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In Canada, you can shoot, stab and bludgeon an intruder who comes into your home with hostile intentions, and the legal system will almost always determine that you didn’t do anything wrong.

But the problem, according to self-defence advocates, is that this determination often only comes at the tail end of a ruinous and years-long legal battle.

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“Self-defence in Canada; yes, it most certainly exists, but it exists as a defence at trial, as opposed to a discretionary act that the police have in determining whether or not to press charges in the first plac

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