remedies
Breaking Out of Federal Court: Mission Institution v. Khela, 2014 SCC 24
Under the Federal Courts Act, the Federal Court has exclusive jurisdiction to issue an injunction, writ of certiorari, writ of prohibition, writ of mandamus or writ of quo warranto, or grant declaratory relief, against any federal board, commission or other tribunal. A notable absentee from this list is the writ of habeas corpus. Since its […] Read more
Governance of First Nations: Federal Court Exercises Discretion not to Grant Relief
Canada’s relationship with its First Nations has been in the news a great deal recently, due to the Idle No More protests. Governance is a central issue in current political discourse and it was also at the centre of Gamblin v. Norway House Cree Nation Band Council, 2012 FC 1536. Here, the respondent had approved […] Read more
Section 1 of the Charter: A (Con)Way Out of the Morass?
Section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms provides that any infringement of a Charter right must be “prescribed by law”, a requirement that must be satisfied by the government before an application of the proportionality test. The jurisprudence on section 1 is very messy and has been criticized. Indeed, the Supreme Court of […] Read more
Keeping the Federal Government out of the Provincial Courts
In its 2010 decision in Telezone, the Supreme Court of Canada took a relatively relaxed approach to private law actions against the federal government in provincial court. The difficulty is that in some of these cases a court will have to adjudicate on the lawfulness — as a public law matter — of actions or […] Read more
Making sure you are exhausted before seeking judicial review
Volochay v. College of Massage Therapists of Ontario, 2012 ONCA 541, involves a masseur, (alleged) extra-marital sex, (alleged) intimidation of a witness and (allegedly) a vengeful government agency. A story interesting enough, then, to survive even the following injection of administrative law principles.A former patient of the applicant’s made a complaint against him, on the […] Read more
Human Rights Remedies and Administrative Bodies
Unlike many (perhaps most?) other countries, Canada allows administrative bodies to make non-binding interpretations of constitutional provisions and to grant remedies for human rights violations by state actors.To put it in terms first suggested by the now-Chief Justice, the constitution is “not some holy grail which only judicial initiates of the superior courts may touch” […] Read more