October 2018 Criminal Law Round-up
The biggest news of the month was the legalization of cannabis when Bill C-45 came into force on October 17. As people lined up (or placed their orders online), the government announced that it will...
View ArticleNovember 2018 Criminal Law Round-up
News:Juries were a hot topic this month. In the latest chapter of the ongoing legal saga, a mistrial was declared in the trial of Dennis Oland, after an officer did improper background checks on...
View ArticleImpaired Driving update: implications of Bill C-46
The holiday season is upon us, and with it comes a spike in road checks for impaired drivers. This year, the landscape around drinking and driving has changed with the coming into force of new...
View ArticleJanuary 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
The sentencing hearing began this month for the case involving the fatal bus crash of the Humboldt Broncos hockey team. The court has heard many victim impact statements from the families of the...
View ArticleContextualizing Privacy: The Supreme Court's Decision in R v. Jarvis
As our society develops with new technology, the Courts are often playing catch-up to evolving social norms, working to reconcile new circumstances or contexts to existing legal frameworks.In the...
View ArticleFebruary 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
The biggest news story this month was, of course, the allegations of political interference by the Prime Minister’s office in the SNC Lavalin matter. There are likely thousands of articles written now,...
View ArticleMarch 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
News:The Office of the Independent Review of Police released a report this month that concluded that Ontario’s police conduct too many unjustified strip searches, with police procedures and collection...
View ArticleApril 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
News:Doug Ford’s government introduced its budget this month, which included a 33% cut to Legal Aid’s budget. This move, meant to ‘streamline’ the delivery of legal services to low-income Ontarians,...
View ArticleAn overview of R v. Barton
The Supreme Court released its highly anticipated decision in R v. Barton today. The case, which dealt with a myriad of issues arising from the murder trial of Bradley Barton, touches many areas of...
View ArticleOn Diversity in the Legal Profession
Yesterday, at Convocation at the Law Society of Ontario, the newly elected benchers debated the controversial Statement of Principles (SOP), which requires lawyers to tell the Law Society in an annual...
View ArticleMay/June 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
After a brief hiatus in May, we’re back with a double edition of your latest round-up. There is lots to catch up on in the world of criminal law, so read on:News:In June, Legal Aid Ontario announced...
View ArticleJuly/August Criminal Law Round-up
Well, the end of summer is upon us. As kids go back to school and holidays come to a close, it’s time to dive into some notable cases from the past two months:In R v. Dudhi, the Ontario Court of Appeal...
View ArticleComing into Force: Changes in Criminal Law From Bill C-75
It has now been 90 days since Bill C-75 received Royal Assent, and many sections of the bill come into force today. The massive bill has far-reaching consequences for the procedures in the criminal...
View ArticleSeptember 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
This September, 90 days after it received Royal Assent, a number of the amendments contained in Bill C-75 come into force. These new provisions will change procedures in the Criminal Code, ranging from...
View ArticleOctober 2019 Criminal Law Round-up
News:Most of the month of October was dominated by news of the federal election. And while criminal justice issues did not feature prominently in the parties’ platforms, the election allowed for some...
View ArticleTech & Privacy: Protecting Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure
In 2017, I spoke at a conference put on by SERENE-RISC, an organization that works on issues of cybersecurity and aims to protect people from cyber threats. There, I cleverly tricked all of the...
View ArticleThe Ultimate Round-up: Top Supreme Court Cases from 2010-2019
As 2019 comes to a close, it’s time to reflect on the last decade and the changing landscape of criminal law in Canada. The Supreme Court has released decisions on a wide range of topics, but here are...
View ArticleLet's Talk about Phones in Ontario's Jails
Today is Bell Let’s Talk Day, an annual campaign to raise awareness and funds for mental health services in Canada. If you follow any criminal lawyers on social media, you’ll see that there is a lot of...
View Article2020 Criminal Law Round-up
Well, we’ve reached the end of 2020. Finally. If you’re like me, you spent more time reading practice directives than new case law, so now is your time to catch up on the new cases of the year that...
View Article2022 Criminal Law Round-up
Well, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. The time to reflect and look back on the year that was. It was an eventful year for criminal law in Canada, with a number of significant cases being...
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