Friday’s equivocal Supreme Court decision in R. v. Nasogaluak (2010 SCC 6) can be viewed both as upholding mandatory minimum sentences and as “a noteworthy chink in the previously impenetrable wall” of mandatory minimums. The Court held that, despite conclusive evidence of a Charter violation emanating from police violence, the sentencing judge had no discretion [...]

At an RCMP detachment in Pincher Creek, Alberta, an altercation arose between the detained Darren Varley and Michael Esty Ferguson, an RCMP officer. Mr. Varley was shot twice and killed, and Constable Ferguson was charged with second-degree murder. He was convicted by a jury of the lesser offence of manslaughter, and the trial judge imposed [...]

In the popular, post 9/11 imagination, “cruel and unusual punishment” means torture. That being said, the ambit of s. 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which enshrines the right “not to be subjected to any cruel and unusual punishment” extends well beyond torture. Both the scope of s. 12 of the Charter [...]