On October 17, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") will hear the case Societe des Acadiens et Acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick Inc v Canada, [2007] 2 FCR 177, an appeal from the Federal Court of Appeal ("FCA"). This case deals with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s ("RCMP") language obligations under the constitution while performing New Brunswick […]
This November, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") will hear Doucette (Litigation Guardian of) v Wee Watch Day Care Systems Inc, an appeal from the B.C. Court of Appeal that can be found at [2006] BCCA 262 [Doucette]. Doucette will provide the SCC with the opportunity to weigh in on whether the police can legitimately use […]
Wow, what a week! Al Gore gets the Nobel Peace Prize as the consolation prize for losing the presidency in 2000 and the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") hands the Ontario election to Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals. Okay, so we did not have our own Bush v Gore, 531 US 98 (2000), but Dalton […]
Four months ago, in Health Services and Support – Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn v British Columbia, [2007] 2 SCR 391 [Health Services], the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") ruled that Canadian workers and unions have a constitutional right to engage in collective bargaining. In recent weeks, this young decision is beginning to exercise some effect on […]
United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas recently published an autobiography, entitled My Grandfather’s Son, and promoted the book with lengthy, public interviews on ABC. He is not the first sitting U.S. Supreme Court Justice to publish an autobiography, but I was surprised by the sense of disquiet I felt when thinking about a sitting […]
Marco Trotta and Anisa Trotta v Her Majesty the Queen is to be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") on October 12, 2007. At issue in this appeal are the rules of disclosure established in R v Stinchcombe, [1991] 3 SCR 326 [Stinchcombe], namely whether these rules continue to be applicable post-conviction. The SCC […]
Last Friday, the SCC released its decision in AYSA Amateur Youth Soccer Association v Canada (Revenue Agency), [2007] 3 SCR 217. We here at theCourt.ca first looked at this case back during the hearing in May 2007 when Jakki Warkentin discussed the benefits of expanding the common law definition of ‘charitable purpose’ to include associations […]
Last Saturday, September 29th, Osgoode Hall Law School’s Professional Development Centre was the site of an important and timely Continuing Legal Education symposium, the proceedings of which may be of considerable interest to readers of TheCourt.ca. The conference, organized by Osgoode professors Jamie Cameron and James Stribopoulos (who also serves as Editor-in-Chief of TheCourt.ca), offered […]
Consider asking yourself several questions: Is the process that has prevailed for much of the Supreme Court of Canada's history of Prime Ministers making appointments with informal consultations with a number of interested and knowledgeable parties a good process? Should there be a more open appointments process for Supreme Court of Canada justices? If so, […]
On October 11, 2007, the Supreme Court of Canada is scheduled to hear the appeal in Jedfro Investments (USA) Limited, et al v Nadia Jacyk, in her capacity as Litigation Administrator for the estate of Peter Jacyk, et al, a case which deals with the question of what happens to the enforceability of a contract […]