TORONTO -- Duncan Shaw was considered a cautious judge, not prone to making waves.
Suddenly, he is Canada's most reviled public figure, targeted by threats and receiving police protection because of his ruling that possession of child pornography should not be a crime.Callers to radio talk shows and court offices have denounced him. Newspaper editorials have called his decision appalling. Some conservative groups are demanding that all judges henceforth be subject to psychiatric assessment.
"His reasonings are so far out of synch with where I believe Canadians are," said Jim Abbott, a Parliament member for the right-wing Reform Party. "Any judge that puts other rights above the protection of children does not reflect the values of Canadian society."
Shaw, a justice for 11 years with the British Columbia Supreme Court, lost his low profile Jan. 15 when he ruled that the federal law against possessing child pornography violated the privacy and freedom of expression rights of John Sharpe, a retired city planner from Vancouver.
Shaw didn't object to the laws against producing or distributing child pornography but said there was no evidence that possessing such material posed any direct threat to children.
"The intrusion into freedom of expression and the right of privacy is so profound that it is not outweighed by the limited beneficial effects of the prohibition," Shaw wrote.
The ruling triggered a nationwide outcry. Within days, British Columbia's attorney general, Ujjal Dosanjh, said the province would appeal, and federal authorities said they were ready to defend the law before the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.
British Columbia and federal judicial offices were flooded with calls complaining about Shaw, whose secretary fielded at least one telephoned death threat.
Lloyd McKenzie, a British Columbia Supreme Court spokesman, said that in a 40-year legal career he had never seen any judge targeted by such invective.
Dosanjh, even while criticizing Shaw's ruling, said judges must be free to rule according to their conscience and requested adequate police protection for Shaw.
Sharpe, 65, an unapologetic defender of adult-adolescent sex, also has received threats. Posters featuring his photograph and some of his comments have been tacked up at stores in his neighborhood.
Sharpe couldn't afford a lawyer after his arrest in 1995, so he defended himself on charges of possessing photographs of nude children, as well as pornographic literature.