Media

Recent news coverage


Shane's legal advocacy & commentary has been featured on:








March 1, 2022 - CBC News - Police ignored Ontario human rights code during migrant worker DNA sweep, lawyer argues

January 16, 2022 - The Palestine Chronicle - Time to Revoke Charitable Status from Canadian Group Funding Israeli Military

November 22, 2021 - CBC News - Human rights hearing on allegations of racial profiling of migrant workers caught in mass DNA sweep begins

July 20, 2020 - Global News - ​Animal rights activists speak out after truck driver charged in death of protester in Burlington


March 14, 2020 - CTV W5 - Canadian serving life in Florida prison seeks to serve his sentence in Canada


March 6, 2020 - Globe & Mail - Five correctional officers charged in assault of inmate at Toronto South Detention Centre


​May 13, 2019 - Toronto Sun - Attacker spared conviction for assault on Sun photographer


January 8, 2018 - CTV News - Canadian with 160-year prison sentence in U.S. back in Canada as a free man

December 7, 2017 - CBC News - Long Time Gone: The Derek Twyman Story


November 30, 2017 - VICE News - Human Rights Commission Will Investigate Racial Profiling by Toronto Police

November 1, 2017 - National Post - Florida governor offers no transfer hope for Canadian jailed 31 years


October 17, 2017 - Al Jazeera - Quebec to vote on controversial face veil ban


June 18, 2017 - Hamilton Spectator - Inquest jury urges drug crackdown after Chilean migrant’s death in Milton jail

June 12, 2017 - CHCH News - Coroner’s inquest into the death of a Chilean man, jailed on immigration charges


August 8, 2016 - CBC Metro Morning - Migrant farm workers lose belongings in fire

August 5, 2016 - Jamaica Star - Farm workers lose everything in Canada fire


October 9, 2015 - Globe & Mail - Staff calls out Toronto South Detention Centre for crisis in inmate health care


August 25, 2015 - CTV News - Woman upset after being turned away from faith-affiliated social housing building


January 24, 2015 - Toronto Star - Toronto jail inmate says he was sent to solitary for having HIV


July 3, 2014 - Toronto Sun - Conjugal visits 'not an automatic right'


June 24, 2014 - CBC - Inmates continue legal fight to wear upside-down maple leaf t-shirts in prison


May 29, 2014 - Kingston Whig - Inmates' lawsuit over T-shirts not over: lawyer


March 13, 2014 - Jamaica Gleaner - Vybz Kartel Trial: The legal teams


December 12, 2013 - Toronto Star - OPP faces racial profiling complaint from migrant workers asked for DNA samples


July 29, 2013 - CBC - Migrant worker in Leamington awarded $23K in damages


October 2, 2012 - Toronto Star - Kingston Penitentiary won't deliver Toronto Star letters to inmates


August 30, 2012 - Toronto Star - Canadian inmates sue government over T-shirt ban


Shane's passion for social justice and human rights originated from his time living in rural eastern Canada and witnessing first-hand how working class and poor people are disproportionately and systematically affected by the criminal law.


During a portion of his legal education Shane worked with one of Toronto's top criminal defence firms. There he assisted on cases that included charges of first degree murder, prohibited firearms, fraud, narcotics, theft, assault and prostitution. The experience solidified his commitment to provide fierce representation for all clients regardless of the allegations.


With the goal of providing his clients with the best defence possible, Shane founded Martínez Law. Today the firm offers its services across Toronto, Oshawa, North York, Scarborough and beyond. Through combining a social justice perspective with innovative legal analysis and tireless dedication, Martínez Law is able to guarantee its clients a loyal and aggressive criminal defence against the charges they are faced with. Shane has also acted as counsel in Coroner's inquests in relation to the deaths of people who have been killed by the police or who have died in jail.


From September 2013 to March 2014 Shane completed a period of academic leave to become qualified to practice law in the Commonwealth Caribbean. During that time he lived in Kingston, Jamaica, and assisted attorney-at-law Michael Lorne as part of the defence team for dancehall artist Shawn Storm, one of the co-accused in the Vybz Kartel murder trial.

Shane regularly writes and lectures about police brutality, racial profiling, the prison industrial complex and transnational labour. He also works closely with Justice 4 Migrant Workers (J4MW) providing legal education and pro bono assistance for Caribbean and Mexican migrant farm workers in southern Ontario.


​In addition to operating Martínez Law, Shane serves as the Deputy Legal Director at LiUNA Local 3000, where he helps defend the rights of Ontario's front line healthcare workers. He is also an adjunct professor of Prison Law, Policy and Reform at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School.


Current memberships:


Shane Martínez  B.A., LL.B, L.E.C.

Barrister & Solicitor


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