The Quebec Court of Appeal (“QCCA”) recently delivered its opinion in the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act Reference, [GNDA Reference], concluding that the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, SC 2017, c.3 [GNDA] is beyond the scope of the federal criminal law power. The Act, which was introduced by Senator James Cowan, was passed by Parliament in 2017. Shortly after its passage, the […]
TheCourt.ca has published commentary on R v Reeves from when it was heard at the Ontario Court of Appeal and most recently at the Supreme Court of Canada. This post is a forward-thinking piece on the impact of R v Reeves on the sharing economy. 2019 has arrived with a slew of upcoming Initial Public Offerings […]
This case has already been covered in detail by Nicole Daniels here. The case—and that post—focus more on the issue of who should bear liability for the costs of actions undertaken to combat infringement. This post focuses on the underlying reasons the SCC may have had in reaching their decision. Rogers Communications Inc v Voltage […]
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, […]
Much like over 2 billion people globally, 19 million in Canada, and 1.8 million in British Columbia, Deborah Douez has a Facebook account. And much like two billion people before her, Ms. Douez clicked "I agree" to Facebook's terms and conditions when creating her Facebook account in 2007.
On May 5th 2017, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in R v Reeves, 2017 ONCA 365 [Reeves], which deals with issues relating to the search and seizure of a computer from a jointly-owned home. The judgment also considers the admissibility of evidence (child pornography, in this case) obtained in violation of an […]
How private are your private messages? Can the police read the texts you send to others? This post explores R v Marakah, 2017 SCC 59, in which the Supreme Court of Canada found that a sender can have a reasonable expectation of privacy over messages retrieved from the phone of the person receiving those messages. The […]
NOTE: there is a publication ban in this case, pursuant to section 486.4 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits the dissemination of information that may identify the witnesses. This post is intended to comply with the restriction so that it may be published. In R v Jarvis, 2017 ONCA 778 [Jarvis] the Ontario Court Appeal found […]
** Author’s Note: This post is the product of a conversation I had with an expert on the case. I am humbled by and indebted to that person for their incredible kindness and for the time they took out of their busy schedule to discuss this topic with me. ** We sent an alarming 16 […]
An Ontarian has successfully sought a constitutional exemption from sections 241(b) and 14 of the Criminal Code RSC, 1985, c C-46, allowing him to access physician assisted-suicide (“PAS”). The applicant, A.B., was an 80-year-old gentleman with advanced-stage aggressive lymphoma. Interestingly, this case raised the competing values of privacy and the open court principle. In AB […]