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Who Are the “Parents of the Nation”? Thoughts on the Stephan Case and Section 215 of the Criminal Code

On May 24, 2016

By: Lisa Silver

PDF Version: Who are the “Parents of the Nation”? Thoughts on the Stephan Case and Section 215 of the Criminal Code

Matter commented on: Section 215 of the Criminal Code, RSC 1985, c C-46

Much has been written and said on the characteristics of a “good” parent. Such information is easily accessible by anyone with a library card and internet access. It can be found by a click of our mouse on various blog postings (click here for a list of parenting blogs, which share the “real truth” about parenting) and dedicated websites (click here for a list of “not-to-be-missed” websites). Even celebrity has something to say about parenting practices; cue self-styled “lifestyle” guru, Gwyneth Paltrow, who famously has her children on a controversial low-carb, sugar free diet. Social media is another fount of information, often in the form of criticism or apologies. All of these venues enforce a “normative” notion of parenting. But through all this data there seems to be a bright-line drawn between “good” and “bad” parenting. For example, “bad” parents administer cocaine to a child (R v TB, 2010 ONSC 1579), knowingly leave a child in a car for an extended period of time during a hot summer afternoon (R v Huang, 2015 ONCJ 46), or intentionally attack a child with a knife (R v BJG, 2013 ABCA 260). In those instances, the egregious conduct is not merely “bad” parenting but criminal behavior deserving of state imposed sanctions and its concomitant stigma. Although we can recognize “criminal” parenting when we see it, the real difficulty lies in identifying behaviors that are not so evidently “bad.” The recent Stephan case has ignited a debate on where that line between “bad” and “criminal” should be drawn; or is the line already drawn perhaps not as bright as we might have previously believed?

Vagueness in FOIPP: Can Citizens Effectively Access Their Personal Information?

By Lynn Anderson

On May 20, 2016

In Privacy

By: Lynn Anderson

PDF Version: Vagueness in FOIPP: Can Citizens Effectively Access Their Personal Information?

Case Commented on: Edmonton (City) v Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2016 ABCA 110

The Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, RSA 2000, c. F-25 (“FOIPPA”, or “the Act”) outlines the obligations of a public body to provide access to records, including access to your own personal information. The overall purpose of the Act (s 2) is to balance our right to access records in the custody and control of public bodies, like the City, with protecting the privacy of individuals by controlling the manner in which public bodies collect, use and disclose personal information. Although there are exceptions to accessing records, these are limited, and interpretation of the Act should be made with the goal of maximum disclosure. As citizens, we have a right to know what information about ourselves is being held by a public body. For example, if someone is making a complaint about us we have a right to know the details so we can defend ourselves. Disclosure by the public body allows citizens to participate in decisions in a more informed and meaningful way.

Pritchard v Van Nes: Imposing Liability on Perpetrator Zero of Defamatory Facebook Posts Gone Viral

By Emily Laidlaw

On May 18, 2016

In Internet Law, Torts

By: Emily Laidlaw

PDF Version: Pritchard v Van Nes: Imposing Liability on Perpetrator Zero of Defamatory Facebook Posts Gone Viral

Case Commented On: Pritchard v Van Nes, 2016 BCSC 686

Justice Saunders of the British Columbia Supreme Court recently decided Pritchard v Van Nes, 2016 BCSC 686 (Pritchard) concerning the liability of individuals not only for their Facebook posts, but how their “friends” react to these posts, whether through comments, sharing or otherwise distributing the post. This case asks: if you start the fight, are you liable for the pile-on? The analysis of the Court could have significant repercussions concerning the uneasy balance between the right to reputation and freedom of expression, arguably tipping the balance in favour of reputation in stark departure from recent Supreme Court of Canada cases on defamation (see Crookes v Newton, 2011 SCC 47, Grant v Torstar Corp., 2009 SCC 61, WIC Radio Ltd. v Simpson, 2008 SCC 40).

Stewart Estate: Finalizing The Judgment Roll and Costs

By Nigel Bankes

On May 17, 2016

In Contracts, Oil & Gas

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Stewart Estate: Finalizing The Judgment Roll and Costs

Decisions commented on: Stewart Estate v TAQA North Ltd, 2016 ABCA 143 and Stewart Estate v TAQA North Ltd, 2016 ABCA 144

The Court of Appeal handed down its main decision in Stewart Estate v TAQA North Ltd, 2015 ABCA 357 (hereafter the main decision) in November 2015. In my post on the main decision I suggested that “while Stewart Estate is certainly a significant decision (which grapples with important issues including, the standard of review applicable to lease interpretation questions, the rules surrounding the termination of oil and gas leases and the question of remedies for wrongful production), it is ultimately a disappointing decision because, in the end, with three separate judgments, this three person panel of the Court agrees on very little.”

We now have two further decisions from the panel of the Court that heard the case, one decision settling the judgement roll (hereafter the judgment roll decision) and the second dealing with the costs award (the costs decision). The judgment roll decision expressly describes itself (at para 1) as providing supplementary reasons to the main decision. This post not does provide a systematic account of either of these decisions but it does aim to identify where these decisions have added to the reasoning in the main decision or have provided dicta that may be of interest beyond this case.

When Three Rights Make a Wrong?

By Erin Sheley

On May 13, 2016

In Criminal

By: Erin Sheley

PDF Version: When Three Rights Make a Wrong?

Case commented on: R v Oakes, 2016 ABCA 90

R v Oakes raised the specter always haunting the edges of criminal procedure: what happens when a procedurally fair trial turns out, after the fact, to have produced an unfair conviction?

Connie Oakes was convicted of the second-degree murder of Casey Armstrong, primarily based on the testimony of her alleged co-conspirator Wendy Scott. Scott, who is cognitively delayed and has an IQ of 50, told police that she had seen Oakes kill Armstrong with a knife in the bathroom of his trailer. Scott herself pled guilty to second-degree murder for her own involvement in the crime, after confessing during the course of numerous uncounseled interrogations between June 2011 and January 2012 (at para 4). Prior to implicating Oakes, Scott had accused three other individuals of the act, testifying at trial that she had lied on those three occasions (at para 16). Scott’s testimony was the centerpiece of the Crown’s case against Oakes in the absence of physical evidence linking her to the crime scene and given that a neighbor’s description of a suspect leaving the scene more closely resembled one of the other individuals Scott had originally implicated (at paras 15-18).