TORONTO, ON: The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers for Constable Michael Brisco of the Windsor Police Service will be in the Ontario Divisional Court for a judicial review of his conviction and punishment on Wednesday, December 11. They are appealing a decision of the Ontario Civilian Police Commission that upheld Constable Brisco’s discreditable conduct conviction after he donated $50 donation to the Freedom Convoy. This case will test freedom of expression and the right of all Canadians to donate to the causes of their choice without fear of punishment.
The hearing will take place on December 11, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. ET in Courtroom 4 at Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street W., Toronto.
Early in 2022, Constable Brisco, a 15-year veteran of the Windsor Police Service with an exemplary record, was on unpaid leave. He had exercised his right to bodily autonomy by not taking the Covid vaccine, contrary to his employer’s mandate.
On February 8, 2022, he privately donated $50 to the Freedom Convoy through the GiveSendGo fundraising platform. While making that donation, Constable Brisco did not indicate that he was a police officer. At the time, he believed that his donation would be anonymous.
Soon after, GiveSendGo was hacked, and the names of donors to the Freedom Convoy were made public. The Ontario Provincial Police circulated the list to police agencies throughout the province for further investigation even while knowing it had been illegally obtained. The Windsor Police Service noticed Constable Brisco’s name and called him in for an interview. He did not hide the fact that he had donated.
On March 24, 2023, a disciplinary panel found him guilty of discreditable conduct and fined him two weeks’ pay. The prosecution’s case rested almost entirely on media reports in which various people, like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and then-Ottawa Police Chief Peter Sloly, expressed their opinions that the protest was illegal and dangerous. The protest was never deemed illegal by a court of law. In fact, the day before Constable Brisco had donated, a Superior Court judge in Ottawa had found that the protest was “…peaceful, lawful, and safe…” in the context of an interim ruling about the night-time horn-honking.
The prosecution argued that the Ambassador Bridge blockade at Windsor was connected to the Freedom Convoy and counted this as an aggravating factor when sentencing Constable Brisco. There is no evidence that the two protests were connected. The Ambassador Bridge blockade did not receive any support, monetary or otherwise, from the Ottawa protest or the GiveSendGo donation page.
Constable Brisco appealed the disciplinary panel’s decision to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission in June 2023. During the appeal hearing, the issue of the illegally obtained donor’s list was raised. The Commission ignored that fact and upheld the disciplinary panel’s decision in February 2024.
Lawyers for Constable Brisco maintain that the grounds for judicial review are that there is no evidence to support a finding of discreditable conduct. Police Services Act hearings require evidence on a “clear and convincing” standard, which is higher than the civil standard. The evidence of media reports on opinions that the Freedom Convoy was illegal does not meet that standard. They will also argue that it is unreasonable to not consider the fact the evidence of the donation was obtained illegally.
Lawyer Darren Leung says, “Canadians in any profession should be free to express themselves on whatever political issue they feel strongly about. Constable Brisco should not be punished for supporting a perfectly legal protest which certain politicians such as the Prime Minister disliked. Furthermore, the prosecution’s evidence amounted to nothing more than newspaper clippings containing the opinions of certain politicians and public figures. We are hopeful that the Divisional Court will see that such evidence is far below the threshold required to support a conviction for discreditable conduct.”
