The judiciary often hears aboriginal law cases in the context of a dispute with the Crown. Yet consider what would happen if the dispute was multi-jurisdictional: Could one province’s judiciary make binding orders and decisions on another province’s jurisdiction? Would the answer shift depending on access to justice and proportionality concerns? The Supreme Court of […]
Introduction As the country prepares for a federal election later this year, approximately one million additional citizens will have the right to cast special ballots. In Frank v Canada (Attorney General) 2019 SCC 1 [Frank], the Supreme Court of Canada ["SCC" or “the Court”] struck down provisions of the Canada Elections Act SC 2000, c […]
In R v Fedyck, 2019 SCC 3 [Fedyck], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) convicted a firefighter for theft under $5,000. The case touched on questions of admissible evidence in a criminal trial, but did not satisfactorily answer them. The SCC simply agreed 5-0 with the majority opinion of the Manitoba Court of Appeal (“MBCA”), […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) addressed the issue of “Henson trusts” for the first time ever this January in S.A. v Metro Vancouver Housing Corp, 2019 SCC 4 [Metro Vancouver]. A Henson trust (named after the decision in Ontario (Director of Income Maintenance, Minister of Community & Social Services) v. Henson, 1987 CarswellOnt 654, [1987] O.J. No. […]
Courts have forever grappled with defining the legal scope of liability between various parties in society. The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or the “Court”) released a decision in West Fraser Mills Ltd v BC (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal), 2018 SCC 22 [West Fraser], which upheld a claim of workers compensation against a non-employer.
TheCourt.ca is pleased to present its annual Year in Review for 2018. In this post, TheCourt staff authors analyze statistical trends among all the decisions released by the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or “the Court’) in the last year (see also our coverage of 2015, 2016 and 2017). While no year is ever dull at […]
Introduction When an individual is placed on a Long Term Supervision Order (“LTSO”) as a result of a criminal proceeding, they are required to follow conditions set by the Parole Board. These can include residency conditions, such as requiring an individual stay in a community correctional centre, commonly referred to as a “halfway house”. Section […]
The open court principle requires that the media is able to report on court proceedings, except in rare cases where doing so would infringe, for example, an accused's right to a fair trial or a witness's right to privacy. In recent years, social media has been increasingly used to communicate information from courtrooms to the […]
A criminal law trial can be likened to a game of chess. A good chess player, like a good defence counsel, may make a move that initially does not appear to be in their best interest but ultimately can be relied upon to secure another chance. In R v Calnen, 2019 SCC 6 [Calnen] counsel for […]