To set the stage for this post on R v Shafia 2016 ONCA 812 (presently on leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC)), I turn to the prose of Justice Watt at the Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”): Boaters who travel the Rideau Canal system between Colonel By Lake and Lake Ontario […]
On February 17, 2017, Justice Gates of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench handed down what is being referred to as the “harshest” sentence in recent Canadian history, tied with Christien Bourque’s sentence in 2014. This disposition of three consecutive life sentences, which will render the offender ineligible to apply for parole for 75 years, […]
Budding Romance Justice Paul Rouleau has likely seen it all in his illustrious career—however, his ruling in the matter of PP v DD, 2017 ONCA 180 will surely stand out as memorable. The two parties before the court were once short-term lovers caught up in the throws of passion. The male, a medical doctor, the […]
On January 23rd and February 2nd 2017, the Federal Court of Appeal (“FCA”) and British Columbia Court of Appeal (“BCCA”) respectively rendered judgment on applications for judicial review brought by members of the Treaty 8 First Nations (the Prophet River First Nation and West Moberly First Nations) (2017 FCA 17, Prophet River, FCA; 2017 BCCA […]
In 1994, Justice Sopinka warned against the dangers of expert evidence distorting the fact-finding process: “Dressed up in scientific language which the jury does not easily understand and submitted through a witness of impressive antecedents, this evidence is apt to be accepted by the jury as being virtually infallible and as having more weight than […]
In Nelson (City) v Mowatt, 2017 SCC 8 [Mowatt], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) recently found that the British Columbia Court of Appeal (“BCCA”) erred when it interfered with the finding of fact related to adverse possession in 2016 BCCA 113, setting aside two decisions of Kelleher J., 2014 BCSC 988 and 2014 BCSC 2219. The SCC […]
Can government officials rely on their own officially induced errors? The answer is no and for good reason. This topic was recently addressed by the Supreme Court in the case R v Bédard, 2017 SCC 4. Delivering their short judgment from the bench, the Court unanimously agreed that it would seriously undermine the defence of […]
Canadian legislation differentiates between “official marks” and “trademarks.” The Trade-marks Act, RSC 1985, c T-13 [TMA] legislates both trademarks and official marks. Any entity which qualifies as a “public authority” may request that the Registrar of Trademarks give public notice of the adoption of a mark by that entity. The process of giving notice does not require an […]