Human Rights
Judicial Biography: Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella
Post 2/9 in TheCourt.ca's Judicial Biography Series (Fall 2019). Judges in my country have until they are seventy-five [before they must step down from the bench]. We are independent and have tenure until then so that we can be impartial, risk being unpopular, and be able to do things that protect minorities. Judges are not […]
JW v Canada (AG) : The Judiciary’s Role in Supervising Residential School Settlement Agreements
Introduction Certain class action lawsuits require settlement agreements to ensure the fair distribution of settlement funds through an adjudicative process. An Independent Assessment Process (“IAP”) provides for an independent adjudicator to determine the validity of disputed claims. In JW v Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 20 [JW], the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC” or “the […]
SCC to Consider Multinational Corporate Accountability in Araya v Nevsun: A Q&A with Plaintiffs' Counsel
In January 2019, the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”), will be hearing an appeal of Araya v Nevsun, 2017 BCCA 401 [Nevsun], which involves a group of Eritrean plaintiffs who filed a claim for damages at the Supreme Court of British Columbia (“BCSC”) against Nevsun Resources Ltd. (“Nevsun”), a Canadian mining company based in Vancouver, for gross […]
Delta Air Lines v Lukács: SCC Considers Boundaries of Public Interest Standing
How and when should public interest standing be established before an administrative agency? This is the question at the heart of the Supreme Court of Canada’s ("SCC") recent decision in Delta Air Lines Inc v Lukács, 2018 SCC 2 [Delta]. The matter arose after Dr. Gábor Lukács, an "air passenger rights advocate," filed a complaint […]
BC Human Rights Tribunal v Schrenk: Employment Discrimination and Access to Justice
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 […]
Against Unfounding: Sexual Assault Investigation & A Proposed Class Action Against Police
This post discusses the constitutional challenge recently brought by sexual assault complainant Ava Williams against the London, ON Police Services (“LPS”). The applicant alleges that the police force engaged in gender-based discrimination contrary to Charter section 15 for relying on stereotypes about gender and sexual assault complainants while investigating her case, resulting in her claim […]
The Significance and Future of the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement in Donald Trump’s America
The Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement (“The Agreement”), the agreement between Canada and the US that deems the other country a “safe country” under each country’s respective immigration laws, may now need to be called into question. The Agreement, which is current domestic law under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act SC 2001, c 27 […]
Battle on a New Front: Sexual Assault and the Canadian Military
In the coming months, the Canadian military will be forced to fight on a wholly new front: the home front. In late November, a notice of action was filed against the Canadian military on behalf of past members of the military. Although details of the specific allegations will not be released until later in their […]