Archive for June, 2014

The Conservative government has set a goal to abolish prostitution and legal sex work, and it believes it can do it with a bill that would heavily penalized the individuals who buy sex. While there is certainly some support for the bill, there are many people who find this proposed bill to be paternalistic and potentially dangerous. Currently, it is not considered a sex crime to exchange money for sex in Ontario....
Continue reading New prostitution law draws criticism...

Tags: Criminal Defence, sex crimes

The Controlled Drug and Substance Act dictates which drug acts are criminal under Canadian law. The act is quite extensive and lists a number of crimes that many people in Ontario may not even realize are criminal. Of course, most people in the province know that marijuana possession is a violation of the law, but it is hardly as serious as a violent or destructive crime. Sadly, the Ontario Provincial Police are...
Continue reading Young people charged with marijuana possession in rural Ontario...

Tags: drug possession, marijuana

One look at the media and it is clear: many people in Canada don't think too highly of people charged with drug crimes. Many see them as ruining society, willing to rip apart families and lives with addiction just to make some money. And if that is the general public's attitude toward people suspected of drug crimes, one can only imagine what law enforcement and prosecutors think. What many people...
Continue reading Addiction often fuels drug crimes...

Tags: drug addiction, drug possession, prescription medication

Most people in Mississauga know that criminal law is the domain of the federal government, so why have provinces and territories passed civil and administrative laws that, in effect, criminalize certain behaviour? And, if provinces are creating these quasi-criminal laws, are individuals' Charter of Rights and Freedoms rights being respected? These are some of the questions that many people in the criminal defence field have. One of the great things about the...
Continue reading Criminal law is federal law, or is it?...

Tags: crime

Law enforcement agencies in Ontario have once again come together to investigate and arrest someone accused of heroin trafficking. A 30-year-old Barrie man has been arrested on suspicion of bringing drugs into Canada. These are incredibly serious charges, as the man was allegedly found with one kilogram of heroin. The government and law enforcement take even the smallest amount of drugs crossing the border seriously. Those who are caught trafficking could...
Continue reading Ontario Provincial and Barrie police arrest man on heroin charges...

Tags: drug importing, drug trafficking, heroin

Unlike other countries, Canada does not have a statute of limitations on indictable offences. What this means, then, is that anyone can be charged and prosecuted for an indictable offence at any point following a crime. On first blush, this may make sense, as it makes it harder to escape justice. With some thought, however, there are some problems that arise. One of the biggest is that someone can be...
Continue reading 32-year-old sexual assault case put to rest...

Tags: sexual assault

Anyone who has ever been stopped under suspicion of drunk driving in Brampton is likely aware that Canada's drunk driving laws are certainly not lenient. Even if charges were dropped or the individual was cleared of all wrong-doing, he or she probably wouldn't say that Canada needs to make its impaired-driving laws any stricter. That is certainly not certain lobby groups' perspective, however. One of the fronts that organizations like MADD Canada...
Continue reading Lobbyists push for stricter impaired-driving laws in Canada...

Tags: Criminal Defence

An Ontario man has recently been charged with two drug charges following his arrest by members of the RCMP. The RCMP had been called in after Canada Border Services Agency officers became suspicious. They had emptied the man's bag, but they felt it was still too heavy. After RCMP officers did some digging, they say they found 2.9 kilograms of what they believe to be heroin hidden beneath a false door. The...
Continue reading Ontario man arrested on drug trafficking charges...

Tags: drug trafficking

Most people in Toronto realize that the U.S. imprisons far more people than Canada does, and that high rate of imprisonment is due, in part, to mandatory minimum sentences. While these sentences are particularly prevalent in drug cases, there are many laws that strip judges of their discretion in sentencing. Unlike Canadian judges, many American judges must send defendants to prison for years solely because they meet a select number of...
Continue reading Why mandatory minimum sentences don’t make sense for Canada...

Tags: drug charges