Latest news with #QuebecCourtofAppeal
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Quebec to seek leave to appeal school board reform ruling to Supreme Court of Canada
MONTREAL – Quebec will ask the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal lower court rulings that found a provincial law abolishing school boards violates English-language minority education rights. A spokesperson for Quebec's justice minister confirmed this week the province will appeal a ruling from the Quebec Court of Appeal rendered in April. That ruling upheld a Quebec Superior Court decision from August 2023 which found the province's law abolishing school boards violates linguistic minority education rights, guaranteed in Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The law, known as Bill 40, was adopted in February 2020 and transformed French schools boards, which were governed by elected commissioners, into service centres run by a board of directors overseen by the province. The Court of Appeal said last month that the law 'radically alters the mission of these school service centres compared to school boards.' The law's measures affecting English school boards were stayed pending the outcome of the court challenge. As Quebec is now seeking to appeal again, spokesman Julien Garon says the government has no further comment. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 31, 2025.
Toronto Star
3 days ago
- Politics
- Toronto Star
Quebec to seek leave to appeal school board reform ruling to Supreme Court of Canada
MONTREAL - Quebec will ask the Supreme Court of Canada for permission to appeal lower court rulings that found a provincial law abolishing school boards violates English-language minority education rights. A spokesperson for Quebec's justice minister confirmed this week the province will appeal a ruling from the Quebec Court of Appeal rendered in April.
Montreal Gazette
6 days ago
- Montreal Gazette
Hanes: There are at least two major flaws with Montreal police's new street check policy
In decision after recent decision, the courts in Quebec have been crystal clear: The police practice of random interceptions runs the risk of racial profiling and must be halted. This month, Quebec Superior Court authorized a class-action lawsuit against police forces in the province, including Montreal's. It was filed by Papa Ndianko Gueye, who was pulled over in his white Audi in Longueuil in 2021, on behalf of 'any racialized person who has been the victim of racial profiling during a traffic stop without reason to suspect the commission of an offence.' That suit is in its preliminary stages, but last month, the Quebec Court of Appeal refused most of the provincial government's request to extend a six-month grace period for banning random spot checks after two earlier judgments found them discriminatory. For anyone keeping score, both the appeals court and Superior Court sided with Joseph-Christopher Luamba, a Black Montrealer, who sought a legal remedy after being stopped numerous times by various police forces without apparent cause. But after two strikes, Quebec is now hoping for a final kick at defending the tactic before the Supreme Court of Canada. Meanwhile, the City of Montreal is appealing a landmark ruling in which the court held it liable for thousands of cases of racial profiling by its police force. Mayor Valérie Plante's administration says it's ready to pay compensation to those targeted by the interventions. But it's challenging the ruling on technical grounds — including the finding that the city is responsible for the actions of its officers. As these judgments pile up, it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify interceptions that research irrefutably demonstrates zero in on Quebecers of diverse origins. It's also becoming increasingly expensive to pay reparations to victims of a practice that the courts have repeatedly tried to curtail. Yet the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal continues to cling to street checks as an essential law enforcement tool. This week, Montreal police Chief Fady Dagher unveiled a new and improved framework for random interceptions. Those pulled aside will be told why they are being stopped and that they are free to go, so they don't feel intimidated. Dagher said he believes the overwhelming majority of the public wants police to have discretion to stop and question people in suspicious circumstances, even if officers don't have the legal grounds to detain them. But he wants the new protocol to 'build trust, one intervention at a time.' Dagher, to his credit, has spent his career constructing bridges between cops and the community, pioneering a kinder, gentler approach to policing during his time in Longueuil without compromising the combatting of criminality. But trying to introduce a kinder, gentler approach to controversial street checks is doomed to fail. It's all well and good to want to clarify the obligations of officers and the rights of citizens. But there are at least two major flaws. Telling Montrealers they're free to go does little or nothing to prevent people from racialized backgrounds from being profiled in the first place. The SPVM's own data shows Black, Arab, Latino and Indigenous Montrealers are much more likely to be pulled over during these random checks. Those trends persisted or worsened even as the force tracked its interventions, trained its rank and file, and set more rigorous rules for the interceptions. Discretionary checks that begin innocuously enough also have an alarming tendency to escalate dramatically whether or not the person being intercepted dares question the officers or actually does try to leave — as they are supposedly, according to Dagher and the SPVM's framework, free to do. Lamine Sale Nkouendji was pepper-sprayed, dragged from his car and handcuffed in Outremont after two officers did a U-turn and followed him on the dubious suspicion he'd run a yellow light. Alexandre Lamontagne was thrown in jail overnight after two police officers outside the Old Montreal bar he'd just left stopped him and asked if he needed help because he apparently looked in their direction. These are more than isolated incidents. The court decision that held the city accountable for racial profiling by police estimated as many as 40,000 Montrealers could be entitled to compensation totalling $170 million. Now extrapolate to include all the police forces in the province. The writing should be on the wall for the SPVM and all other Quebec police agencies: No amount of tinkering can make this discredited and inherently problematic practice acceptable.
Winnipeg Free Press
24-04-2025
- Winnipeg Free Press
Supreme Court to review mandatory minimum sentence in prostitution case
OTTAWA – The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to examine the constitutionality of a mandatory minimum sentence for purchasing sexual services from someone under age 18. The decision comes in a case involving police publishing fictitious online escort service ads. An undercover police officer told a man at least four times that a female escort was a minor. The man was arrested after turning up to meet the supposed escort. He was convicted and sentenced to six months behind bars — the mandatory minimum sentence under the Criminal Code provision. During Elections Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election. The Quebec Court of Appeal dismissed the man's appeal of his conviction and affirmed the sentence, but declared the mandatory minimum to be unconstitutional and of no force or effect. This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2025.
The Market Online
24-04-2025
- Business
- The Market Online
TSX Futures Subdued with New Position on Tariffs
Futures of Canada's main stock index to a moment to breath today and asses the impact of the U.S. administration's shifting positions on tariffs. Market Numbers (Futures) TSX : Up (0.01%) 24,470.23TSXV: Up (0.73%) 635.43DOW: Up (1.75%) 40,044.00NASDAQ: Up (2.77%) 18,894.00 FTSE: Up (0.15%) 8,390.44 In the Headlines: A dozen U.S. states are challenging President Donald Trump's 'immense and ever-changing' global tariffs in court, alleging he illegally bypassed Congress by issuing duties under an emergency economic law. And The Quebec Court of Appeal is ordering Air Canada to pay passengers more than $10 million in damages in a class action lawsuit, weighing back 15 years, that alleged they were charging higher amounts than the ticket price advertised. Currencies Update: (Futures) The Canadian dollar is steady this morning. Up 0.12% to $0.7221 US, Down 0.41% to $0.6315 against the Euro, and Bitcoin pulls back 1.08% to $128,480.13. Commodities: (Futures) Natural Gas: Up (3.20%), 3.12WTI: Up (1.16%), 62.991Gold: Up (1.54%), 3,337.880 Copper: Up (1.02%) 5.90 To stay up-to-date on all of your market news head to Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying check out the rest of Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, please click here
