Endangered species under Alberta’s Wildlife Act: Effective legal protection?

Legislation considered: Wildlife Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. W-10

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On March 23, 2010 Alberta’s Endangered Species Conservation Committee renewed its 2002 recommendation that the Minister of Sustainable Resource Development designate the grizzly bear as a threatened species under the Wildlife Act, R.S.A. 2000, c. W-10. The legal implications of such designation could be few or many under Alberta’s legislative framework for endangered species, and this comment explores this in more detail.

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Challenge Notices Under the Terms of the 1990 CAPL Operating Procedure

Case considered: Diaz Resources Ltd v Penn West Petroleum Ltd, 2010 ABQB 153

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This case will be of interest to the oil and gas bar for two reasons. First, the case provides some guidance as to the quality of the information that a joint operator must provide to support a challenge notice. Second, the case raises (but does not resolve) a question as to whether or not a challenging joint operator also carries the burden of establishing that it is capable of operating the property in a “good and workmanlike manner.”

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Defining Art in the Commons: The Case of Building Owners and Graffiti in Edmonton

Case Considered: O & M Investments Ltd. v. Edmonton (City), 2010 ABQB 146

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Graffiti, or street art, is hardly new and neither is the debate around whether it is a public nuisance or art in the commons, as was shown in O & M Investments Ltd. v. Edmonton (City). Graffiti is likely one of the world’s most contentious art forms, perhaps in part due to the subjective nature of art appreciation but also due to the renegade qualities of the installation of a piece. In O & M, a building owner contested an order issued by the City of Edmonton’s Community Standards Branch to “[r]emove all graffiti on any structures on the property that are visible to any surrounding property” (at para. 3). The order referred to graffiti that had been applied to a large wall facing a vacant lot in what can best be described as a mixed-use neighbourhood (see map here and in “street view”, move around to the west side of the building to observe the graffiti).

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Leave to Appeal Granted by the SCC in Métis Status Case

By: Jennifer Koshan

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Case Commented On: Cunningham v Alberta (Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development), 2009 ABCA 239, leave to appeal granted March 11, 2010

On March 11, 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada (Justices McLachlin, Abella and Rothstein) granted leave to appeal to the Alberta government in Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Alberta (Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development) and the Registrar et al. v Barbara Cunningham et al. Dealing with the relationship between Métis and Indian status under the Métis Settlements Act, the case may take on even greater significance in light of Bill C-3, the Gender Equity in Indian Registration Act, introduced in the House of Commons on March 12, 2010.

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Faint Hope for the Faint Hope Clause?

Case considered: R. v. Ryan, 2010 ABQB 87

PDF version: Faint Hope for the Faint Hope Clause?

Parliament commenced a new session last week. When it was prorogued in December 2009, 14 bills containing amendments to the Criminal Code died on the order paper, including Bill C-36, the Serious Time for the Most Serious Crime Act. Bill C-36 would have repealed the “faint hope” clause, a provision in the Criminal Code that currently allows persons convicted of first or second degree murder to seek early release on parole after serving 15 years of their sentence. Bill C-36 had passed through three readings in the House of Commons, and was before the Liberal dominated Senate before prorogation, where the amendments to the Criminal Code were a matter of some controversy. Now, there is some indication that the government will ask the opposition to reinstate rather than reintroduce the crime bills this session. Reinstatement would require a majority vote in the House of Commons to allow the process of considering the bills to resume where it left off. The difference of course is that the Senate now has several more Conservative members, appointed during the period of prorogation. A recent Alberta case helps to illustrate the potential consequences of Bill C-36 should it become law.

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