Failing to Put Promises into Practice: Comparing R v Siwicki with the Goals Established by Manitoba’
On 9 March 2018, the Manitoba Provincial Government released its Criminal Justice System Modernization Strategy. In the accompanying news release, the government expressed a need to address the high number of incarcerated adults in the province. The modernization strategy suggests that more frequent use of alternative measures to incarceration, including restorative justice practices, could be an effective way of tackling the issues that plague the justice system in the provi
Cannabis Legalization: Is it a practical approach?
This October, Canada celebrated their one-year anniversary of the legalization of Cannabis. Although the long anticipated legalization was met with great acceptance, there was a portion of the population who still maintained mixed feelings regarding the new statuteIt turns out the possibility of legalization was not just a campaign ploy by Justin Trudeau to attract the attention of disengaged voters. The Prime Minister legalized Cannabis in October 2018 in an attempt to tackl
Privacy in Peril
Privacy rights in Canada have been on the decline for some time, especially as they relate to police powers. More recently with the advent of handheld computing, the risk of serious privacy incursions now inhabits every moment of most people’s daily lives. There is no refuge that is out of reach of the prying eyes of just about everyone from friends and acquaintances to law enforcement.
R. v. K.J.M.: The Jordan Framework for Delay and the Youth Criminal Justice System
The case of R. v. K.J.M. was decided by the Supreme Court of Canada on November 15, 2019. The primary issue in this case was whether or not there was an unreasonable trial delay, and the Court looked to clarify whether the framework set out in R. v. Jordan also applied to cases in the youth criminal justice system. K.J.M. was fifteen years old when he attended a house party and became involved in a serious fight, where he stabbed another youth in the head with a box cutter.
Poisoned by Prejudice: Sexual history as inadmissible evidence in R. v. Goldfinch
It seems that regardless of the strides Canada has taken towards ensuring justice for victims of sexual assault, there are still too many people that believe it necessary or appropriate to examine a victim’s sexual history when trying their alleged assaulterR. v. Goldfinch paints an all too familiar picture: a defendant is accused of a brutal sexual assault, the plaintiff is subjected to the trial jury’s scrutiny of their sexual history with the defendant, jury acquitts the a
