RCMP Chief Supt. Will Ng speaks at a news conference as seized fentanyl pills are displayed in Surrey, B.C., in March 2023. Years of civil forfeiture regulations do not appear to be resulting in any meaningful abatement in organized crime, particularly in the illicit drug trade.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Civil forfeiture laws and unexplained wealth orders seem to be less about crime control than an exercise in public funding.
New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs delivers the State of the Province speech in Fredericton, N.B. in January 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray
New Brunswick’s proposed Compassion Intervention Act could motivate the Supreme Court of Canada to impose restrictions on the notwithstanding clause.
The Supreme Court of Canada ordered the federal government back to the drawing board on its Impact Assessment Act. But the legislation got a lot of things right in an era of climate change and related issues.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the federal Impact Assessment Act needs amendments for Constitutional compliance, but the court’s recommended approach is no longer viable.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a Liberal Party of Canada fundraising event in Ottawa on Nov. 21, 2023.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
Justin Trudeau has been in power for almost a decade, achieving some of his objectives and stalling on others. What will be his legacy, and is constitutional reform in the cards in the next two years?
The Supreme Court of Canada is pictured in Ottawa in September 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
In the decades to come, Canada’s Supreme Court will undoubtedly issue rulings related to climate change, Indigenous Peoples and other critical issues. Justin Trudeau’s legacy will be evident.
The federal Impact Assessment Act, which seeks to minimize the environmental impacts of major economic projects, is at the centre of a dispute over whether it intrudes into provincial jurisdiction over natural resources development.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Canada’s federal Impact Assessment Act seeks to minimize the environmental impacts of major economic projects. Will the Supreme Court uphold the act?
Members of the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en First Nations hug to celebrate the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision to recognize Indigenous land rights.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chuck Stoody
Twenty-five years after the landmark Delgamuukw case, Canada is still failing to fulfil its legal obligations to Indigenous Peoples.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during a news conference, as Education Minister Stephen Lecce looks on in Toronto on Nov. 7, 2022. Ontario has repealed legislation that imposed a contract on 55,000 education workers and invoked the notwithstanding clause.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
A Supreme Court reference on the notwithstanding clause could look beyond the highly polarized reactions to any particular law and get at the heart of the issue.
Minister of Justice David Lametti participates in an Ottawa news conference in June 2022 on proposed amendments to the Criminal Code in response to a Supreme Court of Canada decision involving a defence of extreme intoxication.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
More than a dozen women’s organizations pleaded with the federal government to slow down and treat their concerns seriously about Bill C-28. It didn’t listen.
Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Richard Wagner waits to pose for a group photo with other members of the Supreme Court on the steps of the building following a welcoming ceremony for Judge Mahmud Jamal in October 2021 in Ottawa.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Decision-making in the Canadian Supreme Court appears to be more fundamentally rooted in the law, not politics, than it is in the United States. Here’s why.
People take part in the March for Life on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in May 2022.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle
Differing U.S. and Canadian political and judicial systems offer Canada protections against outlawing abortion here. But there’s still a lot of work to be done to ensure reproductive justice.
Protestors gather outside a Manhattan federal court during an abortion rights demonstration on May 14, 2022, in New York.
(AP Photo/Jeenah Moon)
Legislating a woman’s right to timely access to abortions, rather than simply ensuring she’s not punished for having one, is the first step to striking the balance between physician and women’s rights.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford walks to his office in June 2020 as legislators debated the government’s legislation that enabled it to invoke the notwithstanding clause.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young
By paying greater attention to the originally intended application of the Canadian Constitution’s notwithstanding clause, along with the diversity of lawmakers in Canada, there’s a better path forward.
Tulips bloom outside the Supreme Court of Canada in Ottawa.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Pitting the representation of historically marginalized groups on the Supreme Court against another constitutionally protected minority — Canada’s francophones — is a misguided race to the bottom.
The Supreme Court of Canada rejected the request to strike down national carbon pricing. The plan is key to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
In its decision, the Supreme Court of Canada recognized the gravity of climate change and upheld the idea that Parliament has the authority to act on matters of “peace, order and good government.”
The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision has put a halt to any legal claims that there’s no difference between corporations and people.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Jennifer Quaid, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The Supreme Court of Canada’s recent ruling against a company that claimed a fine against it constituted cruel and unusual punishment will quell fears of weakening corporate law.
Members of the Sipekne'katik First Nation prepare to go fishing in Saulnierville, N.S., on, Sept. 17, 2020.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
The message from commercial fishers is that fishing in St. Marys Bay outside the commercial season is illegal and a conservation concern. In fact, it is neither.
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that courtrooms have been forced to become virtual, but is the long-term adoption of technology a threat to justice?
(Shutterstock)
The coronavirus pandemic has forced courtroom proceedings online, and what is now missing are most of the non-verbal cues used to determine whether or not those taking the stand are being truthful.
Canada doesn’t extradite people to countries with the death penalty. But there are other ways to put those accused of crimes at serious risk.
(Erika Wittlieb/Pixabay)
Canadians should know more about how our government co-operates with other countries in criminal cases. Are we unwittingly risking the lives or rights of those accused of crimes?