As of late, "access to justice" seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue. The Ontario Legislature has drafted an Access to Justice Act, 2006, SO 2006, c 21, and Prime Minister Harper's cancellation of the Court Challenges Program in late 2006 raised some serious concerns about the ability of equality-seeking groups to challenge […]
Introduction (Ambivalent History, Structure and Opinions) Depending on the analytical standpoint one takes, the Nigerian Supreme Court is either eight1 years this 2007 or, it is 44.2 Otherwise, it is either 933 or, it is 144.4 And, as with her age, this remarkable lady has not been quite forthcoming regarding her size, her shape or […]
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear the appeal in the Danier Leather case, a case which has been followed by the securities bar and is, sadly, not about bawdy houses in Montreal. At issue in this case is the interpretation of some key terms and provisions in the Ontario Securities Act, RSO 1990, c […]
On February 12, I wrote about the hearing of Phoenix Bulk Carriers Ltd v Kremikovtzi Trade, a case in which the Federal Court of Appeal, while adhering to its own precedent, openly invited the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") to reverse its decision. Justice Nadon outlined the reasons why he felt a different result should […]
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") handed down its decision in R v Bryan, 2007 SCC 12, a case dealing with the right to publish federal election results on election night. The stakes were pretty low for both sides: the accused was convicted at trial for violating a provision of the Canada Elections Act, […]
In a leave application decision released this morning, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") confirmed that Adil Charkaoui (whose recent appeal was the subject of much discussion here at The Court) will be back at the SCC for another hearing. Mr. Charkaoui is once again raising constitutional and administrative law issues relating to his detention […]
In Young v Bella, [2006] 1 SCR 108, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") was faced with the very difficult task of balancing the goal of protecting children with the interests of informants and persons under suspicion of child abuse. The case dealt with the duty of care between informants and those suspected of child abuse […]
In his article "Judges Shouldn't be Muzzled," published yesterday in the National Post, David Asper countered an earlier editorial that criticized the statements of C.J. McLachlin for her recent speech delivered in Toronto to the Empire Club. Asper took issue with the underlying premise of the criticism: It used to be that when a lawyer […]
I attended a conference on the weekend where, in the context of a panel on police accountability and access to justice, I had the opportunity to hear James Stribopoulos speak briefly on how police powers have broadened in the post-Charter era. Particularly, Professor Stribopoulos highlighted the difficulties inherent in relying on the exclusionary provision in […]
The Income Tax Act [ITA] "is the battlefield on which over 21 million Canadian taxpayers engage with the Minister of National Revenue" (Justice Binnie, writing in Imperial Oil Ltd v Canada; Inco Ltd v Canada, [2006] 2 SCR 447 [Imperial Oil]). The rules of engagement are immensely complex. The ITA (including historical references and various annotations) […]