On October 10th, 2012 the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") heard arguments in the case of Ivana Levkovic v Her Majesty the Queen. The next day, the SCC heard arguments in the case of Her Majesty the Queen v ADH. Both cases involved women who had left their foetuses after giving birth. In Levkovic, the […]
On 2 October 2012, Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced that he was nominating Justice Richard Wagner of the Quebec Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). Justice Wagner will replace Justice Marie Deschamps, who recently disclosed her intention to retire. Justice Deschamps’ departure plans triggered the formation of a parliamentary selection committee […]
This is the first part of a two-part post regarding R v DC and R v Mabior. Part II of this post explores the reaction to the case from the media, the interveners and the public. Part II can be found here. On October 5, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada ("SCC") released its highly anticipated decisions in R […]
In R v Carvery, 2012 NSCA 107 [Carvery], the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ("NSCA") considered s. 719 of the Criminal Code, RSC, 1985, c C-46 [Criminal Code], a provision which establishes credit given for time served pre-sentencing. Section 719 was amended in 2009 to limit the amount of credit judges could award offenders for time spent in […]
In Pastore v Aviva Canada Inc, 2012 ONCA 642, a unanimous Court of Appeal established a new, lower threshold for catastrophic impairment. The decision also permitted the inclusion of chronic pain in the assessment of mental disorder overturning an earlier Divisional Court decision.
In the years following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, both Canada and the United States have passed sweeping legislative changes in the name of national security. In Canada, such changes appeared in the form of the Anti Terrorism Act, which amended the Criminal Code to include a definition of “terrorist activity” and broadened the […]
Yesterday, after weeks of incessant prodding by Apple, I finally decided to upgrade to the latest version of iTunes. Before doing so, however, a window emerged before me with a dizzying and seemingly endless block of text. Like most people faced with an ominous set of “Terms and Conditions,” I scrolled directly to the bottom […]
A pillar of the Conservative Party of Canada’s platform in 2006 was the creation of a Parliamentary Budget Officer (here, at page 11). Having an independent officer reporting directly to Parliament on the state of the nation’s finances, the rationale goes, would help avoid budgetary excesses (like, for example, the notorious sponsorship scandal that tarnished […]
This week marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. This week, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk has launched an inquiry under the North American Free Trade Agreement to determine if the Nova Scotia government has offered improper subsidies to a Cape Breton paper mill. These developments reinforce the notion […]
Vexatious Litigants and Access to Justice Access to justice is a concept that is bandied around law school classrooms. The central issue is that exorbitant lawyer fees and court costs make it prohibitively expensive for lower to middle class clients to pursue their claims in court. This is one of the main criticisms of our […]