On February 2, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) granted leave to appeal from the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada (“CMAC”) in the case of R v Christmas, 2020 CM 3009 [Christmas]. In this case, the CMAC considers whether a military officer’s s. 11(d) Charter right “to be presumed innocent until proven guilty […]
Last year, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) heard three cases in relation to the constitutionality of certain firearm offences with mandatory minimums in the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 (the “CC”). This line of cases included: R v Hills, 2023 SCC 2 [Hills], R v Hilbach, 2023 SCC 3 [Hilbach], and R v […]
There have been a number of landmark cases where the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") considered and provided guidance on "the limits on informational privacy in the digital age" (Bykovets, para 1). In particular, in R v Spencer, 2014 SCC 43 [Spencer], the SCC established that police must obtain judicial authorization through a search warrant […]
In R v Tim, 2022 SCC 12 [Tim], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or “the Court”) affirmed convictions for drug and firearm offences despite the initial arrest having been made by a police officer who mistakenly identified the prescription drug gabapentin as a controlled substance. The dissent would have acquitted the accused, finding that […]
In R v JJ (2022 SCC 28) (“JJ”), the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) considered the scope and legality of Bill C-51, which attempts to remove some of the hurdles that prevent victims of sexual assault (hereinafter referred to as “complainants”) from coming forward. The Bill was enacted in 2018, as An Act to amend […]
In R v Sharma, 2022 SCC 29 [“Sharma”], the Supreme Court of Canada [“SCC”/”the Court"] upheld the constitutionality of provisions that restricted the availability of conditional sentences. This decision marks a break from the SCC’s recent trend of overturning amendments to the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 [“Code”] made during the Harper era. Conditional […]
In April 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) rendered a decision about a detainee’s right to counsel, pursuant to s. 10(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [Charter]. Writing unanimously for the SCC, Moldaver J. dismissed the Crown’s appeal and confirmed, in exceptional circumstances, a detainee’s right to counsel can be renewed […]
In its recent decision, R v Ndhlovu, 2022 SCC 38 [Ndhlovu], the Supreme Court of Canada [“SCC”] struck down two provisions of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46 [“the Code”] relating to registration of offenders convicted of designated sexual offences in the national sex offender registry. In its 5-4 ruling, the majority held that […]
In May 2022, the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC” or the “Court”) released two important decisions in R v Brown, 2022 SCC 18 [Brown] and its companion case, R v Sullivan, 2022 SCC 19 [Sullivan]. This article discusses Brown. For more information on Sullivan, refer to the case comment here. In Brown, Justice Nicholas […]