Author Archives: Daphne Wang

About Daphne Wang

Daphne Wang is a 2019 Juris Doctor candidate from the University of Calgary. Prior to law school, she completed her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Calgary. She was a research assistant for various Faculty of Law professors in the summer of 2017 and will be summering with Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in 2018.

R v EJB: Reasonable Hypotheticals and Permitted Sentencing Factors

By: Daphne Wang

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Case Commented On: R v EJB, 2018 ABCA 239 (CanLII)

R v EJB, 2018 ABCA 239 is an important case regarding the sentencing of sexual exploitation offences pursuant to section 153(1.1)(a) of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46. The decision overturns the trial decision. In doing so, the Court addresses mitigating and aggravating factors judges should and should not consider during sentencing for sexual offences against a minor. The Court also more clearly defines how to assess constitutional challenges to mandatory minimums pursuant to section 12 of the Charter. In making these clarifications, the Court of Appeal highlights important considerations that cannot be overlooked when sentencing offenders under section 153(1.1)(a).

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R v EJB: Another Unconstitutional Mandatory Minimum Sentence

By: Daphne Wang

PDF Version: R v EJB: Another Unconstitutional Mandatory Minimum Sentence

Case Commented On: R v EJB, 2017 ABQB 726 (CanLII)

In a previous post, Professor Erin Sheley commented that R v Nur, 2015 SCC 15 (CanLII), may have started a “widespread dismantling of the Criminal Code’s policy of gun-related mandatory minimums.” Since Nur, constitutional challenges to mandatory minimums have reached beyond gun-related crimes. The Supreme Court of Canada in R v Lloyd, 2016 SCC 13 (CanLII), held the one-year mandatory minimum for drug trafficking under s 5(3)(a)(i)(D) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, SC 1996 c 19, to be unconstitutional (at para 56). By doing so, the SCC left other offences with mandatory minimums vulnerable to constitutional challenge under s 12 of the Charter. Following Lloyd, the recent Court of Queen’s Bench decision R v EJB found the one-year mandatory minimum for sexual exploitation under s 153(1.1)(a) of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46, to be of no force or effect (at para 90). Continue reading →