Judge acquits 89-year-old woman who refused census to protest U.S. military complex

An 89-year-old war veteran who refused to complete her census was cleared of charges after claiming her refusal was part of a protest against the American military complex.

Audrey Tobias declined to fill out the 2011 census form, claiming she was concerned her personal information would end up in the hands of U.S. war mongers.

Tobias, who participated in World War II but later became a peace activist, took umbrage with Statistics Canada using software from Lockheed Martin, a U.S. weapons manufacturer and argued that being forced to complete the censes violated her freedoms of conscience and free expression.

She has admitted to refusing to complete the form, which contravened the Statistics Act and could have resulted in a fine or jail time.

The ruling came as a bit of a surprise. It did not appear Tobias has much of a leg to stand on. In an agreed statement of fact, she admitted to breaking the law by not completing the census and the judge did not appear to be swayed by her argument. According to the Toronto Star's Liam Casey, Justice Razem Khawly rejected Tobias' defence, calling it a "Hail Mary pass."

[ Related: Toronto judge to rule in case of 89-year-old census refusenik ]

Tobias has previous said she won't pay a financial penalty, nor would she participate in community service because it would be an admission of guilt. At 89 years old, it seemed unlikely anyone was going to change her mind on that.

This could have factored into the decision to acquit Tobias. According to CBC News, the judge referred the decision to prosecute an 89-year-old woman a “PR disaster.” The federal government also recently did away with mandatory long-form censuses in favour of voluntary surveys, lending to questions about the relevance of the mandatory short-form census Tobias had been charged with ignoring.

The acquittal likely gives hope to 53 other Canadians who still face prosecution over their failure to complete the mandatory census. If she has been forgiven, why wouldn’t they be as well?

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