Criminal
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April 01, 2026
Ontario budget draws fire over criminal justice, insurance concerns
Ontario’s recent budget is drawing criticism from legal groups that say it is too focused on a “tough on crime” agenda, while at the same time failing to address issues in the province’s auto insurance system.
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April 01, 2026
Bill C 12: Reinforcing system integrity while testing the limits of immigration law
The passage of Bill C‑12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, reflects a reality that immigration lawyers increasingly confront in practice. Canada’s immigration system faces persistent pressures from fraud, irregular migration and national security risks that legacy statutory tools were not designed to manage at scale. Against that backdrop, Parliament’s objective in enacting Bill C‑12 — strengthening border integrity, deterring abuse and maintaining public confidence — is not only legitimate, but necessary.
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April 01, 2026
Why parole boards must not be swayed by public opinion
As Easter approaches, we are reminded of a crowd’s shouts to “Give us Barabbas.” The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, believed Jesus was innocent but capitulated to the pressure of the crowd to prevent a riot. Should public pressure influence the justice system? On March 27, Global News reminded us of a situation that unfolded in British Columbia in 2021 and is now recurring in 2026.
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March 31, 2026
Judicial council sanctions handful of federal judges but rejects hundreds of conduct complaints
The Canadian Judicial Council (CJC), which oversees the professional conduct of the country’s 1,184 federally appointed judges, says that five judges were reprimanded or received other disciplinary sanctions last year.
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March 31, 2026
Canada invests $157M for gun violence prevention initiatives
The federal government has announced that it is providing up to $157.5 million for gun and gang violence prevention initiatives through the Building Safer Communities Fund (BSCF) over the next three years.
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March 31, 2026
Alberta pushes for constitutional change on judicial appointments
The Government of Alberta announced that it will introduce a motion calling for “constitutional amendments that give the province a say in superior court appointments.”
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March 31, 2026
Report finds 1,000-plus Charter breaches by Ontario police
Legal observers are calling for systemic change in response to a new report that found more than 1,000 Charter violations by police in a 10-year period — a number that is being called only the tip of the iceberg. The Unlawful Enforcers report, which was co-authored by Western University faculty of law adjunct research professor Sunil Gurmukh, found that officers from the five largest city police services in Ontario — namely Toronto, Peel, York Region, Durham Region and Ottawa — violated the Charter more than 1,000 times in over 600 reported court cases in a 10-year period from 2015 to 2025.
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March 31, 2026
How discretionary analysis can impact the granting of immigration benefits
Most foreign nationals who make applications to the U.S. government for immigration status expect that their applications will be approved. But many of those same foreign nationals do not know that even if they provide every page of required documents and answer every question on the forms to perfection, they may still be denied the benefit sought. That is because of the discretion afforded to officers who work for the U.S. government’s immigration-related agencies, including the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (USDHS) and U.S. Department of State (USDOS).
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March 31, 2026
The wizard behind the curtain; the judge beneath the robe: Act II
Toto, draw that curtain back some more. How do we pick our judges?
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March 30, 2026
Ottawa launches consultations on first national anti-fraud strategy
The federal government has launched consultations on Canada’s first national anti-fraud strategy, including proposals that could require banks to warn customers about fraud risks during large money transfers.