The Supreme Court of Canada rendered a 5-4 decsion today in the case of R v Beaudry, 2007 SCC 5, denying the appeal and upholding the conviction. Charron J. wrote the majority judgment (LeBel, Abella and Rothstein JJ. concurring); Binnie J. wrote concurring reasons; Fish J. wrote dissenting reasons (McLachlin C.J. and Bastarache and Deschamps […]
With all the commentary The Court has been compiling on the SCC's work, I thought it might be interesting to spend some time speculating on one of the upcoming decisions yet to be handed down. In Canadian Western Bank v Alberta, 2007 SCC 22 [Canadian Western Bank], we have an interesting clash. Here we have the appellant […]
"If aboriginal rights are not permitted to evolve and take modern forms, then they will become utterly useless. Surely the Crown cannot be suggesting that the respondents, all of whom live on a reserve, would be limited to building wigwams." (para 49) The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the right of Maliseet and Mi'kmaq […]
Last week, the Supreme Court released its decision in Double N Earthmovers Ltd v Edmonton (City), 2007 SCC 3. In that case, the SCC had the opportunity to review the law governing the tender process. Many law students fondly remember learning about the cases of Ron Engineering and M.J.B. Enterprises in first year contracts. Learning […]
The Supreme Court of Canada rendered a judgment today in McGill University Health Centre (Montreal General Hospital) v Syndicat des employés de l'Hôpital général de Montréal, 2007 SCC 4. Deschamps J. (Binnie, LeBel, Fish, Charron and Rothstein JJ. concurring) wrote the majority judgment allowing the appeal while Abella J. (McLachlin C.J. and Bastarache J. concurring) […]
This is going to be the first of hopefully many "Point / Counter-point" segments at The Court. My post today will provide a supporting opinion on the recent decision in Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v Canada (Commissioner of Customs and Revenue), 2007 SCC 2 [Little Sisters], and Corey Wall's entry next Wednesday will provide a […]
The Supreme Court handed down a judgment today in Double N Earthmovers Ltd v Edmonton (City), 2007 SCC 3. In a 5-4 decision (Abella and Rothstein JJ. writing, LeBel, Deschamps and Fish JJ. concurring / Charron J. writing dissenting reasons, McLachlin C.J. and Bastarache and Binnie JJ. concurring), the Court dismissed the appeal. The SCC […]
In Multani v Commission scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys, 2006 SCC 6, the Supreme Court of Canada held, by a score of 8-0, that a school board had erred in banning an orthodox Sikh student from wearing a kirpan, a ceremonial metal dagger, to school. While the media focused on the competing values at stake (pitting freedom of […]
Imagine the legal principles of solicitor client privilege and access to information embodied by two boxers entering into the ring. The two principles were set against each other in Goodis v Ontario (Ministry of Correctional Services), 2006 SCC 31 [Goodis], and solicitor client privilege won by technical knock out on July 7, 2006. To give access […]
Jury nullification is the Canadian criminal justice system's dirty little secret. In reality, the only thing that ever stands between any jury and the potential of nullifying a prosecution is the fidelity of jurors to their oath. Because of that oath, when the evidence furnishes incontrovertible proof establishing each element of the offence charged, a […]