In Williams v Toronto, 2012 ONCA 915, the Ontario Court of Appeal explores the relationship between the City and a tenant, Mr. Williams, over loss of rent paid by tenants owed reduced rent under a statutory rent-reduction scheme. This case determined that there could be sufficient relationship between the tenants and the City to ground […]
On 14 December 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") unanimously affirmed in R v Khawaja, 2012 SCC 69, that the terrorism laws in Part II.1 of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 [Code], are constitutional. Mohammad Momin Khawaja, the first person charged under this new section, assailed the provision on two constitutional grounds. He argued […]
The Federal Court released its decision in Daniels v The Queen 2013 FC 6 [Daniels] on January 8, 2013. This decision was the highly anticipated end to 12 years of litigation between the federal government, individual litigants and the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples on the important question of whether Métis peoples and non-status Aboriginal peoples are […]
As Canada's MPs return to the House of Commons today they will be greated by jingle dancers on Parliament Hill. The gathering is one of more than thirty to be held across Canada as part of a national day of action in support of the Idle No More movement. Among other things, the movement seeks […]
On December 20th, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in R v NS, 2012 SCC 72 [NS]. As Kirk Makin stated in an article written for the Globe & Mail: “The key question for the judges was: Can religious ritual and observance trump the right of defendants to a fair trial? While the court […]
“This appeal raises a novel question,” Justices LeBel and Cromwell’s majority decision starts out: “[M]ay a wife, whose life is threatened by her abusive husband, rely on the defence of duress when she tries to have him murdered? While the lower courts took a more expansive view of the defence of duress—as being available to […]