May 28, 2026
A southern Alberta man was sentenced to five-and-a-half years, less time served, in connection with a fatal attack on 33-year-old Linden Grier in 2021.
May 28, 2026
For a number of years, I have written in Law360 and elsewhere about issues and developments in animal law. Alberta’s Bill 22, the Animal Protection Amendment Act, 2026, which received royal assent on May 14, is a notable step in the evolution of animal welfare protection across Canada. The legislation is the province’s first major overhaul of its animal protection framework in two decades. More importantly, perhaps, one might say it reflects how animal welfare advocacy continues to influence legislatures in incremental but meaningful ways.
May 28, 2026
Appeal by appellant from conviction for aggravated assault. The appellant bit off part of the complainant’s pinkie finger during a physical altercation. The Crown called five witnesses at trial: the complainant, Marshall (the complainant’s husband at the time of the incident, who was present during the incident), and three investigating police officers.
May 27, 2026
New Brunswick has introduced legislation in a bid to strengthen the “enforcement and prosecution” of bylaws used by First Nations in their communities. According to a May 27 news release, the proposed changes to the Provincial Offences Procedure Act “would provide clarity that provincial procedures can be applied to First Nations bylaws, should First Nations wish for them to apply.”
May 27, 2026
Citing the need to “move quickly to detect and disrupt” the illegal synthetic opioids causing many deaths and injuries, Ottawa announced it has launched a new drug analysis centre to combat illegal drugs.
May 27, 2026
The recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal in R. v. Haggerty, 2026 ONCA 360 provides important guidelines for Crown and defence counsel about to undertake a dangerous offender prosecution.
May 27, 2026
In white-collar crime investigations, the most dangerous fraud often sounds the most ordinary. A property acquisition, a refinancing, a redemption, a distribution: on paper, these can look like routine business decisions, but they can just as easily be the perfect disguise for self‑dealing, concealment and misrepresentation.
May 26, 2026
Alicia Kennedy has joined Wagners Law Firm in Halifax, where she will lead the firm’s sexual assault and abuse litigation practice.
May 26, 2026
Canada is on the verge of closing a significant gap on how the law understands abuse. Bill C-16, the Protecting Victims Act, would create a standalone criminal offence for coercive and controlling conduct in intimate partner relationships, recognizing that a pattern of non-physical behaviour can be as harmful as a single act of violence. This shift reflects growing legal recognition of coercive control as a serious form of family violence, most notably in the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia, 2026 SCC 16.
May 26, 2026
An argument escalated into a physical fight during which Maria Elena Martinez bit off the tip of the complainant’s pinkie finger.