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TheCourt.ca is the premier source of commentary on, and analysis of, the work of the Supreme Court of Canada. Our goal is to be an inclusive forum for academics, practitioners and interested citizens to publish, review and discuss commentary on recent Supreme Court judgments, upcoming cases, current hearings, scholarly perspectives, practical insights, updates and more.
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APPEAL WATCH: Tax Law Nuances and Absurd Consequences in Bank of Nova Scotia v Canada
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Rarely does a tax law dispute reach the SCC, but when it does, it often provides a welcome opportunity for comprehensive statutory interpretation. Last month, the SCC heard an appeal from the unanimous FCA decision of Bank of Nova Scotia v Canada, 2024 FCA 192, leave to appeal granted (41643).
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R v Pan and the Price of Fairness: An “Air of Reality” in A Complex Jury Trial
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In R v Pan, the Supreme Court of Canada has addressed the scope of the “air of reality” test as it applies to included offences in jury trials. The majority has upheld the Ontario Court of Appeal’s verdict that Jennifer Pan should undergo a new trial regarding her initial first-degree murder charge, but maintained her conviction related to the attempted murder charge. Furthermore, the Court determined that the trial judge erred by failing to leave lesser included offences, such as second-degree murder or manslaughter, to the jury where there was a realistic possibility of conviction on those offences.
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APPEAL WATCH: SCC to Determine the Role of Purposive Analysis under Language Rights Legislation in Thibodeau
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On August 28, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal’s judgment in St. John’s International Airport Authority v Thibodeau, 2024 FCA 197. This case presents an opportunity for the SCC to define the boundaries of a purposive analysis under the modern approach to statutory interpretation.
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R v Larocque: The Presumption of Accuracy Meets the Presumption of Innocence
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The Supreme Court of Canada’s (“SCC”) decision in R v Larocque, 2025 SCC 36 [Larocque] addresses the scope of the evidentiary shortcuts available to the Crown in impaired driving prosecutions. Specifically, the SCC clarified what must be proven before the statutory presumption that breath test results are accurate can apply and whether the “target value” […]
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Section 495 of the Criminal Code Finds its Meaning in R v Carignan
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Fifty-four years after Parliament passed the Bail Reform Act, the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the law with respect to challenging the lawfulness of an arrest without a warrant. The unanimous judgment in R v Carignan, 2025 SCC 43 authored by Justice Côté interprets subsections 495(2) and (3) of the Criminal Code which had originally been enacted as part of the Bail Reform Act. This judgment is significant as it allows accused persons to establish a breach of their Charter right to be free from arbitrary arrest where their arrest was made contrary to subsection 495(2).
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Who Decides What the Jury Decides? R v BF and the Air-of-Reality Threshold
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On December 5, 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in R v BF, restoring a conviction for attempted murder and rejecting the Court of Appeal for Ontario’s holding that the trial judge failed to instruct the jury sufficiently on a potential defence. In doing so, the SCC engaged with a fundamental question arising in the case: whether there was any air of reality to the theory that, rather than attempted murder, the accused was aiding a suicide attempt.