In this inaugural Stereo Decisis "Shorts" episode, we pay tribute to the legacy of Joseph Arvay, QC, who passed away on December 7, 2020 at the age of 71. Cases of Arvay's mentioned in the episode include: Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72 Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5 Canada (Attorney General) v. PHS Community Services Society, 2011 SCC 4 Donations in honour of Arvay's memory can be made to the Hope Centre in Welland, Ontario. Find us on Twitter and Facebook

Stereo Decisis

SHORTS: The Legacy of Joseph Arvay QC (1949-2020)

In this episode of Stereo Decisis, Hilary Young and Robert Danay are joined by the former Dean of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law, Patricia Hughes. The discussion focuses on the appeal of R. v. Sears, 2019 ONCJ 104 in which James Sears and Leroy St. Germaine were convicted of wilful promotion of hatred contrary to s. 319 of the Criminal Code. The basis for their conviction was the publication of Your Ward News, a local periodical distributed in Toronto (and online), which contained messages that were found by the Court to promote hatred of Jewish people and women. On appeal, Mr. Sears suggested that his lawyer did not afford him competent representation. The basis for this argument was the fact that Sears' lawyer had refused to adduce evidence and make arguments to the effect that the hateful messages in the impugned periodical did not violate the Criminal Code because they were true. In a recent article on Slaw.ca, Patricia pointed out some of the ethical issues that arose for Sears' lawyer under such circumstances. In obiter dicta, Patricia recommends the Marshal Guarnaccia detective novels by Magdalen Nabb, Hilary recommends the "Buy Nothing" facebook pages and Rob recommends chihuahua puppies as pets. Find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The Legal Ethics of Representing a Hatemonger (with Dean Patricia Hughes)

On this episode of the podcast, Hilary Young and Robert Danay are joined by constitutional litigator and self-styled "Blackademic," Joshua Sealy-Harrington. The discussion primarily centred on the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Chouhan, which was a constitutional challenge to Bill C-75, a law that removed the ability of an accused (or a prosecutor) to remove potential jurors peremptorily. This law was passed in the aftermath of Gerald Stanley's controversial acquittal in the murder of Colton Boushie, a 22-year old Indigenous man in Saskatchewan. Joshua represented the intervener BC Civil Liberties Association in Chouhan. The discussion also touched on the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Fraser v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 SCC 28, which was a constitutional challenge to an aspect of the RCMP's statutory pension scheme that disproportionately affected women. It was the first decision in which the Court found an unjustifiable breach of the right to equality in s. 15 of the Charter on the basis of "adverse impact" discrimination. In obiter dicta, Hilary recommended the songs of Tom Lehrer, which the math professor/satirical musician recently released into the public domain. Rob recommended the CBC show You Can't Ask That! and Joshua recommended The Alchemy of Race and Rights by Patricia J. Williams. Find us on Twitter and Facebook!

Joshua Sealy-Harrington on Jury Selection, Diversity and Equality

On this episode of Stereo Decisis, Oliver Pulleyblank, Hilary Young and Robert Danay are joined by Angela Swan, who was recently described as "nothing short of a venerated celebrity in both Canadian contract law and the Canadian legal community at large." Angela brings her decades of experience and expertise to discuss COVID-19 and contractual clauses such as force majeure and material adverse event/change. In so doing, she mentions Akorn, Inc. v. Fresenius Kabi AG - No. 2018-0300-JTL, 2018 Del. Ch. LEXIS 325 (Ch. Oct. 1, 2018), which is one of the only cases in which a court actually found that a material adverse change clause was properly invoked by a party to a contract. In obiter dicta, Hilary recommends a podcast called My Dad Wrote a Porno, Oliver recommends the Raven DeBriefs podcast and Rob recommends a Netflix documentary called Circus of Books. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find us on Twitter and Facebook!

Angela Swan on COVID-19 and Force Majeure

On this episode of Stereo Decisis, Hilary Young, Robert Danay and Oliver Pulleyblank are joined by Justice Lorne Sossin of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to discuss some of the challenges and opportunities that Canadian courts are navigating as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. During the discussion, Rob mentions: A recent article by Chief Justice McLachlin on "Access to Justice in the Time of Social Distancing"; A tweet by Shannon Salter (Chair of the Civil Resolution Tribunal) about the need for affidavits to be commissioned by a lawyer/notary; The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. N.S., 2012 SCC 72 (which concerned the right of witnesses to wear a niqab when testifying in criminal trials); The decision of Corbett J. setting the terms of a virtual Zoom proceeding in Ontario v. Ontario Association of Midwives, 2020 CanLII 25862 (ON SCDC); and The rebuke by a Florida judge of a lawyer who attended a virtual Zoom proceeding shirtless from bed. In Obiter Dicta, Justice Sossin recommends Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes and The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson, Rob recommends the Dr. Henry Shoe by John Fluevog, Hilary recommends knitting while attending certain online meetings and Oliver recommends the "primitivist" music of John Fahey. Find us on Twitter and Facebook and please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you found us!

Justice Lorne Sossin on Adjudication in the Time of COVID-19

On this episode of Stereo Decisis, Robert Danay, Oliver Pulleyblank and Hilary Young are joined by David Quayat to discuss the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya, 2020 SCC 5. This case involves three former workers at a mine in Eritrea who launched a lawsuit in British Columbia seeking damages from a Canadian company that owned the mine. They claimed to have been subjected to torture, slavery and other human rights abuses at the mine and asserted that Nevsun was liable in tort based on breaches of customary human rights law. A majority of the Supreme Court of Canada allowed the lawsuit to proceed. In Obiter Dicta, David recommends donating to a food bank, Hilary recommends The Oland Murder, a four part documentary on the murder of millionaire Richard Oland and the retrial of his son Dennis, Oliver recommends audio books and a recent album by Daniel Romano's Outfit and Rob recommends The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts! Feedback, comments or suggestions? Find us on Twitter or Facebook.

Nevsun Resources Ltd. and the new Customary International Law Torts (with David Quayat)

On this, our first post-coronavirus pandemic episode, Hilary Young and Robert Danay are joined by Steven Penney, Professor of Law at the University of Alberta Faculty of Law, to discuss R v Brown, 2020 ABQB 166. This was a case that gained national attention, in which a young man with no history of violence, consumed alcohol and magic mushrooms and went on a naked rampage in which he broke into strangers' homes and committed a brutal assault, all of which he did not recall doing after the fact. The discussion touched on the defence of extreme intoxication automatism, the constitutionality of section 33.1 of the Criminal Code and more. In obiter dicta, Steven recommended The Goodness Paradox by Richard Wrangham, Hilary recommended another story involving magic mushroom fuelled naked criminality, and Rob recommended a fantastic online criminal procedure lecture by University of Arkansas Law School professor Alex Nunn.

Magic Mushroom Edition (with Steven Penney)

On this episode of Stereo Decisis, Robert Danay and Oliver Pulleyblank are joined by Caroline Mandell, a legal writing coach, litigation consultant and former counsel to the Court of Appeal for Ontario to discuss the Supreme Court's landmark administrative law decision in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v. Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65. Caroline brings her particular expertise and perspective to explain Vavilov's anticipated effects on the scope and quality of reasons tendered by administrative decision-makers as well as some of the ways in which the decision might have set the bar higher for administrative decision-makers in this regard than that which is expected of judges themselves. In Obiter Dicta, Oliver discusses The Neon Skyline, a new album by Canadian singer songwriter Andy Shauf, Rob explains how he met his wife in high school and Caroline talks about the retirement of Justice Robert Sharpe and recommends his book, Good Judgment: Making Judicial Decisions (2018, UofTPress). Find us on Twitter and Facebook. If you haven't done so already, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you downloaded this episode.

Vavilov and the "Culture of Justification" (with Caroline Mandell)

On this edition of stereo decisis, Hilary Young, Robert Danay and Oliver Pulleyblank discuss the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Kosoian v. Société de transport de Montréal, 2019 SCC 59, which involved a woman who won a decade long battle for compensation after being wrongfully arrested for failing to hold the handrail on an escalator in a Laval metro station. The crew also discussed a recent series of decisions in the Federal Court of Appeal pertaining to the Trans Mountain Expansion Project (TMX). In obiter dicta, Rob discussed the recent controversies over the conferral of graduate law degrees at UBC without the name of the law school's benefactor, Peter A. Allard, and the use of the name Ludlow Hall at UNB Faculty of Law.

Pictorgrams and Pipelines

On this episode of Stereo Decisis, Hilary Young and Robert Danay are joined by Professor Carys Craig (Osgoode Hall Law School) to discuss the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc., 2019 SCC 43. The discussion touches on: Vaver, David. “Copyright and the State in Canada and the United States” (1996), 10 I.P.J. 187; and R. v. James Lorimer and Company Limited, [1984] 1 F.C. 1065; (1984), 77 C.P.R. (2d) 262; 180 N.R. 351 (C.A.). The discussion also touched on the recent news story that the street artist Banksy has set up a homewares store in a suburb of London as part of an ongoing trademark dispute. In obiter dicta, both Hilary and Carys discussed the recent passing of Professor Ian Kerr and some of the many tributes to him, including: The LawBytes Podcast, Episode 24: A Tribute to Ian Kerr (Michael Geist); and "Remembering Ian Kerr" Jotwell (September 26, 2019) Carys also referred to the last paper authored by Professor Kerr before his passing, which she co-authored: C. Craig and I. Kerr, "The Death of the AI Author" Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper (2019) Find us on Twitter and Facebook and support us on Patreon!  

Crown Copyright is NOT Boring

On this long overdue episode of the podcast, Hilary Young, Oliver Pulleyblank and Robert Danay are joined by Professor Paul Daly of the University of Ottawa (and the influential Administrative Law Matters blog) to discuss the recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in Miller, R (on the application of) v The Prime Minister [2019] UKSC 41 (also known as the Case on Prorogation). The discussion touched on a number of related cases on prorogation and the justiciability of perogative powers in Canada including: Guergis v. Novak et al, 2012 ONSC 4579 Black v. Canada (Prime Minister), 2001 CanLII 8537 (ON CA) Galati v. Canada (Governor General), [2015] 4 FCR 3 Hupacasath First Nation v. Canada (Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada), 2015 FCA 4 The discussion also touched on the news media's coverage of Lady Hale (and her unusual brooches). Please rate and review the show and share your thoughts (or financial support) with us on Twitter, Facebook or Patreon!

Prorogration Fascination

On this episode of the podcast, Oliver Pulleyblank, Hilary Young and Robert Danay are joined by guest Jane Thomson to discuss a variety of topics that happen to relate to death. The first flows out of a recent case in which two parents were granted the right by a court to harvest the sperm of their deceased son for the purposes of creating a grandchild. The second involves a woman whose dying wish to have her dog euthanized and buried with her was granted by her estate's executor. In obiter dicta, Hilary continues the death theme by discussing a recent Federal Court case in which damages in the amount of $20 million were awarded to members of a class action lawsuit against a company that reproduced obituaries on its website for profit without consent, Oliver discusses his tomato plants and his daughter, Rob discusses a recent case from Newfoundland in which a man was acquitted of very unusual child pornography charges and Jane discusses her affection for reality television. Find us on Twitter and Facebook and support us on Patreon

Death Decisis

On this episode of the podcast, Hilary Young, Oliver Pulleyblank and Robert Danay discuss the recent decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal in 9147-0732 Québec inc v Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales, 2019 QCCA 373 in which a majority of the Court found that corporations enjoy protection against cruel and unusual punishment under s. 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Rob mentions an interesting blog post on the case by Leonid Sirota. In obiter dicta, Oliver discusses his favourite spring beverage and issues a challenge to Hilary to identify the perfect spring beer. Find us on @twitter or Facebook Send us your voice memo recorded questions, comments or replies to robert@stereo-decisis.com Become a patron of the pod on Patreon and leave us a rating and a review wherever you got this podcast.

Cruel and Unusual Ltd.

On this week's episode of the pod, Hilary Young, Robert Danay and Oliver Pulleyblank discuss: The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Jarvis, 2019 SCC 10 in which the Court held that a high school English teacher ought to be convicted of voyeurism after he surreptitiously filmed his female students using a pen camera; Issues about redemption, rehabilitation and denunciation raised by the sentences of serial killer Bruce McArthur and mosque mass murderer Alexandre Bissonnette; and The recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Orphan Well Association v. Grant Thornton Ltd., 2019 SCC 5 in which the Court found that a bankrupt oil company was required to pay for the cleanup of its abandoned wells before paying off its secured creditors. In obiter dicta, Oliver discusses his recent trip to Palm Springs and Hilary unlocks some secret commands on Apple keyboards. Rob's obiter, which is about a recent threat of litigation by a son against his parents for compensation due to the fact that he was born without his prior consent, is available exclusively to our Patreon supporters as a bonus segment. We are on Twitter (@stereodecisis) and Facebook.

The Not About SNC-Lavalin Edition

On this episode of the show Hilary Young, Oliver Pulleyblank and Robert Danay discuss the recent guilty plea to dangerous driving offences by the accused in the tragic Humboldt Broncos bus crash, the decision of the United Nations Human Rights Committee that the Indian Act discriminates against women and the decision of the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Frank v. Canada (Attorney General), 2019 SCC 1. In obiter dicta, Oliver talks about the upcoming release of new albums, Hilary talks about the appropriation of Justin Trudeau's likeness (and that of his family) by a Kentucky outfitter and Rob talks about Nike's new self-lacing shoes. We are on Twitter: @stereodecisis ...and Facebook ...and Patreon!

Moral Luck Edition

A topical, entertaining and accessible discussion about the law in Canada and beyond. Join Hilary Young, Oliver Pulleyblank and Robert Danay as they offer their insights into the latest developments in the law.

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Stereo Decisis

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