Faisal Bhabha, an associate professor of law at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, said Cooley “should be seriously considering a civil action for malicious prosecution and unlawful detention by the police.”

“It appears there never was a basis for the charge to be laid. Any alleged basis was clearly improper and quite likely discriminatory,” Bhabha said. “The laying of the charge would have had a chilling effect on the free exercise of Charter rights in the city and across the country. Therefore, the police should investigate to determine how such an error was made.”