Criminal
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August 06, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal divided over conditional sentence in sexual assault case
Ontario’s top court has upheld a conditional sentence for a man convicted of sexual assault, but one of the judges sitting on the case has written a long dissent saying the sentence was inappropriate.
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August 06, 2025
Justice Patrick Murray retires from N.S. Supreme Court
The Honourable Patrick J. Murray has retired from the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia after 15 years on the bench.
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August 06, 2025
Entering the U.S.: How it has changed
The process of entering the United States has undergone significant changes in 2025, shaped by executive orders, immigration enforcement priorities and a shifting national security agenda. Changes include heightened visa scrutiny, expanded travel restrictions and limitations, rising visa fees and updated entry regulations.
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August 06, 2025
Drug appeal illustrates how circumstantial evidence can lead to reasonable inference of guilt
Gerry Crawley, a commercial truck driver operating his vehicle, was convicted of importing and possessing 64 kilograms of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. The drugs, worth approximately $3 million, were discovered in after-market hidden compartments in the sleeper cab of his truck during a secondary inspection at the Pacific Highway border crossing in Surrey, B.C., on March 18, 2021.
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August 05, 2025
Federal Court of Appeal bars estates from Charter damages in early parole rights class action
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that the estate of a deceased federal inmate cannot claim damages for the government’s retrospective removal of early parole, which was found to be a violation of the Charter right not to be punished twice for the same offence.
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August 05, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal finds ‘golden rule’ key to determining assault case
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently addressed a particularly unusual situation. In the case of R. v. G.G., 2025 ONCA 574, the trial judge found beyond a reasonable doubt that G.G. committed the sexual assault.
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August 05, 2025
Saskatchewan’s ‘Street Weapons’ Act comes into force
Saskatchewan has made good on bringing in new laws classifying things such as fentanyl, methamphetamine, hypodermic needles, swords and machetes as “street weapons.”
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August 05, 2025
B.C. report calls for centralized hub, dedicated phone line for legal information
A report from a group of academics in British Columbia is recommending the province take steps to strengthen public legal education. The “Flourishing” report, which was prepared as part of the public legal education and information (PLEI) sectoral planning project at the University of British Columbia (UBC) school of law, says there is a wide array of high-quality, easily accessible, clearly written legal information available in B.C., which the authors call the “public legal education and information ecosystem.”
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August 01, 2025
N.W.T. airport joins national group against human trafficking
The main airport serving the Northwest Territories has partnered with a national movement aimed at eradicating human trafficking.
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August 01, 2025
CRIMINAL CODE OFFENCES - Offences relating to conveyances - Roadside screening test
Appeal by Westgard from her conviction for having a blood alcohol concentration that exceeded the legal limit within two hours of ceasing to operate a conveyance (“over 80”).