The Alberta Court of Appeal (“the Court”) in R v Sanaee, 2015 ABCA 224 provides guidance to trial courts in assessing the elements of the animal cruelty offences under the Criminal Code, RSC, 1985, c C-46, and interpreting them in light of the protection of animals and the way we see them in society. The […]
“Causation can be inferred⎯even in the face of inconclusive or contrary expert evidence⎯from other evidence, including merely circumstantial evidence.” British Columbia (Workers’ Compensation Appeal Tribunal) v Fraser Health Authority, 2016 SCC 25 at para 38. When is it correct for a court to disagree with scientific experts? This is precisely the issue raised in the […]
In White Burgess Langille Inman v Abbott and Haliburton Co, 2015 SCC 23 [Burgess], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) established a test for assessing the impartiality of expert witnesses. The issue arose when shareholders of a company obtained a new accounting firm, Grant Thornton LLP, which discovered errors in the previous auditors’ work. The shareholders […]
A recent Ontario Superior Court ruling has the potential to have a serious impact on evidence law. The medical malpractice suit has sparked conversations among lawyers throughout Ontario and across Canada and has prompted civil litigators to ask what meets the test of allowable communication with their expert witnesses.
Over the past couple of decades, there have been calls to remove God from Canada’s national anthem, ban the wearing of religious symbols by public servants in Quebec, and abolish the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer (Freitag v Penetanguishene (Town) (1999), 47 OR (3d) 301 [Freitag]) during town council meetings in Ontario. The Bouchard-Taylor Commission on reasonable accommodation […]