soft law
Soft Law and Religious Freedom: Ishaq v. Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, 2015 FC 156
Ishaq v. Minister of CItizenship and Immigration, 2015 FC 156 has received enormous media attention. The case touches on whether the government can require an applicant for Canadian citizenship to take off her niqab before she takes the oath of allegiance. Moreover, having lost at first instance, the federal government was very loud in announcing […] Read more
Bad Timing? Policies, Individualized Decision-Making and Time Limits
Here are two contrasting Court of Appeal decisions relating to human rights decision-makers’ ability to hear late-filed complaints: British Columbia (Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General) v. Mzite, 2014 BCCA 220 and Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre v. Nova Scotia (Human Rights Commission), 2014 NSCA 18. In the latter, the decision-maker proceeded pursuant to […] Read more
Canada’s Anti-Spam Law: Enforcement Discretion and Guidelines
Canada has a new anti-spam law. Sending commercial electronic communications without the recipient’s consent is no longer permitted. But “commercial activity” is very broadly defined: “any particular transaction, act or conduct or any regular course of conduct that is of a commercial character, whether or not the person who carries it out does so in […] Read more
Prescribing Greater Protection for Rights: Administrative Law and Section 1 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
My paper for this Saturday’s conference at the University of Ottawa in honour of Justice Charron is now available on SSRN. You can download it here. To whet your appetite, here is the abstract: In interpreting the “prescribed by law” requirement contained in section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian courts have […] Read more