Here's my response to Pat's silly comments trying make up for saying that we have a presumption of innocence under the community code. I think his wonderful little idiotic comments about the "golden thread" are an excellent example of rhetoric in the finest sophist style. He appears to answer the question but does not address the substantive issues raised so, let me raise them again.
While this current issue is a systemic problem with the community code the point is that innocent until proven guilty is only words unless backed by something more substantive than decisions based on the preponderance of evidence.
The legal rights that people enjoy are built on each other to provide a safety net against abuse. In the case of STFX this is not the case. You may be innocent until proven guilty but that means nothing when the accusation, the RA writing you up, counts towards that preponderance of evidence. Let see if I can dream up a situation where this "presumption of innocence" falls
Let say there is a person living in residence call with a bottle ban, lets call her Jane. Now lets say Jane's friend comes in with a beer bottle and leaves it in Jane's room. Jane decides to clean up and throw out the bottle. Her RA sees Jane with the empty bottle and writes Jane up.
What did Jane do wrong? Where does the burden of proof lie? In the Candian legal system the burden would lie with the state to prove that the bottle was in fact Jane's. At St FX, it would be up to Jane to prove that the bottle was not hers.
That's the problem, it's called reverse onus if you have a purported innocent until proven guilty system but in Canada it was decided that reverse onus violate the presumption of innocence.
If you don't believe me spend a little time and read this. It's the R v. Oakes Supreme Court Ruling where the reverse onus is deemed unconstitutional.
R. v. Oakes, [1986] 1 S.C.R. 103
Oh, and if you think that this is University and people shouldn't be held to the same standards as criminal justice system then remember you can get kicked out of school for violating the community code of conduct... Tell how easy is it to get into another institution after being expelled? Think that might affect your chances? Could that have far reaching ramifications to your job prospects and life chances?
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