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 was! This year’s round-up includes a mix of COVID-related cases, along with sentencing, bail, search and seizure, intoxication and credibility. COVID When the pandemic hit Canada in March, the courts were quickly affected. Shut-downs meant that trials were postponed and other aspects began happening virtually. Many defence lawyers rushed to get clients out of jail and back into the community ..read more

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 skepticism for the campaign, given Bell's involvement with the phone contract with provincial jails while costs restricts inmates from contacting family and friends, through cost and limits to land-lines. If you're not familiar with the dire state of telephone access in Ontario's jails, you can check out Caryma Sa'd's illustration or this thread from Toronto Prisoner's Rights Project. Or read Mi ..read more

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 some of my picks (with some help from Twitter law nerds, of course), of the most important Supreme Court cases of the last decade. The 2010's involved large development in how Canadians use technologies. This changing understanding of our relationship to online information and the privacy associated informed a different analysis as to the reasonable expectation of privacy. In R v. Spencer, the Su ..read more

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 participants to learning about the Charter by giving an overview of the law around search and seizure as it relates to cell phones. The talk was broadly structured to address three main questions: Can the police search my phone? Can the police search my buddy's phone? And can the police search everyone's phone? The first question was answered with a discussion of the case of R v. Fearon and the police's ..read more

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 reflection on the Liberals' performance on the justice portfolio over the last four years. Now, with a new Liberal minority government, it remains to be seen what changes await in criminal justice. Still, defence lawyer Michael Spratt has outlined his wish list for federal justice reform. This month marks a year since cannabis was legalized in Canada. And despite its now lawful status, many indiv ..read more

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 preliminary inquiries, juries, intimate partner violence and the re-classification of offences. You can read my overview of some of the changes here. Many of the changes could cause delays, according to Criminal Lawyer's Association president Michael Lacy. The Toronto Police Service announced this month that it would implement a new policy whereby they will collect race-based data of the individ ..read more

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 justice system. Here are some of the changes that take effect as of September 19, 2019: Preliminary inquiries: The availability of a preliminary inquiry is limited to an offence where an individual is liable to a maximum punishment of 14 years or more in prison. In other words, for many offences where the maximum penalty is less than 14 years (such as sexual assaults, for example), an accused person ..read more

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 dealt with the issue of racial profiling in the context of a Charter challenge of a drug search. The Court found that if an officer uses racial stereotypes to any degree in how they either identify a suspect or treat one, then there is no reasonable suspicion or reasonable grounds to arrest. In other words, the use of racial stereotypes will amount to racial profiling. Sara Little outlines how ..read more

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 that it would be cutting various aspects of criminal certificates, including bail hearings, mental health and Indigenous issues. The move has left many lawyers worried about the effects on access to justice and delays to the courts, including Stephanie DiGiuseppe who commented that the move will cause a 'coverage crisis' in bail court. You can see my comments on the issue here. Shortly after this ..read more

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 report that they have written a statement that outlines their commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). It's a minimal requirement - you don't have to disclose the statement, but simply say that you have one. Still, it has raised a flurry of opposition and debate, with opponents likening it to compelled speech and even thought control. Following the debate at Convocation yesterday, mos ..read more