The Supreme Court of Canada [“SCC” or “The Court”] recently released its decision on three Alberta cases: R. v. Hills 2023 SCC 2 [“Hills”] and R. v. Hilbach 2023 SCC 3, the latter argued with the companion appeal, R. v. Zwozdesky. These cases challenge the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentencing provisions, inviting the Court to […]
The Supreme Court of Canada [“SCC” or “The Court”] recently released its decision on three Alberta cases: R. v. Hills 2023 SCC 2 [“Hills”] and R. v. Hilbach 2023 SCC 3 [“Hilbach”], the latter argued with the companion appeal, R. v. Zwozdesky. These cases challenge the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentencing provisions, inviting the Court […]
In recent years, mandatory minimum sentencing legislation for people convicted of criminal offences has often been ruled unconstitutional as cruel and unusual punishment contrary to Section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [Charter] (R v Nur, 2015 SCC 15; R v Loyd, 2016 SCC 13; R v Boudreault, 2018 SCC 58). However, […]
In 9147-0732 Québec Inc. c Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, 2019 QCCA 373 [9147-0732 Québec Inc.], a case that has attracted some media attention, the Quebec Court of Appeal (“QCCA”) addressed the question of whether a corporation can benefit from the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms s.12 protection against “cruel and unusual treatment or […]
What does it mean to say that a law is constitutional or not? What are we getting at when a label of constitutionality is attached to a law? Of course on one level, we are asking whether a particular provision violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms [Charter] (or is vires) – a technical […]
The following post responds to Devon Kapoor’s earlier case comment, which can be found here. Mr. Kapoor’s insightful post discusses a central issue in R v Boutilier, 2017 SCC 64 [Boutilier]: whether indeterminate sentences, as outlined in section 753(4.1) of the Criminal Code RSC 1985, c C-46 [Code], are unconstitutional under section 12 of the […]
Two recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) were the subject of significant media attention this past spring. R v Lloyd, 2016 SCC 13 [Lloyd] and R v Safarzadeh‑Markhali, 2016 SCC 14 [Safarzadeh] involved constitutional challenges to sentencing provisions and have been framed as directly dismantling the previous federal government’s “tough on crime” […]
