Blog James Hendry

Between Public Health and Safety: Decriminalization of Drugs in British Columbia Through the Lens of Justice and Realpolitik

BC declared a health care emergency in April 2016 because thousands of residents had died of increasingly toxic illicit drugs. The BC government studied the problem and solutions in great detail. A major Death Panel Report to the BC Coroner updated in 2022 examined the deaths. Studies recommended evidence-based steps to reduce deaths from overdose…

Ontario’s New Drug Policy: Impacts on Safe Consumption Sites and Public Health

Ontario’s new drug policy will close many supervised consumption sites in Ontario. The Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024 prohibits safe consumption sites from operating within 200 metres of schools and daycare centres…

New SCC Thoughts on the Honour of the Crown in Modern Treaties

The SCC recently decided three cases interpreting historic and modern treaty promises to aid in the reconciliation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. I wrote about two of these…

Section 24 – Damages for Unconstitutional Legislation

The Supreme Court of Canada recently confirmed that individuals may bring actions under s. 24 of the Charter for damages flowing from unconstitutional legislation. The Court’s decision in AG Canada v Power upholds a decades-old principle established in Mackin…

A New Look at the Role of Treaties in Reconciliation

Two recent Supreme Court of Canada cases try to advance the fundamental objective of the modern law of treaty rights: the reconciliation of the interests of Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Both cases show nation-to-nation treaty-making unfolding within the Canadian Constitution…

Gender and Pronouns Notwithstanding

I want to pick up the story of the injunction issued by Megaw J of the Saskatchewan Court of Kings Bench against the policy preventing schoolkids under 16 from using their preferred names and pronouns without parental consent…

Canada Assists Other Democracies by Sharing Its Judicial Talent

The rule of law is often described as the rule of laws and not individuals. Amidst the roar of debate about this simplistic description, some basic ideas are commonly understood…

SCC Uses Charter Values to Essentially Expand a Defined Class of Rights Holders

Charter values that subtend Charter rights have been assigned various roles in adjudicating disputes from developing the common law to resolving genuine ambiguities in statutory interpretation.

What’s in a Name (Or Pronoun)?

I recently noticed headlines that the Federal Court of Appeal had set aside an interim Order staying the removal of Colin Ewen because the Motions Judge had raised an issue about gender pronouns…

SCC Cases and Business Ethics

I want to examine a couple of cases from the Supreme Court of Canada that demonstrate a growth of ethical principles in contracts that underpin much of the economy…