Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman on Patrol in Rockies, 1937.
Like every country, Canada has a legal system that addresses the conflicts that arise between citizens. Sometimes those conflicts are between an individual and society, such as acts of robbery or murder, and they fall under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Code. Sometimes they are between individual citizens, and they are subject to the civil justice system. The legal rights enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms do not prevent the courts from punishing citizens when they break the law, but the Charter guarantees that citizens will be treated fairly by the police and the courts. No one can be imprisoned without a fair trial. Our system of laws assumes that a person is innocent until the Crown Prosecutor proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. The police have to follow rules when they gather evidence and deal with citizens. Those rules are based on the principle that it is better that a guilty person goes free than that an innocent person is punished. As well, citizens can petition the courts to sue the government if they feel that the state has violated any of their rights.
Tanks in the Streets, Czechoslovakia, ca. 29 August 1968.
In some countries, however, the courts, the police, and even the military have served as forces of oppression. Rather than acting as protectors of their citizens, the police and armies of these nations have used violence, intimidation, and murder to control the public. Similarly, their courts have sent people to prison for dissent from commonly accepted ideas.
