Accused Chinatown merchant

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Accused Chinatown merchant gains a high-profile supporter
1 ]& w* ?) L% `7 l7 SPosted: September 28, 2009, 9:33 AM by Rob Roberts


By Jamie Sturgeon, National Post  

Four months ago almost to the day, David Chan was arrested as he lay on the pavement down the street from his shop, Lucky Moose Food Mart, in downtown Chinatown.

The 36-year-old man and three other suspects were rounded up by police after a sprint down an alley adjacent to the Dundas Street West grocery store.

+ m" k/ N9 K: d/ v9 {9 v8 `"They basically had a foot chase down the alley and around the corner," says Peter Lindsey, Mr. Chan's lawyer.
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0 p4 O* B1 L/ x6 _- r+ QMr. Lindsey, along with more than 5,300 petition signatories, and now Jason Kenney, the federal Citizenship and Immigration Minister, say Mr. Chan is far from a criminal, and instead is an undeserving victim of police indifference.

And apathy toward the shoplifting that pervades the district is worsening, according to observers.
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It was on May 23 that Mr. Chan and two co-workers chased after a man attempting to steal a box of plants from Lucky Moose, owned by Mr. Chan. They caught and bound the thief before placing him in the back of a van and contacting police.

"[Mr. Chan and the two others] had him in the van. They open the doors to the van and say, 'Here he is.' And the police say, 'Everybody on the ground,' " Mr. Lindsey said yesterday.

Police charged the shopkeeper with assault, forcible confinement and kidnapping. Officers also found a box-cutter on Mr. Chan at the time of arrest, and levied one count of carrying a concealed weapon.
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The thief was charged and later pleaded guilty to theft. He spent 30 days in jail.
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Mr. Chan faces a pretrial hearing next month. If the Crown feels there are grounds to take the matter to trial, Mr. Chan, a father of two who emigrated from China to Toronto more than 18 years ago, faces significantly more jail time, his lawyer says.

Not surprisingly, the ordeal has stirred the local community, which has rallied to form the Victims' Rights Action Committee. The group is fundraising legal fees for Mr. Chan and attempting to have Rob Nicholson, the federal Minister of Justice, review citizen-arrest laws under the Criminal Code.

1 B! s- I- D8 l4 fWhile the uproar has yet to provoke a response from Mr. Nicholson, it did convince Mr. Kenney, the federal Immigration Minister, to pay a visit to Mr. Chan yesterday at his store.
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; C8 L6 L# G# U8 E8 r3 }; v2 l"I regard Mr. Chan as a victim of crime," said Mr. Kenney, who arranged for the last-minute exchange.
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"The law should remember that property owners have the right to use reasonable means to protect their property. That's something I've committed to looking at with my colleagues."

8 n. w3 c& |' m3 a2 nSpecifically, the committee is asking Mr. Nicholson to review Section 494 of the Criminal Code and more clearly define the rights citizens have in detaining someone alleged to be engaged in a criminal act.
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( q8 U# V* I- ~* Z  OChi-Kun Shi, a committee member, said the responding officers failed to "exercise their discretion and strike a better balance" in levelling the charges against Mr. Chan.

# ?- x# T3 k$ R: R+ q" S7 U  v' ]Although some reporters questioned whether Mr. Kenney was there to curry favour with Toronto's sizeable Chinese community with the prospect of a federal election lingering, the Minister dismissed that notion.

"I'm here to recognize that property crime is a serious issue across Canada, but particularly here in Toronto's Chinatown. The shoplifting is becoming a very serious problem," he said.

Jason Kenney shakes hands with Lucky Moose Food Mart owner David Chan as Chan's daughter Angela looks on yesterday. Photo by Peter J. Thompson, National Post