Canada Case Law

R. v. Jaser

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court dismissed the appeal: the trial judge did not err in his pragmatic handling of NSP claims under O'Connor/Garofoli given party consent and preserved options to proceed to Federal Court; the Garofoli step‑five review was correctly applied and entitled to deference; refusal to sever was a reasonable exercise of discretion and did not produce injustice; conspiracy instructions (including Carter steps and repeated cautions) were legally adequate and properly put appellant's feigned‑agreement defence; the isolated out‑of‑court compliment to an undercover agent did not give rise to a reaso…

Source excerpt

• O'connor application
• Garofoli application
• National security privilege (cea s.38)
• Severance of co-accused
• Conspiracy law and carter hearsay exception
• Reasonable apprehension of bias

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R. v. Esseghaier

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court granted CBC access to the sealed DVD audio exhibits conditional on a signed undertaking by the designated CBC journalist to secure the originals, limit copying and use a designated computer to create Altered Recordings that disguise the undercover operative's voice, to provide the Altered Recordings to the Crown for review and approval prior to publication, and to return the original recordings to the Court of Appeal; publication limited to approved Altered Recordings only.

Source excerpt

• Access to exhibits
• Sealing order
• Undertaking
• Alteration of recordings
• Identity protection
• Publication conditions

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Seeniyan v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness)

Court

Federal Court

The Federal Court dismissed judicial review, finding the Immigration Division reasonably held the applicant inadmissible under IRPA s. 34(1)(f) for membership-related security grounds.

• Inadmissibility under s.34(1)(f)
• Membership by proxy
• Standard of review - reasonableness
• Ministerial waiver under s.42.1(1)
• Irpa-s-34-1-f
• Membership-by-proxy

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Shahzad v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)

Court

Federal Court

Judicial review of an immigration inadmissibility decision was dismissed because the applicant showed no prejudice from CIC’s unpublished policy change.

• Inadmissibility under s.34(1)(f) irpa
• Ministerial relief under s.34(2) irpa
• Operational bulletin 524
• Humanitarian and compassionate considerations
• Section 25 irpa sequencing
• Procedural-fairness

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R. v. Nuttall

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

Oral ruling in a terrorism trial: the court refused to bar duress in advance and excluded Crown bad-character evidence for now, while admitting one passage as relevant to motive.

• Duress defence
• Air of reality
• Mens rea
• Motive
• Bad character evidence
• Admissibility

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R. v. Reyat

Court

Supreme Court of British Columbia

The court sentenced Inderjit Singh Reyat to 9 years for perjury arising from the Air India trial, crediting 17 months for pre-trial custody.

• Perjury at trial
• Plea agreement
• Compellability of witness
• Jury verdict implications for sentencing
• Pre-trial custody credit
• Perjury

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R. v. Gaya

Court

Court of Appeal for Ontario

The Court allowed the Crown's appeal in part, finding the original sentence understated the gravity of the terrorism offence and the respondent's role; it increased the respondent's effective sentence from 12 to 18 years by raising the imposed term from 4.5 to 10.5 years (taking into account 7.5 years credit for pre-sentence custody) and ordered that the respondent serve one half of his sentence (5 years 3 months) before eligibility for full parole under s.743.6(1.2).

Source excerpt

• Terrorism-related offences
• Sentencing principles
• Parole ineligibility under s.743.6(1.2)
• Wilful blindness
• Pre-sentence custody credit
• Guilty plea and mitigation

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Atabaki v. Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration)

Court

Federal Court

La Cour fédérale a accueilli la demande de contrôle judiciaire, a annulé la décision de la Section de la protection des réfugiés et a renvoyé l’affaire.

• Refugee exclusion
• Article 1f(a)
• Complicity
• Membership in terrorist organization
• Standard of review
• Credibility assessment

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