Tag: Charter of Rights and Freedoms


Eby: Federal Government Needs to Reform Bail System ‘Now’ to Target Repeat Offenders

British Columbia Premier David Eby says the federal government needs to reform Canada’s bail system now instead of simply talking about it. His comments come after federal Justice Minister David Lametti said Ottawa is prepared to change the Criminal Code to add “more stickiness” for people seeking bail, and he plans to discuss the matter with…


Winnipeg Police Charge Second Man With Attempting to Intimidate Justice Official

Police in Winnipeg have charged a second person in the surveillance of a Manitoba judge. Police say Randal Jay Cameron of Calgary, who is 45, has been charged with attempting to obstruct justice and intimidation of a justice system participant. Earlier this month, police laid similar charges against John Carpay of Calgary. Carpay is president…


Michael Taube: When It Comes to the Notwithstanding Clause, Doug Ford Had No Other Option

Commentary Ontario Premier Doug Ford passed Bill 28, or the Keeping Students in Class Act, on Nov. 3 to prevent roughly 55,000 education support workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees from going on strike. The provincial government also received royal assent to include Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,…


Rex Murphy: The Liberals’ Stance on Ford’s Use of Notwithstanding Clause Oozes With Hypocrisy

Commentary Ontario is a peculiar place. There have been two full years of school closures—of dubious necessity—and now that the COVID regime has finally been lifted, just as children are getting settled back into regular class time, what happens? Why, there is a strike of course. The great CUPE union has called a strike for…


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…


Canadians ‘Dissatisfied’ With Feds’ Treatment of Freedom Convoy: Internal Federal Poll

Many Canadians say they are unhappy with the police response to the Freedom Convoy in February, according to an internal survey conducted for the federal government. Even those who opposed the protest said the freezing of bank accounts would never have been necessary if “more had been done” to engage with protestors. “Participants were generally…


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…


John Robson: The Charter at 40: Empowering the State, Not Protecting Liberty

Commentary It is now 40 years since the glorious Charter of Rights and Freedoms sprang full-fledged from the brow of philosopher-king Pierre Elliot Trudeau, created Canada from some rather nasty foam bobbing about from sea to shining C-minus, and gave us sweet-smelling liberty where all had been sick-making darkness. Or so I gather from the…


Police Use of Facial Recognition Technology Could Threaten Charter Rights: Lawyers

The use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement without the proper legal safeguards in place threatens privacy, free speech, and peaceful assembly rights protected under the Charter, a technology and human rights lawyer says. Testifying before the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics on March 21, Cythnia Khoo said the use of…