2019

In Law Society of Ontario v. McCullough, 2022 ONLSTH 63 (Law Society Tribunal Hearing Division), a panel of the Law Society’s Tribunal (the “Panel”) took into consideration, for the first time, a lawyer’s Indigenous background in determining the penalty to be imposed for professional misconduct involving misappropriation of trust funds.

British Columbia Court of Appeal applies correctness standard of review outside of recognized exceptions.

Delay in administrative proceedings under consideration in Law Society of Saskatchewan v. Peter V. Abrametz.

In Spencer v. Canada (Attorney General), 2021 FC 361, the Federal Court dismissed a motion which had sought an injunction suspending the Federal Government’s COVID-19 hotel stopover policy.

New cases suggest Courts are still deferring to the government.

Up to now, the Courts have tended to defer to the government and have upheld the emergency legislation implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On an urgent application, the Ontario Divisional Court in Sprague v. Her Majesty the Queen in right of Ontario, 2020 ONSC 2335, found that a hospital’s policy limiting visitor access to certain “essential visitors” was not subject to judicial review and did not breach the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

In a decision with wide-ranging implications for the lobbying community and for administrative law generally, the Federal Court of Appeal ruled in Canada (Attorney General) v. Democracy Watch (2020 FCA 69) that the federal Lobbying Act does not create a duty for the lobbying commissioner to investigate complaints from members of the public.

In UAlberta Pro-Life v. Governors of the University of Alberta, 2020 ABCA 1, the Alberta Court of Appeal held that the University of Alberta was subject to s. 32 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in relation to its regulation of freedom of expression by students on university grounds.

In People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Inc. v. City of Toronto, 2020 ONSC 2356, the Ontario Divisional Court dismissed an application for judicial review of a media company’s decision to remove an animal advocacy group’s bus shelter advertisements targeted against Canada Goose and the city’s refusal to compel the reposting of the ads under its lease contract.