Criminal
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October 17, 2025
SCC sheds light on sentencing judges’ discretion and on Crown’s duties of fairness in plea deals
The Supreme Court of Canada has provided guidance about the Crown’s duties of fairness in plea bargaining and also confirmed sentencing judges’ discretion to take into account facts related to serious charges that were abandoned by the prosecution in exchange for the accused pleading guilty to a lesser offense. On Oct. 17, 2025 the top court handed down reserved reasons for its oral judgment last February allowing the Quebec Crown’s appeal from a 2023 Quebec Court of Appeal decision, which had reduced to six months the 15-month conditional sentence the judge at first instance imposed on Enrico Di Paola in 2022 : R.v.Di Paola, 2025 SCC 31.
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October 17, 2025
Beware of immigration fraud and misrepresentation
Canadian immigration is increasingly being targeted with fraudulent schemes, misrepresentation, identity theft, and passport-related crimes. Applicants and unscrupulous consultants exploit weaknesses in the system by using forged documents, stolen identities, sham marriages and misleading claims to obtain immigration status.
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October 17, 2025
Legal professionals under fire: Rising threats stir
In recent years, legal professionals across Canada, from Crown prosecutors to administrative staff have increasingly found themselves on the front lines of violence. High-profile assaults, random attacks and deadly outcomes are prompting reflection on how safe our legal system really is, and what must change.
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October 17, 2025
Sentencing - Criminal Code offences - Corruption and disobedience - Fraud on the government
Appeal by the Crown from a judgment of the Quebec Court of Appeal which reversed a trial judgment in part and imposed a six-month conditional sentence.
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October 16, 2025
Carney says Liberals’ impending crime bill will propose more bail reverse onuses & stiffer sentences
Next week Ottawa will propose Criminal Code reforms — including new reverse onuses for bail, a ban on conditional sentences for a number of sexual offences, and stiffer sentences for repeat convictions for auto-theft, organized crime and home invasion, says Prime Minister Mark Carney, who added that his government is also poised to unveil new border security measures on Oct. 17.
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October 16, 2025
New report urges ‘common sense’ Ontario bail system reforms
With the federal government promising action on bail reform, a new report from a criminal justice reform organization is calling for Ontario to take steps to strengthen the provincial bail system through what it calls “common sense” changes.
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October 15, 2025
Doug Ford shouldn’t boast about his parking lot shenanigans
Members of the public were taken aback earlier this week to hear Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford loudly boasting about threatening to give a stranger “a beating like he’s never got before.” Criminal lawyers were even more shocked by the premier’s telling of the tale, which he summed up with “that’s what you have to do.” According to comments attributed to him in a Toronto Star piece on Oct. 14, Ford was outraged, indeed filled with rage during the incident, when he also threatened to “kick [the person’s] ass all over the parking lot.”
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October 15, 2025
Canadian victims of $15M U.S.-based fraud encouraged to seek compensation
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) is encouraging B.C. victims of a U.S.-based $15 million pyramid and Ponzi scheme to file their claims with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
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October 15, 2025
Is Doug Ford endorsing vigilantism?
Starting around 2020–2021, police departments in British Columbia, especially in Vancouver, Victoria and Kelowna reported sharp increases in repeat property crimes, assaults, and random stranger attacks downtown. Police chiefs and mayors described a pattern of people being arrested but released back onto the street within hours.
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October 15, 2025
A veteran correctional officer’s take on personal self defence: The Kurt Suss three-foot rule
21:45 hours. Recreation was announced closed at one of Canada’s largest high medium penitentiaries. “Return to your units,” echoed over the loudspeakers in the gym and the rec field.