Over the past couple of decades, there have been calls to remove God from Canada’s national anthem, ban the wearing of religious symbols by public servants in Quebec, and abolish the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer (Freitag v Penetanguishene (Town) (1999), 47 OR (3d) 301 [Freitag]) during town council meetings in Ontario. The Bouchard-Taylor Commission on reasonable accommodation […]
In R v MacDonald, 2014 SCC 3 [MacDonald], the Supreme Court of Canada has clarified the constitutional bounds of police searches conducted to ensure the safety of police or the public (“safety searches”). In a narrow majority (4:3), LeBel J held that safety searches do not violate section 8 of the Charter as long as […]
On June 25, 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court released its monumental decision in Miller v. Alabama ((2012) 132 S. Ct. 2455). The Court held that a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole (“LWOP”) for any offender who committed his offence while under the age of 18 is contrary to the eighth […]
Alan Young, Osgoode Professor and lead counsel in Canada v Bedford, 2013 SCC 72 provides an overview of the litigation strategy employed in his successful challenge to three criminal code provisions related to sex work. Drawing on the lessons learned from R v Malmo-Levine; R v Caine, 2003 SCC 74, Professor Young outlines how he structured the […]
Banque de Montréal v Marcotte, 2012 QCCA 1396 [Marcotte, QCCA] is part of a trilogy of cases (Federation des Caisses Desjardins du Quebec v Marcotte, 2014 SCC 57, and Amex Bank of Canada v Adams, 2014 SCC 56) that question the banks’ role in society. All three of them will be heard at the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") in […]
In Western Larch Limited v Di Poce Management Limited, 2013 ONCA 722 [Western Larch], a decision released on November 29, 2013, the Ontario Court of Appeal reviewed the exercise of a shotgun buy-sell provision (a.k.a. a “shotgun clause”) in a partnership agreement. The motion judge, presiding over the Commercial List, found that the buy-sell offer […]
Normal 0 Commentators often refer to a crisis in civil justice. Civil procedure is slow, complicated, and prohibitively expensive, putting it out of the reach of the average Canadian. In 2010, the Ontario government amended the Rules of Civil Procedure, RRO 1990, Regulation 194, with the aim of improving access to justice. One aspect of this was […]
The not criminally responsible ("NCR") regime is currently the subject of media and public scrutiny, with the proposed reforms of Bill C-14 (formerly C-54; Not Criminally Responsible Reform Act) in the Senate. In the recent decision of R v Downs, 2014 ONCA 20 [Downs], the Ontario Court of Appeal ("ONCA") reviewed a case in which an […]
The accused was charged with uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm pursuant to Criminal Code, RSC, 1985, c. C-46, s. 264.1(1)(a) after stating that he would rearrange the face of a Crown prosecutor and kill the witnesses who had informed against him. The statements were made to fellow detainees while the accused was being held […]
In March 1999, Mr. John Gordon Pate was wrongfully dismissed by the Township of Galway-Cavendish and Harvey, after having worked for the Township as a building inspector for nearly a decade. After a subsequent police investigation, a four-day criminal trial, a civil action by Mr. Pate, a successful appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal […]