The Importance and Limits of Police and Prosecutorial Independence

This seminar will examine police and prosecutorial independence in light of recent challenges to the rule of law including Trump’s politicalization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice in an apparent attempt to protect “friends” and punish “enemies”. This seminar will explore whether Canada could resist similar challenges. It will focus on police and prosecutorial independence as constitutional principles and examine a number of case studies including the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Donald Marshall Jr. Prosecution finding interference with police and prosecutorial independence in the investigations of two Cabinet ministers, the findings and proposals of the Ipperwash inquiry and the SNC Lavalin affair. The seminar will also explore the limits of police and prosecutorial independence, the prospects for democratic direction of policing and prosecutorial policies and the comparative dangers of political “interference” and “shirking”.