Criminal

  • July 17, 2026

    Feds to spend $607M in next phase of plan to end gender-based violence

    Canada’s government is spending more than half a billion dollars to support the next phase of its decade-long push to eradicate gender-based violence. On July 16, it was announced that Ottawa will be investing $607.4 million into its ongoing National Action Plan to End Gender-based Violence — a 10-year initiative where participating provinces and territories sign on to the plan and, in exchange, receive funding to help implement the plan in their respective jurisdictions.

  • July 17, 2026

    Feds announce projects to advance Canada-Mexico Action Plan with $12M fund

    Canada has announced several projects and $12.1 million in funding to advance the Canada-Mexico Action Plan, including to combat human trafficking.

  • July 17, 2026

    N.B.’s provincial court achieves gender parity with appointment of Ami Assignon

    Ami Assignon has been appointed a judge of the New Brunswick Provincial Court in Moncton, bringing the court to gender parity among its full-time judges, with 14 women and 14 men, the province says.

  • July 17, 2026

    N.S. high court finds judge wrongly altered prohibition order in sex crimes case

    Nova Scotia’s Court of Appeal has corrected a “bizarre” matter where a criminal court judge “unilaterally” altered a prohibition order in a sex crimes case — more than three years after the offender was sentenced through a joint submission.

  • July 17, 2026

    EVIDENCE - Methods of proof - Identification - Witnesses - Credibility

    Appeal by appellant from convictions for historical sexual abuse. The complainant alleged that the appellant, her uncle, sexually abused her between 1993 and 2002, beginning when she was nine years old. The complainant testified in detail to repeated abuse, including incidents at the appellant’s home and during outings.

  • July 16, 2026

    UN convention on cybercrime a step closer to coming into force as Canada signs on

    Canada is now the 79th signatory to the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, a groundbreaking treaty aimed at providing a legal basis for international cooperation in the fight against cybercrime.

  • July 16, 2026

    Glenn Joyal sworn in as Supreme Court of Canada justice

    The Honourable Glenn D. Joyal was officially sworn in on July 15 as a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada. According to the court, the private ceremony was held in Ottawa and presided over by Chief Justice Richard Wagner.

  • July 16, 2026

    Judge confronting hate head-on

    In a recent decision out of the Ontario Court of Justice, R. v. MacDonald, 2026 ONCJ 332, Justice Seth Weinstein confronted a case that, on its surface, involved a single ugly outburst on a downtown Toronto street — but in its reasoning, became a broader meditation on how the justice system should respond to the normalization of racism in Canadian public life.

  • July 16, 2026

    With jail overcrowding, everyone loses

    When jails are already breaking, why are we sending more people there? The public deserves to be protected from dangerous offenders. That is beyond dispute. But public safety is not served by passing laws that funnel more accused people into provincial jails that are already struggling with overcrowding, staff shortages, corruption risks and deteriorating security.

  • July 15, 2026

    Civil appeals dominate SCC’s fall session as top court increases leave grants, case hearings in 2026

    As the Supreme Court of Canada moves to accept more cases in 2026, it has announced an especially packed fall session, with 31 appeals slated for argument from October through December. There are only 13 criminal law cases on the fall schedule that was unveiled by the top court this week: eight are as-of right appeals and just five are by-leave criminal appeals (one is both by leave and as of right).