Charter

April 7, 2016

State v. Conscience

Freedom of conscience, state authority, and the case of the citizenship oath As I had already mentioned, last week I spoke at a discussion on freedom of conscience that the Runnymede Society organized at McGill on Tuesday. It was a lot of fun, and as always at McGill there were some great questions from the… Continue reading

Constitutional law

Charter, citizenship, conscience, Lord Acton, oath
January 25, 2016

Follow Instructions

School prayer is unconstitutional ― even in Alberta and Saskatchewan A couple of months ago, Benjamin Oliphant wrote, on the Policy Options blog, about a controversy over school prayer in Alberta: some schools still start their days with the Lord’s Prayer, which some parents oppose. Constitutionally, Mr. Oliphant pointed out, the matter is somewhat complicated. A… Continue reading

Constitutional law, Law and Religion

Alberta, Charter, neutrality, prayer, Saskatchewan, schools
January 18, 2016

Why’d You Do This?

Giving Parliament more time on assisted suicide, the Supreme Court fails to explain itself On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the federal government’s request for an extension of the suspension of the declaration of unconstitutionality of the Criminal Code’s provisions that have the effect of making assisted suicide unlawful in all circumstances.… Continue reading

Constitutional law

assisted suicide, Charter, judicial review, reasons, Supreme Court of Canada, suspended declaration of unconstitutionality
January 11, 2016

Extra Time

Assisted suicide and the trouble with giving politicians time to respond to judicial decisions This morning, the Supreme Court heard oral argument in the federal government’s application to extend the suspension of the declaration of invalidity of the Criminal Code‘s provisions that have the effect of prohibiting assisted suicide in any circumstances, which the Court granted… Continue reading

Constitutional law, Constitutional Theory

assisted suicide, Charter, judicial review, remedies, Rule of Law, Supreme Court of Canada, suspended declaration of unconstitutionality
December 20, 2015

Silencing the Bullies

In my last post, I wrote about the decision of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in Crouch v. Snell, 2015 NSSC 340, which struck down that province’s Cyber-Safety Act, a law intended “to provide safer communities by creating administrative and court processes that can be used to address and prevent cyberbullying.” Justice McDougall held that the… Continue reading

Constitutional law, New Technologies

censorship, Charter, cyber-bullying, freedom of expression, procedure, Rule of Law
December 15, 2015

Anti-Bullying Law Struck Down

Last week, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia struck down the province’s recently-enacted anti-cyber-bullying legislation, the Cyber-Safety Act. In Crouch v. Snell, 2015 NSSC 340, Justice McDougall holds that the Act both infringed the freedom of expression protected by s. 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and made possible deprivations of liberty inconsistent with… Continue reading

Constitutional law, New Technologies

Charter, cyber-bullying, freedom of expression, fundamental justice, procedural fairness, vagueness
November 29, 2015

The Scope of Smuggling

On Friday, the Supreme Court issued a pair of decisions clarifying the scope of the provisions of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA, among friends) relative to “people smuggling” ― the transportation to or across international borders of consenting individuals who lack the authorization to cross the borders in question. In B010 v. Canada (Citizenship… Continue reading

Constitutional law

Charter, immigration law, overbreadth, people smuggling, refugees, statutory interpretation
November 19, 2015

Not too Broad

In a decision delivered this morning, the Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the constitutionality of subjecting the members of the Canadian armed forces to the military justice system for all almost offences against acts of Parliament. In R. v. Moriarity, 2015 SCC 55, it ruled that the provisions of the National Defence Act pursuant to which… Continue reading

Constitutional law

Charter, military justice, overbreadth
September 15, 2015

Absence of Evidence…

Last week, the Alberta Court of Appeal delivered an interesting decision rejecting a constitutional challenge to the province’s prohibition on private health insurance brought by way of an application. In Allen v Alberta, 2015 ABCA 277, the Court held unanimously that the applicant hadn’t provided a sufficient evidentiary basis for his challenge, and that it should have been… Continue reading

Constitutional law, The Justice System

access to justice, Charter, deference, empirical turn, evidence, healthcare, judicial review
September 13, 2015

Consistency and Complexity in Judicial Review

In a (somewhat) recent post commenting on Justice Brown’s appointment to the Supreme Court, Paul Daly wrote about “an interesting paradox” in the world of judicial review of decisions by the “political branches” of government: “[t]hose [who] would defer to Parliament would not defer to the executive.” The “conservatives” who are skeptical of judicial review of… Continue reading

Administrative Law, Constitutional Theory

Charter, deference, ideology, judicial review