By Carimé Boehr, Articling Student When a loved one is incarcerated, it profoundly impacts more than just the person stepping into prison. In a report based on a 2014 survey prepared at Wilfrid Laurier University, the results revealed that “families with a loved one incarcerated experience more distress on average than the general population.”

By Carolina Salles Quaresma, Articling Student. Here are some FAQs about the role of a surety, answered.

By Carimé Boehr, Articling Student. To help demystify the process, we’ve outlined the seven stages of a criminal file.

By: Kristen Dulysh, Counsel and Kristianne C. Anor, Student-at-Law
A “special” bail hearing is a label that the Crowns give contested bail hearings that they believe would take two hours or more of court time. As a result of the amount of time required, the bail hearing needs to be scheduled in advance and cannot take place within 24 hours of the arrest.

By: Ramez Ghalyamez Ghaly, Summer Student Being charged with a criminal offence often comes along with consequences in multiple aspects of a person’s life. If you are not a Canadian Citizen, the result of a criminal charge and conviction could negatively impact your immigration status in many ways.

By: Jocelyn Heaton, Summer Student Despite these efforts, many homeless people do not feel safe in these shelters, citing isolation as a major concern, and instead choose to live in encampments. Of note are the increased overdose deaths in city shelters, with 2020 being the deadliest year on record; there were 74 overdose deaths and 800 reversed overdoses in city shelters.

By: Sarah Durcikova, Summer Student So, you’ve pled guilty or were found guilty at trial and are now facing sentencing. After a finding of guilt, the Court must then determine a sentence that is fair considering the circumstances, the seriousness of the offence, and the offender’s degree of responsibility. To do this, the Court will […]

by: Victoria Braillard Poccard, Co-op Student Legal Aid Ontario promotes access to justice for economically disadvantaged people facing criminal charges. The program was created for people who do not earn enough income to afford a private lawyer. If you are a Legal Aid Ontario client and have current files with us, we can […]

By Sabrina Shillingford, Articling Student Increasingly, the Crown is relying on rap videos as evidence of guilt in criminal proceedings. Derstine Penman has been privy to this in cases including allegations of drug trafficking, involvement in a criminal organization, and murder. The reliance on rap as evidence of criminality has the greatest impact […]

by: Laura Remigio, Associate “Ontario Court of Appeal rules intoxication can be used as a defence in sexual assault and violent crimes cases”. This was the headline on CP24 and other news outlets in relation to the Ontario Court of Appeal decision in R. v. Sullivan, 2020 ONCA 333. (The full decision can be read […]

by: Renée E.M. Gregor, Associate As Professor Tanovich states in his oft-cited text, “The colour of justice in Canada is white”.[1] In Ontario specifically, our courts and jails are plagued by a vast over-representation of black males in the South and Indigenous males in the North. The GTA is no stranger to the targeting of […]

By Adam Newman, Associate The Ford Government has announced a 30 percent budget cut to Legal Aid Ontario this year. In response, Legal Aid Ontario said this year it will cut $38 million from the $251 million it allocates to compensating private lawyers, including those practicing criminal and immigration law, and is considering reducing what it calls “discretionary payments.” (“’Cruel’ Legal Aid Cuts Will Further Erode Ontario’s Criminal Justice System” Huff Post, June 1, 2019).

By Keiisha Pillai, Associate “Sexting” is defined as the exchange of sexual messages, photos, or videos by electronic devices. This is usually done through text and social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

By Adam Newman, Associate “Over 250 years ago, William Pitt (the elder), speaking in the House of Commons, described how “[t]he poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the crown. It may be frail — its roof may shake — the wind may blow through it — the storm […]

By Laura Remigio, Associate Everyone in Canada has certain rights that are protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Many sections of the Charter also have specific rights that are designed to protect people who have been charged with a criminal offence. Some of these rights are well known in society, such as […]

By Geoff Haskell, Associate Have you been charged and convicted of an offence in Ontario? Do you feel that the Court’s decision was unfair or unreasonable? Would you like to get a second opinion? If you answered ‘yes’ – then you are in luck. In Ontario, anyone convicted of an offence has the right to […]

By Adam Newman, Associate Victim Impact Statements (“VIS”) play a highly influential role in sentencing. Not only do they factor in to what sentence someone found guilty is given, Parliament went out of its way to expressly provide victims of crime with a statutorily protected opportunity to express the impact the crime had on them. […]

By Allison Lee, Articling Student In our last post, New Law For Sexual Assault Forces Defence to Disclose Texts, we discussed the new regime governing the type of evidence that can be used by the defence, and ultimately how it may be used, following the introduction of new sexual assault provisions into the Criminal Code Bill C-51 on December 13, 2018.

By David Gildiner, Associate There is a new law of the land for sexual assault cases. The most significant changes introduced by bill c-51, which came into force on December 13, 2018, relate to what evidence can be used by the defence in a sex assault trial. The Defence has to Disclose Texts […]