Advocates for the Rule of Law congratulates Justice Sheilah L. Martin of the Alberta Court of Appeal on her nomination to the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Martin’s academic and professional credentials to serve on the Supreme Court — including being a law dean, law professor, commercial litigator, pro bono constitutional lawyer, and very active member of the profession generally — ...

Pursuant to the Order of the Honourable Justice Brown, Advocates for the Rule of Law was granted leave to intervene in the Courtoreille Appeal. We are thrilled to publish our Factum which will be before the Supreme Court of Canada on January 15, 2018. Once again we thank pro bono counsel Brandon Kain and Bryn Gray of McCarthy Tétrault LLP for all their hard work on our ...

In my last post on Double Aspect, I wrote about the religious freedom issues addressed in the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Ktunaxa Nation v British Columbia (Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations), 2017 SCC 54, which concerned the constitutionality of a ministerial decision to allow development on land considered sacred by an Aboriginal nation. I want to return to Ktunaxa, ...

Advocates for the Rule of Law has received a number of requests to post the materials filed with the Court seeking status as an intervener. For those interested, we are happy to oblige. ARL’s Affidavit can be viewed here: The Affidavit of Justin W. Anisman ARL’s Factum can be viewed here: Factum of the Intervener ARL

Maxime St-Hilaire is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Sherbrooke. The following article is Professor St. Hilaire’s response to the question asked by the organizing committee of the Supreme Court of Canada Symposium: “In your opinion, what is the most important challenge facing the Supreme Court of Canada in the coming decades, and might it meet this ...

Advocates for the Rule of Law was granted leave to intervene in the Courtoreille Appeal by Order of the Honourable Justice Brown today. The decision can be read here: Order of Justice Brown. In accordance with the Order, ARL will be filing a factum and be given an opportunity to make oral submissions before the Court on January 15, 2018. ARL ...

The Supreme Court of Canada’s freshly released Ledcor Construction Ltd. v. Northbridge Indemnity Insurance Co. provides welcome clarification to contract law generally and insurance law specifically. By holding that appellate courts are to review interpretation of “standard form” contracts on a correctness standard, the court protects the rule of law. The decision should also promote access to civil justice. Background ...

This summer saw a sharply divided Supreme Court of Canada on many points. The case of Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., 2016 SCC 29 illustrated this perhaps better than any other, with the Court issuing four separate opinions. Many issues are raised in the case, from whether certain non-unionized federally regulated employees can be dismissed without cause to the number ...

Joanna Baron, Director of the Runnymede Society and member of Advocates for the Rule of Law, was recently interviewed on CBC Radio to discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in R. v. Jordan. In that case, the Court was unanimous in the result, but split 5-4 on the crucial issue of what test the courts ought to apply ...

There is an uneasy tension at the heart of Canada’s legal system between the inherent conservatism of our legal principles and the inherent liberalism of the actors tasked with applying them. Traditionally, Supreme Court of Canada decisions were final and binding on lower courts. Today, by the courts’ own doing, this bedrock principle is being eroded. Last week, Ontario’s highest ...