Criminal
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September 19, 2025
Ottawa targets hate crimes with new legislation
The federal government is taking aim at the rising tide of hate-motivated crime in Canada by introducing legislation that would make it a specific offence under the Criminal Code. That proposal is part of the new Combatting Hate Act, which was unveiled by federal Justice Minister and Attorney General Sean Fraser at a press conference Sept. 19.
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September 19, 2025
Manitoba investing in relocation of women’s centre
Manitoba’s government is investing in added capacity and additional programming at a newly relocated centre for victims of gender-based violence. The province’s government will be providing $100,000 “for improvements to the new location” of the Western Manitoba Women’s Centre (WMWC).
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September 19, 2025
Canada, Mexico launch 3-year plan to boost trade, energy and security
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum have together launched a new comprehensive and strategic partnership aimed at deepening ties between the countries and enhancing North America’s economic competition and resiliency.
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September 18, 2025
New B.C. task force to target extortion threats in South Asian community
The Government of British Columbia, the B.C. RCMP and municipal police agencies in the province are launching a specialized task force for investigations into extortion threats targeting families and businesses in the South Asian community.
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September 18, 2025
New trial ordered: Appeal Court unclear what trial judge found as fact along causation pathway
The obituary for 27-year-old Arley John Cook of Black Lake, Sask., states that his funeral mass will be held on Dec. 21, 2021, but does not mention the cause of his death. In fact, the cause remains unresolved after the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ordered a new trial for Jerrick Stalthanee, who was previously acquitted of manslaughter in Cook’s killing but was later found guilty of the lesser offence of aggravated assault in an unreported Saskatchewan King’s Bench decision.
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September 17, 2025
CBA offers Parliament ‘better way’ forward to reform beleaguered immigration and refugee system
As parliamentary debate resumed yesterday over the Liberal government’s proposed ad hoc fixes for Canada’s creaky immigration and refugee system, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) is offering legislators a detailed roadmap for wholesale modernization that charts an effective, fair and constitutionally sound way forward, members of the immigration bar say.
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September 17, 2025
Expansion of Saskatoon prison now open
Saskatchewan has now opened its newly expanded prison in Saskatoon. According to a Sept. 17 news release, Saskatchewan’s government has opened the expanded Saskatoon Correctional Centre (SCC) — thus “increasing the capacity of adult men in custody by 312 beds in the province.”
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September 17, 2025
CRIMINAL CODE OFFENCES - Impaired operation or operation over the legal limit - Disclosure of information with respect to instrument
Appeals by Hepfner and Kim from decisions of the Summary Convictions Appeal Court dismissing appeals from convictions; appeal by Gault from decision of the Summary Convictions Appeal Court allowing appeal from acquittal. All three cases were prosecutions for operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 80 or over.
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September 17, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal clarifies rules of evidence for impaired convictions
Impaired driving is a criminal offence throughout Canada. However, the requirements for the Crown to prove impairment differ depending on the province. The Ontario Court of Appeal decision in R. v. Kim, 2025 ONCA 478 involved three individuals who, after appeals to a Summary Convictions Appeal Court, were convicted of operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol concentration of 80 or higher.
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September 16, 2025
Cabinet says new criminal legislation coming in ‘matter of days’ but federal budget not till Nov. 4
With MPs back in the capital for the fall, the first two days in the House of Commons were busy ones for legislators. On Sept. 16, 2025, Justice Minister Sean Fraser disclosed some of the Liberal government’s immediate plans and timing for new criminal justice legislation, while Finance and National Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne informed the Commons today that he will deliver a somewhat tardy federal budget on Nov. 4, 2025 — not in October, as Liberal House Leader Steven MacKinnon stated when he laid out the minority government’s fall agenda at a press conference the previous day.