The ReeveLaw Blog

CAN WE TRUST CSI TYPE EVIDENCE? – “I have concluded that the hair-strand drug and alcohol testing used by the Motherisk Drug Testing Laboratory between 2005 and 2015 was inadequate and unreliable for use in child protection and criminal proceedings and that the Laboratory did not meet internationally recognized forensic standards. The use of the Laboratory’s hair-testing evidence in child protection and criminal proceedings has serious implications for the fairness of those proceedings and warrants an additional review.” The Honourable Susan Lang, Independent Reviewer

Source: Home

Take note that if you are not a Canadian citizen and are sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 6 months or more, our recent “Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act” has removed your right to appeal a deportation order.

Last November, we published a post about the intersection of criminal and immigration law, and specifically about the Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act – legislation that made it easier to de…

Source: AvoidAClaim | Immigration consequences of criminal convictions: An update

TOUGH CASES MAKE BAD LAW – Tragic circumstances do not justify a hasty or overbroad legislative response. From the lawyer who argued the case: ” The government of the day — which was heading for an election — was not willing to throw the police and the prosecution service under the bus for no charges being laid, so instead created the appearance of doing something by creating and passing a very poorly executed law. In the process, they trampled on the Charter rights of all Nova Scotians and created a distraction from the important discussion about sexual assault and consent. Among other things, the Act allows an alleged victim of cyberbullying to appear before a justice of the peace to obtain a cybersafety protection order. These orders can go so far as to result in the confiscation of electronic devices and being barred from using the internet. An alleged cyberbully never has any notice of this hearing and has no right to give his side before the order is made.”

Source: Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Nova Scotia’s cyberbullying law declared to be unconstitutional and a “colossal failure”

A HISTORY OF WEED IN CANADA – It’s decades past the time to stop criminalizing a non-violent activity. The Canadian Le Dain commission of 1973 concluded that “the criminalization of cannabis had no scientific basis.” “continued criminalization of cannabis remains unjustified based on scientific data on the danger it poses.” In 2015 the CBC reported that “86 percent of Canadians and 75 percent of Conservative voters supported legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana.” Stop the injustice.

Canada has had a complicated relationship with marijuana over the years.

Source: From ‘Raving Maniacs’ to the ‘Prince of Pot’: A History of Weed in Canada | VICE News

“Just last week, inmates rioted at the Toronto South Detention Centre, setting fires, causing a flood and sending five correctional officers to hospital. On Monday, we saw a riot and hostage-taking at Thunder Bay Jail. Probation and parole officers have the highest caseloads in the country, while lethal weapons are being brought into parole offices and the government refuses to install metal detectors. Government spending per offender is the second lowest in Canada, rehabilitation programs and home monitoring have “gone by the wayside” and reoffending is on the rise. Premier Kathleen Wynne (has) a callous disregard for the correctional system and workers – making work more dangerous each day for union members.”

Members of the union representing correctional officers in Ontario have rejected a contract offer reached with the provincial government last month.

Source: Jail guards reject labour deal offered by Ontario government

This is so true I’d like to give every new client a copy to read.

Source: Pet Peeves from a Law Clerk’s view, things I wish you knew and a little advocacy for lawyers. | Kimberly K. M. Pinheiro | LinkedIn

NO SUCH THING AS A POT LICENSE – You may obtain a doctor’s authorization to obtain marijuana and have a permit to possess it but there is no such thing as a license to distribute it. Two Richmond Hill marijuana shops on Yonge Street close down after police threats. Local restaurants are relieved.

2 Richmond Hill stores served notice

Source: No such thing as pot license: York police

Let’s not forget that the police have to deal with some very violent and dangerous people sometimes. Check out this recent video from Seattle.

Dashcam footage from police cruisers shows the suspect headed the wrong way on a one-way street, crossing over a median, and generally driving like a madman before he dies in a hail of gunfire.

Source: Video Shows Seattle Cops Gunning Down Driver After ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Crime Spree | VICE News

REFUSING TO SNITCH is not an aggravating factor in sentencing however snitching may be a mitigating factor …. however, once you get to prison…… 

“First, to say otherwise risks the prospect of false accusations,” he wrote, because it gives accused people incentive to lie. “Second, it would likely put many accused who are being sent to the penitentiary in a difficult situation: either they “snitch” and risk danger while in custody, or they do not “snitch” and risk their sentence being increased for not doing so.”

Source: Refusal to snitch on accomplices should not affect criminals’ sentences, Ontario’s top court rules | National Post