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Workshop on Exclusion of Evidence Cases
September 30, 2009 @ 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Grant, Harrison, Shepherd & Suberu:
The Supreme Court Decisions of the Summer of 2009
On July 17, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its long awaited decisions in R. v. Grant, R. v. Harrison, R. v. Shepherd and R. v. Suberu clarifying the law in respect of the exclusion of evidence under s.24(2) of the Charter. Their decisions have been described as an appropriate balancing between liberty interests and the administration of justice, a clear message to police of the constitutional limits placed on their powers, and an imaginative redrafting of the Stillman test, but with an impact that might be hard to predict. Join our distinguished panel who will summarize, debate and discuss the ramifications of the decisions from many perspectives.
Professor Hamish Stewart is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Toronto, where he has taught criminal law, evidence, and several other subjects since 1993. Before attending law school, he studied economics, receiving his B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1983 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1989, and he taught for a year in the economics department at Williams College in Massachusetts. He received his LL.B. degree from the University of Toronto in 1992, clerked at the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992-93, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1998. From 1998 to 2007, he was an Associate Editor of the Canadian Criminal Cases and the Dominion Law Reports. Professor Stewart is the principal author of Sexual Offences in Canadian Law (Canada Law Book, 2004), the General Editor of Evidence: A Canadian Casebook, 2d ed. (Emond Montgomery, 2006), and the author of more than 40 scholarly papers in criminal law, evidence, legal theory, and economics.
Professor Martha Shaffer joined the Faculty of Law in 1990, and is now an associate professor. She holds law degrees from Harvard and Toronto, as well as an undergraduate degree from Harvard. She served as Law Clerk to the Supreme Court of Canada for Chief Justice Brian Dickson, before becoming the Boulton Junior Fellow at the Faculty of Law, McGill University. Professor Shaffer’s principal research and teaching interests concentrate on criminal law, family law and equality issues.
Jonathan Dawe was counsel for the Appellant in R. v. Grant and the Civil Liberties Association in R. v. Harrison. B.Sc.(Hons.), McGill University (1987); LL.B., University of Toronto (1994); LL.M., Yale Law School (1996). Called to the Ontario Bar, 1997, Partner with Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP (Toronto). Clerked for the Rt. Hon. Antonio Lamer, C.J.C. (1994-95). Associate Commission Counsel to the Driskell Inquiry (Manitoba; 2006-07). Practices in the area of criminal and constitutional law, with a special emphasis on criminal appeals. Teaches Criminal Procedure (1999-2004; 2010-) and Advanced Criminal Procedure and Charter Issues (2009-) at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.
Rick Visca was counsel for the Respondent in R. v. Harrison. He graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in Political Science . Studied law at the University of Victoria, and received LLB in 1992. Articles at Holden Day Wilson. Began as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice in 1994. Prosecuted drug, tax, misleading advertising, and other miscellaneous federal legislation offences. Maintains a trial and appellate practice with the now Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
Event date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Bennett Lecture Hall, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto