A criminal conviction for a serious crime can rip a citizen from society for a long time. The fallout can be devastating. Families are torn apart. Children are often traumatized. The impact of incarceration may be generational. The damage to reputation is irreparable in the digital age where the online ...
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The coronavirus pandemic has pushed the national unemployment rate in Canada close to eight percent. Higher in Alberta. Many junior lawyers have lost associate positions during the economic downturn and numerous recent law graduates search for articling positions in vain. The forecast is bleak. And many ponder - where to ...
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What is the nature of starting point sentences and to what extent may appellate courts intervene to enforce them? This issue recently split the Alberta Court of Appeal in R v Godfrey and was clarified earlier this month by the Supreme Court of Canada in R v Friesen. 1. Introduction ...
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That is how Wayne Wilcox began the description of his solitary confinement in the Edmonton Remand Centre, the largest prison in Canada. "I am housed alone," he said in a court filing. One hour a day free time from a seven by eight foot cell. No gym. No yard. A ...
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When the police identify property believed to be proceeds of crime, the Criminal Code allows them to seize or restrain it. They can take anything from the change in someone’s pocket to all of their assets. While the aim of such seizures is to swiftly deprive criminals of their ill-gotten ...
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On May 8, 2014, RCMP investigators showed up at the residence of Jason Robertson in Kamloops, British Columbia, armed with a search warrant. The police found six stolen rifles including an RCMP Centennial Winchester 30-30 model 94 and a Little Bighorn Centennial Winchester 44-40 model 94. On August 17, 2017, ...
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Canadian constitutional law is replete with tricks and schemes conjured by the police to elicit incriminating statements, gain access to private information and seize physical evidence from unwitting targets. The police may passively surveil our daily activities or stage chance encounters with undercover officers. They can pose as almost anyone ...
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In a post to On The Wire titled Fentanyl Trafficking In Alberta dated March 30, 2019, I discussed the sentence of seven years imprisonment imposed on Patrick Felix by Justice Brian Burrows, in the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta, at Fort McMurray, for wholesale fentanyl trafficking indexed as R ...
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On January 7, 2020, the Ontario Court of Appeal released two unanimous opinions involving serious violations of the Charter of Rights by the police. In one case, the court reversed convictions for child pornography offences and ordered a new trial. In the other, convictions for drug and firearm offences were ...
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On December 3, 2018, suppression orders were lifted on an Australian case that blew the lid off the justice system in Victoria. It was revealed that a criminal lawyer had acted as an informant providing information to the police about hundreds of suspects including her own clients. The scandal prompted ...
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