Canada has two official languages: French and English. We always wonder why. Editor's Note: A version of this important article first appeared in LawNow in 2019. It has been reviewed for legal accuracy in 2024 by the author. Canada’s two colonizing peoples are the French and the British. … [Read more...]
The Significance of the Charter in Canadian Legal History
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights - a statement of rights and freedoms that was added to the Constitution in 1982. Looking Back 2017 not only marks 150 years since the British North America Act, 1867 (better known today as the Constitution Act, 1867), came into being, … [Read more...]
Oh, S***! Court of Appeal Rules on One Man’s Bowel Movements and Charter Rights
In R. v Poirier [2016] ONCA 582 the Ontario Court of Appeal excluded the drugs excreted from Mr. Poirier’s rectum because of the manner of the police investigation that led to its discovery. Without that evidence, Mr. Poirier was acquitted of all charges. Mr. Poirier was arrested after five … [Read more...]
Whatever Happened to …R. v. Oakes
Mr. Oakes is compelled by s. 8 to prove he is not guilty of the offence of trafficking. He is thus denied his right to be presumed innocent and subjected to the potential penalty of life imprisonment unless he can rebut the presumption. This is radically and fundamentally inconsistent with the … [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...]
O Patria: The Patriation Struggles
Should a government fail to respect natural rights, wrote Locke and Rousseau, then disobedience and rebellion were justified. Thus was born the modern notion of human rights. So responsive was this notion that the greatest social revolutions in the history of the western world took place – one in … [Read more...]
