ABLawg

By: Alice Woolley

PDF Version: Ethical vs. Unethical: The Troubling Tales of Tony Merchant

Case commented on: Merchant v Law Society of Saskatchewan 2014 SKCA 56

Introduction

Last week the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal upheld the Law Society of Saskatchewan’s three month suspension of E.F. Anthony (Tony) Merchant for conduct unbecoming. The Court did so unanimously and without evident hesitation, rejecting clearly and unequivocally each of the many objections raised by Merchant to the Law Society’s decision.

Faculty Council Resolution Re: Harper, MacKay and McLachlin

By Admin

On May 8, 2014

In Supreme Court of Canada

Editor’s Note

On May 6, 2014, our Faculty Council passed a unanimous motion calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Justice Minister Peter MacKay to apologize to Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin of the Supreme Court of Canada for impugning her integrity and that of the Court. The letter is available here: Calgary_Faculty_Council_May_2014; the text is set out below.

The Faculty of Law Council at the University of Calgary joins with the Canadian Council of Law Deans and members of the legal community across Canada in expressing its grave concern with respect to statements made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Minister of Justice Peter MacKay, suggesting that Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin engaged in improper conduct in the context of the appointment of Mr. Justice Marc Nadon to the Supreme Court of Canada.

On the contrary, the facts confirm that the Chief Justice’s actions were consistent with the duties of her office, responsible, and beyond criticism. To suggest that the Chief Justice in performing her administrative role was inappropriately lobbying is to endanger one of the most important aspects of Canadian constitutional democracy, that being the relationship of respect between the independent judicial and executive arms of our government.

The University of Calgary Faculty of Law Council joins in the legal community’s condemnation of the government’s declarations regarding the actions of Chief Justice McLachlin. Our shared sentiment is that this is an unprecedented, baseless attack on one of the most important institutions of Canada’s constitutional democracy.

We call on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice to immediately and unequivocally apologize to the Chief Justice for wrongly impugning her integrity and to the Supreme Court of Canada for attempting to compromise its independence.

Unanimously approved by the University of Calgary Law Faculty Council on May 6, 2014.

A Vital Judgment: Upholding Transgendered Rights in Alberta

By Jennifer Koshan

On May 7, 2014

In Constitutional, Human Rights

By: Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: A Vital Judgment: Upholding Transgendered Rights in Alberta

Case commented on: C.F. v Alberta, 2014 ABQB 237 (CanLII)

Alberta’s Director of Vital Statistics interpreted her home statute, the Vital Statistics Act (RSA 2000, c V-4 (Old VSA), later repealed and replaced by SA 2007, c V-4.1 (New VSA)) in a way that required transgendered people to have genital reconstructive surgery in order to be eligible to have the sex on their birth certificate changed. C.F., a trans female, challenged this interpretation as contrary to her rights under sections 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter). In a ground breaking decision released on April 22, 2014, Justice B.R. Burrows of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench found in favour of C.F. and ordered the Director to issue her a new birth certificate. The Alberta government has included amendments to the Vital Statistics Act in section 9 of Bill 12, the Statutes Amendment Act, 2014, which was introduced in the legislature on May 5, 2014.

“The Feather and the Fiddle”: The Meaning of ‘Indian’ in s 91(24)

By Geoff S. Costeloe

On May 6, 2014

In Aboriginal, Constitutional

By: Geoff S. Costeloe

PDF Version: “The Feather and the Fiddle”: The Meaning of ‘Indian’ in s 91(24)

Cases commented on: Daniels v Canada, 2013 FC 6; Canada v Daniels, 2014 FCA 101.

A decision by the Federal Court of Appeal has largely upheld a trial judge’s finding on just who exactly is encompassed by the word ‘Indian’ in s 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867. The section gives the federal government the power to regulate

24. Indians, and Lands reserved for Indians.

The argument brought by the plaintiffs is that the word ‘Indian’ is broad enough to include both Métis individuals and non-status Indians. The trial judge found that both of these groups were ‘Indians’ under s 91(24) while the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the inclusion of Métis, but it rejected the inclusion of non-status Indians. Both of these decisions will be discussed below. The trial decision was the subject of the Alberta Court of Appeal moot this year, in which I participated as co-counsel for the plaintiffs (with Dex Zucchi, who dealt with issues on fiduciary duty that will not be addressed here).

The Statutory Exclusion of Farm Workers from the Alberta Labour Relations Code

By Admin

On May 2, 2014

In Constitutional, Labour/Employment

By: Brynna Takasugi, Delna Contractor, and Paul Kennett

PDF Version: The Statutory Exclusion of Farm Workers from the Alberta Labour Relations Code

Legislation Commented On: Labour Relations Code, RSA 2000, c L-1

Editor’s Note

This is the second in the series of four posts written by students in Law 696: Constitutional Clinical in the winter term of 2014 (for the first post in this series see here). This post focuses on the exclusion of farm workers from Alberta’s Labour Relations Code, RSA 2000, c L-1, (LRC), and is being published to coincide with May Day and International Workers’ Day (May 1), as it concerns the inability of farm workers to unionize and collectively protect their interests. The following is a summary of the students’ primary arguments regarding the unconstitutionality of the LRC’s exclusion of farm workers.