Coming to your town. In a Times-Colonist report this morning, Victoria, B.C. Canada will be a locked down camp the evening of Canada Day.
What does this mean? Well, according to the newspaper item, you are not to transport alcohol (in pretty much any form) between hours X and Y through a corridor or a series of corridors and Manned barricades in the city of Victoria, B.C. Canada.
What this also means is that civil liberties will be suspended for this time period.
What it meant to bus riders and pedestrians last year (and the year before) is that you could and would be stopped and (illegally searched) by designated officials. Illegal search and seizure my friends.
That means if you are crossing town and minding your own god-damn business (with a bottle of Pinot Noir in your pack-sack) you can be illegally stopped and illegally searched…
if you are walking.
if you are taking a bus.
if you are riding a bike.
if you are driving your car and your wine is in your trunk.
You can say no to this attack on your charter rights.
You should say no to this attack on your fundamental rights.
Canada Day is about freedom, liberty and destiny…
It is not about illegal search and seizure.
So. If you live in Victoria B.C. Canada and want to freely move about on Canada Day… at any time of the night or day…
Remember: You have a right to!
In Canada, Section Eight of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects all individuals from unreasonable search and seizure. For a search to be “reasonable” it must be authorized by law, the law itself must be reasonable, and the manner in which the search was carried out must be reasonable (R. v. S.A.B., 2003 SCC 60). This means that the officer must be acting within the power of a valid statute, and it must be performed on the basis of there being “reasonable and probable grounds” that a crime has been committed.