Criminal
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April 14, 2026
Manitoba top judge talks 2024-25 Appeal Court report
Since taking the judicial helm, Manitoba’s chief justice has taken pains to lower the number of active cases in front of the province’s Court of Appeal — as is demonstrated in its latest annual report. And as the court continues its digital transformation, Chief Justice Marianne Rivoalen also hopes to one day be able to include statistics on the court’s use of remote hearings.
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April 14, 2026
Appeal Court changes home-invasion murder conviction to manslaughter, reduces sentence
Shawn Yorke, 45, was shot to death at 1 a.m. on July 8, 2018, during a botched home-invasion robbery at his townhouse in Kitchener, Ont. Mowafag Saboon, then 24, and Kenneth Morrison, then 27, both of Kitchener, were convicted three years later of first-degree murder.
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April 14, 2026
Law society: How time flies — and how accountability slips
It feels like yesterday. In reality, more than a year has passed since I filed a Bencher Code of Conduct complaint with Treasurer Peter Wardle against Sid Troister and Megan Shortreed arising from the Law Society of Ontario’s million-dollar CEO compensation scandal. In that time, the clock has kept moving. Accountability, however, appears not to have kept pace.
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April 13, 2026
Court allows leave to appeal in securities fraud conviction case
The Ontario Court of Appeal has allowed leave to appeal in a securities fraud conviction case to determine how a Supreme Court of Canada decision applies to acquittal appeals in the context of the Provincial Offences Act.
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April 13, 2026
Brent Cotter appointed interim chair of RCMP oversight body
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree has appointed Brent Cotter as interim chair of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) for a six-month term effective April 15, 2026. Roxanne M. Gagné has been appointed vice-chair for a five-year term effective April 20, 2026.
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April 13, 2026
Self-represented accused loses bid to overturn home invasion decision
It was a scene one might have expected to see on the popular TV cop series The Rookie. Armin Babic, then 42, of Edmonton committed an armed home invasion on Nov. 19, 2019.
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April 13, 2026
SCC’s new session precedes big moves as Martin J. and judges prep for departures
The Supreme Court of Canada’s spring docket presents the nine judges with a wide range of appeals, including the last cases to be heard by soon-to-retire Justice Sheilah Martin and her colleagues in their iconic 1940s-era Ottawa courthouse, which is slated for a multi-year major update. The Supreme Court’s new spring session, scheduled from April 13 to May 22, 2026, features 14 appeals, 10 of which involve criminal law issues.
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April 10, 2026
Osgoode Hall launches new access to justice fund
Toronto’s Osgoode Hall Law School has unveiled a new million-dollar fund to help support access to justice research and students pursuing careers in the area of public interest.
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April 10, 2026
Digital Doritos, duty of competence: Safeguarding cognitive fitness in Canadian legal practice
In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack that shocked America, sparking a revolution in diet and exercise that slashed cardiovascular deaths by 60 per cent within decades. Today, Canadian lawyers face a parallel crisis, not in our bodies, but in our brains.
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April 10, 2026
Manitoba Court of Appeal drops on-road shooting conviction from second-degree to manslaughter
On Nov. 17, 2018, 20-year-old Hailey Dugay was fatally shot while sitting in the back seat of a pickup truck travelling on Kuz Road in rural Manitoba.