|
|
|
|
|
Courts
& Justice Headlines
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Correct
Corrections Canada
|
Wrongfully convicted |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCC rejects bid
OTTAWA - By an 8-1 margin, the court
handed a defeat to the National Post newspaper, in its bid to protect a
confidential source from police in a forgery investigation.
(CanWest) JUDGMENT:
2010 SCC 16
Court rules
against protecting unnamed sources
Act comes into effect
OTTAWA -
Federal legislation limiting the amount of credit
prisoners can get for time served in custody before and during their
trial has become law, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced. The
Truth in Sentencing Act
was
actually granted royal assent on Oct. 21, 2009, but came into effect on
Monday. (CBC) COMMENT:
An important step
Malik suspended
VANCOUVER - Almost seven years after he was found to have
misled BC Supreme Court about his family's finances, lawyer Jaspreet
Singh Malik has been suspended for a month and ordered to pay $2,520 to
the
Law Society of BC.
(Vancouver Sun) RELATED:
Law society overturns suspension
Class action lawsuit
EDMONTON - Alberta's high court has ruled a class-action lawsuit can
proceed against the government over fees charged to residents in
long-term care homes. The society claims the province overcharged some
14,000 seniors more than $128M over a two-year period. (Edmonton
Journal)
NB
Law Society opens hearings
The New Brunswick Law
Society will start opening disciplinary hearings for the province's
lawyers to the public. (CBC) RELATED:
Ontario lawyer disbarred
Crash victim gets $18M
An
Ontario woman has been awarded more than $18M, thought
to be the highest award in Canadian history for injuries
suffered in a car accident. (Toronto Star)
New trial ordered
OTTAWA
- The Supreme Court of Canada has ordered a new trial
for an Edmonton man charged with luring a 12-year-old
girl in an internet chat room. In a 7-0 decision, the
top court ruled that the judge at Craig Legare's 2006
trial erred by acquitting him. (CBC) JUDGMENT:
2009 SCC 56
Man acquitted
System too complex for the SCC
OTTAWA
- The country's top court appears to have inadvertently
violated a publication ban imposed by the Ontario
Superior Court judge presiding over the trial of members
of the so-called Toronto 18. (CBC)
Barrick drops on
publishers
How many
readers of The Tyee or Canadians are aware that
Barrick Gold
has been engaged in using
SLAPPs -
Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation -
against two small presses. (Tyee) MORE:
Imperial Canada Inc.
Noir Canada
Peter Munk
|
Another justice success story
VANCOUVER - According to the report,
prepared for Deputy Commissioner Gary Bass last year,
the biggest burden facing officers is disclosure: the
legal requirement that police and prosecutors hand over
virtually all the evidence they have to the defence.
Gangs now have more to fear from each other than the
police. (Vancouver Sun)
Lawmakers are doing a great job
TORONTO -
One in three Ontarians are battling legal problems of a
non-criminal nature, which often lead to stress and even
mental illness, a new report says. (Toronto
Star) REPORT:
Ontario civil legal needs project
Another bad law
WINNIPEG - The case of a Winnipeg shop
owner charged with manslaughter for forcibly defending
his property reveals a gaping hole in Canadian criminal
law, legal experts say. (National Post)
PREVIOUS:
Manslaughter charges
Possible vigilante justice
Police investigate vigilantism
Protected witness faces
charges
CALGARY - Numerous fraud charges have been laid against
a man once in the federal witness protection program and
paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to be an agent for
RCMP. (QMI)
Lawyer politician
disbarred
EDMONTON -
Ihor Broda was disbarred by a hearing committee for the
law society in March. Approximately 20 lawyers have
been disbarred from the Law Society of Alberta in the
past two years. (Edmonton Journal)
Suspect justified in swing at cop
TORONTO - An escaping drug suspect was legally justified
in tearing a board off a fence to defend himself against
a pursuing police officer because he had been unlawfully
arrested, a judge has ruled. (Toronto Star)
Access to information not a constitutional right
OTTAWA -
The Supreme Court of Canada has taken a small step toward
recognizing that citizens sometimes need access to government documents
to exercise freedom of expression, but stopped short of calling it a
broad constitutional right. (Toronto Star) JUDGMENT:
2010 SCC 23
MORE:
SCC creates limited right to access
'There is no general right of access to information'
Mob murder case shrouded in secrecy
Defence lawyers want inquiry
TORONTO - Defence
lawyers who work in Ontario's justice system are calling
for a provincial inquiry into the accreditation of court
interpreters. Last week it was learned that during
initial testing about 40% of the province's court
interpreters had failed a new government proficiency
test. (CBC) PREVIOUS:
Court interpreters fail
|
|
|
|
|
Civil liberties vs. justice
TORONTO -
A judge of the Ontario Court of Appeal said he
worries Canadians will treat the Charter of Rights and Freedoms with
disdain if courts routinely throw out evidence of serious crime because
it has been obtained through police misconduct. (Toronto Star)
Public faith in justice system
declining: report
Rights of accused
stronger than victim's
There
will be one law for all Ontarians
Bureaucrats: automatic prison terms won't work |
Crisis of confidence
Hide IDs in court rulings, privacy chief
says
Community court
Differences between community
& regular court
Court chaos shouldn't deny justice
Delays jamming up BC courts
Judges routinely waive fines
Plea deals
Alberta courts flawed: top judge
Courtly
correspondence
Another secret trial
Secret trial
ruling limits police wiretaps |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appeal of libel lawsuits
TORONTO - The Internet is
not a "no man's land" when it comes to libel, lawyers
for
Conrad Black
say in arguing that six libel lawsuits should proceed in
Ontario, where he established his reputation and should
be vindicated from statements about his use of Hollinger
shareholder money. (CP) |
Court upholds Epoch Times
probe
Rewriting our libel laws
2009 SCC 61
2009 SCC 62
SCC strikes a blow for 'productive
debate'
SCC back press
Governments funding
libel suits |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Arrest violated charter
VICTORIA - A Victoria defence lawyer is arguing that the
charter rights of a homeless heroin addict were violated
when he was arrested with a needle in his hand in a
secluded parking lot off Herald Street in June 2006.
(Colonist)
|
Charter a living bush of
poison ivy
Lawyers'
Association v. Ontario, 2007 ONCA 392
BC (AG) v. Christie
Mixed signals from
courts on openness
Rights infringed
Charter challenged on prostitution |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Privacy czar investigating
TORONTO - Fearing that jurors' privacy rights are being
violated, Ontario's privacy commissioner is launching a
probe into mounting allegations that police have been
doing secret background checks on jurors. (Toronto
Star)
|
Secret jury vetting prompts
privacy probe
ICBC faces audit after
privacy breaches
Taking steps to stop vetting
More secret juror screening
'Tainted' jury panels get
the boot
Details of secret police
jury checks revealed
Publication ban |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prosecutor says judge erred
VANCOUVER - In March BC
Supreme Court Justice Peter Leask sentenced John Virgil
Punko, 43, to four years in jail each for the meth and
cocaine offences, to be served concurrently. He reduced
the sentence to 14 months after credit for pre-sentence
custody. (Sun)
Hells Angels get short time
Judge unfit for office
Judge admits 'error in judgment'
BC judge apologizes
Foul-mouthed judge gets
backing from AG
Judge who cursed to
preside at special session
Hells Angel acquitted in
trafficking case
|
JP found guilty
Honour system inadequate
Forgot
to disclose conviction
Would-be
judge 'forgot' conviction
Justice of the peace facing charge
Incompetent lawyer disrupts trial
Judge's partner hit with
libel penalty
Disorder in the night court
Judge's bad conduct frees man
Judge must share his pension
Judges warned
Jury
nullification
BC judge resigns after
being arrested
Charge stayed against BC judge |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lawyers a luxury
OTTAWA - Lawyers have to
come o grips with the prospect that they are a "luxury
good" that may no longer be needed in the country's
courtrooms as more litigants represent themselves, warns
a leading Canadian legal publication,
The National.
(CanWest)
Court in crisis
Stuck together: Inside
the modern divorce
Justice for all: a blueprint
Civil Justice Reform Project
The dark side of justice
Canadian lawyers
begin to outsource work
Couple save home by ditching appeal
Law service helps
$350-an-hour rate unfair
|
Courts
issues too many publication bans
CBA task force on conflicts of interest
Greening your law firm: A
practical guide
3 free trial days
Gang laws mean we need more money,
lawyers
BC Apology Act
Taking your own counsel
The dark side of justice
Lawyers’ fee fight
Let judges run courts, lawyers say
Access
to justice a 'basic right'
Chief justice defends embattled lawyers
Lawyers Gone Bad
Response to the Canadian Bar Association
Lawyers are rats
Exposé makes lawyer Enemy
No. 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Leniency behind youth crime
There's and
old adage in economics: If you want more of something,
subsidize it; if you want less, tax it. The same could
also be said slightly differently in sociology: If you
want more of a certain behaviour, reward it; if you want
less, punish it. There are complicating factors in both
disciplines, but as general rules, both adages hold
true.
Time for the truth
Crime stats: drilling down
for the truth
Fewer youths charged with crime
Canadian Research
Institute |
Target - violent young offenders
Should violent young offenders be named?
Youth sentencing changes proposed
Bill C-4 'Sebastien's Law'
Curb bail for suspected killers, Ottawa told
Interrogators must tailor
questioning of youth
Youth custody 2005-2006
Crime statistics 2007
Defining crime down to
our comfort level
Number of youths sentenced
drops
Youth custody 2004/2005
Rally demands youth justice changes
Prison would 'contaminate'
killer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
BC Appeal Court holds judges to
impossible standard
VANCOUVER - First Kelly Ellard got one, and now Darlene
Young has received a get-out-of-jail-free card from the
BC Court of Appeal,
though both were convicted twice of murder. The
province's highest court has ordered expensive new
trials in both cases because appeal panels concluded the
judges in each case screwed up instructing the jury. (Vancouver Sun)
|
2009 SCC 41
Appeal court overturns
reporter's firing
BC Court of Appeals
Court of Appeal tells Ottawa to amend
Indian Act
4th trial
for Ellard
Make
the justice system accountable
SCC reinstates conviction
2009 SCC 27
Conviction restored
SCC upholds conviction
Murder of Virk and trials of
Ellard
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Compensation due
TORONTO - Ontario's
Ministry of the Attorney General is in the highly unusual position of
having to pay thousands of dollars in legal costs to nine alleged gang
members who were denied timely bail hearings. (Toronto Star)
|
Taxman can't jump queue
OTTAWA - Federal and
provincial tax collectors are no different from other creditors of a
bankrupt company and cannot force a trustee to pay the taxes ahead of
others, Canada' highest court ruled. (CBC) JUDGMENT:
2009 SCC 49 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCC rejects damage award
OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has
rejected a damage award for widows of the miners slain
during the bitter 1992
Giant Mine
strike. (CP) JUDGMENT:
2010 SCC 5 |
Loss of passport challenged
MONTREAL - A Montreal man is asking the
Quebec Superior Court to strike down a federal law that
can see parents who don’t pay child support lose their
passports and other licences. (CBC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lawyer's spin
The
lawyer for Gilles Blackburn says she's surprised by the
level of animosity being thrust toward her client.
When asked if the court action might force search and
rescue teams to reconsider their volunteer work, Nancy
Wilhelm-Morden, Blackburn's lawyer said, "That's what
liability insurance is for." (CP) |
Lawsuit puts a burden on rescue volunteers
Lawsuit will forever alter search & rescue
Good Samaritan law
Shutting down search & rescue
BC rescuers stop service |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Man must pay child support
TORONTO - A
Toronto-area man must continue paying child support to his former wife
despite DNA tests proving he is not the biological father of her
16-year-old twins, an Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled. (National
Post) |
Developers found liable
VANCOUVER - The developers of the
Westin Grand Hotel have been found
liable to pay compensation to investors as a result of false financial
projections that were overly optimistic. (Vancouver Sun) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCC overturns
conviction
OTTAWA - The Supreme
Court of Canada overturned a first-degree murder conviction and
ordered a new trial for a Hungarian drug dealer who was in Canada
illegally when he was charged with shooting an associate whose severed
head was found near Squamish, BC. (CanWest) JUDGMENT:
2008 SCC 57 |
SCC rules police can search your trash
Trash' case tests privacy rights
Police have right to hunt through trash
Trash
search 'violated' pair
2009 SCC 17 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Police need search warrant
VANCOUVER - A BC Supreme Court judge has
upheld a provincial law that allows municipal inspection teams to
investigate homes suspected of being marijuana-growing operations, but
ruled that police cannot enter a residence without a warrant. (Sun)
MORE:
Warrant required |
Justices seek to scrap family court
TORONTO - Two of Ontario's chief justices are calling
for the province's family court system to be scrapped
and replaced with a new model that would see custody and
property disputes decided by judges housed in the same
courthouse, alongside a variety of family support
services. (Toronto Star) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jailing mentally ill
WHITEHOUSE - The Yukon
Court of Appeal says using a prison as a hospital for the mentally ill
does not infringe on a person's human rights under the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms. (CBC) |
BC Transit violated free speech
OTTAWA -
BC Transit violated rights to free speech when it
refused to carry political ads on the outside of its
buses, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled. (CTV)
JUDGMENT:
2009 SCC 31 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCC upholds acquittal
OTTAWA
- The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the acquittal
of a Quebec man, who was arrested by police who mistook
him for his brother, and later found to be carrying a
bag of crack cocaine. (CBC) JUDGMENT:
2009 SCC 57l |
Disbarred lawyer sentenced
HALIFAX - A disgraced Halifax lawyer has been sentenced
to four years in prison for stealing more than $1.3M
from nearly three dozen clients. Srinivassen Pillay was
sentenced Monday in Halifax after pleading guilty to 34
counts of theft. (CBC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Man
found guilty of threatening crown attorney
WINNIPEG -
A Winnipeg man has been
found guilty of threatening to burn down the home of a provincial Crown
attorney only hours after he was sentenced for threatening to kill her.
Patrick Noble, 26, was convicted of criminal harassment and uttering
threats. (Mike on Crime) |
Woman suing for $2.5M
TORONTO - A
Canadian woman who was stranded in Kenya for three months when her
passport was rejected by Canadian consular officials who believed her to
be an impostor, is suing the government for $2.5M. (Montreal Gazette)
PREVIOUS: Diplomat
recalled
How much is 3 months worth? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Blocking transfer "unreasonable'
OTTAWA -
Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's crackdown on
transferring Canadians from US prisons has been dealt a blow by a judge
who has ordered the minister to reconsider his "wholly unreasonable"
decision to block a convicted child molester's request to serve out his
sentence in his home country. (Ottawa Citizen) |
Class action blowback
TORONTO - The unusual scenario could
hardly have been envisioned five years ago, when a team
of class-action lawyers led by the Toronto firm of
Roy, Elliott, O'Connor
LLP, appeared before the judge with a proposed retainer
agreement, which would have seen 50% of pension arrears
paid to the claimants diverted to the lawyers. (Toronto
Star) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Enough
NANAIMO -
Jerry Rose alleges that various
computer systems and chips run by the RCMP and the
province have been controlling his thoughts and
behaviour. (Nanaimo Daily News)
PREVIOUS: Mind
control not a farce
BC judge hears $2B
lawsuit
Tin foil
hat |
Law society’s 'good character'
TORONTO - A convicted hijacker and terrorist who
is facing deportation tried to convince the Law Society of Upper Canada
that he's rehabilitated and should be called to practise law in Ontario.
(Sun Media) PREVIOUS:
Hijacker says he shouldn't be deported |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fine reduced for welfare fraud
VANCOUVER - Two welfare cheats who were fined $150,000
for defrauding the government have had the fine reduced
on appeal to $10,000 each. (Vancouver
Province) |
Abortion clinics remain protected
VANCOUVER - BC's
highest court has upheld a law that established bubble zones around
abortion clinics under siege from protesters. (Vancouver
Province) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lead by example
VICTORIA - I've got a great
suggestion for Madam Justice
Carol Ross,
the judge who ruled last week that it's OK for street
people to camp in city parks: Why not let the homeless
just bunk down in your courtroom every night? After
all, it's a
public space
and it would be a lot more comfortable for people than
sleeping in a cold, wet park. (Vancouver Province)
|
Right to camp in parks
Court upholds right to camp in public
parks
Police wary of power to round up homeless
Judge pitched her tent on
shaky grounds
Homeless bylaws
'unconstitutional'
No solutions in courts
Police break up tent city
Right to camp in city parks |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Parliament has right to create minimum sentences
OTTAWA - The Supreme
Court of Canada has issued a landmark ruling upholding the right of
Parliament to create mandatory minimum sentences under the Criminal
Code. . (CanWest) JUDGEMENT:
R. v.
Ferguson, 2008 SCC 6 |
Pot smell not grounds for search
SASKATOON - The scent of marijuana wafting from an open
car window doesn't give an officer grounds to make an
arrest and search a vehicle, according to a recent
decision from the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal.
(Saskatoon Star Phoenix) RELATED:
Ontario court allows unjust
searches |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Right to remain silent not a given
OTTAWA - The right to silence in Canada is not an
absolute rule that requires police to stop interrogating people who have
no wish to speak with investigators, the Supreme Court of Canada has
ruled. (Toronto Star)
JUDGMENT:
R. v. Singh, 2007 SCC 48 |
5
years for bribery scheme
OXFORD, Miss. -
Richard 'Dickie' Scruggs,
who became one of the wealthiest lawyers in the country by taking on
tobacco, asbestos and insurance companies, was sentenced to five
years in prison for conspiring to bribe a judge. (AP) PREVIOUS:
US Class
action lawsuits |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Murderer sues government
Ronald Smith, the
50-year-old Albertan facing execution in the US, is
taking the Conservative government to court over its
decision not to seek clemency for him from Montana's
death row. (Ottawa Citizen) |
Dion, Layton send their
own letters to Montana governor
Why not a thought for
the two victims?
Ottawa
won't try to save Canadian on US death row |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Court strikes down agreement
OTTAWA - The United States is not a safe country
for refugees, the Federal Court said as it ruled that Canada
will no longer have the right to turn back asylum seekers at the
border. In the surprise judgment, the court found that
Safe Third Country Agreement breaches
the rights of asylum seekers under the United Nation Refugee Convention
or the Convention against Torture. (CTV) MORE:
Judge strikes down law
US says it
has right to kidnap British citizens |
Newspaper uses Anton Piller order
ST JOHN -
Brunswick News
Inc. has used a
little-known legal
procedure
to allow the search of a home of a former newspaper
publisher to try to ensure he doesn't use confidential
information to start his own publication. William
Kenneth Langdon resigned as publisher of the Woodstock
Bugle-Observer on Sept. 19 and has since opened the
office of the Carleton Free Press, which is expected to
launch its first issue in November. (CBC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Disorders plague psychiatrists
EDMONTON -
Name-calling, factions and conspiracies are common in the
"dysfunctional" office of more than a dozen psychiatrists who analyze
criminals for the courts, an Edmonton judge has found.. (Edmonton
Journal) |
Allow police to testify for spouses
VICTORIA - A
murder-suicide by a man Victoria police identified as a threat to his
wife and family has prompted BC's attorney-general to push for Criminal
Code changes allowing police to testify on behalf of reluctant
complainants. (CanWest) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Crown appeals ruling
EDMONTON - The Crown
has filed an appeal of a landmark ruling by a Court of Queen's Bench
justice who rejected a judge's ban prohibiting media outlets from
reporting details of Michael's White's 2005 bail hearing. On May 31,
Justice Scott Brooker ruled that automatic ban was unconstitutional
because it contravened freedom of the press and could lead to potential
misunderstanding and mistrust of the justice system. (Edmonton
Journal) |
Tainted blood trial acquittals
TORONTO -
An Ontario judge has acquitted all
defendants in the tainted blood scandal, angering
victims of the worst public health disaster in Canadian
history. Former Canadian Red Cross chief Dr. Roger
Perrault, three other doctors and the New Jersey-based
Armour Pharmaceuticals Co. were all acquitted. (CTV)
PREVIOUS:
Accused in tainted blood
trial exonerated
All acquitted in tainted
blood scandal
Blood scandal
Krever
Commission |
|
|
|
|
|
|
SCC hears case
cloaked in secrecy
OTTAWA - A police informant seeking complete
confidentiality about his extradition battle clashed
with media outlets fighting for an open court system
when the Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments in a case cloaked in rare secrecy. (CanWest)
PREVIOUS:
Caseload reduction
baffles Supreme Court
Justice
is a myth in Canada |
Reversal of Teskey verdict sparks
complaint about judge
EDMONTON - Gail Vickery, Chief Judge of the Alberta
Provincial Court, says Lesley Miller's formal letter of
complaint against an Alberta provincial court judge will
be looked into promptly. (Edmonton Journal)
PREVIOUS:
SCC overturns conviction
Judge
took too long to write reasons for verdict |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Pot advocate must get drug in jail
CALGARY - A judge says he had no choice but to send
medicinal marijuana crusader Grant Krieger to jail for
drug trafficking, but he wants assurances corrections
authorities will uphold Krieger's constitutional
exemption to have the drug behind bars to alleviate pain
for his multiple sclerosis. (Calgary Herald) |
Judging the judges
VANCOUVER - I was all set to join the rising tide of
protest against the appeal- court judges who toned down
Darnell Pratt's sentence for the torture-killing of gas
jockey Grant De Patie on racial grounds. But then I did
something I suspect few others have. I read the
judgment. (Vancouver Province) JUDGMENT:
Court of appeal for BC:
R. v. Pratt |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Appeals shelter war criminals
MONTREAL - More than
two years after the Supreme Court of Canada deemed
Leon Mugesera
a war criminal and
ordered him out of the country, the exiled ethnic Hutu
hard-liner is still living in Quebec. (CanWest)
|
Accused Nazi war criminal lied to get in
'Beast of Bolzano'
another chance to stay
Convicted Nazi prison
guard loses appeal
Genocide
suspect 'laughed'
War
crimes suspect arraigned in Montreal court
Mounties
charge Rwandan with war crimes |
|
|
Accused war criminal free to stay
Canada refuses to extradite
War Criminal
War crimes 'beyond control'
of accused
War criminal extradited
Canada extradites war criminal to Italy
|
Hearing probes refugee
status
Mounties focus on war crimes
Saltspring 'Joe' wanted for
war crimes
RCMP war crimes and special investigations
Ex-Nazi guard arrives in Italy
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Judge
throws book at rioters
MONTREAL
- Bitch. Racist. Nazi. And one more for good measure: Eva
Braun. A Quebec Superior Court judge was hit by a
barrage of invective yesterday as a courtroom packed with
friends and family of seven Mohawk rioters she was sending
to jail erupted in insults and slurs. (Gazette)
|
Broken promises ok
TORONTO - It's official: Politicians can break campaign
promises with impunity. (G&M)
The Criminal Code defines fraud as a deliberate deception
resulting in a personal benefit. One could argue the lie
resulted in the benefit of the seat in the Legislature if
one was inclined to tilt at windmills. Then again,
reasonable people know our political leaders can't be
trusted.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Supreme Court Canada: judgements |
Supreme Court of the US: Opinions |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Alberta
Courts Judgments
|
British
Columbia Courts Judgments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Prime
Time Crime
|
Recent
Headlines
|
|