Summaries Sunday: Supreme Advocacy

On the second Sunday in each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, SupremeAdvocacyLett@r, to which you may subscribe.

Summary of all appeals and leaves to appeal granted (so you know what the S.C.C. will soon be dealing with). For leaves, both the date the S.C.C. granted leave and the date of the C.A. judgment below are added in, in case you want to track and check out the C.A. judgment. (September 14 – October 4, 2013 inclusive).

APPEALS

Civil Procedure: Arbitration; Compound v. Simple Interest
British Columbia (Forests) v. Teal Cedar Products Ltd. (B.C.C.A., February 13, 2012) (34769) Oct. 4, 2013
Arbitrators acting under the B.C. Commercial Arbitration Act do not have jurisdiction to award compound interest.

Criminal Law: (Roadside) Dog (“Levi”) Passes Smell Test (Barely, 5:4)
R. v. MacKenzie (Sask. C.A., May 25, 2011) (34397) Sept. 27, 2013
Levi’s (sniffer-dog) evidence goes in.

Criminal Law: (Airport) Dog (“Boris”) Passes Smell Test (Unanimously)
R. v. Chehil  (N.S.C.A., Sept 16, 2011) (34524) Sept. 27, 2013
Boris’ too.

Criminal Law/Charter: Prisoner Mobility
Divito v. Canada (Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness) (Fed. C.A., February 3, 2011) (34128) Sept. 19, 2013
When you do the crime, you do the time, and you don’t get to pick where.

Legislation: Retroactivity; Res Judicata; Legislatures v. Courts
Régie des rentes du Québec v. Canada Bread Company Ltd. (Que. C.A., August 22, 2011) (34505) Sept. 13, 2013
The S.C.C. held:

• when a legislature enacts a declaratory provision with retrospective effect, it is presumed to have weighed the need for the interpretive clarity the provision would bring against the disruption and unfairness that might result from its retroactive nature;
• courts owe deference to a decision by the legislature to enact such legislation;
• here a final judicial determination of the rights and obligations of the parties had not yet been made, so the declaratory provisions passed by the Quebec legislature to aid in the interpretation of the pension legislation were applicable;
• in enacting declaratory legislation, the legislature assumes the role of a court and dictates the interpretation of its own law; and
• declaratory provisions have an immediate effect on pending cases, and therefore an exception to the general rule that legislation is prospective.

Tax: Qualifying Amalgamations
Envision Credit Union v. Canada (Fed. C.A., November 21, 2011) (34619) Sept. 26, 2013
The amalgamation as done here was a qualifying amalgamation for Revenue Canada purposes.

LEAVES TO APPEAL GRANTED

Aboriginal Law: Harvesting Clauses
Does a province have rights to “take up” tracts of treaty land for forestry.
Andrew Keewatin Jr., et al. v. Minister of Natural Resources, et al. (Ont. C.A., Mar. 18, 2013) (35379) Sept. 19, 13

Labour Law: Charter Challenges
Are sections of the Expenditure Restraint Act, as they affected RCMP members, constitutional.
Robert Meredith, et al. v. A.G. of Canada (Fed. C.A., Apr. 26, 2013) (35424) Sept. 19, 2013