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…
Read more »
Employee Negligence Does Not Relieve Employers From Liability For Workplace Criminal Negligence
The tragic Christmas Eve 2009 deaths of four workers who fell twelve floors when the swing stage on which they were working collapsed stands as one of Canada’s worst workplace…
Read more »
Workplace Fatality Results in Manslaughter Charge Against Contractor
In a Canadian criminal law first, a Quebec construction contractor is under indictment and will be tried in November on a charge of unlawful act manslaughter arising from the tragic…
Read more »
Are OHSA Offences Necessarily Strict Liability?
This is the question that the Alberta Court of Appeal has the opportunity to consider after granting the Crown leave to appeal the Queen’s Bench decision in R. v. Precision Diversified…
Read more »
“Critical Injury” Clarified
Section 51 of Ontario’s OHSA requires employers to immediately report critical injuries. Failures to report are treated seriously by the courts, levying substantial fines on offenders. Regulation 851 defines “critical…
Read more »
An Update on Corporations and Unreasonable Trial Delay
Six months after the Supreme Court released its decision in R. v. Jordan rewriting the law governing pretrial delay, there are at least three decisions of the Ontario Court of Justice confirming…
Read more »
Supreme Court Acts to Protect Joint Submissions as a Means of Resolution
It happens infrequently, but when it does, it can be really unsettling. After a lengthy and considered discussion with the Crown, counsel agrees to what is called a joint submission….
Read more »
CORPORATIONS MAY HAVE GREATER ACCESS TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL PROTECTION AGAINST UNREASONABLE TRIAL DELAY
Three months after the Supreme Court in R. v. Jordan rewrote the analytical framework by which claims of unreasonable trial delay are to be tested, the Ontario Court of Appeal has applied…
Read more »