The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently changed the legal landscape on the media’s ability to contest production orders that implicate journalists’ sources.
The facts in R v Vice Media Inc., 2018 SCC 53 (Vice Media) involve a savvy journalist, an unsympathetic source, and the SCC’s unanimous decision to uphold the production order. The court split 5-4 in its ...
In the realm of Canadian human rights law, few topics have generated as much discussion and controversy in recent years as the “hate law” provisions found in many human rights statutes. These provisions typically prohibit the publication of statements that have or are likely to have the effect of exposing a person or class of persons to ridicule and hatred.
Defenders of ...
On September 21, 2012, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered its decision in Canada (Attorney General) v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society, 2012 SCC 45 in which it found that the Respondent society (the “Society”) and one individual have standing to pursue a constitutional challenge to the Criminal Code provisions dealing with ...
On July 18, 2012 the B.C. Medical Services Commission (the “Commission”) released the results of an audit of two private health care facilities in Vancouver, the Cambie Surgery Centre and the Specialist Referral Clinic, which revealed that the two facilities have been billing patients directly for surgical and other medical services that are otherwise covered under ...
In an earlier blog I discussed a recent decision that recognized the Supreme Court’s ability, in appropriate circumstances, to order that an individual submit to medical examinations as part of the process of determining whether they were competent. The case involved lay evidence of possible incompetence but the two medical opinions required under the Patients ...
On June 15, 2012, Madam Justice Lynn Smith of the British Columbia Supreme Court released her much anticipated reasons for judgment in Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2012 BCSC 886 in which she found that certain provisions of the Canadian Criminal Code that prohibit physician-assisted suicide are constitutionally of no force and effect in certain circumstances.
It is increasingly common for clients to ask what legal steps are available to help them care for aging parents or relatives. Generally, they have a relative who is slowly slipping into dementia or some other incapacitating state. In recent years, the law has done much to remodel the legal landscape to better address these types of situations. There are new or revised statutes ...
The use of confidential sources by journalists – a topic first sensationalized when Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the Watergate scandal – has remained a vexed issue for courts and legislatures ever since. In R. v. National Post, 2010 SCC 16, the Supreme Court of Canada recently ruled against a constitutional right to protect ...
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This blog is authored by members of the Litigation and Dispute Resolution Department. We follow new and interesting issues emerging in the legal and business communities. The wide range of experience among the members of our litigation group will provide a diverse and insightful examination of current legal trends and topics. Our goal is to provide a source of valuable information and insight on a wide variety of matters for our readers.
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