LASO 350 key points for paper writing

establishment of the charter (key points)

1982 — bill of rights — drybones case, 94(b) of indian act no drinking off reserve.

sparked shift in charter — more radicalization + inspiration as people thought this was a new era.

1984 — hunter vs southam, warrant signing was legal under the combines investigation act justices had to decide if this was fair

• RULED AS UNCONSTITUTIONAL and SIGNIFIED A SHIFT IN THE CANADIAN CONSTITUTION

• one of the first major cases applied under by the supreme court using charter.

charter then restructured:

• freedom of religion

• presumption of innocence (onus clauses)

• reproductive rights + more

Charter of rights and freedoms- Mandatory minimums key notes

Section 12 of the charter — protecting against cruel and unusual punishment

there was an issue with mandatory minimums: minimum sentences in canada were not designed to lock people up forever,

R. V. edward dewey smith: 8 years for importing pure cocaine when 7 was the minimum sentence, this sentence was not because he did not deserve it but because OTHERS DID NOT — what if someone accidentally took leisure drugs across the border and got 7 years? this baseline should be considered

goals of mandatory minimums was to crack down on crime + standardize process but it was nuanced

Charter section 11b — right to trial within a reasonable time

1. R v. Askov — delay of 2 years for organized crime/threatening with a shotgun, was seen as unconstitutional as longer delays = harder to gather evidence and witnesses

court set a 8 month cap — 30,000+ cases dropped

2. R. V. Morin — judges backed down eased on cap however there was still a delay

3. R V. jordan — faced 4 year delay before trial for drug dealing, ruled as unconstitutional, eventually dismissed as well.

NEW STANDARDS: 18 months in provincial, 30 months in superior, no exceptions for serious cases, no need to prove prejudice

follow up issues: many cases were also dismissed due to trial within a reasonable time; including cases involving serious crimes.

Settler sovereignity

timeline:

• french did not apply criminal law to indigenous people

• English law made little impact on indigenous people (inter se crimes between indigenous people)

• eventual decision that colonial law should apply to inter se crimes if a settler were involved (while still

1. R. V. Shawanakiskie — inter se crime in a colonial area

   • did court have jurisdiction even though killing for vengeance is allowed under indigenous law?

   • rules yes. shawanakiskie likely executed.

2. legal hybridity — jones code , blend of indigenous legal practices and British colonial influences

3. transition of settler law occurred over decades

4. tensions arose

5. R v. Haatq — glixsan law was dismissed as irrelevant when a white man killed a glixsan mans son, which glixsan law would make him pay compensation for

capital punishment

1. bloody code, terror and mercy — huge numbers of death penalty crimes: treason, sheep theft, murder, burglary, robbery, forging a marriage license, shoplifting.

   • terror: to scare

   • mercy: death penalties not carried out under the Royal prerogative of mercy — created legitimacy
     

2. public whippings, public humiliation and suffering was also common; in nova scotia — wanted obedience to all laws, crime =/= deserved punishment

3. 1867 — death penalty scaled back, there was no standardization of mercy power. NOT JUDICIAL as to who dies and who doesn’t, two exceptions — almost everyone who killed police officers, 80% of women.

there were factors, but factors we deem to be reasons today were likely not it

R v Frank - black, poor, young, American + violent — unlikely to win, but did .

Caroyln strange: MERCY decisions were impacted by public opinion, political pressure, mental health issues + lack of evidence also led to frequent commutations

rise of incarceration

policing

the border

race in the court

decriminalization of homosexuality

end of death penalty

organized crime

investigating + prosecuting organized crime

serial killers

guns and gun violence

heart of ice catherine lee evans - t1

1885 trial of three Cree men who executed Riskeyak, an elderly woman accused of being a wendigo, under Cree law

cree- killing to protect a community is ok

inter se context

the death sentences for the accused were commuted, reflecting both the colonial interest in cultural pluralism and the ongoing conflict between settler governance and Indigenous autonomy.

Patrick Kane capital case - t1

Death sentence of Kane commuted to life in prison for the suspected murder of a Chinese man, Fi Mau

There were contradictory evidence by eye-witnesses on whether the victim was there alone on the carriage

• Three witnesses from the initial trial mentioned in the file claimed to have seen two other Chinese men with Fi Mau on the wagon before the murder, yet these testimonies were inconclusive and contradictory.
  

• subconsciously believed Kane to be innocent as well to suggest to the jury to suggest mercy in their verdict 

Ah quong case -t2

murdered 3 random country men with no motive

After his conviction the government decided to look into the case and ultimately decided to commute his death sentence due to him being found medically insane

• Found him to be insane after medical assessment done after the trial
  

• assessing Ah Quong’s sanity was hard due to his nationality and cultural background even though many methods were employed.

  There was concern that some Chinese people might not come forward with information about Ah Quong due to the possibility of being punished for it
  
  important to also note the unusual family dynamic , however he was commuted.

“Murder, Womanly Virtue, and Motherhood: The Case of Angelina Napolitano - t1

Angelina Napolitano, an Italian immigrant in early 20th-century Canada, killed her abusive husband, with an axe after prolonged domestic violence and his attempts to force her into prostitution.

Convicted of murder, her trial provoked an international clemency campaign led by feminists, socialists, and religious groups,

emphasis on the era's gender biases in the legal system.

intersectionality → became a symbol of the struggles against domestic abuse, immigrant stereotyping, and the restrictive societal roles imposed on women.

The Tale of Ida Jane and George: Murder, Miscegenation, and Bastardy in 1893 Raleigh, Ontario” by Barrington Walker - t2

1893 trial of the Freeman family in Raleigh, Ontario

centered on the murder of a white constable and the alleged forced sexual relationship between George Freeman (black) and Ida Jane Lizzart, a white woman.

Themes of racialized justice, tension between law and mob violence, deep-seated societal and institutional racism in Canada.

Examines how racial constructs of blackness were manipulated and contested in legal and cultural discourses, j


The police force and the posse that attempted to arrest George Freeman were likely influenced by the desire to punish him for his interracial relationship + testimonies in court used racialized language.

Decision of Court of King’s Bench of Lower Canada, Montreal District, 1827, In Re Joseph Fisher - t2

followed Fisher’s extradition to Vermont for a theft committed in the United States.

Fisher - an immigrant- was detained after fleeing to Canada, where the court considered the legality of extraditing a fugitive under principles of international and common law.

The court affirmed that the government could surrender an individual to a foreign state for trial if proper legal procedures were followed.

Fisher's plea for release was denied, emphasizing the Crown's authority over foreign nationals within its territory.

Regina vs. P., Decision of the Manitoba Court of Appeal, 1968 - t3

1968 decision of a three-judge panel of the Manitoba Court of Appeal: Smith [Chief Justice of Manitoba], Monnin and Dickson [Justices of Appeal]. 

• The Winnipeg police had pressed gross indecency charges against a man and woman for engaging in consensual oral sex, and lost at trial. 

• The appeal court needed to decide if the act of heterosexual oral sex was included in the meaning of the term gross indecency in the Criminal Code→decide whether heterosexual oral sex was a crime

  •  The court decided 2-1 that it was not included, and upheld the acquittal.

’Adult Viewing Only’: Dorothy Cameron’s 1965 Trial for Exhibiting Obscene Pictures,” by Andrew Horrall -t3

1965 trial of Dorothy Cameron, a Toronto gallery owner charged with exhibiting obscene art during her show "Eros 65."

Police seized several works portraying erotic themes, sparking debates over artistic freedom and obscenity. Despite expert testimony defending the pieces as serious art within Western traditions, the judge ruled them obscene, convicting Cameron.

Although she appealed with the support of civil liberties advocates, the conviction was upheld, highlighting societal tensions around gender, sexuality, and censorship during the era.

robertson and rosetanni - t3

lords day act