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Happy 800th, Magna Carta!
Today is the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta Libertatum ― or just the Magna Carta, among friends. The Great Charter has been much celebrated, and also derided, of late. In the New York Times, Sarah Lyall does an excellent job of summarizing the competing perspectives. The celebrations tend to emphasize Magna Carta’s
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The Harm in a Hate Speech Bill
Last week, I criticized Québec’s Bill 59, which would notably introduce a very broad prohibition on “hate speech” in provincial law. This morning, the CBA National Magazine’s blog publishes an English version of some of my criticisms, focusing on one of the bill’s unique aspects, the inclusion of “political convictions” in the list of “prohibited
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Une note aux lecteurs ― A Note to Readers
(English follows) Une petite note à l’intention de mes lecteurs racistes, islamophobes ou antisémites, et en particuliers à ceux qui semblent être devenus mes fans depuis que j’ai publié un billet dénonçant le projet de loi québécois visant à interdire le « discours haineux »: ce n’est pas parce que je défends votre liberté d’expression que j’ai envie
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Inutile ou inconstitutionnel?
En plus de s’attaquer à la liberté d’expression et à la primauté du droit avec leur projet de loi 59, le gouvernement du Québec et la ministre de la justice, Stéphanie Vallée, s’attaquent peut-être aussi à la liberté de religion avec le projet de loi 62. Peut-être, car ce texte législatif contient une exception qui pourrait en
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Un gâchis
La ministre de la justice du Québec, Stéphanie Vallée, a déposée à l’Assemblée nationale le Projet de loi 59 qui va ajouter une interdiction de « discours haineux » à la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne (alias la Charte québécoise) et aussi, entre autres, astreindre les écoles et les CÉGEPs à protéger
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Rule & Exemption in Action
Emmett Macfarlane has an interesting post for Maclean’s discussing the legal and constitutional complexities of the brewing confrontation between the Mayor of Montréal, Denis Coderre, and the federal government about the possible opening of a number of supervised-injection centres in the city. In a nutshell, prof. Macfarlane points out that the federal government’s proposed (although still
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Help Us. Or Maybe Don’t?
Here’s another point that I found interesting in the Supreme Court’s decision in R. v. Tatton, 2015 SCC 33. (I wrote about Justice Moldaver’s comment regarding mandatory minimum sentences yesterday.) The issue in Tatton was whether self-induced intoxication could be invoked as a defence to a charge of arson ― but Justice Moldaver, writing for the
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Minimum Agreement
In R. v. Nur, 2015 SCC 15, Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the mandatory minimum sentence Parliament had imposed for the crime of possessing a restricted or a prohibited firearm, either loaded or with ammunition nearby, without the appropriate license. Justices Rothstein, Moldaver, and Wagner dissented, arguing that the majority’s approach to assessing the constitutionality of mandatory
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Let’s Hear It
I’ve mentioned Aniz Alani’s challenge to the constitutionality of the Prime Minister’s apparent and admitted policy of not making any Senate appointments before. The federal government moved to strike Mr. Alani’s application for judicial review, arguing that it had no chance of success, and also that the Federal Court had no jurisdiction to hear it. Yesterday, that
Double Aspect 