In July 2020, the Ontario Court of Appeal ("ONCA") ruled that two provisions of the Criminal Code are unconstitutional, ultimately making conditional sentences available to more offenders. In particular, the ONCA ruled that s.742.1(c) and s.742.1(e)(ii) of the Code violated Cheyenne Sharma’s section 15 right to equality on the basis of race and section 7 […]
Content warning: sexual violence, murder, bipolar disorder, policing Despite the ongoing pandemic, this fall has been a notable season for advancing the Section 15 substantive equality rights provision of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms [Charter] at the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”). In October, the SCC found the Royal Mounted Canadian Police pension plan […]
At the brink of the neighbouring United States presidential election where the recurring public versus private debate healthcare continues to wage on, the Canadian universal healthcare system figures in as either an affordable haven or a wait time nightmare—depending on who you ask. However, contrary to its popular characterization, Canada does not have a completely […]
Post 2/9 in TheCourt.ca's Judicial Biography Series (Fall 2019). Judges in my country have until they are seventy-five [before they must step down from the bench]. We are independent and have tenure until then so that we can be impartial, risk being unpopular, and be able to do things that protect minorities. Judges are not […]
Until late March 2019, when Justice Keith Boswell struck down s.112(2)(b.1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27 [IRPA], refugee claimants from certain “designated” countries were required to wait for two years longer compared to all other refugee claimants for a risk assessment of their removal from Canada. Two weeks ago in Feher v […]
Myths about sexual assault complainants are back on trial. The Alberta Court of Appeal [“ABCA”] recently issued two decisions – R v Goldfinch, 2018 ABCA 240 [Goldfinch] and R v Barton, 2017 ABCA 216 [Barton] – that may change Canada's law of evidence regarding when complainants’ prior sexual history may be admitted in sexual assault […]
Introduction On May 10, 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada [“SCC” or the “Court”] rendered its judgment for Centrale des syndicats du Québec v Quebec (Attorney General), 2018 SCC 18 [Centrale], an appeal of a provision in Quebec’s Pay Equity Act SQ 1996 [the “Act”]. Section 38 legislatively created a delay in the relief afforded to some […]
