The jury is to be comprised of our ‘peers’, yes, but they are also expected to return a legally defensible verdict. The instruction to the jury of how to apply the law is absolutely essentially for the system to function properly. They aren’t legal experts and proper jury instruction by the judge don’t turn them into that, but it does equip them to properly and knowledgeably apply the law pertaining to the case- to make sure that the law is applied the way Parliament intended. This is what both the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court or Canada sided with.
Neither the OCOA or the SCC appear to have looked at the intent of both the amendments to the law, and the purpose to appeals.
-- one is only supposed to overturn a lower court IF a rule of law was violated that would cause a miscarriage of justice.
- the problem is both of those Courts are looking at Paragraph 34(2)(c) in a vacuum - and not what the entire purpose of it was.
Which was part of the streamlining process for the removal of the unlawful assault portion.
What they are doing in this case is effectively undoing the law by choosing to reimagine the reasonings behind the changes.
34(2)(c) the person's role in the incident;
This factor in part serves to bring into play considerations surrounding the accused's own role in instigating or escalating the incident. Under the old law, the distinction between section 34 and 35 was based on the defender's role in commencing the incident, creating higher thresholds for accessing the defence where the accused was the provoker of the incident, as opposed to an innocent victim. As the new law contains only one defence that does not distinguish between conflicts commenced by the accused and those commenced by the victim, this paragraph signals that, where the facts suggest the accused played a role in bringing the conflict about, that fact should be taken into account in deliberations about whether his or her ultimate response was reasonable in the circumstances.
The problem is that the OCOA and SCC are using that to change the narrative.
Investigating on ones property isn't instigating - and neither is bringing a firearm on ones own property.
There is a big difference in this case - and the Courts are not following any of the guidance in them.