CAT/C/CAN/CO/6
Furthermore, the Committee regrets the statement by the delegation that the issues on
violence against women fall more squarely within other bodies’ mandate and recalls that the
State bears responsibility and its officials should be considered as authors, complicit or
otherwise responsible under the Convention for consenting to or acquiescing in acts of
torture or ill-treatment committed by non-State officials or private actors (arts. 2, 12, 13 and
16).
The State party should strengthen its efforts to exercise due diligence to intervene to
stop, sanction acts of torture or ill-treatment committed by non-State officials or
private actors, and provide remedies to victims. The Committee recommends that the
State party enhance its efforts to end all forms of violence against aboriginal women
and girls by, inter alia, developing a coordinated and comprehensive national plan of
action, in close cooperation with aboriginal women’s organizations, which includes
measures to ensure impartial and timely investigation, prosecution, conviction and
sanction of those responsible for disappearances and murder of aboriginal women,
and to promptly implement relevant recommendations made by national and
international bodies in that regard, including the Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against
Women, and the Missing Women Working Group.
Conducted energy weapons
21.
The Committee notes the various initiatives taken by the State party to introduced
greater accountability and more restricted standards to govern use of conducted energy
weapons, including national guidelines issued by the Federal Government in 2010.
However, it remains concerned at reports about the lack of consistent and coherent
standards applicable to all policing forces at federal and provincial level and the unclear
legal framework for the testing and approval for use of new forms of such weapons by
police forces in Canada. Furthermore, the Committee regrets that the national guidelines are
not binding and do not establish a consistent and sufficiently high threshold to govern the
use of such weapons across the country (arts. 2 and 16).
Taking into consideration the lethal and dangerous impact of conducted energy
weapons on the physical and mental state of targeted persons, which may violate
articles 2 and 16 of the Convention, the Committee recommends the State party to
ensure that such weapons are used exclusively in extreme and limited situations. The
State party should revise the regulations governing the use of such weapons, including
the national guidelines, with a view to establishing a high threshold for the use of them
and adopting a legislative framework to govern the testing and approval for use of all
weapons used by law enforcement personnel. Furthermore, the State party should
consider relinquishing the use of such conducted energy weapons as “tasers”.
Police crowd-control methods
22.
The Committee is concerned about reports on the excessive use of force by law
enforcement officers often in the context of crowd control at federal and provincial levels,
with particular reference to indigenous land-related protests at Ipperwash and Tyendinaga as
well as the G8 and G20 protests. The Committee is particularly concerned about reports of
severe crowd control methods and inhumane prison conditions in the temporary detention
centres (arts. 11 and 16).
The Committee recommends that the State party strengthen its efforts to ensure that
all allegations of ill-treatment and excessive use of force by the police are promptly
and impartially investigated by an independent body and those responsible for such
violation are prosecuted and punished with appropriate penalties. Furthermore, the
State party and the government of the Province of Ontario should conduct an inquiry
7