Search for ""

The Calder case (1973) — named for politician and Nisga’a chief Frank Calder, who brought the case before the courts — reviewed the existence of Aboriginal title (i.e., ownership) claimed over lands historically occupied by the Nisga’a peoples of northwestern British Columbia. While the case was lost, the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling nevertheless recognized for the first time that Aboriginal title has a place in Canadian law. The Calder case (also known as Calder et al. v. Attorney General of British Columbia) is considered the foundation for the Nisga’a Treaty in 2000 — the first modern land claim in British Columbia that gave the Nisga’a people self-government.

The Eldridge decision focused on federal spending power and on equality rights guaranteed in section 15 of the Charter.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the R. v. Sioui case on 24 May 1990 transformed understandings of treaty interpretations in Canada. Four Huron-Wendat brothers were charged and convicted of illegally camping, starting fires and cutting down trees in Jacques-Cartier Park in Québec. The Supreme Court found that the brothers were justified in arguing that a document signed by General James Murray and the Huron-Wendat chief in 1760 protected their right to use the land for ceremonial purposes and overturned the convictions.

Hunter v Southam Case Acting under the authority of s10 of the Combines Investigation Act, the director of the Investigation of the Combines Branch authorized several civil servants to enter the offices of Southam Inc in Edmonton.

The Lavell case (AG v. Lavell) was a challenge to Canadian law as it related to Indigenous women’s rights under section 12(1)(b) of the Indian Act. As the case moved through the court system, it merged with R v. Bédard and mounted a significant challenge against the patriarchal (male-dominated) and sexist nature of constitutional law in Canada.

In the Nova Scotia Pharmaceutical Society case (1992), the Supreme Court took into account the doctrine of vagueness.

By virtue of par 94(2) of the Motor Vehicle Act of British Columbia, anyone who drives his vehicle without a valid permit or while his permit is suspended commits an infraction for which the minimum penalty is a prison sentence.

Big M Drug Mart had been accused of selling merchandise on Sunday, contrary to the Lord's Day Act.

R v Olson In the summer of 1982, Clifford Robert Olson was arrested for the murder of 11 children.