INFORMANTS BROKE LAW 11 TIMES IN 2005-06, REPORT SAYS

The RCMP authorized undercover agents to break the law with immunity
from criminal charges 11 times in 2005-06, during investigations into
drug trafficking, counterfeiting, alleged corruption of public
officials and tobacco smuggling, says a new federal report.

The Mounties are required annually to disclose their law-breaking
activities under a five-year-old federal law that allows them to be
shielded from prosecution while acting in the line of duty, a
controversial power the Canadian Civil Liberties Association has
condemned as "unwarrantedly dangerous."

All of the reported cases last year were carried out by civilian
agents of the police, who are typically informants, rather than the
police themselves.

The 2002 legislation is undergoing a mandatory review, which has been
stalled since last year while the Commons justice committee reviews
new federal crime bills.

During public hearings last spring, there were calls to repeal or
dramatically rein in the "law enforcement justification provisions,"
which protect the police and their agents from prosecution when they
commit criminal offences on the job, other than sex crimes, violence
causing bodily harm and obstructing justice. The bar is that their
conduct must be "reasonable and proportional" to the crimes being investigated.

The legislation was passed in 2002 following a Supreme Court of
Canada ruling that said police did not have carte blanche to break
the law in the line of duty, but left it open for Parliament to spell
out some powers.

"Our position is that it should never have been enacted and it should
be repealed," said Canadian Civil Liberties Association
vice-president Ken Swan.

The report provides few details of the crimes committed, prompting
the civil liberties association to say the information given to the
public is so vague it's virtually meaningless.