Criminal
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September 16, 2025
Privacy debate: Cameras, speeding and Charter rights
Two recent news stories in Ontario have sparked public debate about how much privacy citizens should have.
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September 15, 2025
Ottawa could waive biometrics visa requirement for Palestinian trapped in Gaza ‘crisis’: judge
A Federal Court judge has highlighted that Ottawa can remove a potentially fatal roadblock for Palestinians facing starvation and intensified bombardment in the Gaza Strip, who have applied to come to Canada under the now-closed federal Temporary public policy to facilitate temporary resident visas for certain extended family affected by the crisis in Gaza.
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September 15, 2025
Appeal Court validates circumstantial evidence in Toronto shooting trial
After a two-week investigation, the police arrested a 22-year-old man following the “unprovoked” shooting of a 19-year-old woman in Etobicoke, Ont., according to a Sept. 4, 2019, Toronto Star report.
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September 12, 2025
Appeal Court orders new trial in British Columbia child exploitation case
The American poet and journalist Carl Sandburg has been quoted as saying, “If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell.” That appears to be the advice that legal counsel might have received when defending Eric David Guenter.
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September 11, 2025
Poilievre proposes bail reform, civil liberties group asserts there’s no evidence for change
On the very same day that federal Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that his party will be introducing the Jail Not Bail Act after Parliament reconvenes in the fall, the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) has delivered a strongly worded message to the federal Minister of Justice Sean Fraser: any policy aimed at reforming the Canadian bail system must be based on statistics and not on misinformation. The Thursday statement included a letter the CCLA had delivered in June.
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September 11, 2025
Appeal Court dismisses Charter claims in decades-old sex assault case
On Nov. 5, 2021, Raymond Burke was convicted in a Toronto courtroom of multiple offences, including kidnapping, uttering threats, assault and sexual assault against two women (R. v. Burke, 2021 ONSC 7342).
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September 10, 2025
New OBA president hopes to bring ‘more conversational experience’ to position
The Ontario Bar Association (OBA) has a new leader at its helm. Katy Commisso took over the top job from former president Kathryn Manning at the beginning of September after serving a term as the first vice-president of the OBA, which is the professional association for Ontario's lawyers, judges and law students. She will serve for the 2025-26 term. Commisso, a native of Burlington, Ont., said she did not grow up wanting to be a lawyer.
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September 10, 2025
Four-pronged appeal in aggravated assault case dismissed
Christopher Parker was charged and convicted of aggravated assault for stabbing Ronald Oster in the neck on Nov. 13, 2020, at a supportive housing facility in Victoria. Oster, a harm-reduction worker and drug user, had allowed Parker and his girlfriend to stay in his unit against housing rules but later tried to evict them.
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September 09, 2025
Concerned Canadians’ digital sovereignty agenda: What’s next?
Last week, a coalition of policy experts, civil society groups and other concerned Canadians sought to crystallize concerns for digital sovereignty voiced in the context of the current trade environment in an agenda to strengthen protections for Canada’s technology infrastructure.
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September 09, 2025
Quebec appoints two judges, presiding justice of the peace
Quebec Minister of Justice Simon Jolin-Barrette has announced the appointment of two judges and a presiding justice of the peace to the Court of Quebec.