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew stirred up controversy Monday in denouncing a Supreme Court of Canada ruling on child pornography and calling for offenders to be buried underneath prisons.
“Child sexual abuse images and video, this is like one of the worst things that anyone can do,” Kinew told reporters.
“Not only should [you] go to prison for a long time, they should bury you under the prison. You shouldn’t get protective custody. They should put you into general population, if you know what I mean.”
The high court last week ruled the one-year mandatory minimum jail sentences for accessing or possessing child pornography are unconstitutional. In a 5-4 decision, the top court said the minimum sentences remove judges’ discretion to impose sentences other than imprisonment when appropriate.
Conservative politicians such as Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have demanded Ottawa overrule the decision with the notwithstanding clause. Governments can invoke the clause to override certain sections of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Kinew, a New Democrat, says he stands with Smith, Ford and others, and feels the court ruling does not make sense to the average person. He called the ruling “disgusting,” and used the slang word “skinners” to refer to sex offenders.
The Criminal Defence Lawyers Association of Manitoba condemned Kinew’s remarks.
“We think the comments are unhelpful from an elected representative. We request that the premier be careful with his comments and turn the temperature down,” the association said in a written statement.
Kinew does not understand that the ruling deals with rare, hypothetical cases where circumstances may warrant a sentence less severe than a year in prison, the group said.
“That the premier is critical of this decision, likely without understanding what the decision is and is not, is probably unsurprising.”
Criticized Kinew for suggesting vigilante justice
The association also criticized Kinew for suggesting vigilante justice.
“What disappoints us is the suggestion, from the highest elected official in our province, that extrajudicial vigilante justice is appropriate and even desirable.
“The system of laws that govern our society are designed to deal with all individuals fairly and provide just sentences that take into consideration a variety of competing interests in how they’re meted out. The premier’s comments are an affront to this system and an affront to the rule of law in general.”
Kinew has been criticized previously for remarks about the justice system. Last year, he apologized to defence lawyers for comments he made when his NDP caucus expelled backbencher Mark Wasyliw.
Wasyliw, who is a criminal defence lawyer, was removed partly because one of his colleagues represented disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard on sex charges.
At the time, Kinew said someone cannot be affiliated with both Nygard and the NDP.
Kinew later apologized personally to Wasyliw’s colleague and told the legislature he should have simply said there were irreconcilable differences with Wasyliw in caucus.
Notwithstanding clause
Kinew recently introduced a bill that would require judges to weigh in any time the Manitoba government invokes the notwithstanding clause to override Charter rights.
Judges would not have the power to stop the government but would issue an opinion on whether the bill would be unconstitutional if not for the notwithstanding clause.
Kinew recently criticized Quebec, Alberta and Saskatchewan’s use of the clause, saying the governments in those provinces were using it to attack the rights of vulnerable people.
The Saskatchewan government invoked the clause for a law that prevents children under 16 from changing their names or pronouns at school without parental consent.
The Alberta government employed the clause last week as part of a bill ordering striking teachers back to work.
Quebec used the notwithstanding clause to prohibit some public sector workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols while on the job.
