Racial profiling case subject of law lecture

As Dee Brown drove down the Don Valley Parkway on November 1, 1999, he was pulled over by a constable of the Metro Toronto Police and, after failing a roadside screening test, charged with driving over the legal blood alcohol limit.

In what lawyer Steven Skurka calls “the case of my career,” Brown argued that he had been detained without proper cause because he was a black man driving an expensive car.

Skurka will discuss this case and the landmark Canadian decision in a free public lecture Wednesday, March 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Moot Court, Ron W. Ianni Law Building.

A certified specialist in criminal law, Skurka is a former adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School. Besides the Dee Brown racial profiling case, he has been involved in the Maple Leaf Gardens sex abuse scandal, the Guy Paul Morin wrongful conviction inquiry, and the test case of the country’s anti-gang laws.

He is the legal analyst for CTV national television network and NewsTalk 1010 CFRB, where he provides expert legal commentary and analysis on a variety of current legal cases and issues. Wednesday’s event is presented by Windsor Law as part of its Bernard Cohn Memorial Lecture Series.

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