The Shafia Case and Unwelcome Changes to The Palmer Test
To set the stage for this post on R v Shafia 2016 ONCA 812 (presently on leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC)), I turn to the...
Category: Evidence Law
R v Bingley: Drugs, Discretion, and Deference
In 1994, Justice Sopinka warned against the dangers of expert evidence distorting the fact-finding process: “Dressed up in scientific language which the jury does not easily understand and submitted through...
Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v University of Calgary – Protection of Solicitor-Client Privilege
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) recently decided two cases on solicitor-client privilege and litigation privilege in Lizotte v Aviva Insurance Company of Canada, 2016 SCC 52 [Lizotte] and Alberta (Information and...
R v Bingley: Exposing A Troubling Drug Recognition Regime
When the Ontario Court of Appeal’s decision in R v Bingley, 2015 ONCA [Bingley] (recently heard by the SCC, awaiting decision) was released last April, I was shocked. The case...
Homophobia in the Jury Room? The Court of Appeal Rules in R v. Dowholis
Last year, TheCourt.ca published an article discussing when a jury member’s actions could be egregious enough to nullify a verdict. This week, in R v Dowholis, 2016 ONCA 801 [Dowholis],...
R v Rutigliano: Solicitor-Client Privilege and Abuse of Process
How are courts to deal with instances where solicitor-client privilege and the right to full answer and defence – both principles of fundamental justice, protected under section 7 of the...
