Though a few weeks old by now, the recent decision by the Federal Court in Poker v Mushuau Innu First Nation, 2012 FC 1 [Innu], was too interesting to go without comment. In Innu, the Court set aside a First Nation Band Council election due to a series of shortcomings in the election process.
Do you like to try before you buy? Also known as the “Apple iTunes” case, SOCAN v Bell considers whether the 30-second preview clips made available to consumers by online music retailers constitute an exception pursuant to s. 29 of the Copyright Act, RSC 1985, c C-42, which states that "[f]air dealing for the purpose […]
They have done away with the nightmarish scenes from George Orwell’s 1984. They have done away with the unnerving language of insidious dangers around the corner. They have even done away with hypothetical scenarios involving round-the-clock surveillance of each other. The decision that the nine justices on the United States Supreme Court reached last week […]
The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) was a scheme created by the federal government that bought all the wheat and barley produced by farmers in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and some parts of British Columbia and marketed it on behalf of farmers on the international markets. Subject to limited exceptions, farmers could not sell or transport wheat […]
At the Court is a biweekly feature profiling appeals that are scheduled to be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada. R v DC and R v Mabior: Revising Cuerrier? The Supreme Court will be revisiting the highly contentious Cuerrier decision on February 8 when it hears R v DC and R v Mabior together. Given […]
A Long-Awaited Departure Twenty years after arriving in Canada, and seventeen years after his initial deportation order, Leon Mugesera is back in Rwanda to face a slew of charges stemming from comments he made that allegedly sparked the beginning of the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Mugesera sought refuge in Canada in 1992 after being charged […]
In many ways, to ask a question is to answer it. That is to say, by framing a problem in one way instead of another, an adjudicator sets out on a line of inquiry that from the outset cannot be ideologically neutral, conditions the scope of possible answers, and defines the realm of possible results. […]
Mrs. Penner was on trial for the weighty offense of not properly displaying two valid license plates. Mr. Penner, her husband and the appellant in a juicy case before the SCC this month, sat in the very back of the courthouse, wearing sunglasses and chewing gum. Cst. Koscinski sat directly behind Mr. Penner, awaiting an […]
Between 2000 and 2008, under Chief Justice McLachlin's oversight, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC"), was unanimous in its disposition of division of powers issues in 25 rulings or reference opinions. Then, after the 2009 division in Consolidated Fastfrate Inc v Western Canada Council of Teamsters, [2009] 3 SCR 407, the SCC divided sharply in […]
Appeal Watch is a new feature that profiles cases that have been recently granted or denied leave to appeal at the Supreme Court of Canada. SCC Refuses to Revisit Murder Mens Rea Standard In the years following the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the courts in Canada used their new-found power […]