Constitutional
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March 07, 2024
Modernizing national security laws could also clarify threshold to invoke Emergencies Act: LeBlanc
Ottawa is considering reforming the threshold for invoking the federal Emergencies Act, as part of a broader “more holistic review of national security legislation,” with the Liberal government committed to introducing amendments to “modernize” the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Act, the Security of Information Act, and the Criminal Code “in the coming months,” says Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.
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March 06, 2024
B.C. Court of Appeal upholds murder aquittal, citing ‘egregious’ police behaviour
B.C.’s top court has upheld the acquittal of a man accused of second-degree murder due to the “egregious” way the police ignored Charter protections against unreasonable search or seizure.
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March 06, 2024
B.C. ‘disappointed’ by decision on appeal of injunction pausing public drug use law: minister
B.C.’s top court has batted back the province’s attempts to appeal an injunction that put implementation of a law governing public drug use on hold, citing the fact that proceedings would be moot by the time the injunction came up for a hearing.
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March 05, 2024
White and Montour decision: Treaty rights to conflict resolution
This is the last in a four-part series of commentary on the Superior Court of Quebec’s recent decision in R. c. Montour, 2023 QCCS 4154. This part focuses on the court’s finding of a treaty right to a “conflict-resolution procedure” protected by s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982; how it can be extended to other historic treaties made in similar contexts; and how this renewed reading of treaties breathes life into Indigenous peoples’ right to self-determination in Canadian law.
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March 01, 2024
Liberal government appoints new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced that Konrad von Finckenstein, a respected legal expert and public servant with extensive and diverse experience in law, policy, and communications, has been appointed new Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner
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March 01, 2024
Reports on harassment, specialization, helpline released for Ontario Convocation
Almost all of the Law Society of Ontario’s most recent Convocation was held behind closed doors, but several reports were published detailing numbers around harassment complaints against lawyers, members becoming certified specialists and those making use of the regulator’s practice helpline.
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March 01, 2024
CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUES - Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - Legal rights - Protection against unreasonable search and seizure
Appeal by Appellant from a judgment of the Alberta Court of Appeal which affirmed a judgment of the Court of the Queen’s Bench of Alberta concluding that the Appellant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his Internet Protocol (IP) address.
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February 29, 2024
Legal experts ask Alberta to withdraw proposals for transgender youth, citing Charter concerns
Legal academics from across Alberta are raising red flags over a suite of proposed policies which would require parental notification when children alter their names or pronouns and place limits on gender-affirming care for youth, saying they could open the province up to constitutional challenges.
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February 28, 2024
Federal government facing lawsuit over 2022 invocation of Emergencies Act
The federal government is facing a lawsuit over its use of the Emergencies Act to deal with the protests which disrupted Ottawa and numerous border crossings as part of the Freedom Convoy in early 2022, a move which comes hot on the heels of a Federal Court of Canada ruling which said the government acted unreasonably and illegally when it invoked the Act.
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February 26, 2024
Saskatchewan, UR Pride turn to Appeal Court in student pronoun case
The warring parties in Saskatchewan’s student pronoun dispute may be heading to the province’s highest court to continue their legal fight, with the government looking for a “second kick at the can” following its recent loss to a 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy