In late January, 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (Tribunal) ruled that children living on First Nations reserves have been discriminated against because of underfunding of education and child welfare. (see: First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al v Attorney General of … [Read more...]
The Best We Can Do? – Sybille Bedford’s Classic Account of a Famous British Murder Trial
During Canada’s most talked about court case of the year, the sexual assault trials of Jian Ghomeshi, defence counsel Marie Heinen in her final argument quoted the American jurist John Wigmore. He memorably stated that cross-examination in a trial is the greatest legal engine for the discovery of … [Read more...]
Making a Mockery of the Justice System
The new Netflix obsession, Making a Murderer, is a sensation. Blogs, news programs, articles, magazines, newspapers and water cooler conversations are all immersed in the quest to answer the eternal question: did he do it? The evidence seems to point in both directions. The Netflix documentary … [Read more...]
Shared Accommodation Problems: What Can A Tenant Do?
Here at CPLEA, we have been getting more questions lately about shared accommodation problems. There are two living arrangements that typically fall under the term shared accommodation: roommates living together in a rental property and a landlord and tenant(s) sharing living space (for example, a … [Read more...]
Reinstatement
Introduction Many Canadians will remember the case of Lynden Dorval, the Edmonton public school teacher, who was fired by his school board for dispensing marks of zero to students who did not do their assignments. Recently the case reached the Alberta Court of Appeal on the question of whether Mr. … [Read more...]
Dealing with Pets after Separation, Part 1: Understanding the Law on Personal Property
Family law is about how serious cohabiting relationships start and end, how children are cared for after separation, how the bills are paid after separation, and how the property and debts that accumulated during a relationship are split when it ends. Despite the folks who’d very much like to apply … [Read more...]
Whatever Happened to … Scandalous Criminal Allegations: the Miazga Case
Introduction Miazga v. Kvello Estate is a tragic, yet fascinating, case which reminds us of the devastating power of criminal prosecution to ruin innocent lives and the near impossibility to hold Crown prosecutors legally accountable when that happens [(2009) 3 SCR 339, 2009 SCC 51 … [Read more...]
Court of Appeal says Police Can’t Climb Through Windows and Spy on You
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently held in its decision in R. v. White [2015] O.J. No. 3563 that police officers do not have unrestricted access to enter common areas in residential buildings to gather evidence against an individual. The police had suspected that Mr. White was dealing drugs … [Read more...]
The Peterloo Massacre and Shelley’s Great Poem The Mask of Anarchy
I note that The Guardian newspaper features an interview with Mike Leigh, director of a number of superb films like High Hopes, Vera Drake, and Mr Turner, indicating that his next project will be a dramatization of the infamous 1819 Manchester massacre, a traumatic event in British history. The … [Read more...]
The “no gifts to non-qualified donees” rule
The registered charities provisions of the Income Tax Act (ITA) feature a number of obscure terms. That makes registered charities vulnerable to inadvertent non-compliance. It means prudent organizations need to keep a keen eye on regulatory trends and emerging issues. Looming regulatory concerns … [Read more...]
