Windsor & Coutts at POEI, Mandatory Minimums Upheld, Online Regulation, & Post Offence Text Msgs
This week in Canadian law, the Emergencies Act Inquiry looked at the protests that were taking place at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, ON, as well as those at Coutts, Alta. In both cases, evidence presented seems to show that both protests were disruptive, but that the Emergencies Act was not necessary to deal with them. Also during the Inquiry, one of the lawyers collapsed in the middle of questioning a witness. I discuss how a lawyer needs to be physically ready for court in order to be mentally sharp when it matters. This week the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a mandatory minimum sentence for a woman convicted of importing nearly 2kg of cocaine through the Toronto Pearson Airport. This broke something of a trend of courts striking down Harper-era legislation on sentencing. The SCC said that it was up to Parliament to make changes to this legislation, as it did not offend the Charter as it was applied here, despite the accused being an Ojibwe woman and the issue of overincarceration of indigenous offenders. Next, I review C-11 and C-18, both of which deal with online content regulation in Canada. C-11 would allow the CRTC to regulate user-generated content, and C-18 would restrict how news articles are shared on social media. Combined, these Bills would restrict freedom of expression online, and are not an appropriate response to revenue issues in the traditional media landscape. Finally, I review a criminal case out of the NS Court of Appeal, where the Court reviewed how apologetic text messages sent after an alleged sexual assault may be used in a trial. It is not correct to have "repetition enhance credibility" but okay where the content amounts to an "admission".
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