ABLawg - - Page 258

By: Sarah Burton

PDF Version: Curious Interactions between the Charter, Contempt Orders, and the Evolution of Section 1

Case commented on: Alberta v AUPE, 2014 ABCA 197

In Alberta v AUPE the Alberta Court of Appeal reviewed the validity of a civil contempt order issued against the Alberta Union of Public Employees (“AUPE”). While ultimately upholding the order for civil contempt, the unanimous Court of Appeal sizably narrowed its provisions to protect AUPE’s freedom of expression. The decision turned on two issues: the admissibility of televised news reports as evidence, and the constitutionality of court orders that restrict free speech. Of these two issues, the Charter discussion is particularly interesting. The Court of Appeal presented and applied an alternative to the Oakes test, holding that Oakes is ill-suited to challenges that do not involve laws of general application. In addition, the Court curiously failed to consider a critical threshold issue – namely, whether the Charter applied to court orders at all. Thus, Alberta v AUPE not only widens a narrow exception to the Oakes test, it imposes Charter restrictions on contempt orders without discussing its authority to do so.

Private Health Insurance and Charter Section 7

By Linda McKay-Panos

On July 18, 2014

In Constitutional, Human Rights

By: Linda McKay-Panos

PDF Version: Private Health Insurance and Charter Section 7

Case discussed: Allen v Alberta, 2014 ABQB 184

Over the past few years, various courts across Canada have addressed the ambit of the Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person in the context of access to private health insurance. Allen v Alberta, 2014 ABQB 184 (“Allen”) is Alberta’s recent case on this issue.

What Happens When an Insolvent Energy Company Fails to Pay its Rent to a Landowner?

By Shaun Fluker

On July 17, 2014

In Oil & Gas

By: Shaun Fluker

PDF Version: What Happens When an Insolvent Energy Company Fails to Pay its Rent to a Landowner?

Decision commented on: Petroglobe v Lemke, 2014 ABSRB 401

The law in Alberta provides an energy company with the right of surface access on private lands to drill for oil and gas. This access allows the company, among other things, to construct an access road and clear lands for the well site. In most cases, the company and the landowner enter into a surface lease whereby the company agrees to pay rent in exchange for this access. In other cases, surface access is governed by a Right of Entry Order issued by the Alberta Surface Rights Board (website) whereby the company obtains access in exchange for the payment of rent. This case is about what happens when an insolvent company fails to pay its rent.

Leave to Intervene Denied in an Appeal of an Important Freehold Oil and Gas Lease Case

By Nigel Bankes

On July 11, 2014

In Intervenors and Standing, Oil & Gas

By: Nigel Bankes

PDF Version: Leave to Intervene Denied in an Appeal of an Important Freehold Oil and Gas Lease Case

Case commented on: Stewart Estate (Re), 2014 ABCA 222

The Freehold Petroleum and Natural Gas Owners Association (FHOA) applied for leave to intervene in the appeal of the Calder or Stewart Estate litigation (for my post on the trial decision see here). Justice Patricia Rowbotham dismissed the application commenting at the end of her reasons that if FHOA had jurisprudence that it wished to bring to the attention of the Court it could always do so by passing relevant authorities on to the appellants’ counsel.

The ‘Inherent Limit’ Post-Tsilhqot’in: Where Indigenous Law and Land-Use Planning Meet

By Martin Olszynski

On July 10, 2014

In Aboriginal, Constitutional, Environmental

By: Martin Olszynski

PDF Version: The ‘Inherent Limit’ Post-Tsilhqot’in: Where Indigenous Law and Land-Use Planning Meet

Case commented on: Tsilhqot’in Nation v British Columbia, 2014 SCC 44

The focus of this post, the fourth in a series of ABlawg posts on the Supreme Court of Canada’s Tsilhqot’in decision (see here, here,and here), is the concept of the “inherent limit” pursuant to which Aboriginal title lands “cannot be used in a manner that is irreconcilable with the nature of the claimants’ attachment to those lands” (Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, [1997] 3 SCR 1010, at para 125). From conversations with my colleagues here at the law school, there appear to be at least three concerns about this aspect of Aboriginal title law: that it is paternalistic, that it has never been satisfactorily sourced or rooted in indigenous laws (a complaint going back to Delgamuukw), and that it creates uncertainty for development. In this post, I propose an approach to what the Chief Justice in Tsilhqot’in described as the “negative proposition” (at para 15) that addresses each of these concerns (perhaps especially the latter two), while also addressing a more general concern with respect to Canadian Aboriginal law, which is to say the absence of any role for indigenous laws.