Constitutional law
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A Belated Happy Birthday to the Charter
I wasn’t able to post yesterday, but still want to say something good on the Charter‘s anniversary. My doubts and worries notwithstanding, I believe that the Charter has done Canada a lot of good. With Lord Acton, I believe that “[l]iberty is not the means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest… Continue reading
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A Charter Child’s Blues
This was originally written more than three years ago now, but I am fond of the text. I thought I would repost it tomorrow, on the Charter‘s 30th anniversary, but decided to do it today. Hopefully I’ll come up with something more celebratory tomorrow. *** I am a proud Charter child. A copy of the… Continue reading
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A Right to Bear Arms? Canadian Cases
Here’s something I should have done yesterday, before launching into my analysis of the Charter‘s protection of liberty and of the right to bear arms: read some actual cases! Well, better late than never. In R. v. Hasselwander, [1993] 2 S.C.R. 398, Justice Cory, writing for a 3-2 majority, opined, at p. 414, that “Canadians, unlike Americans… Continue reading
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Student Protests and Election Law
Cyberpresse (La Presse’s website) has published my op-ed (en français) on the effects a possible spring election in Québec would have on the student protests against tuition fee hikes. In a nutshell, I argue that, given their explicit opposition to the Liberal government, any expenses the protesters would engage in during an election campaign would count… Continue reading
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A Charter Right to Bear Arms?
My friend Michael Cust makes an interesting suggestion in a blog post asking whether there is a right to bear arms in Canada: while there is no self-standing right to bear arms, “a case could be made that it’s part of our right to liberty” protected by section 7 of the Charter, because history suggests… Continue reading
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Further Gun-Registry Litigation Update
Radio-Canada reports that the safeguard order preventing the destruction of the long-gun registry data relative to Québec has been extended, presumably until the merits hearings now due to be held in June. The federal government had claimed that the safeguard order was not necessary because no data would be destroyed before August – yet both… Continue reading
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Emergency Wiretaps and Privacy Rights
Well, the Supreme Court of Canada has great timing. Or maybe I do, but saying that would be immodest, right? In any case, the day after I wrote that the Court latest privacy decision was a mess, it has released its decision in R. v. Tse, 2012 SCC 16, addressing the conflict bewteen the right to privacy… Continue reading
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Privacy in the Past, Present, and Future
Our own actions – individual and collective – set the upper limit of our privacy rights. We will never have more privacy rights than we care to have, although we often have fewer. One stark illustration of this idea comes in Isaac Asimov’s short story “The Dead Past,” in which a group of scientists build… Continue reading
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Gun Registry Litigation Update
There is news regarding Québec’s attempt to obtain “its” long-gun registry data before it is destroyed by the federal government, about which I wrote here and here. The merits hearing was supposed to take place today. However, Radio-Canada reports that the judge was concerned that the matter is too complex and there is not enough time to… Continue reading
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Thoughts on Québec’s Bid for Gun-Registry Data
As promised, a few thoughts on Québec’s claim that the destruction of the long-gun registry data is unconstitutional. In no particular order: This case forces the courts to grapple with the constitutional issues presented by co-operative federalism, of which the working of the gun registration regime seems to have been an example. Québec’s claim is… Continue reading
Double Aspect 