Peter Sankoff Profile picture
Feb 17, 2022 19 tweets 3 min read Read on X
1/ I thought it might be fun to talk about what I, as a criminal law professor, have learned from the "protesters". I will call it "Convoy Law".
2/ Convoy Law 1: "Anyone has the right to protest any way they want in a public space, regardless of other applicable "laws". At the end of the day, protest trumps everything else.
3/ Convoy Law 2: "Freedom is the most important principle in human society, giving everyone the absolute right to do whatever they want (subject to law 3) in the name of freedom."
4/ Convoy Law 3: "Violence against others is strictly prohibited, unless others try to stop you from exercising your freedoms. When that happens, violence is a viable form of "self-defence".
5/ Convoy Law 4: "As per Convoy Law 2, health regulations and other types of government interference cannot stop the exercise of freedom. Cook, feed yourself, sauna and bathe at your convenience, all in the greater service of protest."
6/ Convoy Law 5: "Always encourage others to join the cause of freedom. The Canadian "law" of "counselling" has no application when a protest is involved. Push for others to join the cause at all times."
7/ Convoy Law 6: "Court orders from "Canada" do not override any of the Convoy Laws. They are, at most, optional. Freedom, as always, trumps all other considerations.
8/ Convoy Law 7: "Police must be embraced as members of the protest until they become aggressive. At that point, Convoy Law 3 kicks in. Defend your freedoms."
9/ Convoy Law 8: "Canadian police cannot arrest you for defending your freedoms. Any notice of such intention can be refused by simply refusing to read it or listen. Any lack of knowledge of the law, however wishful, is a defence to any Canadian "crime".
10/ Convoy Law 9: "Make as much noise as you want. Freedom trumps all in the name of protest."
11/ Convoy Law 10: "Being friendly to others is the key to a lawful protest. If you are friendly and do not cause physical violence (except in resisting those who try to take freedoms), you cannot be charged with any Canadian criminal offence."
12/ Convoy Law 11: "Since the protest has Canadian politicians, like our leader Randy Hiller, on side, the protest is lawful. Any attempt to stop the protest by force is, ipso facto (we needed some latin), unlawful."
13/ Convoy Law 12: "Any grammatical errors in a police notice to end the protest render such notice nugatory. Search for such grammatical errors to raise in Canadian court if protest somehow is ended."
14/ Convoy Law 13: "As always, freedom and protest trump everything else (except smuggling guns in to the convoy - that's bad). Freedom, freedom, freedom. When in doubt, sing O'Canada. Convoy Law demands that every officer hug you. Kisses are optional."
15/ Convoy Law 14: "Canadians who stand for freedom (and support us), are REAL Canadians. All other people living in Canada are "fake Canadians", who don't get freedoms."
16/ Convoy Law 15 (The Pat King Law): "Wave a white shirt or underwear and police cannot arrest you because of international law."
17/ Convoy Law 16: “The fake news media must be harassed and yelled at. Assault optional, but legal. Only real media like Fox and Rebel news deserve respect and must be obeyed at all times.”
18/ Convoy Law 17: “The most important legal instrument in Canada is the Canadian Bill of Rights, 1960. Next is the Magna Carta. The Canadian Charter is referred to only when convenient. Nothing can override the Canadian Bill of Rights, which is all about FREEDOM!”
19/ Convoy Law 18: "When in doubt, pressure the Governor General or the Queen to exercise their supreme authority and give you what you want, whatever that might be."

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More from @petersankoff

Jan 21, 2023
1/ Regarding the Premier's office communications:
Here is the report on the National, with comments from myself, @Ideablawg and @BoisvertDm: cbc.ca/player/play/21…
2/ Not surprisingly, I had a lot more to say. There were 4 major themes, with one big caveat. The caveat is we still don't know exactly what happened. While the CBC would not print such a story without multiple sources, there's still a lot unknown here. cbc.ca/news/canada/ca…
3/ Nonetheless, let's work through the themes. First, to state the obvious - this can't happen. The Premier's office (staffer or Premier - worse if it's the latter) cannot contact prosecutors and "challenge their assessment and directions". It's an obstruction of justice.
Read 17 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
Nader and I are thinking along the same lines. I just put together slides for a Case Alert on Beaver and spent five slides showing how bad things are for the accused in rights cases.
His point on Kasirer and Jamal is well put. More importantly, those two have been on the winning side of every Charter case involving criminal law this year.
The sides shift. Karakatsanis and Martin are the two rights champions, unless it involves sexual assault trial issues.
Read 12 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
Well, I’ve had a chance to start reading the SCC’s latest: R v Beaver. It’s as disappointing as I had feared. The voluntariness and RPG analysis are not earth shattering, but the fresh start stuff is going to cause great difficulty.
Maybe I’m overreading, but the fresh start stuff encourages all kinds of Charter violations. You can just fix it all later!!!
How you fix an arbitrary detention and wipe away a few hours of illegal custody is beyond me. I’d cite Jamal, but I have no idea after reading his judgment. Hocus pocus?
Read 4 tweets
Nov 28, 2022
1/ Since it's the best Alberta related decision I've had the chance to enjoy in a few years, I'm going to celebrate the promotion of Khullar JA to Khullar CJA by explaining why I'm so excited by it.
2/ I've now appeared before Justice Khullar 4 or 5 times. Every appearance is similar. First, she is unfailingly courteous and polite - and not every judge of the Court of Appeal is. Second, she is open-minded and clearly cares about getting the decision right.
3/ I've never found her to be pro-Crown or pro-defence. I've lost cases in front of her, and won cases. She always struck me as "pro-getting the law and result right", which is all you can ever ask for from a judge.
Read 7 tweets
Nov 27, 2022
1/ Met with former students who are now in Year 5-6 of their career. To say it was enlightening is the understatement of the year. They are at the point when the shock of law job hunt/work has worn off and are trying to figure out how to take control of their career. Not easy.
2/ As I mentioned for a metaphor, you get lured onto a treadmill and find that it's incredibly hard to get off once it gets to high speed. Also hard to jump to another treadmill. But most find it equally hard to take the sensible choice - slow down and figure out if...
3/ The treadmill is for you at all. Maybe you don't need a glitzy treadmill and would prefer a paddleboard, or a bike. It's just difficult to reflect when you're always running, and your mental state is down from all the running.
Read 4 tweets
Oct 22, 2022
1/ R v King, 2022 ONCA 665 is an important decision. Most of you who know it because of how it uses Gladue principles in Corbett applications. But the Fairburn ACJO and George JA written decision has much much more in it.
2/ I will start with a minor quibble. On Issue 1, self defence instruction, the Crown at trial expressly agreed that the instruction was good and then tried to reverse its position on appeal.
3/ In Barton (SCC) this issue was raised and the Court said it is improper for the Crown (as opposed to the defence) to raise new positions on appeal. Image
Read 25 tweets

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