Criminal
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April 29, 2025
Ontario to amend Highway Traffic Act to give police authority to search, seize vehicle theft devices
Ontario is proposing new legislation to amend the Highway Traffic Act to give police the authority to search for and seize electronic devices intended to be used for vehicle theft.
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April 29, 2025
APPEALS - Grounds - Misapprehension of or failure to consider evidence - Unreasonable verdict
Application by Melanson for leave to appeal sentence and appeal from conviction and sentence for robbery and unlawful confinement.
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April 28, 2025
Ontario’s ‘tough-on-crime’ proposals for judicial selection could backfire, lawyers warn
Two leaders with Ontario’s criminal justice bar are concerned that new “tough-on-crime” measures announced by Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government could serve to undermine the province’s criminal justice system rather than strengthen it.
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April 28, 2025
Colour of right, principal and secondary parties under discussion in N.B. appeal
A couple, Kevin Melanson, 48, and Christina Melanson, 40, of Sackville, N.B., were sentenced to three years in prison for a violent robbery at the now-defunct Fredericton business Buddy’s Cannabis Clinic, in June 2018. Kevin had invested $25,000 in Buddy’s, and he understood he had lost his investment.
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April 28, 2025
When the system came for me, my co-counsel was AI
In July 2023, I was detained and charged by an officer of the Toronto Police Service during a low-speed parking manoeuvre in downtown Toronto. My dashcam footage contradicted the officer’s claims. Still, I was detained for nearly an hour, falsely accused of impaired driving and issued four additional traffic charges. What followed was a two-year ordeal filled with obstruction, delay and procedural abuse by the Toronto Police Service and the City of Toronto’s legal counsel.
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April 25, 2025
SCC rules CRTC has no jurisdiction to decide 5G access disputes between telecoms and municipalities
In a decision that addresses the role of so-called “dynamic” statutory interpretation in cases where technology has evolved or other circumstances have changed significantly since a law was enacted, the Supreme Court of Canada has affirmed 7-2 that the CRTC does not have jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes between telecom carriers and public authorities that have refused to allow the telcos to deploy 5G small cell antennas on public property.
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April 25, 2025
B.C. Court of Appeal upholds $15,000 damages for privacy breach, without proof of further harm
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld $15,000 in non-pecuniary damages for each person whose privacy was breached when a rogue ICBC employee accessed the private data of 78 policyholders and sold some of it to criminals, leading to arson and shooting attacks against 13 people.
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April 25, 2025
Saskatchewan passes new trespass laws to tackle fentanyl, meth use
If you are in Saskatchewan and caught drunk or doing drugs in a public space, you can now be charged with trespassing. According to an April 24 news release, Saskatchewan’s government has passed new regulations that allow police to enforce trespass laws in public spaces — such as parks and libraries — if someone is found to be intoxicated or using illicit drugs.
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April 25, 2025
Assault with a loaded slipper
Is your turtle loaded? En garde! Choose your weapon. Actually, do you know what constitutes a weapon? You may be surprised what this ignorance can cost you. This gets me to turtles, turkey and Toblerone.
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April 25, 2025
‘Economic growth’ a key focus of Conservative and Liberal platforms on immigration, tax and regulation
Both parties currently leading in the polls for the federal election next week have proposed law-related measures in the areas of immigration, regulation and taxation that they contend will boost Canadian businesses and help the economy grow.