Informers who cooperate with the police in the investigation of drug-related crimes often face grave danger once they become known as “rats” by their criminal associates. The law of informer privilege is a sacrosanct protection designed to guard the identity of informers to protect them from retribution and, in doing so, encourage informers to cooperate […]
One night, you could listen to Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” with your friends, remix it with another tune and then pen a bestselling book titled Peter and the Wolf and Zombies. That would all change in 1994 with the signing of the Uruguay Round Agreements Act, a trade agreement that restored the copyright […]
In R v Katigbak, [2011] 3 SCR 326, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") was called on to clarify the nature and scope of the child pornography defence in s. 163 of the Criminal Code, RSC, 1985, c C-46 [Criminal Code] that existed before and after legislative amendment in 2005. Robert Katigbak was found with […]
In Canada (Canadian Human Rights Commission) v Canada (Attorney General), [2011] 3 SCR 471 [Canada v Canada], Ms. Mowat filed a sexual harrassment complaint against her former employer, the Canadian Forces. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ("Tribunal") found that her complaint was partially substantiated and awarded her $4,000 for “suffering in respect of feelings or self respect.” When […]
In September 2005, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") held that British Columbia’s Tobacco Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, SBC 2000, c 30 [CRA] was constitutional in British Columbia v Imperial Tobacco Canada Ltd., [2005] 2 SCR 473. The CRA allows the provincial government to recover smoking-related healthcare costs from tobacco companies. In response […]
In early October the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom [‘UKSC’] was asked to determine whether evidence with an independent life of its own, obtained from an individual without a lawyer, is admissible in light of the respective guarantees to a fair trial and to legal advice in Articles 6(1) and 6(3) of the European […]
After much wrangling in cases such as R v Collins, [1987] 1 SCR 265 [Collins] and R v Stillman, [1997] 1 SCR 607 [Stillman], the Supreme Court of Canada finally recognized the full purpose of s. 9 of the Charter in the landmark decision of R v Grant, [1993] 3 SCR 223 [Grant] two years ago. In many ways, R v Côté, [2011] 3 […]
On October 17, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada released its landmark decision in Crookes v Newton, [2011] 3 SCR 269 [Crookes], affirming 2009 BCCA 392 and 2008 BCSC 1424. At issue was whether creating an internet hyperlink to defamatory material constitutes "publication" of the material for the purposes of defamation law. The case challenged […]
Before being born again, Bill Whatcott had it rough: by 14 he was living on the streets, selling himself to older men to survive, sniffing glue to get by. His religious rebirth transformed him into an outspoken member of the Christian Truth Activists. The religious teachings he chooses to preach in this new life do […]
Cargill Incorporated (“Cargill”) is a US-based company that manufactures high fructose corn syrup (“HFCS”), a low-cost substitute for cane sugar that is used as a sweetener in soft drinks. Mexico, the world’s second largest per capita consumer of soft drinks, implemented various trade barriers to protect its domestic sugar cane industry from foreign-produced HFCS. In […]