Manitoba’s Provincial Offenses Act (POA), enacted November 2017, has extinguished a number of critical legal rights for Manitobans.  The Act was largely implemented in order to facilitate the $4 million per month revenue stream coming from traffic enforcement, which itself is generated by missing school zone signs, illegal signing practices and shortened amber light times. 

These rights are critical not only to people who cannot afford $300-900 traffic tickets, but the problems in the POA are now impacting other proceedings such as bail hearings. 

Some of the key rights extinguished by the Act:

• Defendants are now guilty until proven innocent. “Certificate evidence” means that police write a statement of what happened and pass it to the court, where it is taken as true until the defendant proves otherwise.
• Defendants no longer have a right to cross examine the accusing officer, even though the prosecution can still cross-examine the defendant and any witnesses they bring.
• Although the POA provides accused the right to choose their representative, the prosecution consistently moves to have successful opponents removed from court.  Although they haven’t been successful before judges, they have been successful in front of Judicial Justices of the Peace, who do not require legal training of any kind.
• The accused no longer has the right to appeal decisions. Instead, they must ask the court for permission to do so (that is, they must argue for leave from the court to appeal).

We currently have a number of cases before Queen’s Bench and have been arguing for the court’s permission (leave) to appeal these key issues.  While we have invested thousands of dollars on lawyers, the Crown has unlimited resources and has taken advantage of every opportunity to increase our costs.  Although a number of lawyers have supported us with pro bono work or discounted rates, costs are becoming unsustainable and we have lost several cases because of it.

We are asking for support from Manitobans who are concerned, or who may be affected by these legal changes in Manitoba.

Donated funds will be used strictly for legal fees and expenses, in most cases to lawyers who have committed to helping us at discounted rates.  Any funds remaining after all procedures are completed will be donated to the John Howard Society of Manitoba, whose website can be accessed here: http://johnhoward.mb.ca/

We have posted a number of key documents and will continue to update material here.

If you are interested in donating, please visit our GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/protect-the-legal-rights-of-manitobans