Next month, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") will hear submissions in an appeal from BMP Global Distribution Inc v Bank of Nova Scotia (cob Scotiabank), 2007 BCCA 52. This case involves a mysterious counterfeit cheque in an amount of over $900,000 which was couriered to BMP by some unknown party. BMP, believing that the […]
In R v AM, [2008] 1 SCR 569 ("AM"), released on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC"), dismissed the Crown’s appeal, holding that the sniffer-dog search at issue violated section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and that the evidence gathered during the search should be excluded under s. 24(2) of […]
A Supreme Court appointment has been quite a different creature in Canada than it has been in the United States. Canada’s traditionally quiet process has come nowhere near stirring up the vitriolic, knock-down-drag-out political brawls that have played out in the U.S. Senate. Nor has Canada given rise to a neologism as the 1987 defeated […]
In a peculiar coincidence, or perhaps as a way of joining in all the April tax filing fun, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") on Wednesday heard an appeal from Lipson v Canada, [2007] 4 FCR 641, a case about the legal limits of tax avoidance within Canada’s ‘General Anti-Avoidance Rule’ ("GAAR") under the Income […]
I too was aghast when I read the headline in the Globe and Mail that the Supreme Court of Canada had "shot down" the two beer defence. I was about a third of the way through Madame Justice Charron's majority judgment when the first call came in from CTV News asking for a comment. By […]
In March of 2007, the SCC’s Office of the Registrar published the results of its first ever online client satisfaction survey. Looming large within the administrative background of every application, motion, appeal and decision, the SCC's Registry Branch acts as the central gatekeeper and traffic manager of filed documentation at the Supreme Court. As such, […]
The unexpected retirement of Justice Michel Bastarache leaves Prime Minister Harper with a second appointment to make to the Supreme Court. Last time, he played it safe and appointed someone to replace Justice Major from the shortlist prepared by the Martin government, but this time he has a completely free hand. The politics involved in […]
The SCC released its decision in R v Gibson, [2008] 1 SCR 397 ["Gibson"], on Thursday, April 17. The case split the SCC three ways: Charron J. wrote for the majority (Bastarache, Abella, Rothstein JJ. concurring); LeBel J. wrote a reasons concurring in result (McLachlin C.J. and Fish J. concurring) and Deschamps J. wrote a […]
This month marks the 10 year anniversary of the historic Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") decision in Vriend v Alberta, [1998] 1 SCR 493; a defining moment in the rights of gays and lesbians in Canada. It was also a proud occasion in the history of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund ("LEAF"), an […]
Recently, the Alberta Human Rights Commission sought leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") in the case of Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission) v Kellogg Brown & Root (Canada) Co, 2007 ABCA 426, a 2007 human rights law decision by the Alberta Court of Appeal that looks at whether a post-offer, pre-employment […]