What is CASL? CASL stands for Canada's Anti-Spam legislation. This anagram is the unofficial name for a new law that came into force across Canada on July 1, 2014. Because it is a federal law, it will apply to not-for-profit organizations and, with some limited exceptions, to registered charities … [Read more...]
Vol 39-5: The Law and Canada’s Indigenous Peoples
Full PDF of this issue Table of Contents Featured Articles: The Law and Canada's Indigenous Peoples Special Report: Tough Decisions Departments Columns Featured Articles: The Law and Canada's Indigenous Peoples The Inuit live in Canada, Greenland, Russia, Denmark, and Alaska. … [Read more...]
BenchPress 39-5: Private Use Doesn’t Apply
Two Edmonton men were acquitted of offences of making and possessing child pornography because the trial judge accepted that the material, involving two runaway teenage girls, was made for the men’s private use. The Supreme Court of Canada ordered new trials for the men, ruling that s. 153 of the … [Read more...]
Bench Press 39-5: Duress as a Defence to Murder
For the first time in Canada, an appeal court has upheld the use of duress as a defence to a charge of murder even though the Criminal Code explicitly rules it out. The Ontario Court of Appeal outlined the factors necessary to support both a statutory and common law defence of duress, for people … [Read more...]
Bench Press 39-5: Red-faced about the Red Chamber?
Aniz Alani, a Vancouver lawyer, has launched a legal action to force Prime Minister Harper to appoint new senators to fill the vacancies in the Red Chamber. The lawyer considers illegal Mr. Harper’s position that he will not advise the Governor General to fill existing vacancies in the Senate. The … [Read more...]
BenchPress 39-5: A Jury of Your Peers?
An Ontario Aboriginal man has had his conviction for manslaughter re-instated by the Supreme Court of Canada. Clifford Kokopenace was originally convicted in 2008. However, the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned his conviction because the jury at his trial did not have any Aboriginal members. It … [Read more...]
A Judge Balances Controversy with Compassion
No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing it was wrong. - Criminal Code of Canada, Section 16 This is known as the … [Read more...]
Bench Press 39-4: Consent is a Matter of Life and Death
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently ruled on a case involving an Alzheimer’s patient and her ability to give consent. It looked at a number of questions that will be raised as Canadians come to grips with the recent Carter decision of the Supreme Court of Canada (Carter v. Canada (Attorney … [Read more...]
Bench Press 39-4: The Charter Protects Proms
Two graduating high school students in Ontario launched a Charter challenge to their school principal’s decision to have a mandatory breathalyser test at their prom. They argued that the mandatory test was a violation of their s. 8 Charter right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. Justice … [Read more...]
Bench Press 39-4: Spoiled Sperm
The British Columbia Court of Appeal recently upheld a trial judge’s decision that human sperm is property. The case involved a B.C. man who was a representative for a class action of 400 plaintiffs who had stored their sperm with a laboratory at the University of British Columbia prior to … [Read more...]