Tweet Pleased to share my latest op-ed in the Globe and Mail, dealing with a bizarre case where a Montreal provincial court judge refused to hear the case of a woman wearing a headscarf (hijab).  I thought the controversy provided a neat counterpoint to conventional arguments about judicial activism, and so that was my hook. Link ...

Tweet On Friday, February 13, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously struck down portions of the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act as contrary to section 8 of the Charter as it applies to lawyers.  Five of seven justices found, further, that the regime violates section 7 of the Charter and they identified a ...

Tweet On February 6, 2015, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous, per curiam opinion finding the criminal law against assisted suicide (section 241 of the Criminal Code)  unconstitutional.  Reversing its 1993 judgment in R. v. Rodriguez, the Court held that the law violates the life, liberty and security of the person interests guaranteed under section 7 of the Charter; that the law ...

Tweet Amidst all the froth and fury over the appointment of Suzanne Cote to the Supreme Court – in particular, the Harper government’s return to a more conventional process – I sound a cautionary note about the clamouring for greater transparency.  Hear why in this interview with journalist Jim Brown.  What can I say – I like ...

Tweet On Friday, March 21, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a stunning opinion in the six-month saga of stalled appointee Marc Nadon.  Nadon, a Quebecer who served on the Federal Court of Appeal, was the Prime Minister’s choice to succeed retired Justice Morris Fish.  This was the first time that a judge who was neither ...