Lack of consent, or possibly fraud, for not using a condom and an end to spousal support payments when an ex-wife doesn't become self sufficient after 26 years

Can you be entrapped by phone? The Supreme Court of Canada has confirmed that you can. One of the ways that entrapment can occur is if the police engage in random virtue testing: presenting an opportunity to commit a crime without a reasonable suspicion that the person being tested is already committing the crime, or that the crime is already occurring in the place where the police are testing random people. An example of a place where police have a reasonable suspicion that crimes are being ...

4 Juni 202022min

In Canada, the decision about whether or not to extradite someone to another country to face criminal charges has both a legal and political aspect. The courts decide if the legal requirements for extradition have been met. If they have, it is then up to the Minister of Justice to determine if the person should actually be extradited. The recent decision concerning Wanzhou Meng of Huawei dealt with one of the legal requirements: the offence the person is charged with, in the other count...

28 Maj 202021min

COVID-19 is a consideration when deciding if someone should remain in jail while waiting for their trial. In one federal penitentiary, located in Mission BC, 133 inmates and staff contracted the coronavirus. As a judge recently pointed out, however, the risk of COVID-19 is not a “get out of jail free card.” The overriding considerations when determining if someone should be kept in jail include whether they will attend court when required and if their detention is necessary for the pro...

21 Maj 202023min

Vancouver Island, population 870,000, only has 2 people in hospital with COVID-19, as of May 7, and a total of 18 people who have been identified with the virus, who have not recovered, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control. In this context, the Public Health Act and the Emergency Program Act are discussed on the show. Both acts expressly contemplate different orders being made for different areas of the province. If the number of people with COVID-19 reaches zero on Vancouver ...

9 Maj 202022min

In 2011 two men in Quebec wagered $517,000 on a best-of-three rock, paper, scissors game. The man the lost took out a mortgage on his home to pay the debt but was successful in having the gambling contract, and mortgage set aside. In Quebec, private contractual disputes are deal with pursuant to the Civil Code of Quebec, rather than common law principles of contract, that apply in other Canadian provinces. The Civil Code of Quebec specifies that gambling contracts are only valid i...

30 Apr 202022min

The BC Court of Appeal will be back operating at full capacity thanks to Zoom. After several weeks of dealing only with urgent matters, the BC Court of Appeal has announced that all oral hearings will proceed using Zoom. All material will be filed electronically. A desire to have an oral argument in person, rather than by Zoom, will not be a reason for an adjournment. The Court of Appeal is able to make this change more easily than trial courts can because it does not hear from live wit...

23 Apr 202020min

Should custody arrangements be modified where one parent is a nurse working with patients who may be infected with COVID-19? In child custody cases, the core principle is always what’s in the best interest of the child. A recent BC court decision set out factors to be considered when assessing a child’s best interest in a situation where a parent is working in an environment of known risk. These include whether the child has medical conditions placing them at higher risk if they are infected,...

16 Apr 202022min