Deana Sherif, an Ottawa activist is a single mother of two, well-known for fierce pro-Palestinian, anti-fascist, and other protest activity.
April 15, 2024: During a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside a government building near Parliament Hill (related to an interfaith/Ahmadiyya event), two different men violently entered the protest. Deana used a Fox 40 electronic whistle to attempt to deter these men and call attention to authorities of the violence she was witnessing. Instead of charging these men, police charged her with eight offences, among them assault with a weapon using sound with the whistle. A charge never seen in any country, let alone in Canada. Despite having no criminal record and having strong roots within the greater Ottawa community, she was denied bail. The Crown stated that they wanted to “make an example of her.” The police and the Crown wrongfully accused Sherif of hate motivated crimes because one of the most violent attackers was wearing a kippah. This was a clear attempt at besmirching Deana’s reputation
After 53 long days in jail, she was finally released on bail conditions while she awaited trial. One specific condition stated: “Do not use any device or instruments that have sound projection or emission as their sole function, including a whistle or megaphone, but not including a cell phone or a radio.
While on those bail conditions, Deana protested neo-nazis, actual antisemites, who wore swastika t-shirts and the organizers themselves had swastikas tattooed on their bodies. At this protest, Deana squeezed a dog toy, shaped as a watermelon, at Nazis and called them names. The police decided that a dog toy noise was a breach of her conditions and arrested her and held her in custody where she was later charged with two more charges and denied bail again and held for an additional 287 days in jail away from her children, family, work and community in pre-trial detention while still not having a criminal record.
On the squeaky-toy charges, she was found guilty of causing a disturbance and breaching bail conditions (acquitted of resisting arrest). The judge made an error in law and Deana appealed his decision. The appeal was heard October 19, 2026, with a decision will be received soon. Deana’s lawyer seems confident that the conviction for the squeaky toy will be overturned. If so, this means Deana should have NEVER been held in custody for those 10 long months and never should have never had to pay the tens of thousands of dollars to defend herself, not once, but twice.
On the main April 2024 charges, a jury convicted her of assault with a weapon using sound of the electronic whistle; a novel finding treating the sound itself as capable of constituting a weapon, without proven physical contact in available video and criminal harassment. She was acquitted on the other charges. Hate-motivated aspects did not result in a conviction against her. Sentencing on May 6, 2026, imposed the equivalent of the ~17 months she had already spent in pre-trial custody (credited with allowance for conditions), plus one year of probation.
Deana was punished more severely than violent criminals.
Courts are not supposed to create new laws or new definitions of laws and therefore, Deana should have been acquitted of the assault with a weapon using sound. We believe the Judge erred in law when he directed the jury before the verdict.
Deana is now in the process of appealing these convictions and needs financial support from the community to take this to Canada’s higher courts.
Legal fees to date for Sherif’s defence to date have been around $90,000–$100,000 covering bail proceedings, trials, transcripts, and appeals.
Deana’s case highlights:
- The disproportionate overreach or “process as punishment” for non-violent protest tactics (noise via whistle or squeaky toy is common at demonstrations). The novel treatment of sound as a “weapon” is seen as a potential precedent that could chill free expression and assembly rights.
- Lengthy pre-trial detention for a mother, separated from her children, over these actions.
- High cost of defending (especially on novel legal issues and appeals), which can be crushing without community support.
- Context of her activism on Palestinian rights and other causes, with claims of selective enforcement or targeting of vocal protesters.
Please support Deana Sherif as she battles the racist anti-Palestinian justice system to set the record straight and to help protect Canadian’s right to be present and rightfully reject the government’s role in the genocide of our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
