Tweet The Minister of Justice has introduced a second bill to “modernize” the Criminal Code.  This one includes a number of disparate provisions including: removing a number of arcane/unconstitutional provisions, stripping the Code of most reverse onuses and some statutory changes to the laws governing sexual assault. The Minister also will formalize her duty to ...

Tweet One of the most interesting initiatives of the Canadian constitutional experience has been the Court Challenges Program.  Through it, the federal government provides case funding to individuals pursuing Charter claims.  After a nine-year hiatus, the federal government recently announced that it would re-start the program. The CCP has always been controversial.  The recent announcement spurred the usual ...

Tweet So I’ve had a ton of interviews and such about the incoming government of newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Instead of doing separate posts for each, I decided to group them together.  They include a segment on Global National’s swearing-in special, which was super fun as I got to be on the grounds ...

Tweet On Thursday, February 26, I’ll be participating in a discussion of the Supreme Court’s recent decision on assisted suicide.  I’ll be addressing stare decisis, a surefire way to pump up any audience.  I might throw in a few comments about judicial activism, too. The event begins at 11:30 am in room 302 in the Faculty ...

Tweet I wrote this op ed as a comment on the federal government’s appointment (finally!) of Clement Gascon to fill the Supreme Court seat vacated by Morris Fish (in August, 2013) that was the subject of the aborted Marc Nadon nomination. As I note, while Gascon (a Quebec Court of Appeal judge) is clearly eligible ...