Aptly described by Fish J. as the “third chapter in a tale of two statements,” the SCC’s recent decision in R. v. S.G.T., 2010 SCC 20, provides clarity on the confessions and derived confessions rules. The plot of the “tale” involved a stepfather, S.G.T., accused of allegedly sexually assaulting his teenage stepdaughter A. S.G.T. was […]
Newfoundland has failed in its latest effort to compel AbitibiBowater Inc. to clean up industrial sites that the company once owned and operated in the province. The Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Newfoundland v. AbitibiBowater Inc., 2010 QCCA 965, denied the province leave to appeal of an earlier decision by the Superior Court in […]
On January 22, 2010 the Canadian Human Rights Commission (“CHRC”) filed a memorandum (PDF link) with the Federal Court, appealing the decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ("CHRT") in Warman v. Lemire, 2009 CHRT 26 (PDF link). The CHRT determined that the hate speech provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act, R.S.C. 1985, H-6 (“CHRA”) […]
Foreign companies will certainly pay greater attention to provincial limitation periods in the future, due to the release of the unanimous SCC decision in Yugraneft Corp. v. Rexx Management Corp., 2010 SCC 19. Rothstein J., writing for the SCC, held that a Russian arbitral award was subject to the shorter of two potentially applicable limitation […]
TheCourt.ca commented recently on the SCC decision in R. v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16 where it was affirmed that the use of the Wigmore criteria was a practical method to judicially approve a promise of journalist-source confidentiality on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of this post is to briefly comment on Wigmore and a […]
On May 14, 2010 the SCC released its judgment in R. v. Hurley, 2010 SCC 18, which addresses the current state of the law with respect to Vetrovec warnings. In the proceeding, the prosecution relied on the testimony of a jailhouse informant who had a motive to lie and was thus considered to be lacking […]
Background and Facts R. v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16 is a case stemming directly from the “Shawinigate” scandal involving former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. According to a timeline provided by the National Post, the genesis of “Shawinigate” was the sale of a golf course and adjacent hotel by the former PM and his […]
Last week marked a pivotal turning point in the development of Aboriginal law and the demarcation of federal-provincial jurisdiction. For the first time ever, the SCC was faced with the challenge of interpreting the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement (the Treaty) in its decision in Quebec (Attorney General) v. Moses, 2010 SCC 17. The […]
Last week, I posted on the considerations that Members of Parliament should keep in mind when negotiating a process for the House of Commons to receive documents that the House ordered the Government to produce on December 10, 2009, in relation to the Afghan detainee transfer question before the House's Special Committee on the Canadian […]
Most Torontonians have been inconvenienced by the Toronto Transit Commission (“TTC”), but ultimately sigh and move on. This is not the case for a group of small-business owners, who have launched a $105 million lawsuit against the Ontario government, the City of Toronto and the TTC for lost business as a result of the St. […]