Summaries Sunday: Supreme Advocacy

One Sunday 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, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted from September 1 – October 5, 2023 inclusive.

Appeals

Administrative Law/ Immigration: Standard of Review; Inadmissibility
Mason v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration),  2021 FCA 156, 2023 SCC 21 (39855)

The statutory provision at issue, s. 34(1)(e) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA”), provides that permanent residents and foreign nationals are inadmissible to Canada on “security grounds” for “engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada”. The key point of disagreement among the administrative decision makers and courts below is whether the “acts of violence” listed as “security grounds” in s. 34(1)(e) require a link to national security or the security of Canada, or whether s. 34(1)(e) applies to acts of violence more broadly even without such a link. In these two cases, the relevant legal constraints point overwhelmingly to a single reasonable interpretation of s. 34(1)(e) — a person can be found inadmissible under s. 34(1)(e) only if they engage in acts of violence with a nexus to national security or the security of Canada. The standard of review of the administrative decisions at issue is reasonableness. No established exception to the presumption of reasonableness review applies, nor should any new exception be created on the basis that these appeals involved a serious question of general importance certified for appeal to the Federal Court of Appeal under s. 74(d) of the IRPA.

Leaves to Appeal Granted

Aboriginal Law: Policing Costs
Attorney General of Québec v. Pekuakamiulnuatsh Takuhikan, 2023 FC 267 (40619)

Policing costs for Aboriginal groups.

Civil Litigation: Dismissal for Delay
Licensing IP International S.À.R.L., et al. v. Sweet Productions Inc., et al., 2022 CAF 111 (40354)

Delay issues in Federal Court copyright litigation.