Janet Churnin, retired social worker, in court over census protest

A retired Toronto social worker is in court today over her refusal to fill out the short-form census two years ago.

Janet Churnin, 79, could face a fine, as well as jail time, for contravening the Statistics Act by not filling out the census forms.

However, Churnins choice was a deliberate one, made in protest of the cancellation of the long-form census, which she says was a valuable tool in helping marginalized Canadians, and because the form is processed by U.S. military contractor Lockheed Martin.

Churnin isnt backing down. She entered a plea of not guilty shortly after noon on Friday, in court at Toronto's Old City Hall.

"I wasn't going to fill it out because of the money going to Lockheed Martin and I wasn't going to fill it out because it was useless," Churin told CBC News in an earlierinterview in her downtown Toronto apartment.

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Her lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, saidtheir defence will bebuilt around Churnin'scharter rights to protection against unreasonable search and seizure rights hewill argue are threatened by StatsCans negligent reliance on the U.S. companys software.

"By allowing Lockheed Martin to have access to that data, it could end up being used for U.S. government purposes, which becomes a violation,' he said.

Rosenthal also represented 89-year-old activist Audrey Tobias, who similarly landed in court last month after she too refused to send in her short-form census.

In her case, thejudge told a packed courtroom she was "a martyr in the making," and that she wasn't guilty because there wasn't proof beyond a reasonable doubt that she intentionally broke the law the moment she decided not to send in the form. In that case, Rosenthal also based his defence on a charter violation, arguing that forcing her to complete the census went against her freedoms of conscience and free expression an argument the judge, who will also hear Churnins case, rejected.

Instead, Judge Ramez Khawlys decision to acquit Tobias stemmed from some conflicting testimony and the condition of her memory, which left him with enough reasonable doubt to let her off.

"It was a very unusual ruling not likely to be repeated," Rosenthal said.

Despite her lawyers apprehension, Churnin remains upbeat and says she is prepared to accept the sentence if she is convicted.

If they put me in jail for not signing a form and they don't put [Mayor] Ford in jail for smoking cocaine, well we've got a funny justice system, she said.