Congress Wants the Last Word on Health Care Reform The celebrations did not last long. Before you even finish saying, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Congress has already started jostling to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision. Less than two weeks ago, the Supreme Court of the United States kept the Act intact, thereby allowing [...]

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 [...]

On March 26th, 2012, the Ontario Court of Appeal in Canada (Attorney General) v Bedford, 2012 ONCA 186 issued a long awaited ruling regarding prostitution laws. Although the decision undercut the overwhelming success the respondents received at the trial level, it nonetheless served a major blow to the Attorney General. The Court of Appeal affirmed that [...]

Pride in Ontario: Amending the Ontario Human Rights Code Toronto is gearing up for what will be one of its proudest weeks yet. Ontario will not only be celebrating its booming pride community but also celebrating the Royal Assent of Bill 33, or Toby’s Act (Right to be Free from Discrimination and Harassment because of Gender Identity or [...]

Late last week, the Supreme Court of Canada heard the arguments in R v Ryan [2011 NSCA 30], which is shaping up to be a pivotal spousal abuse case in Canada. At the centre of this case is a former high school teacher, Nicole Patricia Ryan (née Doucet), who hired a hit man to kill [...]

In last week’s blog post, I covered the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) v Ontario, 2012 ONCA 342 (“CAMH”), a decision that has managed to intensify the debate on Ontario’s, and on a more sweeping scale, Canada’s policy on the treatment of the mentally ill in our justice system. Since then, my thoughts have turned [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in R v Maybin, 2012 SCC 24 is the Court’s latest foray into causality in the context of criminal liability. The decision is arguably the Court’s most important statement of the law since R v Nette, [2001] 3 S.C.R. 488.  If anything, Maybin serves to broaden an approach to [...]

As I explained a few weeks ago, the Bedford decision asks more questions than it answers. One of those questions is how prostitution can be communicated, specifically how prostitutes (or their pimps) can solicit clients and how clients can express interest in those prostitutes. The provision in the Criminal Code, which prohibits prostitutes, or their pimps, [...]

Having taken criminal law courses in law school, and having written numerous commentaries on criminal cases before the courts for TheCourt.ca, I have developed a rather strong stomach. Not much gets under my skin anymore. One case decided by a lower court in Ontario earlier this month stood out for me, though. The case of [...]

The law of causation is scrutinized frequently in Canadian criminal law, frequently leading to its revision and redefinition; Canadian courts have often attempted to fine-tune approaches that enable the determination of causation. The enormous emphasis the courts place on this determination is reflected in issues of public policy. Even more important is the underlying philosophy [...]