In Canada v. Canada North Group Inc., 2021 SCC 30 [Canada v CNG], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) considered whether courts can order a super-priority charge that takes primacy over Her Majesty’s interest under s. 227(4.1) of the Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp.) [ITA]. The decision turned on robust statutory […]
On April 23, 2021, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada held in R v Desautel, 2021 SCC 17 [Desautel] that “the aboriginal peoples of Canada,” who hold rights under s 35(1) of the Constitution Act, 1982 [Constitution], are the modern successors of those Aboriginal societies that occupied lands now referred to as Canada […]
It's no secret that Canada’s bail system is (still) broken.
When it comes to class action plaintiffs, the Supreme Court giveth and the Supreme Court taketh away. The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or “Court”) did their taking last April, in Telus Communications Inc v Wellman, 2019 SCC 19 [Wellman], when they ruled that business customers with arbitration clauses in their contracts are ineligible to […]
Today (March 29) the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) will hear the intellectual property case of Keatley Surveying Ltd v Teranet Inc, 37863 [Keatley] about the issue of copyright in land surveys. Keatley Surveying Ltd (“Keatley”) brought a proposed class action on behalf of all land surveyors in Ontario against Teranet Inc (“Teranet”), a private […]
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.
Federal prisons are run by the Correctional Service of Canada (“CSC”). To fulfill its statutory mandate of rehabilitating inmates while keeping other inmates, staff, and society safe, the CSC assigns its prisoners a risk classification, largely using quantitative tests. For inmates, being deemed “high-risk” can lead to segregation, stigmatization, and diminished chances of parole, while […]
Author's Note: This article and the linked case discuss sexual violence and violence against women that may be upsetting to readers. Introduction Myths and stereotypes about consent, women’s sexuality, and sexual assault are very much alive and well within criminal proceedings. In an attempt to mitigate the ill effects of these stereotypes, Parliament has enacted […]
The internet is like the wild west of the modern age. The simile may be trite, but there is no denying that the internet continues to progress faster than the law can regulate, rapidly presenting novel challenges for the courts. In particular, since the appearance of controversial sites such as Napster in the late 1990s, […]
On December 15th 2017, the Supreme Court released its decision in British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal v Schrenk, 2017 SCC 62 [Schrenk], which deals with the question of whether discrimination “regarding employment” can ever be perpetrated by someone other than the complainant’s employer or superior in the workplace. The following post will discuss the case […]