Amendments Coming to the OHSA’s Sentencing Provisions
In Bill 88, “Working for Workers Act, 2022”, the Ontario legislature has enacted noteworthy amendments to the sentencing provisions of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) that will come…
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An Update Regarding Minimum Fines and the Charter Protection Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has declined to hear an appeal that would have focused on the question in what circumstances minimum fines for regulatory offences infringe the s.12…
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Corporations Are Not Entitled to the Charter Protection Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment
That is the November 5 finding of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in Quebec (Attorney General) v. 9147-0732 Québec Inc., 2020 SCC 32, on appeal from the Quebec Court…
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Unreasonable Trial Delay: Some Recent Caselaw
The delay arising from reserved judgements should not be included in calculating its length: R. v. K.G.K., 2020 S.C.C. 7 (CANLII). In K.G.K. the defendant was charged in April…
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Can a Sentencing Court Order Officers and Directors of a Convicted Corporation to Complete Probationary Requirements on its Behalf?
An Alberta Queen’s Bench Justice has found that, in exceptional circumstances, it can. In R. v. D&J Isley & Sons Contracting Ltd., the family owned, corporate defendant had been convicted…
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Can Corporations Benefit From the Constitutional Protection Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment?
In December 2018, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in R. v. Boudreault, 2018 SCC 58 (CanLII) finding, in part, that, fines levied against individuals can constitute cruel and unusual punishment if…
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Not All OHSA Offences Are Strict Liability (Part 2)
In a previous case comment, I wrote that in R. v. Precision Diversified Oilfield Services Corp Drilling (“Precision”) the Alberta Court of Appeal would shortly have the opportunity to consider whether, properly…
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Government Tables Enabling Legislation for Deferred Prosecution Agreements
A month after it announced as part of the federal budget that it intended to introduce deferred prosecution agreements, the government tabled Bill C-74 on March 26. Through proposed amendments to…
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