At the base of all law is: justice. At the base of our system of justice is (a) the presumption of innocence (no person is to be treated as though she/he is guilty until proven guilty by a proper evaluation of the facts and law by a competent authority), and (b) competent authorities that ensure that, when allegations are made, they are subjected to a due process before anyone concludes, says, or implies that the accused is guilty.
SOURCE: Freedom Party Of Ontario's 2018 election Platform
On January 25, 2018, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown stepped down from his position as Party Leader because of anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct by two women brought forth only in the news media.
The Liberal government of Ontario has introduced legislation that pressures employers and universities to cut ties with anyone about whom an allegation of harrassment or assault is made, without due process. Universities and employers - neither of whom have the proper training or regulation to ensure due process - are essentially required to conduct investigations that ought rightly to be conducted by police or other governmental investigatory bodies. Their findings are then judged in the “court of public opinion”. In practice, to avoid reputational harm, the university/employer is intimidated into expelling/dismissing a student/employee whether or not there is any compelling evidence to back up the allegation(s) made about him/her.
SOURCE: Freedom Party Of Ontario's 2018 election Platform
All three parties in the Ontario Legislature, the Liberals, the PCs, and the NDP, support this legislation, and by giving their support to it, support the rapid errosion of due process of law.
You’re gonna pay for the hand that you done
Now the rain’s gonna burn like the sun
The Devil’s risin’ on you
That crop won’t ever come
SOURCE: Extreme Music Production: Crop Won't Ever Come
Patrick Brown is now defending himself publicly against these accusations, but whatever the outcome, his political career is likely over, even if the accusations are found to not be backed up by the evidence.
For all the other moments #MeToo has wrought, the Patrick Brown story is seminal: A political leader is cut down like a sapling in the forest in a matter of hours, and none of his colleagues, in and outside of the Ontario Conservative party, and including the Ontario premier and the prime minister of Canada, have one word to say in the defence of fair play or the presumption of innocence.
Let it be perfectly clear.
The point is not what Brown allegedly did.
The point is that purely on the say-so of two women who claim he sexually assaulted them another prominent man has been ruined.
Whatever the merits of their accusations — and how is anyone to know? — the mere act of making them to a journalist was enough. This is all it takes now.
It means that every man in the world is vulnerable, not because he has necessarily misconducted himself, but because a woman may say he has.
SOURCE: Christie Blatchford: What happened to Brown is fundamentally wrong. Every man in the world is now vulnerable
© Trevor Dailey