Edgar Schmidt is a senior lawyer with the Department of Justice. That is, he used to be a senior lawyer with the Department of Justice until he was suspended on December 14th, 2012 after suing the Department by alleging that it has been conducting inadequate reviews to ensure proposed legislation complies with the Canadian Charter [...]

On November 8th, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (BCCA) released its decision in Friedmann v MacGarvie, 2012 BCCA 445, stating that sexual harassment constitutes sex discrimination. While one might assume that this would be an obvious conclusion, the case is thought-provoking because of the role played by “differential treatment” in the discrimination analysis. The [...]

Canada’s retirement age is rising. The good news: we are living longer. The bad news: the economic downturn and the new federal old age security eligibility cut offs have forced some of us to stay in the work force. There is a greater expectation that individuals will be working well past 65. Despite this shift [...]

Summer of the Gun For those in Toronto, this has become the summer of gun violence. Just a few weeks ago, a shooting in the Eaton Centre, Canada’s largest shopping mall, sent shockwaves through the city. It left two dead and a handful of innocent weekend shoppers injured. In broad daylight, shots were fired in [...]

Conflict with the Covenant: German Court Bans Religious Circumcision After a medical complication arising in a circumcision performed on a four year old Muslim boy, a Cologne court ruled that circumcising young boys on religious grounds equated with bodily harm – even if the parents had consented to the practice. In this decision, the court [...]

Why Yes,  A Dingo Stole Her Baby That was the argument that the distraught mother of Azaria Chamberlain has been making for the last thirty-two years. Azaria Chamberlain was only nine weeks old when she disappeared from a campsite in central Australia. Initially, police and the public-at-large pointed their fingers at her parents, particularly her [...]

Up here in Canada, the issue of the legalization of same-sex marriage, with full benefits under provincial and federal laws, has been more or less a non-issue for quite some time now. Down south, however, the Defense of Marriage Act (“DOMA,” 1 U.S.C. §7, 28 U.S.C. 1738C), a controversial piece of legislation signed and ratified [...]

The Trial of a “Monster” is Over Despite claiming he is not guilty, a jury and judge have said otherwise. After being found guilty of a jury on all three counts of kidnapping, sexual assault causing bodily harm and first degree murder of Victoria (Tori) Stafford, Michael Rafferty was sentenced on Tuesday morning by Justice [...]

The third question on my first year property law exam asked whether Canadian law classified body parts (organs, limbs and reproductive material) as property. Unfortunately for my class, Justice Russell of the Supreme Court of British Columbia answered that question on April 25th, 2012 in J.C.M v A.N.A. 2012 BCSC 584–two short weeks after the [...]

Prostitution Challenge Passes Muster At OCA After months of deliberation, the Ontario Court of Appeal issued a landmark ruling on Monday regarding prostitution laws in Canada. While prostitution itself was not illegal in Canada, up until Monday, several provisions regarding prostitution were. This decision recognizes the rights of sex workers in allowing them the ability [...]