Top court’s fall session replete with weighty constitutional cases and far-reaching civil appeals – The Lawyer’s Daily
October 04, 2021
The Supreme Court of Canada’s fall session is dominated by criminal law cases, raising constitutional questions on such issues as defence disclosure in sexual assault cases, intoxicated automatism, speedy trial “ceilings” and the scope of the right to counsel.
The top court’s 27 appeals also include half-a-dozen far-reaching non-criminal cases, dealing with thorny issues such as undue delay in professional discipline matters; post-separation child mobility; judicial disapproval of family law litigants’ settlements; and advance legal costs for First Nations asserting Aboriginal and treaty rights.
Appeal hearings beginning Oct. 5 mark the debut of the Supreme Court’s new member from Ontario, Justice Mahmud Jamal, who was sworn in July 1 to succeed Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, who may participate in cases on which she sat until the end of December.
