Latest news with #CanadianCharter
CTV News
28-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Google, Competition Bureau battle over possible constitutional challenge in case
The Google app on an iPad in Baltimore is seen on March 19, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP, Patrick Semansky TORONTO — Canada's competition watchdog says it will fight a constitutional challenge from Google in a case alleging the tech giant abused its dominant position in the online advertising market. New filings made in the case say the Competition Bureau will ask the Competition Tribunal to strike Google's proposed motion to proceed with a constitutional challenge because the commissioner feels it is premature and without merit. Constitutional challenges question acts that could violate someone's rights or freedoms and often end up being precedent-setting. Google's challenge takes aim at the monetary penalty the bureau is asking the tech company pay, if it is found to have abused its dominant position in online advertising. The company says the penalty could wind up costing it billions, dwarfing the profits it generates in Canada and amounting to a total that is disproportionate to the allegations Google is facing. It argues the penalties would also breach the company's entitlements under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, necessitating a constitutional challenge. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2025. Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press
CBC
27-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
A child in Quebec can have more than 2 parents, Superior Court rules
Children in Quebec can have more than two parents, according to a Superior Court decision that now gives the provincial government 12 months to amend the Civil Code to legally recognize this type of family structure. In a ruling issued on Thursday, Judge Andres C. Garin examined complaints from two separate cases. The plaintiffs in those cases were La Coalition des familles LGBT+ — a group that seeks to have all families recognized regardless of how they're formed — as well as three families who were unable to put the names of three parents on their children's birth certificates. The ruling examines the concept of filiation, which is the legal relationship between a child and parents that establishes rights and responsibilities, and whether the Civil Code of Quebec, as currently written, is equipped to recognize multi-parent families. The judge determined that the Civil Code's inability to legally recognize multi-parent families violates the complainants' Canadian Charter right to equality. "Having a maximum of two filiation links sends the message to multi-parent families and society in general that only families deemed "normal", with a maximum of two parents, represent family structures that are valid and worthy of legal recognition," the ruling reads. "This message reinforces and perpetuates the disadvantages experienced by those who are part of a non-traditional family." The judge also stressed that recognizing the rights of these families is in the best interest of the children as well as the parents. Other Canadian and Quebec charter rights violations were alleged by the complainants: The Canadian Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person. The Quebec charter right to life, personal security, inviolability and freedom. The Quebec Charter right to respect for one's private life. The judge, however, disagreed with those claims. At the time of publication, it was unclear whether Quebec planned to appeal this ruling. A spokesperson for Quebec Justice Minister Simon Jolin-Barrette said the government is reviewing the judge's decision. If the ruling stands and changes are eventually made to the Civil Code, Quebec would become the fifth province or territory in Canada to legally recognize families with at least three parents. Under B.C. law, a child conceived through assisted reproduction can have up to three parents as long as there is a written agreement, and the law specifies which individuals are allowed to be part of that agreement. In Ontario, up to four people can be recognized as the parents of a child, regardless of how the child is conceived. The same goes for Saskatchewan. In Yukon, declarations of birth need to include the names of the child, the mother, the father and "another parent" if that applies. The territory's Vital Statistics Act defines mother as "the woman from whom a child is delivered" and father as "a person who acknowledges being the biological father of a child." The Quebec Superior Court ruling does not specify how the government should amend the Civil Code.
CBC
14-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
B.C. police cite privacy rights as investigators probe contents of chat groups
The details of a private chat group among current and former members of the police department in Nelson, B.C., haven't been made public. But the fate of an investigation by the province's Police Complaint Commissioner into the WhatsApp chats could have implications for police across the country, as the Nelson officers mount a court challenge to the constitutionality of the seizure of their personal phones. The British Columbia police oversight body said in its 2022 investigation order that the conversations included "work-related communications, as well as pornographic images, internet memes, and other inappropriate material and comments." Current officers Adam Sutherland, Nathaniel Holt and Sarah Hannah, and former Nelson officers Jason Antsey and Robert Armstrong all say in affidavits they "considered that the WhatsApp group was private and would remain private." Their B.C. Supreme Court petition filed in August 2024 argues that the Police Act provision allowing for the search of officers' personal phones and seizure of private communications data "runs afoul" of the Canadian Charter's guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure. "However laudable, the public interest in the effective administration of police discipline does not merit such a significant invasion of privacy," the petition says. Nelson police Chief Donovan Fisher said in a statement the department "took prompt and appropriate action in this matter and no further comment is appropriate while the resulting process is ongoing." Other police chats under scrutiny Deputy police complaint commissioner Andrea Spindler said in an interview that the ongoing disciplinary process hasn't been delayed by the court case. She said unless the investigation goes to a public hearing, she couldn't say whether the chat's contents would be made public. The Nelson group are among a string of officers in three police forces in B.C. who have come under disciplinary scrutiny because of their private group chats. Three Coquitlam RCMP officers face possible dismissal at a code of conduct hearing this month over what a fellow officer called "atrocious" and racist behaviour on encrypted messaging apps WhatsApp and later Signal. Constables Ian Solven, Mersad Mesbah and Philip Dick also tried to exclude personal phone evidence from the case, but an RCMP conduct board rejected this, saying the public "puts its trust in police officers and if their wrongdoing goes unaddressed, confidence in the profession will be diminished." Comments about sexual assault victim A third case in B.C. meanwhile resulted in one former Vancouver Police Department officer being found to have committed discreditable conduct for sharing a screenshot in a private group chat that gave a disparaging account of court testimony by a female officer who was sexually assaulted. A disciplinary decision in October 2024 found former Sgt. Narinder Dosanjh shared a screenshot of the "disrespectful" commentary, written by someone else, about the court testimony by the woman whose attacker was fellow Vancouver police officer Jagraj Roger Berar. Berar was convicted in 2021 and sentenced to a year in jail for sexually assaulting his colleague. The "play-by-play" commentary in a chat group on the Signal messaging app had inaccurately predicted that there was "no way" Berar would be convicted, calling the victim a "bad drunk," who had been seen "cuddling, holding hands" with her attacker. Documents obtained by The Canadian Press show that during the investigation of a complaint to the commissioner made by the victim, Vancouver officers admitted there were several chat groups using WhatsApp and Signal among members of the department. Officers told the investigator the groups were used to arrange social gatherings, but also for police business, including overtime allocations and discussions of police files. A Freedom of Information Act request to the Vancouver Police Department produced no records about the chats. "The Signal messaging service is not an app that is authorized for use on VPD issued smartphones," Darrin Hurwitz with the department's Information and Privacy Unit said in an email. Hurwitz said even if the department had the records, they do "not relate to the business of the VPD — it is therefore excluded from disclosure."
