Last Thursday the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its ruling in Charkaoui v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2008 SCC 38. The ruling has significant implications for the Canadian security certificate regime, and for the practices of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (“CSIS”). Before discussing these implications, a brief overview of the case is in […]
For the first time in thirty years, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled on the fair comment defence in Canada. The Court's ruling in Simpson v. Mair 2008 SCC 40 broadens the scope of the fair comment defence and brings it in line with modern freedom of expression values protected by the Canadian Charter […]
In his annual review of the Supreme Court, excerpts of which were featured in both the Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail, Dean Patrick Monahan pointed to the existence of a number of interesting trends in the character, content and volume of the jurisprudence of Canada's top court. Among other things, Dean Monahan presented the […]
The tide appears to be turning in Mr. Charles Roach’s fifteen year struggle to challenge the requirement that new Canadians pledge allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II. On May 17, 2007, Justice Belobaba from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice gave a green light to a class action suit that Roach is leading, which challenges the […]
The Supreme Court's decision last week in R. v. Devine, 2008 SCC 36, is fairly simple, a straightforward application of existing caselaw to an unresolved issue of the rule of law as regards the admissibility of hearsay evidence under certain circumstances. Robert Devine was accused of robbing and assaulting one Robert Schroeder on two separate […]
The Supreme Court's decision last March in Dunsmuir v. New Brunswick, 2008 SCC 9 was widely recognized as a watershed event in Supreme Court jurisprudence. Indeed, even for those not steeped in administrative law, Dunsmuir appreciably changed the optics of judicial review; the court not only eschewed the much maligned 'patent unreasonableness' standard of review, […]
Sexual assault cases are often very difficult to resolve, particularly those in which the victim is a minor and the offender is a close adult family member. The difficulty arises not only due to the nature of the offence, but also, because more often than not, the only two witnesses to the crime are the […]
As promised, this is an analysis of the dissenting reasons by Abella J. in Stein v. Stein, 2008 SCC 35. The facts of the case can be found here as outlined by Matthew Shogilev. We begin, though, with a quick review of the majority’s reasons for the judgment. Stein v. Stein revolves around the question […]
The United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Boumediene et al v. Bush et al 549 U. S. __ (2007) has been controversial in ways most decisions rarely manage. Republican Presidential candidate John McCain attacked the decision, calling it "one of the worst decisions in history." (McCain did not elaborate as to whether Boumediene is […]
When a marriage ends in a divorce it is commonplace for assets to be split equally between spouses. According to a divided Supreme Court in Stein v. Stein 2008 SCC 35, the same 50/50 split that generally applies to the splitting of assets in divorce, also attaches to the apportionment of tax liability. Writing for […]