Category: Uncategorized Page 4 of 9

By: Admin

PDF Version: ABlawg: Year in Review 2019

Introduction

This was another busy year for ABlawg, with a total of 113 posts in 2019 to date. Nigel Bankes surpassed the 300 mark for lifetime posts in 2019 and one of his posts from 2017 was cited by the Supreme Court of Canada in Redwater (aka Orphan Well Association v Grant Thornton Ltd, 2019 SCC 5 (CanLII)), the second time the SCC has cited ABlawg (see also Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Governor General in Council), 2018 SCC 40 (CanLII), citing another of Professor Bankes’ posts).

Here are some other highlights of the year on ABlawg.

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By: Admin

Readers may have noticed that since September we have disabled the comment function on ABlawg. Simply put, and like many other on-line publications, moderating comments had become too demanding of our resources. We recently re-visited this decision and have decided to confirm our new approach. We encourage readers to contact authors directly with their feedback or comments. The email addresses of faculty member authors are readily available on the Faculty’s website and through links at the bottom of each post. Readers can also engage with our posts on Twitter – all of our posts are tweeted by ABlawg. As always, we thank you for reading ABlawg.

By: Lisa Silver

PDF Version: A Lesson in First Year Criminal Law Principles: How The Supreme Court of Canada “Modifies” Objective Mens Rea Offences in R v Javanmardi

Case Commented On: R v Javanmardi, 2019 SCC 54 (CanLII)

As I come to the close of the first half of teaching 1Ls criminal law principles, I review the course syllabus for the second half of the course to revise, delete, and add relevant case readings. Next term, I will discuss those crimes, which require the objective form of liability or objective mens rea. Although this area was once rife with disagreement and fractured alliances at the Supreme Court of Canada level, at the time of formulating last year’s syllabus, objective mens rea offences, such as unlawful act manslaughter and criminal negligence causing death, were well-defined both in terms of actus reus (prohibited act) and mens rea (fault element). However, the law can and does change; either through clarification or modification of accepted legal rules and principles or through the creation of completely new ones. In R v Javanmardi, 2019 SCC 54, the most recent Supreme Court of Canada decision on objective mens rea offences, it appears the Court has done more than clarify and modify what was a settled area of law but has, arguably, radically re-defined the legal tests and principles forobjective mens rea offences in the Criminal Code. This article will attempt to deconstruct the majority decision, authored by Justice Rosalie Abella, in an effort to understand the significance of this decision and the future impact it will have to this area of law.

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By: Kristin McDonald

PDF Version: The Appointment of Supreme Court Justice Nicholas Kaiser

Event Commented On: Nomination of the Honourable Nicholas Kasirer for Appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada

In April of this year, after just 5 years of service, Justice Gascon unexpectedly announced that he will be stepping down from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) this September. Justice Gascon was nominated to the SCC by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and appointed on June 9, 2014. Justice Gascon’s announcement and subsequent public struggle with mental health early this spring was met with a mixture of support for the Justice and controversy over the perception and treatment of people with mental illness in Canadian society. Particularly, the treatment of Justice Gascon, given his health issues, has spurred speculation regarding whether his decision to step down was of his own initiative or forced upon him (see news reports from the CBC, The Globe and Mail, and The National Post, and SLAW). More information on the Honorable Justice Gascon can be found here.

Justice Gascon’s announcement presented Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with the opportunity to make his third Supreme Court nomination of his tenure as Prime Minister.

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By: Jeffrey N. Westman

PDF Version: Bill C-77 and the Quiet Revolution in Military Justice

Statute Commented On: Bill C-77, An Act to amend the National Defence Act and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, SC 2019, c 15

The Governor General might be forgiven for having a touch of writer’s cramp at dinner time on June 21, 2019. In the Upper Chamber that day, Her Excellency gave Royal Assent to 20 bills. Bills C-48 and C-69 got plenty of media attention, but Bill C-77 seemed to pass without much fanfare despite its significance for the future of military justice in Canada.

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