In Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform v Attorney General, 2023 ONSC 5197 (“CASWLR”), Goldstein J of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice (“OSCJ”) dismissed a Charter application challenging the constitutional validity of various sex work laws arising out of Bill C-36, also known as the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (the […]
For an overview of the legislative and judicial history of the case, please see the first installment of this contribution. In this second contribution, I focus my analysis on key takeaways relating to Goldstein J's holding that the PCEPA passes constitutional muster. Given the multiple thorny Charter issues arising out of the CASWLR decision, this […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) is set to hear an appeal out of the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan (“SKCA”) on inmate discipline regimes in the case of John Howard Society of Saskatchewan v The Government of Saskatchewan (The Attorney General for Saskatchewan), 2022 SKCA 144 [JHS].
Last November, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) granted leave to Sanis Health Inc., Shoppers Drug Mart Inc., Sandoz Canada Inc. and McKesson Canada Corporation to appeal Sandoz Canada Inc. v British Columbia, 2023 BCCA 306 (“Sandoz Canada”). The appellants are defendants in a proposed class action brought by the Province of British Columbia (“the […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”, or the "Court") will revisit the question of when a contract formed in one province is sufficiently connected to a tort claim to establish jurisdiction over an out-of-province defendant. On January 11, 2024, the SCC granted leave to appeal [40696] the decision in Sinclair v Amex Canada Inc., 2023 […]
In Takuhikan c Procureur général du Québec, 2022 QCCA 1699, [Takuhikan], the Court of Appeal of Québec (“QCCA”) held that the governments of Canada and Québec breached their honour of the Crown obligations to a First Nation by knowingly underfunding the latter’s Indigenous police service and refusing to fund it to the same level as […]
On November 9, 2023 the Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”, or the “Court”) granted the Attorney General of Ontario's application for leave to appeal [40725] from Working Families Coalition (Canada) Inc. v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2023 ONCA 139 [WFC ONCA]. This case will provide the SCC with its first opportunity in almost two decades […]
The Ontario Court of Appeal (“ONCA”) applied the rapidly developing law surrounding the expectation of privacy in cell phones and police operations in R v Campbell, 2022 ONCA 666 [Campbell, ONCA]. The ONCA affirmed that people have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their text messages when the police legally seize any cell phone containing […]
In April, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (the “BCCA”) provided its reasons in Piekut v Canada (Minister of National Revenue), 2023 BCCA 181 [Piekut]. The decision added another chapter to the ongoing interprovincial conflict in jurisprudence regarding the discharge of government student loans in an insolvency pursuant to s. 178(1)(g)(ii) of the Bankruptcy and […]
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) will soon comment on the compelling question of how far Crown immunity stretches. Having granted leave to appeal in Attorney General of Canada v Power, 2022 NBCA 14, the SCC will soon provide clarity as to whether or not the Crown can be held liable for damages for passing […]