Home2018October

Monthly Archives: October 2018

Supreme Court Rejects a Legislative Duty to Consult in ARL’s First Intervention

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has ruled that there is no duty to consult Indigenous groups at any stage of the law-making process.  This is an important ruling as the recognition of a justiciable duty to consult in the legislative process would have had very significant implications for the ability of federal, provincial, and territorial governments to pass laws ...

Read More »

Constitutionalism from the Cave

The imbroglio with the Ontario legislature’s enactment of Bill 5 to restructure the Toronto City Council a couple of months before an upcoming election, the Superior Court’s declaration of that legislation unconstitutional, the threatened invocation of the “notwithstanding clause” to override that declaration, and the Court of Appeal’s restoration of what little sanity could still be restored by reversing the Superior ...

Read More »

Supreme Court Rejects Duty to Consult in Legislative Process

The Supreme Court of Canada released its decision today in Mikisew Cree First Nation v. Canada (Governor General in Council). The decision significantly deals with whether there is a duty on the government to consult with Aboriginal groups prior to introducing legislation.  The Court held (7-2) that no such duty exists. However, 3 of the 7 justices were somewhat equivocal in their ...

Read More »

Discussing the Notwithstanding Clause

I had the real privilege today of appearing on Your Morning on CTV to chat about the notwithstanding clause with host Ben Mulroney. In particular, we discussed the threat of premier-designate, François Legault to invoke s.33 of the Charter preemptively in legislation that would ban public servants and officials from wearing religious symbols. The full interview can be accessed here. ...

Read More »

Political Costs as Control on the Notwithstanding Clause

The notwithstanding clause saga brought about by the Ford government is difficult for those born and bred on Supreme Court precedent. Law students are presented with an idea of the courts as benevolent actors of the public trust, hemming in cavalier legislatures acting on the passions of citizens. The saga, though, forces us to reckon with another sort of control ...

Read More »