As major Canadian cities face a spike in gun violence — Toronto has seen 10 people shot in just the last five days — local leaders are calling on the federal government to do more to help them grapple with a wave of gang-related crime. In response to these pleas, the...

Many criminal defence lawyers, crown counsel, Justices and court staff have been subject to the delay and difficulty caused by the system of  maintaining Informations on paper rather than organizing them in a computer data base. In Canada, an Information, identifies...

  In 2016, Superior Court Justice Ian Nordheimer put a temporary halt to the start of a man’s trial for drug offences  following his harsh criticism of the required income threshold to qualify for legal aid funding in Ontario. The accused in this case had not met the...

In the  case of Schaeffer v Wood, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled the landmark decision that police officers are not entitled to consult with a lawyer before writing their notes. The implications of this decision are significant,  strengthening  the rights of...

On June 7, 2018,  Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act was passed by the Canadian Senate. This lifted a 95 year old law prohibiting recreational marihuana consumption and possession. Bill C-45 was voted in with 56 votes in favour and  30 against. The new legislation is now...

There has been criticism to Ontario’s criminal justice system in regards to its overall performance. Recent reforms have attempted addressed some of the areas of concern, supposedly improving public safety, fairness, and access to justice. According to a criminal...

Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects every individual’s right to “life liberty and security of the person, and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice”. Section 7 of the Charter...

  Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms addresses our “fundamental freedoms”. There are four fundamental freedoms in total. Section 2 states that: “every person has the following fundamental freedoms: a. Freedom of conscience and religion; b....

With Bill C-75 the  jury selection is to be significantly changed. Currently, both the Crown and Defence  are given the same number of preemptory challenge to be employed during the jury selection process. Peremptory challenges are defined as a defendant's or lawyer's...

  As recent as March of 2018, a new bill, Bill C-75, was presented in Parliament with the overall goal of both decreasing backlog in the courts, as well as increasing the severity and seriousness in the way that intimate partner violence is handled within the criminal...