Introduction
This past Monday (March 1, 2010), the Ontario Court of Appeal heard arguments from Rob Ramage’s lawyers in the appeal of their client’s convictions and sentence for dangerous driving and impaired driving. What is of note in this case, beyond the former Toronto Maple Leaf captain’s public image, is the application of the recent Grant decision of [...]

Introduction
This past Tuesday, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the appeal from R. v. J.Z.S., 2008 BCCA 401, a case involving the validity of several provisions of the Criminal Code, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46, concerning testimony by children. After hearing the appellant’s argument, the Court cut off the hearing and unanimously rejected the appeal. Chief Justice [...]

Despite TheCourt.ca having visited R. v. Grant several times, commenting on the appellate decision, its application in R. v. Harrison, and post-Grant jurisprudence, there has been little discussion of the actual decision itself, other than my colleague’s excellent critique of the majority’s new test. As the facts of Grant have been laid out before, we [...]

(I) The Sanctity of Informer Privilege
“Informer Privilege” or “Informant Privilege”—the protection of the identity of a confidential informant—is one of the most prohibitive and absolute privileges in the Canadian legal system. The Supreme Court of Canada reiterated its importance last week by unanimously overturning both lower court decisions in R. v. Basi, 2009 SCC 52. [...]

On October 29, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision to deny leave to appeal in R. v. Delaa, [2009] A.J. No. 493, a case concerning the admissibility of covertly obtained “castoff” DNA evidence under the section 8 Charter protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
Two violent sexual assaults occurred in Calgary in September 2003 [...]

On September 24 the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in United States of America v. Anekwu, 2009 SCC 41. The case concerned the rules of evidence with regards to the Canadian extradition process: specifically, the admissibility of Canadian-gathered evidence that is presented in summarized form, which would not comply with the hearsay rule [...]

Last Friday, the Supreme Court delivered its ruling in R. v. Jaw, 2009 SCC 42, the second in so many months considering the potentially prejudicial effects of erroneous jury instructions. The issues on appeal and holding of the court are not the most compelling, both being construed rather narrowly to a specific set of facts. The [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada has recently announced it will deliver judgment in the application for leave to appeal in Boulter v. Nova Scotia Power Incorporated, 2009 NSCA 17. In anticipation of such judgment, it is worthwhile to re-examine the issues at stake in the decision. While much has been written on the mechanics of [...]

The SCC has laid down new protocol for judges when handling cases dealing with tainted evidence in the four companion cases of R. v. Grant, 2009 SCC 32, R. v. Suberu, 2009 SCC 33, R. v. Harrison, 2009 SCC 34 and R. v. Shepherd, 2009 SCC 35 released recently. The decisions in these cases are predicted [...]

Rewriting the Rules on the Exclusion of Evidence under S. 24(2)
In a long-awaited and much-anticipated move, the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in R. v. Grant, 2009 SCC 32 revised the framework for determining whether evidence obtained in breach of the Charter must be excluded under s. 24(2), or else risk bringing the administration [...]