Category: Constitutional Page 42 of 75

By: Nigel Bankes and Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: The Uncertain Status of the Doctrine of Interjurisdictional Immunity on Reserve Lands

Case Commented On: Sechelt Indian Band v. British Columbia (Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act, Dispute Resolution Officer), 2013 BCCA 262, application for leave to appeal dismissed with costs, October 23, 2014

The Supreme Court of Canada has passed up the opportunity to clarify the application of the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity (IJI) to reserve lands following its decisions in Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44 and Grassy Narrows First Nation v. Ontario (Natural Resources), 2014 SCC 48 (Keewatin) in June 2014 by denying leave to appeal in the Sechelt Indian Band case. It is unusual to comment on a decision to deny leave since such decisions are never supported by reasons and the Court has warned that we cannot infer much about the status of an appellate decision on which leave was denied for the very good reason that there may be all sorts of considerations that might lead the Court to deny leave in any particular case. We are commenting on the leave issue in this case because in our view by missing the opportunity to clarify the scope of Tsilhqot’in and Keewatin the Court has left outstanding uncertainty as to the scope of these decisions that it could usefully have resolved. We also include a postscript referring to a recent decision out of Saskatchewan that seems to extend Tsilhqot’in to render IJI inapplicable to provincial limitations legislation applying to reserve lands.

The Charter Issue(s) in Ernst: Awaiting Another Day

By Jennifer Koshan

On October 27, 2014

In Administrative Law, Constitutional

By: Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: The Charter Issue(s) in Ernst: Awaiting Another Day

Case Commented On: Ernst v Alberta (Energy Resources Conservation Board), 2014 ABCA 285

My colleagues Martin Olszynski and Shaun Fluker have posted comments on the Alberta Court of Appeal decision in Ernst here and here. In addition to the regulatory negligence claim against the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) and Alberta Environment they cover in their posts, Ernst brought a claim against the ERCB for breach of the Charter. More specifically, she alleged that the ERCB violated her freedom of expression under section 2(d) of the Charter by “punishing her for criticizing the ERCB in public and to the media, and … because she was prohibited and restrained in her communication with the ERCB” (2013 ABQB 537 at para 39). In response to the ERCB’s application to strike the statement of claim, Chief Justice Wittman found that the Charter claim, although novel, was not doomed to fail and should not be struck. However, section 43 of the Energy Resources Conservation Act, RSA 2000, c. E-10 (ERCA) barred Ernst’s Charter claim against the ERCB (2013 ABQB 537 at paras 42, 82-88). Although the ERCB did not appeal the finding that the pleadings disclosed an arguable claim for a breach of the Charter, the Court of Appeal upheld Wittman CJ’s finding that section 43 of the ERCA barred any Charter claim by Ernst.

The Debate over the Charter’s Reach Continues: A Question Regarding Free Expression at Airports

By Sarah Burton

On October 17, 2014

In Constitutional

By: Sarah Burton

PDF Version: The Debate over the Charter’s Reach Continues: A Question Regarding Free Expression at Airports

Case Commented On: The Calgary Airport Authority v Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2014 ABQB 493

In The Calgary Airport Authority v Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform, 2014 ABQB 493 (“CAA v CCBR”), Chief Justice Wittmann granted an interim injunction prohibiting an anti-abortion group from protesting at the Calgary International Airport. Separate and apart from the polarizing subject-matter, this case is interesting because it raises some basic Charter questions that stubbornly refuse to be settled. Despite raising interesting questions regarding the reach of the Charter to quasi-governmental entities and the meaning of public property, the Court did not provide any answers at this stage. Given the nature of an interim injunction application, Chief Justice Wittmann was only asked to determine if the matters raised “serious issues to be tried” – a decision he had little difficulty making. Even without final answers though, this decision still merits attention. Not only are the issues themselves thought-provoking, the parties clearly viewed the application as one of massive importance, and accordingly prepared forceful arguments. At the very least, Chief Justice Wittman’s direction that the matter move expeditiously via case management signals that the Court will be providing a substantive answer to these questions in the not-too-distant future.

Federal Court to Syncrude: Climate Change is a Real, Measured Evil, Whose Harm has been Well Documented

By Martin Olszynski

On September 15, 2014

In Climate Change, Constitutional, Environmental

By: Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: Federal Court to Syncrude: Climate Change is a Real, Measured Evil, Whose Harm has been Well Documented

Case Commented On: Syncrude Canada Ltd. v Attorney General of Canada, 2014 FC 776

“The fall term in the 1997-1998 academic year,” wrote Professor David Beatty, “was a constitutional law teacher’s dream.” Professor Beatty was referring to the release of two Supreme Court of Canada decisions that touched some of the “most politically charged issues” of the day and which “together raised almost every important issue in constitutional law” (one of which was R v Hydro Quebec, [1997] 3 SCR 213, 1997 CanLII 318 (SCC), central to the Syncrude decision being commented on here; see David Beatty, “Canadian Constitutional Law in a Nutshell” (1998) 36(3) Alta L Rev 605). As it turns out, the summer of 2014 has shaped up to be an environmental law teacher’s dream. In May, the Federal Court released its decision in Greenpeace Canada v Canada (Attorney General), 2014 FC 463 (CanLII), a decision that I have suggested represents a major development in Canadian environmental assessment law. Then in August, the Federal Court handed down its judgment in Syncrude, which my colleague Professor Nigel Bankes has observed is the “first case in which a party has challenged the constitutional validity of any federal greenhouse gas regulations.” This post focuses on that very issue; Professor Shaun Fluker has also written a post on the decision, focusing on the administrative law issues.

R v Navales and Reasonable Suspicion

By Shaun Leochko

On September 5, 2014

In Constitutional, Criminal

By: Shaun Leochko

PDF Version: R v Navales and Reasonable Suspicion

Cases Commented On: R v Navales, 2014 ABCA 70; R v Canlas, 2014 ABCA 160; R v Ng, 2014 ABPC 62; R v Tosczak, 2014 ABQB 86

The engagement of section 8 and section 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Charter) in the drug sniffer dog cases has captured the interest of civil libertarians and law enforcement for what is required for a “reasonable suspicion.” The 2013 Supreme Court decisions of R v Chehil, 2013 SCC 49, and R v MacKenzie, 2013 SCC 50 effectively lowered what would be required of police officers to form the reasonable suspicion necessary to conduct a “sniff” search. This resulted from the Supreme Court allowing an officer’s training and experience, in the totality of the circumstances, to form the objective requirement necessary to the forming of reasonable suspicion. The Alberta Court of Appeal in R v Navales, 2014 ABCA 70, was tasked with applying this law in Alberta. At issue was how officers would use their training and experience, and a constellation of neutral “no win” behaviours on the part of the accused to form the objective grounds needed to find reasonable suspicion. The result has been what dissenting judges have referred to as a lowering of the standard to that of a generalized suspicion. Significantly, this line of decisions has been applied outside of the drug sniffing dog context, and even outside of the reasonable suspicion context, to other areas of criminal law in R v Canlas, 2014 ABCA 160, R v Ng, 2014 ABPC 62, and R v Tosczak, 2014 ABQB 86.