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Articles 1 - 30 of 64
Full-Text Articles in Law
Folk Hero Or Legal Pariah? A Comment On The Legal Ethics Of Edgar Schmidt And Schmidt V Canada (Attorney General), Andrew Flavelle Martin
Folk Hero Or Legal Pariah? A Comment On The Legal Ethics Of Edgar Schmidt And Schmidt V Canada (Attorney General), Andrew Flavelle Martin
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
In Schmidt v Canada (Attorney General), government lawyer Edgar Schmidt sought a declaration that the Department of Justice and the Minister of Justice were misinterpreting legislation requiring the Minister to inform the House of Commons if government bills are inconsistent with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Schmidt was one of the lawyers who made recommendations under that legislation. Schmidt thus presents an unusual case study in legal ethics: what should, or can, a lawyer do when a client rejects the lawyer’s advice? What if the client is the government, and the advice is about fundamental rights? This …
Unconstitutional Or Just Unworkable? The Life And Death Of A Prohibition On Floor-Crossing In Fletcher V The Government Of Manitoba, Andrew Martin
Unconstitutional Or Just Unworkable? The Life And Death Of A Prohibition On Floor-Crossing In Fletcher V The Government Of Manitoba, Andrew Martin
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Fletcher v the Government of Manitoba is the first reported challenge to a floor-crossing prohibition under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This case comment begins with the legislative history of the challenged provision and then provides an overview and critique of the reasons in Fletcher. Against this backdrop, it then reflects on the lessons of the case in two respects. The first is the difficulty in translating a policy idea into legislation – specifically, defining the conduct to be prohibited and determining the appropriate deterrent or penalty for breach. The second respect is the government’s role in …
The Attorney General's Forgotten Role As Legal Advisor To The Legislature: A Comment On Schmidt V Canada (Attorney General), Andrew Martin
The Attorney General's Forgotten Role As Legal Advisor To The Legislature: A Comment On Schmidt V Canada (Attorney General), Andrew Martin
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
In Schmidt v Canada (Attorney General), the Federal Court of Appeal interpreted a series of provisions requiring the Minister of Justice to inform the House of Commons if government bills or proposed regulations are “inconsistent with” the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms or the Canadian Bill of Rights. The Federal Court of Appeal, like the Federal Court below, held that these provisions are triggered only where there is no credible argument for consistency. In doing so, both Courts relied, in part, on a separation of powers argument. They stated that the Minister of Justice and Attorney General is not …
Foreseeably Unclear: The Meaning Of The "Reasonably Foreseeable" Criterion For Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Kate Scallion
Foreseeably Unclear: The Meaning Of The "Reasonably Foreseeable" Criterion For Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Kate Scallion
Dalhousie Law Journal
Canada's medical assistance in dying legislation contains the eligibility criterion "naturaldeath has become reasonably foreseeable." The phrase "reasonably foreseeable" is unfamiliar and unclear. As a result of ongoing confusion about its meaning, there is reason to be concerned that under- or over-inclusive interpretations of the phrase are adversely affecting access to MAID. With critical interests at stake (eg access to MAiD and potential criminal liability), it is essential that the meaning of the phrase be clarified. Furthermore, the meaning of "reasonably foreseeable" will be at issue in the Charter challenges to the federal MAiD legislation currently before the courts in …
Employing Older Prisoner Empirical Data To Test A Novel S. 7 Charter Claim, Adelina Iftene
Employing Older Prisoner Empirical Data To Test A Novel S. 7 Charter Claim, Adelina Iftene
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article builds the case for expanding s. 7 of the Charter of Canadian Rights and Freedoms to apply to prison regulations and decisions in the specific context of an aging prison population. As original empirical data shows, prisons are highly insensitive to age-related problems, and inappropriate or insufficient medical treatment receives official sanction from a wide range of correctional documents. The stark inadequacies of the current system endanger older prisoners' security of the person, and sometimes their lives, in ways that violate their rights under s. 7, since the deprivations they suffer result from legislative policies and state conduct …
The Significance Of The Systemic Relative Autonomy Of Labour Law, Bruce P. Archibald
The Significance Of The Systemic Relative Autonomy Of Labour Law, Bruce P. Archibald
Dalhousie Law Journal
The extent to which labour and employment law form an autonomous subsystem within the legal order is a significant matter in labour relations scholarship. Human capability theory helps explain how open legal constructs for structuring personal work relations are emerging in a relatively autonomous manner Similarly concepts of relational rights and relational contract theory assist in understanding the relatively autonomous development of restorative labour market regulation, with both substantive and procedural dimensions. Moreover dramatic changes in freedom of association doctrine under the Charter, which now procedurally protect collective bargaining, the right to strike and the independence of unions from management, …
Of Malls And Campuses: The Regulation Of University Campuses And Section 2(B) Of The Charter, Sarah E. Hamill
Of Malls And Campuses: The Regulation Of University Campuses And Section 2(B) Of The Charter, Sarah E. Hamill
Dalhousie Law Journal
There have been a number of recent cases from across Canada about whether the Charter applies to public universities. Courts in Alberta have suggested that the Charter will apply to public universities while courts in British Columbia and Ontario have refused to apply the Charter to such cases. In this article I focus on the cases that also involve a claim to use university space, that is, those cases where there is an argument that by failing to allow an event on campus the university has violated the free expression guarantee in the Charter. If the Charter does apply and …
Are All Charter Rights And Freedoms Really Non-Absolute?, Brian Bird
Are All Charter Rights And Freedoms Really Non-Absolute?, Brian Bird
Dalhousie Law Journal
This article challenges the conventional legal wisdom that no right or freedom in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is absolute. Section 1 of the Charter is the most commonly cited source of this wisdom, but this provision merely sets out the standard that the state must meet to justify a limit on a Charter right or freedom. Section 1 does not provide advance confirmation that limits satisfying this standard exist for all Charter rights and freedoms. This interpretation, if correct, does not automatically render any of the rights or freedoms in the Charter absolute. Indeed, the standard in …
A Test For Freedom Of Conscience Under The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms: Regulating And Litigating Conscientious Refusals In Health Care, Jocelyn Downie, Francoise Baylis
A Test For Freedom Of Conscience Under The Canadian Charter Of Rights And Freedoms: Regulating And Litigating Conscientious Refusals In Health Care, Jocelyn Downie, Francoise Baylis
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Conscientious refusal to provide insured health care services is a significant point of controversy in Canada, especially in reproductive medicine and end-of-life care. Some provincial and territorial legislatures have developed legislation or regulations, and some professional regulatory bodies have developed policies or guidelines, to better reconcile tensions between health care professionals’ conscience and patients’ access to health care services. As other groups attempt to draft standards and as challenges to existing standards head to court, the fact that the meaning of “freedom of conscience” under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is not yet settled will become ever more …
Cross-Cutting Conflicts: Developments In The Use Of Norwich Orders In Internet Defamation Cases, Robert Currie
Cross-Cutting Conflicts: Developments In The Use Of Norwich Orders In Internet Defamation Cases, Robert Currie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The anonymity afforded to those wishing to post commentary on the internet has given rise to a number of procedural issues in Canadian case law. This paper focuses on one such issue: the need for prospective plaintiffs in defamation actions to "unmask" anonymous commentators in order to be able to bring proceedings against them. It tracks the increasing use of the "Norwich order," A.K.A an order for pre-action discovery, as a means of accomplishing this objective, by examining the leading case of Warman v. Fournier and analyzing how this issue has played out in litigation to date. It also considers …
Identity, Law, And The Right To A Dream?, Robert Leckey
Identity, Law, And The Right To A Dream?, Robert Leckey
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper engages critically with the new orthodoxy holding that individuals have a "right" to know their genetic origins and that such knowledge is crucial to realizing their identities. It examines two case studies: the Pratten litigation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding anonymous donor conception and scholarship approving a reform to Quebec's adoption law. It addresses the supposed "identity gap" between those who are adopted or donor-conceived and those who are neither Arguments for law reform exaggerate that gap, opposing the incomplete, insecure identity of the adopted or donorconceived to the ostensibly complete, secure identity of …
Inequality And Identity At Work, Jennifer Koshan
Inequality And Identity At Work, Jennifer Koshan
Dalhousie Law Journal
A clinic at the University of Calgary law school in 2014 worked with unions and workers'rights groups to develop constitutionalchallenges to the historic exclusion of farm workers from labour and employment legislation in Alberta. After exploring arguments under sections 2(d), 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we concluded that, based on the existing jurisprudence, the equality rights arguments under section 15 were the weakest. This article explores what is lost when we fail to recognize the identity-based harms that flow from government violations of equality rights. It considers the nature of these harms, why they …
Canadian Constitutional Identities, Eric M. Adams
Canadian Constitutional Identities, Eric M. Adams
Dalhousie Law Journal
Constitutions are stories nations tell about themselves. Despite the famous declaration in the Constitution Act, 1867 that the "Provinces ofCanada...Desire...a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom," most of Canada's constitutional history can be understood as the search for a distinctly Canadian constitutional identity Canadians have always looked to their constitutional instruments to both reflect and produce a particular vision of the nation and its citizens. This article focuses on the search for Canada s constitutional identity during its first century as a nation, from Confederation until the 1960s. Drawing on a varied array of sources and …
Labour Rights As Human Rights: Turning Slogans Into Legal Claims, Judy Fudge
Labour Rights As Human Rights: Turning Slogans Into Legal Claims, Judy Fudge
Dalhousie Law Journal
What does it mean to say that labour rights are human rights? What is the role of the courts in transforming a political manifesto into a legal claim? The answers to these questions are developed in three parts. The first places the rights to organize, to bargain collectively, and to strike in the social and political context in which they are claimed, contested, and recognized. The second part examines what it means to say that labour rights are human rights with an eye to teasing out the significance ofthis characterization. Third, the role of the courts when it comes to …
Searching And Seizing After 9/11: Developing And Applying Empirical Methodology To Measure Judicial Output Inthe Supreme Court's Section 8 Jurisprudence, Richard Jochelson, Michael Weinrath, Melaine Janelle Murchison
Searching And Seizing After 9/11: Developing And Applying Empirical Methodology To Measure Judicial Output Inthe Supreme Court's Section 8 Jurisprudence, Richard Jochelson, Michael Weinrath, Melaine Janelle Murchison
Dalhousie Law Journal
In 2005, Margit Cohn and Mordechai Kremnitzer created a multidimensional model to measure judicial discourse inherent in the decision making of constitutional courts. Their model set out multiple indicia bywhich to measure whether the court acted within proper constitutional constraints in order to determine the extent to which a court rendered a decision that was activist or restrained. This study attempts to operationalize that model. We use this model to analyze changes in interpretation of search and seizure law under section 8 after the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms at the Supreme Court of Canada. The …
Whistleblowing And Freedom Of Conscience: Towards A New Legal Analysis, Richard Haigh, Peter Bowal
Whistleblowing And Freedom Of Conscience: Towards A New Legal Analysis, Richard Haigh, Peter Bowal
Dalhousie Law Journal
"Whistleblowing" is the act or process of alerting others to scandal, danger, malpractice, corruption or other wrongdoing. In this article, the authors assert that a strongly developed freedom of conscience, distinct from freedom of religion. could contribute to the development of socially-valuable whistleblowing. While conscience is often treated as inseparable from religion, the authors suggest that the deliberate inclusion of "conscience" in s. 2(a) of the Charter implies that "conscience" ought to be recognized as an independent and robust freedom. This then provides the framework for accepting and recognizing the importance of whistleblowing and lessening its socialstigma. The article presents …
Collective Bargaining In The Shadow Of The Charter Cathedral: Union Strategies In A Post B.C. Health World, Michael Macneil
Collective Bargaining In The Shadow Of The Charter Cathedral: Union Strategies In A Post B.C. Health World, Michael Macneil
Dalhousie Law Journal
For the first twenty-five years after the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted, it appeared that it would have little impact on Canadian labour laws. The Supreme Court of Canada took the view that the guarantee of freedom of association in the Charter did not include a right to strike and did notprovide protection for collective bargaining. Common law rules regulating picketing did not come within the scope of the Charter's rules on freedom of expression. Academic commentators were divided on whether this was a good or a bad thing, some espousing the hope that the Charter could …
Gimme Shelter, Robert Leckey
Gimme Shelter, Robert Leckey
Dalhousie Law Journal
Highlighting the family home's significance as shelter this paper challenges the prevailing view of the demands of the equality guarantee in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding unmarried cohabitants. In Nova Scotia (Attorney General) v. Walsh, the Supreme Court of Canada rejected the claim that it was discriminatory to restrict rules dividing matrimonial property to married couples. By contrast, on many views it is discriminatory to exclude cohabitants from a support obligation. Scholars and judges assume that Walsh upholds all statutory rules regarding married spouses and their property, including measures protecting the family home as shelter But Walsh …
Why The Right-Freedom Distinction Matters To Labour Lawyers-And To All Canadians, Brian Langille
Why The Right-Freedom Distinction Matters To Labour Lawyers-And To All Canadians, Brian Langille
Dalhousie Law Journal
This lecture is about very basic legal ideas such as rights, freedoms, and the distinction between them. It makes the argument that clear thinking about these basic ideas is required and that when these ideas are neglected we have a recipe for real legal confusion. More than that, a failure to attend to these basic concepts and their relationship can produce, as it has in recent Supreme Court of Canada Charter cases on "Freedom of Association," a real threat to the fundamental freedoms of all Canadians
Information Privacy In Public Space: Location Data, Data Protection And The Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy, Teresa Scassa
Information Privacy In Public Space: Location Data, Data Protection And The Reasonable Expectation Of Privacy, Teresa Scassa
Canadian Journal of Law and Technology
This article considers whether the permissive disclosure provisions of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and its substantially similar counterparts mean that law enforcement agents have ready access to information about our movements and activities, or whether s. 8 of the Charter plays a role in limiting the circumstances in which disclosure without notice or consent may take place.
A Proposed Transjudicial Approach To S. 15(2) Charter Adjudication, Vanita Goela
A Proposed Transjudicial Approach To S. 15(2) Charter Adjudication, Vanita Goela
Dalhousie Law Journal
Canada and India are both pluralistic democracies with diverse populations. Both countries have drafted constitutional provisions which enshrine equality rights and permit affirmative action. In India, various disadvantaged groups receive special protection from the Constitution of India, such as the Other Backward Classes (OBC). The Supreme Court of India has held that States and the Central government must identify the "creamy layer" within the OBC category so that reservations target members who are most in need. Otherwise, the OBC category is overinclusive. The creamy layer includes those who are socially and economically advanced and who no longer require the benefits …
Something To Talk About: Is There A Charter Right To Access Government Information?, Vincent Kazmierski
Something To Talk About: Is There A Charter Right To Access Government Information?, Vincent Kazmierski
Dalhousie Law Journal
Can sections 2(b) and 3 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms be interpreted to protect a constitutional right of access to government information? The author argues that the constitutional principle of democracy provides a foundation for judicial recognition of such a constitutional right of access even though the inclusion ofan explicit right to access to government information was rejected during the process of drafting the Charter Given that the Supreme Court of Canada's section 2(b) and 3 jurisprudence has been informed by the principle of democracy, the application of the principle may now guide the Court to include …
Missing Privacy Through Individuation: The Treatment Of Privacy Law In The Canadian Case Law On Hate, Obscenity, And Child Pornography, Jane Bailey
Dalhousie Law Journal
Privacy is approached differently in the Canadian case law on child pornography than in hate propaganda and obscenity cases. Privacy analyses in all three contexts focus considerable attention on the interests of the individuals accused, particularly in relation to minimizing state intrusion on private spheres of activity However, the privacy interests of the.equality-seeking communities targeted by these forms of communication are more directly addressed in child pornography cases than in hate propaganda and obscenity cases. One possible explanation for this difference is that hate propaganda and obscenity simply do not affect the privacy interests of targeted groups and their members. …
The Impact Of "Chartervalues" And Campbell V. Jones: Is It Now Easier To Establish Qualified Privilege Against Defamation?, Geoffrey Duckworth
The Impact Of "Chartervalues" And Campbell V. Jones: Is It Now Easier To Establish Qualified Privilege Against Defamation?, Geoffrey Duckworth
Dalhousie Law Journal
The purpose of this case comment is to impel a discourse on whether Campbell v. Jones' has "loosened the test" on qualified privilege. In the aftermath of the Court ofAppeal decision, it might be tempting to suggest that Campbell v. Jones means that the defence of qualified privilege is being re-fabricated in light of the advent of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in order to take an expanded account of "Charter values" such as freedom of expression. This case comment adopts the contrary view, and asserts that what Campbell has really done is clarify exactly which type of extraordinary …
Re-Thinking Whitbread V. Walley: Liberal Justice And The Judicial Review Of Damages Caps Under Section 7 Of The Charter Of Rights And Freedoms, Jeremy Taylor
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper advances a theoretically-driven reconstruction of s.7 Charter doctrine, which currently precludes protection for personal injury damages. Proceeding from a standpoint built on deontological strains of tort theory, the author dissects the reasoning in Whitbread v. Walley, the governing authority on the applicability of s. 7 to legislated damages caps. In three stages, the author argues that in the contemporary context, theoretical and doctrinal support for Whitbread is weak. First, when tort rights are theorized non-instrumentally, rights to personal injury damages fall squarely within the irreducible sphere of personal autonomy now protected by s. 7. Second, recent developments, both …
An Unashamed Majoritarian, James Allan
An Unashamed Majoritarian, James Allan
Dalhousie Law Journal
The author a Canadian teaching in Australia, challenges what he regards as the prevailing Canadian orthodoxy, one that he thinks gives the unelected judiciary too much power. He challenges the perception that rights, however understood and though fully supported, necessitate the construction of anti-majoritarian protections such as the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Knowing that the Charter is here to stay he concludes by urging judges to adopt methods of interpretation that build in a much greater degree of deference to the legislature.
Charterwithout Borders? The Supreme Court Of Canada, Transnational Crime And Constitutional Rights And Freedoms, Robert J. Currie
Charterwithout Borders? The Supreme Court Of Canada, Transnational Crime And Constitutional Rights And Freedoms, Robert J. Currie
Dalhousie Law Journal
The first decades of the Supreme Court of Canada's Charter jurisprudence have coincided roughly with an increase in the extent to which Canada is affected by transnational crime and the nation s consequential participation in inter-state efforts to combat it. The Court itself has remarked on its discrete "jurisprudence on matters involving Canada's international co-operation in criminal investigations and prosecutions." This article examines the Court s adoption of a different approach to Charter analysis in cases involving transnational elements and surveys where the Court has "drawn the line" in terms of Charter application. By way of analyzing jurisprudence on exclusion …
The Legislature, The Executive And The Courts: The Delicate Balance Of Power Or Who Is Running This Country Anyway?, A Wayne Mackay
The Legislature, The Executive And The Courts: The Delicate Balance Of Power Or Who Is Running This Country Anyway?, A Wayne Mackay
Dalhousie Law Journal
The expanding role of Canadian courts since the introduction of the Charter has prompted critics to decry what they see as excessive and "anti-democratic" judicial activism. The author addresses such criticisms, responding, in particular, to the arguments of Ted Morton and Rainer Knopff. The article critiques the basic elements of Morton/Knopf's thesis: that activist courts are anti-democratic, excessively political, and engaging in illegitimate law-making. Rejecting the claim that Canada's judiciary is a less democratic state institution, the author notes the powerful law and policy-making role performed by the federal cabinet-for practical purposes, an unelected body. The author endorses the dialogue …
Recognizing Substantive Equality As A Foundational Constitutional Principle, Patricia Hughes
Recognizing Substantive Equality As A Foundational Constitutional Principle, Patricia Hughes
Dalhousie Law Journal
The author proposes that substantive equality be recognized as a foundational constitutional principle. The foundational principles--or underlying constitutional norms-which constitute the constitutional framework have become more important as Canada matures as a regime governed by constitutional supremacy. Most prime social and political values have been recognized as underlying constitutional norms, including democracy, federalism, protection of minority rights, political speech and judicial independence. Although section 15 of the Charter has been interpreted as encompassing substantive equality, which has been identified as a significant social value by the Supreme Court of Canada, the Court has yet to include it among the foundational …
Contextualism: The Supreme Court's New Standard Of Judicial Analysis And Accountability, Shalin Sugunasiri
Contextualism: The Supreme Court's New Standard Of Judicial Analysis And Accountability, Shalin Sugunasiri
Dalhousie Law Journal
Over the past few years, the "contextual approach" to law has acquired considerable cachet in juridical discourses across the country. In the Supreme Court of Canada, contextualism is now the new standard of judicial analysis and accountability This article analyzes a decade of Supreme court jurisprudence on Charter interpretation, statutory interpretation and the common law in order to fully explicate what contextualism in law is, where it came from, and how it has achieved its current pre-eminent status. The future promise of the contextual approach is also here canvassed through a dialectical engagement with postmodernist concerns respecting inherent legal indeterminacies.