Supplementary submissions by the State party
subsequently used to support a trumped up charge,
despite all the lies told by Ms. Gascon.
6.1 In its submissions of 11 August 2003, the
State party reiterates its position that the
communication is inadmissible and, subsidiarily,
unfounded.
5.3 With regard to the non-disclosure of the
document, the author contests the State party’s
arguments and points out that Ms. Gascon’s written
statement was essential for his full answer and
defence. Unlike the State party, the author considers
that the evidence of the defendant’s criminal intent
(mens rea) that emerges from this statement is
relevant to the evaluation of his guilt. The author
explains that while the complainant and the deputy
prosecutor were able to prepare their strategies on
the basis of the statement, the accused was deprived
of this strategic information during the trial. The
author explains that he would have been able to use
the statement to cross-examine Ms. Gascon, not only
on the “motive for the crime” and the dates of the
events, but also on many other points, all of which,
according to the author, would have been relevant in
revealing the scope and gravity of Ms. Gascon’s
false accusations. Furthermore, in his opinion, even
though the written statement contains the two
accusations of death threats which led to his
conviction, this in no way justifies the fact that the
document was, as he alleges, concealed from him.
6.2 The State party specifies that although the
decision of the Minister of Justice cannot be
appealed against, it is nevertheless subject to judicial
review by the Federal Court, as is any decision taken
by a “federal board, commission or other tribunal”,
as currently defined (since 1 February 1992) by the
Federal Courts Act. A decision taken under section
690 of the Criminal Code may thus be the subject of
an application for judicial review to the Federal
Court of Canada under article 18.1 of the Federal
Courts Act. The Court may strike down the decision
and return the case to the judge for a new decision if
one of the grounds justifying its intervention is
established (see paragraph 4.1). According to the
State party, this is a remedy which could have given
the author satisfaction. The State party adds that the
Williams case, which is available on the Internet,
clearly establishes the existence of a domestic
remedy, and that the author cannot be excused for
not having exhausted that remedy.
5.4 The author asserts that his case reveals an
omnipresent sexism in Quebec’s policy with respect
to conjugal violence. As president of the association
“Coalition pour la défense des droits des hommes du
Québec” and vice-president of the Groupe d’entraide
aux pères et de soutien à l’enfant, the author says
that he has identified numerous cases of men who
have been aggrieved, particularly by the nondisclosure of written statements by women
complainants, and that this demonstrates how the
courts treat men. The author considers that the
judges acted maliciously in his case by not
disclosing the aforementioned document, truncating
the author’s remarks and basing themselves on
extreme feminist positions, under the overall
protection of the Minister of Justice (who is a
woman).
Admissibility considerations
7.1 Before considering any claim contained in a
communication, the Human Rights Committee must,
in accordance with rule 93 of its rules of procedure,
decide whether or not the communication is
admissible under the Optional Protocol to the
Covenant.
7.2 The Committee has ascertained, as required
under article 5, paragraph 2 (a), of the Optional
Protocol, that the same matter is not being examined
under
another
procedure
of
international
investigation or settlement.
7.3 With regard to the complaint of a violation of
article 14, paragraph 3 (b) read together with article 2
(3), the Committee has taken note of the State party’s
arguments concerning inadmissibility for failure to
exhaust domestic remedies (see paragraphs 4.1 and
6.2) and the author’s comments in this regard. The
Committee notes that the author admits that he did not
submit an application for judicial review of the
decision of the Minister of Justice of 7 May 2001
partly because of the excessive delay in taking the
decision and partly because of the absence of public
awareness of the jurisprudence in the Williams case,
which the author further considers to be contrary to
the Criminal Code (see paragraph 5.5). After
examining the evidence in the file, the Committee
considers, firstly, that the complaint concerning the
excessive duration of the procedure under section 690
5.5 In his additional comments of 7 March 2003,
15 June 2003 and 26 October 2004, the author
repeats his arguments concerning the exhaustion of
domestic remedies, based essentially on the
excessive delay in the decision of the Minister of
Justice under section 690 of the Criminal Code. He
adds that the Criminal Code does not provide for a
right of appeal against that decision. Lastly, he
asserts
that
the
jurisprudence
concerning
applications for judicial review stemming from the
case William R. v. The Honourable A. Anne
McLellan, Minister of Justice and Attorney General
of Canada is practically unknown, is not indexed
and is in contradiction with the Criminal Code.
20
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents