I would have to say that I was very torn when I read Justice Khawly's decision in R. v. Chen.
On the one hand, I think the reason that all of the political parties seem to have taken hold of this case and sympathized with Mr. Chen...that resonates with me, because I think the story of a shop owner who is trying to protect his store is something that resonates. There is an unfairness issue, when you're trying to protect your property and the police arrive and end up charging you with much more serious offences than the thief was charged with.
On the other hand, I share the concerns of Professor MacDonnell. We have somebody who really exercised some fairly robust powers of citizen's arrest. While I think it's important that people be able to protect their property, what we have to keep in mind is that we're talking about the offence of shoplifting.
The president of the Canadian Police Association testified, I think back on February 9, at this committee and suggested something similar: that really we have to keep this in perspective, that we're talking about these property offences. When you're increasing the powers of citizens to effect such arrests, you have to keep that in mind. The president of the Canadian Police Association went on to say that we have to be careful that they may not be mere shoplifters; they may have gang affiliations and may be far more dangerous than you think. But I think the underlying sentiment there is a correct one.