Criminal
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March 20, 2025
Federal plan aims to end over-criminalization of Indigenous people & support Indigenous legal orders
The minority Liberal government has rolled out its “Indigenous Justice Strategy”— the first federal roadmap toward revitalizing Indigenous laws and legal orders and ending the over-criminalization of Indigenous people in Canada, Ottawa says. The single-spaced 46-page document was developed by the federal government over more than four years, taking into account extensive consultations with Indigenous community members, representative organizations and governments, as well as with provincial and territorial governments.
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March 20, 2025
Controversial ruling examines value of joint submissions in criminal proceedings: scholar
The Nunavut Court of Appeal’s recent finding that a trial judge was wrong to reject lawyers’ joint submission in a horrific case of attempted murder will further incentivize plea bargaining, says a legal mind.
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March 20, 2025
Unreliability of ‘sexting’ in determining sexual intention | Elaine Craig
“Sexting” is a frequent form of sexual activity, including for young women — a group at higher risk of experiencing sexual violence. Unsurprisingly, the admissibility of sexual assault complainants’ sexual text messages (and other digital communications) has been at issue in numerous, recent appellate court decisions in Canada. This issue is one of substantial importance for the dignity, privacy and equality interests of sexual assault complainants, and society’s interest in encouraging sexual assault survivors to come forward.
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March 19, 2025
Ford announces new Ontario cabinet, most ministers remain in position
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced his new cabinet, emphasizing that they will deliver on the province’s mandate to “do whatever is necessary to protect Ontario in the face of tariffs from the United States.”
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March 19, 2025
Are we seriously tackling anti-Black racism? Part two | Hodine Williams
Part one of this series (see below for link) looked at how anti-Black racism has been demonstrated in the legal system. I provided some statistics and examined the cases of R. v. Le, 2019 SCC 34 and R. v. Grant, 2009 SCC 32, which involved police searching individuals.
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March 19, 2025
Case illustrates why sentencing can include consideration of future harm
Should our criminal law be proactive in preventing future wrongdoing, or should it simply apply to wrongs that have been proven to have been committed? The Ontario Court of Justice was implicitly presented with this question.
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March 18, 2025
Challenge of prosecutorial discretion must meet high standard of showing abuse of process: Court
Ontario’s top court has brought some clarity to the question of who may seek review of the Crown’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the context of a private prosecution.
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March 18, 2025
Distinction between factual, legal causation at heart of Mennonite-buggy-car crash appeal
Dayton Kelly was 19 years old on Oct. 24, 2021, when the Honda Civic he was driving collided with a horse-drawn buggy, killing its driver, Daniel Martin, 76, and his wife Ester, 79. They were described in court as Mennonites. It was dark when the accident occurred; the buggy was without lights and there were no streetlights at about 8:46 p.m. The Civic slammed into the passenger side of the buggy as Martin was crossing Highway 86. Martin died at the scene and his wife died two weeks later.
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March 17, 2025
Federal Court of Appeal decision keeps class action alive involving Indigenous women inmates
Indigenous female inmates in Canada’s federal prison system have gained a partial legal victory in their quest to certify a class action against the government over discrimination by the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC).
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March 17, 2025
Are we seriously tackling anti-Black racism? | Hodine Williams
Canada loves to tell the world — and itself — that it’s a model of diversity and inclusion. We point to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, our multicultural policies, and our reputation as a welcoming nation. We feign and dance around the issue so often as if pretending it doesn’t exist will somehow make it magically disappear.