Supreme Court of Canada

What Do You Get For Riding a Bicycle, Intoxicated, the Wrong Way Down a One-Way, Busy Downtown Street?

Peter Scott Vicaire1 Comment

A trip to the Supreme Court of Canada!

R. v. Ipeelee seems like an odd case for the Supreme Court to hear, but Justices Binnie, Fish, and Rothstein granted the leave to appeal from the  Court of Appeal for Ontario.  Perhaps a substantial re-visit to Gladue is forthcoming.  Maybe it’s because of the seemingly harsh sentence (30 months imprisonment + 6 months pre-custody).    Who knows?  Regardless, it should be an interesting one to watch.  The Director of Public Prosecutions and the Aboriginal Legal Services of Toronto Inc.  were both allowed as interveners.

Continue reading →

Manitoba Métis Federation’s Motion To State Constitutional Question Denied By SC of Canada

Peter Scott Vicaire

Concerning the leave to appeal, which was granted to the Manitoba Métis Federation on February 10th, 2011, (and has not yet been inscribed for hearing) the Supreme Court of Canada (McLachlin C.J.) has dismissed the Manitoba Métis Federation’s motion to state a constitutional question.  The lower courts  (Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba and the Court of Appeal of Manitoba) based their decisions on laches, lack of fiduciary duty, and mootness.  Here’s the dismissal.

Continue reading →

Supreme Court of Canada’s Aboriginal Law Report Card

Peter Scott Vicaire2 Comments

Here’s the Supreme Court of Canada’s report card in Aboriginal law.  Since the repatriation of the Constitution in 1982, the court has  found in favour (the “u” is added for all our dear Canadian friends) of Aboriginal interests a total of 21/64 times, or 32.8%.  The current make-up of the court (McLachlin, Binnie, LeBel, Deschamps, Fish, Abella, Charron, Rothstein, and Cromwell) have individually found in favour of Aboriginal interests 65/175 times, or 37.1%.

Continue reading →

Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band v. Canada (Attorney General): Unanimous Decision Against Lax Kw’alaams?

Peter Scott Vicaire

Back in March, we  posted about the Supreme Court’s granting of leave to appeal to the Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band, in regard to their claimed aboriginal fishing rights. 

Here’s the materials:

Appellant – Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band Factum

Respondent – Attorney General of Canada Factum

The hearing was held on 2-17-2011 and there’s finally been some time found to watch the oral arguments.  If the Indigenous Law & Policy Center was a betting organization, it would predict that a 7-0 decision in favor of Canada will be forthcoming.   You heard it here, folks!  Below is a quick summary of the hearing.

Continue reading →

Supreme Court of Canada Discusses Crown’s Fiduciary Duty to First Nations

Peter Scott Vicaire

In yesterday’s Alberta v. Elder Advocates of Alberta Society, a Supreme Court case concerning the provinces’ fiduciary responsibility for the cost of medical care in nursing homes, the Court discussed at length, the Crown’s fiduciary duty in the context of Aboriginal law.  Below are some excerpts (citations removed).

Continue reading →

Supreme Court of Canada Grants Leave To Appeal To Manitoba Métis Federation

Peter Scott Vicaire

This should be interesting (at least for those so inclined Canadians) to watch down the road.  The Manitoba Métis Federation is appealing a Manitoba Court of Appeal decision handed down on July 7, 2010.  Below is an excerpt from that decision.  And here is the leave to appeal. (note: this leave to appeal is dated February 10, 2011 and unfortunately slipped through, unnoticed, until now).

Continue reading →

Supreme Court of Canada Grants Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band Motion For Leave To Appeal

Peter Scott Vicaire1 Comment

The Supreme Court of Canada granted a motion for leave to appeal to the Lax Kw’alaams Indian Band.  The band is appealing a dismissed case in which they were looking for declaratory relief against the federal and provincial governments. 

The SC also allowed five intervenors to join in on all the fun — Attorney General of Ontario; Metlakatla Band; B.C. Wildlife Federation and B.C. Seafood Alliance; Gitxaala Nation; and the fifth, the Te’Mexw Treaty Association, was given an extension to file their factum.

Here’s  a copy.