Access to Justice
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September 05, 2024
R. v. Ball decision leaves unanswered questions about police
Michael Ball, of Kitchener, Ont., was supposed to go to trial in 2018 for the 2013 killing of a 28-year-old Elmira waitress Erin Howlett. In 2016, a Kitchener jury couldn’t reach a verdict on a first-degree murder charge, although the jury found Ball guilty of an indignity to a human body.
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September 04, 2024
Appeal court rules COVID-19 benefit income threshold violated Charter
In what one lawyer described as a “leap forward” in the application of s. 15 Charter rights to legislation, the Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that the federal government’s $5,000 threshold for its COVID-19 unemployment benefits infringed on the Charter rights of an Ontario woman who did not qualify due to her disability.
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September 04, 2024
Parole officers and post-suspension hearings | Michael Crowley
I generally did not find it easy when we revoked a release and I had to deliver the decision because often it was evident that the individual had been making some positive steps before they screwed up in some way. So, I knew that we were impacting a life in a very negative way. Still, I took some comfort in knowing that by adhering to the law and our policy, we were removing an individual from the community who was now posing an undue risk.
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September 03, 2024
Yukon report outlines lawyer shortage, lack of legal aid help
Yukon’s law society is hoping the territory’s natural beauty will lure more lawyers into living and working there, says an official. The territory is experiencing a shortage of lawyers in its private bar as is laid out in a recently released report from the Law Society of Yukon (LSY).
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September 03, 2024
Post-suspension parole hearings | Michael Crowley
Conducting post-suspension hearings was often difficult because an offender had likely found some successes in the community, and in general, they had been suspended for violating one of the standard or special conditions that formed part of their release, rather than for committing a new offence.
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August 30, 2024
Public inquiry into foreign interference to hear from policy experts this fall
Experts on foreign interference in democratic elections and institutions will begin testifying this fall as a federal public inquiry enters a crucial policy stage that could help shape future legislative changes.
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August 30, 2024
Time to rethink life with no parole | Norman Douglas
On April 3 and 4, 2024, I was enjoying a momentous weekend. I had driven to Wawa and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. from my home in Collingwood for three book signings. It was during the second one on the Saturday morning when I was shocked.
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August 30, 2024
Ontario Appeal Court: Victim demeanour matters
J.F., a St. Catharines, Ont., man who denied assaulting his former partner, was found guilty of 10 of the 14 criminal charges he faced. His name cannot be revealed due to a publication ban. J.F. pleaded not guilty to 14 charges, including sexual assault, forcible confinement and assault with a weapon. The offences were said to have occurred on Jan. 27, 2018.
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August 30, 2024
Lawyer independence as reflected in Legal Professions Act 2024 | Michael D. Lucas
The Legal Professions Act SBC 2024 c. 26 is now law. Most of that Act has yet to be proclaimed, but the cogs are starting to turn for transitioning the regulation of legal professionals, including lawyers, from the law society, which has regulated lawyers independent of government since 1869, over to a new entity called “Legal Professions British Columbia.”
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August 29, 2024
Ontario court upholds regulator’s policy of publishing allegations before tribunal hearings
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of Ontario’s policy of publishing documents related to enforcement proceedings prior to a hearing before a tribunal is reasonable, the Ontario Superior Court has held.