Other Cases

Other Cases


R. v. Magnotta (presence media) April 17 2014 QCCS
In February 2014 the Court appointed a Commissioner to take evidence of witnesses in France and Germany in May and June of 2014. The media were seeking a variance in the terms and conditions of ...

Other Cases


R. v. Wiens 2013 BCSC 1538
The editor of the Penticton Info Tel news website, Marshall Jones, applied to the court for the release of an exhibit during a murder trial. The accused, Keith Wiens, was alleged to have written a ...

Other Cases


The Queen v. Luka Rocco Magnotta, Court of Quebec – Criminal Division, 2013 03 12
The court rejected a motion to hear a preliminary hearing in camera in a high profile murder case where the defense raised concerns about the mental health of the accused and the possibility that foreign ...

Other Cases


Saskatchewan (Human Rights Commission) v. Whatcott 2013 SCC 11
Justice Rothstein, on behalf of the Supreme Court, held that "the benefits of the suppression of hate speech and its harmful effects outweigh the detrimental effect of restricting expression which, by its nature, does little to promote the values underlying freedom of expression." The Court found that, while Section 14(1)(b) of The Saskatchewan Human Rights Code does infringe s. 2(b) of the Charter, the infringement can be justified on the grounds that it "exposes or tends to expose to hatred" a person or class of persons on the basis of a prohibited ground of discrimination. Rothstein J. also states that "the protection of vulnerable groups from the harmful effect emanating from hate speech is of such importance as to justify the minimal infringement of expression".

Other Cases


R. v. Dingwell
The CBC and Guardian newspaper applied to the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island to have access to audio recordings of 911 calls, video and audio tapes of three statements made by the accused and a police video of the crime scene, all of which were being used in evidence in the second degree murder trial of the accused. After applying the Dagenais-Mentuck test Justice Mitchell ordered copies of the 911 calls and the accused's video-taped statements to police to be released to the media. Mitchell J. placed restrictions on the use of the crime scene videotape, citing privacy interests of the innocent.