Justice David Berg lambasted Ottawa Police Service Constable Corey Bourguignon for lying under oath when he ruled Vincent Lebrun’s Charter rights were violated so egregiously the evidence against him must be excluded.
That evidence was, according to news reports, a grenade launcher.
“There is no excuse for a police officer not knowing this basic tenet of our constitutional law, a section that governs a significant part of the interaction between police and the people with whom they deal,” Justice Berg said.
It’s not the first time a judge has called out the Ottawa Police Service for ‘a pattern of delaying’ a suspect’s immediate right to counsel, nor will it be the last.
Background
On May 18, 2019, Constable Bourguignon testified he stopped a vehicle with Quebec license plates because the driver took too long to move when a traffic light turned green.
Bourguignon also testified he ran the plate number but nothing of significance showed upon his computer terminal.
Under an intense cross-examination by defence attorney Brett McGarry, Bourguignon ‘suddenly remembered’ the registered owner of the vehicle had a weapons prohibition order against them.
Constable Bourguignon is not fluent in French and he claimed the information returned from the license plate check were hard to decipher.
Throughout his testimony, Constable Bourguignon insisted the only reason he stopped Vincent Lebrun’s vehicle is because Lebrun was slow move after the traffic light turned green.
Nobody bought the story Constable Bourguignon attempted to sell.
Justice Berg ruled that Constable Bourguignon attempted to conceal the fact he knew about the weapons prohibition. Worse for Constable Bourguignon, he ruled this was the only reason Bourguignon pulled the vehicle over in the first place.
“How did I come to that conclusion?” Justice Berg asked rhetorically.
“First of all, there was Mr. Bourguignon’s lack of candour about when he learned of the existence of the (weapons) prohibition and the manner in which he testified about it. Initially, while testifying in chief, he seemingly denied any present knowledge of having been told about the prohibition prior to getting out of the (police) car.”
“It was quite clear to me by the end of (Bourguignon’s) testimony that he had been trying to hide this from the court.”
From the news report written by Gary Dimmock:
Bourguignon testified that he searched the car under the Cannabis Control Act after the eagle-eyed officer spotted a rolled blunt in the door handle when he looked through the window, but, after his evidence and contradicting testimony by a fellow police officer, the judge said: “I have grave doubts, however, that he observed it in the manner that he says he did.”
“I do not accept (the police officers’) explanations,” said Berg, who noted that the warrantless search of the car was unreasonable.
Bourguignon later testified that he found a “replica handgun” in the glovebox and then pointed it to the ground and racked the slide to clear the chamber to prove it empty and safe. The officer testified that the “replica handgun” was clearly stamped as a BB-gun, but he figured it could still be used as a weapon or a replica gun and maybe it could have been modified.
“I do not believe him. There are just too many problems with his evidence. Moreover, the pistol was obviously a legal BB-gun. The expert evidence was that this was not a replica firearm,” the judge said.
Conflicting Testimony
Then there was the conflicting testimony of two Ottawa Police Service constables.
Both Constable Bourguignon and Constable Eric Swanson testified they found a BB gun in the glove compartment and racked the slide to ensure it was safe.
Both constables were being less than generous with the truth.
In an instant-classic cross-examination, McGarry had Swanson try to rack the slide of the seized BB-gun, but he couldn’t because it was broken. Both officers said the clearly-marked, legal BB-gun had a barrel, but one of their colleagues — a firearms expert — testified there was no barrel and it took a second to realize that it was a legal BB-gun and not a replica.
Oops.
Then the constables searched the vehicle’s trunk and discovered a grenade launcher.
Defence attorney Brett McGarry said the actions of the Ottawa Police Service “raises red flags when a car of racialized young men are pulled over for not driving forward at a green light for a couple seconds. But racial profiling is very hard to prove and there was not quite enough evidence for the court to make that finding here. There were still so many problems with the police version of events that the court ruled that the search of my client was a blatant and intentional violation of his Charter rights.
“The thing to remember is that, for every Charter violation that is exposed, there are hundreds that go undetected. The real question is what system the Ottawa police have to deal with cases where officers have misled and hidden facts from the court because there does not appear to be any.”
Indeed.
These constables illegally detained and searched the defendant’s vehicle.
They compounded their Charter violations by refusing to allow the defendant immediate access to an attorney.
While the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms apparently does not apply to senseless COVID-19 restrictions, it is somewhat refreshing to learn the Charter still applies to police constables who perform illegal traffic stops, illegal searches and blatantly refuse to allow a person to contact their attorney.
In time, perhaps a higher court will rule the Charter applies to all government actions, not just the ones deemed necessary in a ‘pandemic’.
It is not known if Ottawa Police Service Constable Corey Bourguignon will face any internal disciplinary actions for his blatant attempt to mislead the court.
I personally think that people under a firearms prohibition order should be subject to inspection at any time, or at the very least the same level of scrutiny that we LAGOs are subject to.
I completely agree, Mike, but until the law is changed to make this happen, criminals still have more rights than RCMP-vetted, federally-licensed firearm owners.
Gosh, isn’t lying to the court under oath a serious crime? I think it’s called ‘perjury.’ Does this mean they won’t be prosecuted?
So far, it appears not, Don. Shocking, I know…
Yes, I agree with Mike. Until criminals are treated at least as badly as LAGOs the ‘justice’ system will continue to be a bad joke…..
I’m glad there was at least one single line stating the fact that they were driving around with a grenade launcher in the vehicle.
Just wondering about something if it is legal… many years ago, I think it was 1980, I was at capital iron , Victoria bc, a store that sold many curious items including old rifle barrels and Enfield guns that were rendered inoperable, bayonets, and for a while disposable one shot anti-tank bazookas with flip up sights. Used to see those in movies and props.
Never bought any of these things, but would one of those old anti-tank launchers be considered illegal today?
Those one-shot tubes were useless but fun discussion pieces. I suspect they would be captured by the bore diameter portion of the May 1, 2020, Order in Council, Peter, in the same way Vancouver’s 9 O’Clock Gun is a now prohibited device. Such are the unintended consequences of poorly though-out decisions by government.
thanks for the reply Chris, hope your staying cool and out of harms way over there near Lytton, Lillooet.
The “9 o’clock gun”, yes I forgot about that one. Many things on my mind in light of all the new proposed Bills and OIC , BC’s Bill-4, etc, got me wondering about poorly thought out government, politics, police, impacts on our lives. Seizures of the vehicles these items may be found in.
Government stealing young girls competition air rifles for resembling a higher powered model in USA.
Replica guns… which include many air guns now, from what I’ve heard all this madness will have a profound negative effect upon Olympic training sports and the Movie Industry here in Canada when many of these replicas are now illegal and can no longer be used as props.
I am saddened by this senselessness. And the uninformed are blissfully going on in their lives ignorant of the legal harms these political entities are doing to Canada.
For the first time in my life this year I chose not to raise the flag on Canada day. My heart is very heavy.
You are not along in having a heavy heart around this, Peter. Not by a long shot.
Well considering that the OIC also included mortar tubes and other WW1 and WW2 artifacts, they will be – so highlights the deafness of these high and mighty political types who don’t understand why people would want such items. They don’t take into account that applying such standards to policy making could be utilized to seize golf courses as “what is the point in them”? or why does anyone need a Hummer? Liberal policy making and subsequent laws, further backed by the Bloc and NDP truly demonstrate that they are not looking at “fact based” decision and policy making – just what BS they can rely on to get votes.
Evidence-based policy was a great sound byte for the Liberals, but that’s all it ever was. Not a shred of evidence for anything they’ve done, it seems.
Hi, thankyou for the feedback….something i read last night really got to me and just adds to how i feel about things. The pandemic and biased media and Trudeau’s agendas. And the silences from the other parties. I’ll be short and concise about this and wonder if others beside Biden and the E.U. are aware of this developing fact.
There are pictures of Trudeau shaking hands with the leader of the Ethiopian leader and words of praise to him. Ethiopia is the supposedly second largest recipient of Canadian Aid efforts and money. Biden and the EU are at odds with canada over this issue.
This ‘leader’, here and now for several weeks, months, has invited the Eritrean Forces to enter his country and start a genocide upon the Tigray people. male teens are being killed, 7 year old girls and women mass rapes. The leader a so-called Nobel peace prize recipient is seen these days wearing camo and packing a gun on his hip. Trudeau likes him
There are articles out there i wish to follow-up about this, It disturbs me, I got into a verbal last night with a couple colleagues about this and Trudeau calling me and 2 and half million Canadian gun owners the “enemy”.
I don’t believe the other parties are aware nor talking about this developing genocide, and I believe once again that the conservatives are missing out on this ammo that could be used against the liberals.
Thankyou again for allowing me to share my heaviness. There is an evil in Ottawa.. Be on guard.
I was questioned in a private parking lot in center town Ottawa. When I gave my name the Ottawa Police don’t believe me so he aggressively pulled my door open which tribute my natural defence to pull it shut. When I did this 3 other cops charged the door pulled me out and tazed me. This happened on December 21 2020.
I have been complaining to every agency and even asked the judge in my criminal court appearance why I didn’t receive any paper work about the where abouts of my motor home. I have no paper work from police or Metro towing.
The probe into towing truck and police corruption does not stem far enough because my story with the proof I have should take the cake on charter claim. Even after the judge ordered the crown to contact police to have my vehicle returned they still refuse to give me back my belongings and home. I have been homeless since with no one defending me against the powerful police that seemingly get charges dropped fairly easy.
I would like to show everyone the real police that take care and make deals with towing operators to force in payable storage fees for ribbing me. I have disclosure and future trial that should bring all the facts about this towing police racketeering to face.