Category: Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court Will Not Hear Appeal of Manitoba’s Public-Sector Wage Freeze

The Supreme Court of Canada will not hear an appeal from unions that consider the Manitoba government’s public-sector wage freeze a violation of collective bargaining rights. Just over a year ago, the provincial Court of Appeal ruled the government was within its rights to legislate the wage freeze. It said the original judge from what…


Saskatchewan First: Province Seeking More Autonomy Over Resources, Economic Future

Premier Scott Moe has his eyes set on flexing Saskatchewan’s autonomy with legislation akin to Alberta’s proposed sovereignty act. Lt.-Gov. Russell Mirastry, in the throne speech, has laid out the Saskatchewan Party government’s agenda for the fall session of the legislature. He says Saskatchewan will seek more independence, especially over its natural resources. Canada’s Constitution…


Top Court to Hear if BC School Trustee’s Defamation Suit Defending His Remarks on Child Gender Transition Can Proceed

The Supreme Court of Canada will consider next month whether a defamation suit against the former head of the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation (BCTF) can proceed, in a case that observers say could have extensive repercussions on elected officials’ willingness to speak out about their issues of concern. Longtime Chilliwack school trustee Barry Neufeld launched the…


Supreme Court Is a ‘Colonial’ Institution, Canada’s Attorney General Lametti Says

The Supreme Court of Canada is a “colonial institution” that should be revitalized to bring back certain practices from indigenous legal systems, says Attorney General David Lametti. Speaking before the House of Commons justice committee on Aug. 24, Lametti said that indigenous peoples should see their cultures represented in institutions such as the Supreme Court. “It is extremely…


Supreme Court Is A ‘Colonial’ Institution, Attorney General Lametti Says

The Supreme Court of Canada is a “colonial institution” that should be revitalized to bring back certain practices from indigenous legal systems, says Attorney General David Lametti. Speaking before the House of Commons justice committee on Aug. 24, Lametti said that indigenous peoples should see their cultures represented in institutions such as the Supreme Court. “It is extremely…


Benson and Bussey: Time to Reassess the Canadian Judicial Council?

Commentary A complaint to the Canadian Judicial Council (CJC) was recently filed concerning comments made by the Right Honourable Richard Wagner, chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC). The complaint alleged that Justice Wagner’s comments on the trucker convoy protests in Ottawa, published by Le Devoir on April 9, 2022, “fit the definition…


Top Court’s Upholding of Extreme Intoxication Defence Draws Mixed Reactions

A Supreme Court of Canada ruling that someone too impaired by drugs to be capable of self-control isn’t criminally guilty has caused mixed reactions and a call for new legislation by some. The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruling of R. v. Brown concerned a former Calgary university student who, at a party in Calgary…


Bruce Pardy: Canada’s Charter Was Naive From the Beginning

Commentary I was having lunch with a friend. She was complaining about the man in her life. “He won’t take charge in the relationship,” she lamented, “And when he does, he does it wrong.” Forty years ago, when Canada enacted the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, it asked the courts to take charge of our…


Loblaw Financial Wins Supreme Court Case Over Tax Treatment of Barbados Subsidiary

OTTAWA—The Supreme Court of Canada has sided with Loblaw Financial Holdings in a dispute over the tax treatment of a subsidiary the company ran in Barbados. In a 7-0 ruling today, the top court says Canadian provisions at issue in the case did not apply to the company, Glenhuron Bank Ltd., meaning tax on its…


Supreme Court Split Decision in Quebec Comedian Case Concerns Free Speech Advocates

Canada’s top court upheld the freedom of a Quebec comedian to make fun of a public figure who suffers from a disability, but the narrow margin of the 5–4 decision has some advocates concerned that free speech rights are in jeopardy. In 2010, Quebec comedian Mike Ward began telling jokes about Jeremy Gabriel, a teen…