The Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) has granted leave to appeal in Douglas Martin v Worker’s Compensation Board of Alberta, et al. with a tentative hearing date of December 10th, 2013. Background Douglas Martin worked for Parks Canada in Banff, Alberta. On December 18th, 2006, Parks Canada delivered a disclosure letter to Martin requesting [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) declined to hear an appeal regarding the City of Toronto’s billboard tax. The tax was enacted in 2010 and is directed at “third party signs”, fixed exterior signs that advertise goods or services not available at the premises where the sign is located. Pattison Outdoor Advertising (Pattison) and Out-of-Home [...]

On October 25th, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) granted leave to appeal in United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401 v Alberta (Attorney General) 2012 ABCA 130. The case involves striking union workers who had videotaped people crossing a picket line and then threatened to post the images online. The issue before the SCC [...]

On October 15, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada heard an appeal by Telus Communications to quash a General Warrant and Assistance Order to produce daily records of all text messages sent and received by two Telus subscribers in connection with a police investigation. The main issue in this case is whether a General Warrant [...]

Russia’s Ruling on Pussy Riot: A Verdict Against Freedom of (Artistic) Expression? On Friday, August 17, 2012, Torontonians gathered outside of the Russian consulate in protest against that nation’s treatment of three members of a feminist punk-rock collective known as Pussy Riot. The band members were on trial in faraway Moscow on charges of hooliganism, [...]

The Illegal Lawyer? The phrase “illegal lawyer” may soon be more than just a bad oxymoron. The California Supreme Court (“CSC”) will render a verdict on what could be a huge issue concerning the rights of illegal immigrants in the United States. In re Garcia on Admission S202512 deals with the case of Sergio Garcia, [...]

Chinese Company Can Be Charged in Case Involving the Deaths of Two Temporary Workers Over the past few years, billions of dollars have been funneled into Alberta’s oil sands. The Chinese, in particular, have a voracious appetite for Canadian natural resources. While most Canadians welcome foreign investors, who inject money into the economy, build infrastructure, [...]

They Don’t Want Him and Neither Do We: Omar Khadr’s Continuing Canadian Transfer Issues The story of Omar Khadr, the Canadian who was captured by U.S. troops in Afghanistan in 2002 as a 15-year old boy, and subsequently accused of being a terrorist, is familiar to many Canadians by now. Equally resonant in the nation’s public [...]

Supreme Court Hears Appeal from First Man Convicted under the Anti-Terrorism Law This week, the Supreme Court of Canada is hearing an appeal from Momin Khawaja, the first man to be convicted under the country’s anti-terror law (Anti-terrorism Act, SC 2011, c 41). This case has drawn much attention from media in Canada as well [...]

SCC Won’t Weigh in on Whether Domain Names are Property On May 24th, the Supreme Court of Canada denied leave to appeal with respect to the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in Tucows.Com Co. v Lojas Renner S.A.  2011 ONCA 548. Tucows.com Co. (“Tucows”) and Lojas  Renner S.A. (“Renner”) disputed Tucows’s right to keep the [...]