ABLawg

Cases Considered: Lymer (Re), 2018 ABCA 368 (CanLII); Jonsson v Lymer, 2019 ABCA 113 (CanLII); Makis v Alberta Health Services, 2019 ABCA 23 (CanLII); Vuong Van Tai Holding Inc v Alberta (Minister of Justice and Solicitor General), 2019 ABCA 165 (CanLII); Unrau v National Dental Examining Board, 2019 ABQB 283 (CanLII)

The Alberta Court of Appeal has granted leave to appeal three different vexatious litigant orders made by the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton that restricted individual litigant’s access to the courts and, in one case, to administrative tribunals. Hopefully the three appeals will be heard either together or on the same day by the same panel, as suggested by Justice Bielby when she granted leave to appeal in Vuong Van Tai Holding Inc v Alberta (Minister of Justice and Solicitor General), 2019 ABCA 165 (CanLII) (at para 21). The National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) has been granted leave to intervene in one of the three appeals – Jonsson v Lymer, 2019 ABCA 113 (CanLII) – bringing its wider perspective on self-represented litigants and its national research on access to justice into the courtroom. The Alberta Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, who was represented on the leave to appeal application in Vuong, has been invited to participate as a party in that appeal. The arguments and outcomes of these three appeals should be very interesting on a number of issues of civil procedure, access to justice and procedural justice, but primarily on the question of the scope of the inherent jurisdiction of the Court of Queen’s Bench. In this post, I will look at what is at stake in these three appeals.

Gladue Factors: Still Not a “Race-Based Discount”

By Amy Matychuk

On July 8, 2019

In Aboriginal, Sentencing

By: Amy Matychuk

PDF Version: Gladue Factors: Still Not a “Race-Based Discount”

Case Commented On: R v Matchee, 2019 ABCA 251

In R v Matchee, Justices Patricia Rowbotham, Ritu Khullar, and Dawn Pentelechuk of the Alberta Court of Appeal (ABCA) overturned Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Eldon J. Simpson’s sentencing decision because it did not give proper effect to Gladue factors (named for the case that created them, R v Gladue, [1999] 1 SCR 688, 1999 CanLII 679 (SCC)). The ABCA sentenced the offender afresh, substituting a six-year sentence for the original seven-year sentence (though with the deduction of three years 7.5 months credit for pre-sentence custody the remaining sentence was two years 4.5 months). The ABCA also commented on the correct application of Gladue factors, which are frequently misapplied and misunderstood as a “race-based discount” rather than “a partial remedy for the systemic discrimination suffered by [A]boriginal people which has led to their overrepresentation in the criminal justice system” (at para 31).

Vesting Off Interests in Land – The Latest Dianor Decision

By Ashley Weldon

On July 5, 2019

In Oil & Gas

By: Ashley Weldon & Tasha Wood

PDF Version: Vesting Off Interests in Land – The Latest Dianor Decision

Decision Commented On: Third Eye Capital Corporation v Ressources Dianor Inc./Dianor Resources Inc., 2019 ONCA 508 (CanLII)

The Ontario Court of Appeal has released its much anticipated second decision in Third Eye Capital Corporation v Ressources Dianor Inc./Dianor Resources Inc.(Dianor2019). The issue squarely before the Court in this case was whether a vesting order granted in a receivership proceeding could extinguish a third party’s interest in land in the nature of a gross overriding royalty (GOR). The Court concluded that it had the jurisdiction to do so. This appears to be the first case in Canada to reach this conclusion in the context of a GOR.

Constable Convicted of Aggravated Assault in Police Brutality Case

By Serena Eshaghurshan

On July 3, 2019

In Criminal

By: Serena Eshaghurshan

PDF Version: Constable Convicted of Aggravated Assault in Police Brutality Case

Case Commented On: R v Lindsay, 2019 ABQB 462 (CanLII)

In May 2019, the Honourable Mr. Justice Michael J. Lema of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta (ABQB) heard a trial regarding an aggravated assault case. Despite attempting to rely on s 25 (Protection of Persons Administering and Enforcing the Law) and s 34 (Defence of Person) of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985 c C-46, Calgary Police Service (CPS) Constable Trevor Lindsay was convicted of aggravated assault in relation to Daniel Haworth, a man who was under his arrest.

The Elephant in the Courtroom Redux

By Shaun Fluker

On July 2, 2019

In Administrative Law, Environmental, Intervenors and Standing

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: The Elephant in the Courtroom Redux

Case Commented On: Zoocheck Canada Inc v Alberta (Minister of Agriculture and Forestry), 2019 ABCA 208 (CanLII)

Lucy the Elephant lives at the Edmonton Valley Zoo and, for more than a decade, her advocates have been calling on government officials to facilitate her transfer to a warmer climate. She is a long-time resident at the Edmonton Zoo (since 1977), and zoo officials responsible for her well-being assert that Lucy is well-cared for at the zoo and that it is not in her best interest to be moved. Her advocates dispute this position, and there is a dedicated campaign for an independent scientific assessment of Lucy that would produce an expert veterinarian opinion on whether she can and/or should be moved. In addition to this battle of medical experts, Lucy’s advocates have appeared before Alberta courts seeking to use the force of law to get the Edmonton Zoo to acquiesce on the move of Lucy. They have been unsuccessful at each turn. The first set of proceedings was almost 10 years ago, and I commented on them in Lucy the Elephant v. Edmonton (City) and in The Elephant in the Courtroom. The focus of this comment is the more recent proceedings and, in particular, the Court of Appeal’s ruling that Lucy’s advocates do not have standing to engage in legal proceedings to challenge the renewal of a permit for the Edmonton Zoo.

Three Leaves to Appeal the Claimed Jurisdiction of Court of Queen’s Bench Over Vexatious Litigants

Gladue Factors: Still Not a “Race-Based Discount”

Vesting Off Interests in Land – The Latest Dianor Decision

Constable Convicted of Aggravated Assault in Police Brutality Case

The Elephant in the Courtroom Redux