The blogosphere is buzzing after last week’s announcement that a California judge had struck down the contentious Proposition 8, stating that the constitutional amendment violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.  The decision is a major step forward for proponents of same-sex marriage.  Likely to end up at the U.S. Supreme [...]

As most readers are likely aware, Omar Khadr has been held at the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay as an enemy combatant since 2002. His trial before a US military commission is scheduled for August 10 of this year. He is charged with five offences: murder in the violation of the law of war, attempted [...]

Last week the SCC released its decision in R. v. Conway, 2010 SCC 22. At issue in Conway was whether or not the Ontario Review Board (“ORB”) has the authority to grant remedies under s. 24(1) of the Charter. As noted by the SCC, the “wider issue [was] the relationship between the Charter, its remedial [...]

Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-post series on the proposed Canadian Securities Act. The federal government recently referred the proposed legislation to the SCC.  The first post focuses on the constitutionality of the proposed legislation, while the second post will compare the merits of federal and provincial regulation, and discuss the effect [...]

On January 22, 2010 the Canadian Human Rights Commission (“CHRC”) filed a memorandum (PDF link) with the Federal Court, appealing the decision of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (“CHRT”) in Warman v. Lemire, 2009 CHRT 26 (PDF link). The CHRT determined that the hate speech provisions of the Canadian Human Rights Act, R.S.C. 1985, H-6 (“CHRA”) [...]

TheCourt.ca commented recently on the SCC decision in R. v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16 where it was affirmed that the use of the Wigmore criteria was a practical method to judicially approve a promise of journalist-source confidentiality on a case-by-case basis. The purpose of this post is to briefly comment on Wigmore and a [...]

Background and Facts R. v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16 is a case stemming directly from the “Shawinigate” scandal involving former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. According to a timeline provided by the National Post, the genesis of “Shawinigate” was the sale of a golf course and adjacent hotel by the former PM and his [...]

(The Court returns after a week transitioning from our 2009-2010 academic-year editorial team to our summer editors. We thank our readers for their patience during this break. From May 3 through to the end of August, we move to our summer publication schedule of three postings per week [usually Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays] with occasional [...]

On March 11, the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in Cunningham v. Alberta (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development), 2009 ABCA 239, a constitutional equality case centered on native rights legislation. The Case At issue were sections 75 and 90(1)(a) of the Métis Settlements Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. M-14 (“MSA“). The [...]

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently heard arguments in Director, Ontario Disability Support Program v. Tranchemontagne, (2009) 95 O.R. (3d) 327, a case of great interest to constitutional scholars for its engagement with issues surrounding substance abuse and disability. Specifically, the complainants suffer from chronic alcoholism as their “sole impairment” to ordinary functioning.  They have [...]