The Latest

Joint Intervener Factum of ACTO/ Animal Justice/CCLA/CFE/Democracy Watch/ISAC  – Ontario Court of Appeal. The issue is to update the test for leave to appeal decisions of the Ontario Divisional Court. We argue the test for leave to appeal established by the Ontario Court of Appeal in its 1972 Sault Dock decision should be refreshed to reflect the evolution of administrative, constitutional, and human rights law over the past 50 years, and the role of the Divisional Court in response to those changes. Based on key legal developments in recent decades, we suggest there is a need for the leave test to focus on the criterion of “public importance.” We propose a non-exhaustive list of factors that this Court ought to consider when deciding whether to grant leave to appeal decisions of the Divisional Court.

The recent firing of Katherine Grzejszczak, a paramedic working for the Regional Municipality of York (north of Toronto), for her Facebook comment condemning Israel’s bombing of Iran, killing children at food aid depots, and the murdering of journalists, municipal workers, and healthcare workers highlights a serious problem involving workers’ rights to freedom of expression.

17th Century puritanism has come back to life in the Alberta Government. Last week, its Minister of Education, Demetrios Nicolaides signed a Ministerial Order that is jaw-dropping. Concerned that some Alberta school libraries have books that are too sexually explicit, he decided to solve the problem.