http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Census+opponent+appeals+conviction/5577944/story.html
Census opponent appeals conviction
A 61-year-old Saskatoon woman is asking a Queen’s Bench judge to overturn her conviction for refusing to fill out Statistics Canada’s formerly-mandatory long form census in 2006.
Justice Dan Konkin reserved his decision on Sandra Finley’s appeal until an unspecified later date after hearing arguments Wednesday from her lawyer and two federal Crown prosecutors.
A provincial court judge granted Finley an absolute discharge – allowing her to avoid any penalty or criminal record – earlier this year, after convicting her of failing to comply with the census.
Finley was charged before a policy change by the federal government last summer made completion of the long-form census voluntary rather than mandatory, removing the threat of criminal prosecution, fines and jail for failure to answer personal questions.
At her trial last year, and again during her appeal hearing, defence lawyer Steven Sieferling argued the census violated Finley’s constitutional right to privacy.
Finley has said her refusal to complete the census was a form of protest against the federal government conducting business with a Canadian subsidiary of U.S.-based Lockheed Martin, a massive defence contractor, aerospace manufacturer and technology company.
“I will have done more harm than good if the judge’s ‘guilty’ decision is allowed to stand,” she wrote in a statement sent to media outlets before Wednesday’s hearing.
“I see this as part of the Occupy movement that will bring an end to governments/universities that serve the corporate interest. The interests of the military-industrial complex in government and in the universities, with taxpayers footing the bill, needs to be stopped.”