Federal government expected to apologize for bungling Nova Scotia child molestation case
Tobi Cohen, Postmedia News | 14/10/13 12:53 PM ET
Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh arrives at Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in Halifax on June 8, 2011. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear a Crown appeal in a case where a Nova Scotia appeal court threw out convictions on 17 charges of gross indecency and indecent assault involving six boys. The provincial court of appeal quashed the convictions against Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh last year, ruling that a 14-year delay between the original allegations and the eventual trial was too long.
OTTAWA — The federal government is expected to apologize for bungling a child-molestation case in which 17 charges against a Nova Scotia businessman were dropped.
Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh was convicted of indecent assault and gross indecency involving young boys dating back to the 1970s. The convictions, however, were overturned by the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal due to delays in getting him to trial, in large part because it took more than a decade to extradite him from India.
It’s a story that hits close to home for new federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay, who represents the riding of Central Nova in Nova Scotia. While his predecessor ruled out a public inquiry in April after the Supreme Court of Canada upheld the lower court’s decision to quash the charges, MacKay ordered an internal review last month.
A report is expected by the end of October, and a source familiar with the report says it will include an acknowledgement that certain federal departments indeed dropped the ball in the matter. A public apology is likely, Postmedia News has learned.
“This case has concerned me since my time in Opposition,” MacKay said upon ordering the review. “Our government takes offences involving child abuse very seriously and it is important to review this matter to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again.
“This internal review is essential to the public’s confidence in Canada’s justice system.”
In an interview with Postmedia News in August, MacKay suggested the extradition system needed to be reformed and modernized, though it’s not clear whether the report will make recommendations to that effect.
The government has announced plans to ensure high risk-sex offenders
provide advance notice to Canadian police prior to international travel.
As part of the Tougher Penalties for Child Predators Act to be
introduced this fall, police will be authorized to share this
information with members of the Canada Border Service Agency. Canadian
authorities will also
be expected to warn destination countries that a potentially dangerous
person is headed their way.
There is a good chance the report will single out Passport Canada, a federal department that was recently moved from Foreign Affairs to Citizenship and Immigration.
Benjamin Perrin, a University of British Columbia law professor and author of Invisible Chains: Canada’s Underground World of Human Trafficking, indicated in a 2010 opinion piece in the National Post that Fenwick’s passport was “renewed several times while he remained in India, allegedly sexually abusing two young Indian boys,” and that “Canada’s failure to take swift action outraged Indian officials.”
“I don’t understand why he was able to get a new passport, or why we weren’t asked to arrest him sooner,” he quoted Insp. Awanish Dvivedi of the New Delhi Police. “It appears to me the whole system in Canada was asleep.”
Perrin argued Canada “routinely” issues passports to sex offenders and noted the U.S. has had laws, similar to those Canada plans to introduce, in place since 2006.
An internal review by Nova Scotia’s Public Prosecution Service attributed the delays to the Crown for failing to “follow-up promptly as the case moved along,” largely because it was too busy dealing with other matters. It also pointed a finger at Passport Canada for renewing MacIntosh’s travel documents, the Indian government and laws related to extradition and privacy.
The report recommended the creation of an “electronic alert system” to notify Crown prosecutors when cases are growing stale and more training on “the process and principles of extradition.”
Following the report’s release, Nova Scotia’s justice minister apologized to the victims and called on the federal government to review its role and to make changes where necessary.
The first complainant came forward to the RCMP in January 1995 and charges were first laid against MacIntosh by the end of the year. In the ensuing years, eight more complainants came forward and by 2001, MacIntosh was facing 41 charges.
The telecom engineer had been living in India since 1994 but it wasn’t until 2006 that Canada formally sought his extradition. He was arrested in New Delhi almost a year later and was back in Canada by June 2007. It wasn’t until three years later that the first of his two cases came to trial.
Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre
When it comes to dropping the ball, the public needs to aware of how
the Ontario Government is funding Child Abuse and crime to the tune of a
Billion Dollars a year via the 48 private corporations called the
Children's Aid Societies for whom the only accountability are the small
group of "Child Protection" "Child and Family Services Court. (CFSA)
Judges,are hand selected to deal with cases, that are, run and operated
by private corporations who have a Billion dollars in funding to act
improperly.
One of the worst examples is the lawyer of the Ottawa Children's Aid
Society, Marguerite Isobel Lewis who personally fabricates evidence in
the court room and when incontrovertible evidence is provided to the
Ottawa Police they refuse to investigate. The Law Society refused to
investigate because its a matter thats in the courts. That's right, the
Law Society does not act when a Lawyer "obstructs justice".
Then you have the Judiciary of the Ontario Superior Court who when
presented incontrovertible evidence take every effort NOT to mention it
and to prevent the issue being raised.
What we have is a judiciary who think, lawyers are entitled to commit criminal offenses against the Administration of Justice with impunity and immunity.
The reality is Child Protection Law in Ontario is fundamentally
corrupted by 48 corrupt private corporations, their installation of
their own judges, some are in fact former CAS lawyers who all generally,
act as "Rubber Stamps" all too often removing children from good parents
and placing them with monsters. They even use their own "Hired Pens"
called the "Family Court Clinic".
When you have a Lawyer, Marguerite Isobel Lewis of the Ottawa
Children's Aid Society blatantly lying to a judge, fabricating evidence,
obstructing justice to ABUSE children, then you know we have problem in
society that is enough to make any sane parent flee Ontario at a call
from the organization that the lawyers refer to as "The Gestapo of
Ontario".
The conservatives are guaranteed to win huge political points by apologising for failing to extradite Ernest Fenwick.
When it comes to one name of child abusers, the Government needs to apologise for failing
to shut down / disband the 48 Private baby snatching corporations of Ontario.
There is one name that perhaps exemplifies why Ontario Parents live in fear of a knock on the door from
Ontario's Child Protection workers who work for
what is commonly referred to by lawyers as
"The Gestapo".
If you don't like Ernest Fenwick, spare a thought for all the children abused by the Fabrication of Evidence by lawyers and child protection worker in Ontario.
The Attorney Generals of Ontario and for Canada need to take a close look at
Marguerite Isobel Lewis, who is a lawyer for the Children's Aid Society of Ontario
who personally fabricates evidence with police support and who fail to prosecute for no other reason than because she is part of that criminal cartel called the Children's Aid Society of Ottawa.
What's the bet the Attorney General of Ontario will NEVER apologize for failing to prosecute
Marguerite Isobel Lewis.