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Canadian Cases in Public International Law in 2023

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2024

Gib van Ert ,
Dahlia Shuhaibar  and
Liam Andrews
Gib van Ert*
Affiliation:
Counsel, Olthuis van Ert, Ottawa and Vancouver, Canada
Dahlia Shuhaibar
Affiliation:
Counsel, Olthuis van Ert, Ottawa and Vancouver, Canada
Liam Andrews
Affiliation:
Student, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
*
Corresponding author: Gib van Ert; Email: gvanert@ovcounsel.com
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Extract

Genocide Convention — justiciability of foreign state acts — Uyghurs

Information

Type
Cases/Jurisprudence
Information
Canadian Yearbook of International Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international , Volume 61 , November 2024 , pp. 457 - 476
Copyright
© The Canadian Yearbook of International Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international 2024

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Footnotes

Each summary is followed by the initials of its author.

References

1 Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, 9 December 1948, [1949] Can TS no 27 (entered into force 12 January 1951).

2 Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project v Canada (Attorney General), 2023 FC 126 at para 4 [Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project].

3 Ibid at paras 13, 69–70.

4 Ibid at paras 77–78.

5 Ibid at para 52.

6 Ibid at paras 51–52.

7 Ibid at para 53.

8 Ibid at para 54.

9 Ibid at para 63.

10 Ibid.

11 Ibid at para 66.

12 Ibid at para 67.

13 La Rose v Canada, 2020 FC 1008 at para 29.

14 Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses (Judicial Committee) v Wall, 2018 SCC 26 at para 34.

15 Uyghur Rights Advocacy Project, supra note 2 at para 61.

16 Ibid at para 67.

17 Operation Dismantle v The Queen, [1985] 1 SCR 441 at 459. In fairness to Diner J, his use of the phrase is in connection with an excerpt from Hupacasath First Nation v Canada (Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada), 2015 FCA 4 at para 62, where the Federal Court of Appeal describes justiciability in relation to a “political questions objection.”

18 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part 1 of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

19 R v Hape, 2007 SCC 26 [Hape]. Noted in the (2007) 45 Can YB Intl L 527 at 544; see also , John H Currie, , “Khadr’s Twist on Hape: Tortured Determinations of the Extraterritorial Reach of the Canadian Charter” (2008) 46 Can YB Intl L 307 Google Scholar; West, Leah, “‘Within or Outside Canada’: The Charter’s Application to the Extraterritorial Activities of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service” (2022) 73:2 UTLJ 1 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Webb, Maureen, “The Constitutional Question of Our Time: Extraterritorial Application of the Charter and the Afghan Detainees Case” (2011) 28 Natl J Const L 236 Google Scholar; , Robert Currie, & , Joseph Rikhof, , International and Transnational Criminal Law, 3rd ed (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2020) at 634 Google Scholar; , Kent Roach, , “ R v Hape Creates Charter-Free Zones for Canadian Officials Abroad” (2007) 53:1 Crim LQ 1.Google Scholar

20 RSC 1985, c N‑5.

21 RSC 1985, c C‑46.

22 Dahlia Shuhaibar and I were counsel for one such intervener, the BC Civil Liberties Association.

23 R v McGregor, 2023 SCC 4 at para 4 [McGregor].

24 Hape, supra note 19 at para 84.

25 McGregor, supra note 23 at paras 25–44.

26 Ibid at para 3.

27 Ibid at para 47.

28 Ibid at para 66.

29 Boloh 1(A) v Canada, 2023 FC 98.

30 Canada v Boloh 1(a), 2023 FCA 120 at para 12 [Boloh 1(a)].

31 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 16 December 1966, 999 UNTS 171, [1976] Can TS no 47 (entered into force 23 March 1976) [ICCPR].

32 ECtHR, Case of HF and Others v France, Applications nos 24384/19 and 44234/20 (14 September 2022).

33 Boloh 1(a), supra note 30 at para 48.

34 Ibid at paras 49–50. Remarkably, neither the Federal Court of Appeal decision nor the decision of the court below indicate which UN special rapporteur wrote this letter.

35 Boloh 1(a), supra note 30 at para 66.

36 Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the United States of America for Cooperation in the Examination of Refugee Status Claims from Nationals of Third Countries, 5 December 2004, [2004] Can TS No 2 (entered into force 29 December 2004).

37 Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, SC 2001, c 27 [IRPA].

38 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, 28 July 1951, 189 UNTS 150, [1969] Can TS no 6 (entered into force 22 April 1954) [Refugee Convention].

39 Canadian Council for Refugees v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 SCC 17 at para 95 [Canadian Council for Refugees].

40 Ibid at para 139.

41 Ibid at para 142.

42 Ibid at para 143.

43 Ibid.

44 United Nations Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, UN Doc A/RES/70/175 (17 December 2015).

45 Canadian Council for Refugees, supra note 39 at para 145.

46 Ibid at para 148.

47 Ibid at paras 148, 151.

48 Reference Re Bill 30, An Act to Amend the Education Act (Ont), [1987] 1 SCR 1148; Adler v Ontario, [1996] 3 SCR 609.

49 Constitution Act, 1867 (UK), 30 & 31 Vict, c 3.

50 ICCPR, supra note 31.

51 Waldman v Canada, (1999) Comm 694/1996, UN Doc A/55/40, vol II (3 November 1999).

52 Canada (Attorney General) v Bedford, 2013 SCC 72.

53 Carter v Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5.

54 Grassroots v His Majesty the King, 2023 ONSC 3722 at para 17 [Grassroots].

55 Ibid at para 18.

56 Ibid at para 180 [emphasis in original].

57 Ibid at para 189; see also paras 190–95 [emphasis in original].

58 Ibid at para 197.

59 International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, 16 December 1966, 993 UNTS 3, [1976] Can TS no 46 (entered into force 3 January 1976) [ICESCR].

60 Ibid.

61 IRPA, supra note 37, s 34(1)I.

62 Refugee Convention, supra note 38.

63 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, 4 October 1967, 606 UNTS 267 (entered into force 4 October 1967).

64 I was counsel for Amnesty International Canadian Section (English Speaking) in this appeal.

65 Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov, 2019 SCC 65 at para 114 [Vavilov].

66 Section 3(2)(b) of the IRPA, supra note 40, states that “[t]he objectives of this Act with respect to refugees are … to fulfil Canada’s international legal obligations with respect to refugees and affirm Canada’s commitment to international efforts to provide assistance to those in need of resettlement,” and section 3(3)(f) instructs that “[t]his Act is to be construed and applied in a manner that … complies with international human rights instruments to which Canada is signatory.”

67 Côté J agreed with the majority and offered concurring reasons on an administrative law question not relevant for the purposes of this Yearbook.

68 Mason v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 SCC 21 at paras 104–17 [Mason].

69 Ibid at paras 72, 105. See also Vavilov, supra note 65 at para 114.

70 Ibid at para 104.

71 Ibid.

72 Ibid at para 106.

73 Ibid at para 115.

74 Ibid at paras 116–17.

75 Vavilov, supra note 65 at para 114.

76 B010 v Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration), 2015 SCC 58 at para 47.

77 Klos v Canada (Attorney General), 2023 FCA 205 at para 8.

78 MacKenzie v Ottawa Community Housing Corporation, 2023 ONCA 43 at paras 65–67 [MacKenzie]; ICESCR, supra note 59.

79 MacKenzie, supra note 78 at para 2.

80 Foreign Missions and International Organizations Act, SC 1991, c 41.

81 Zarei v Iran (Islamic Republic of), 2023 ONCA 713 at para 5 [Zarei].

82 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 18 April 1961, 500 UNTS 95 (entered into force 24 April 1964), art 1; Zarei, supra note 81 at para 7.

83 Zarei, supra note 81 at para 7.

84 Ibid at para 9.

85 Ibid at para 11.

86 Ibid at paras 17–20.

87 Ibid at para 21.

88 Ibid at para 24.

89 Tracy v Iran (Information and Security), 2016 ONSC 3759 [Tracy].

90 Construction Excedra v Saudi Arabia, 2017 ONSC 105 [Construction Excedra].

91 Tracy, supra note 89 at paras 150, 153.

92 Construction Excedra, supra note 90 at paras 43–44, 52.

93 Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, 30 October 2016, online: <trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2014/september/tradoc_152806.pdf> (provisionally applied 21 September 2017) [CETA]. CETA is described on the federal government’s treaty website as not yet in force but provisionally applied, online: <www.treaty-accord.gc.ca/details.aspx?lang=eng&id=105208&t=638593102236473680>.

94 Thales DIS Canada Inc. v Ontario (Transportation), 2023 ONCA 866 at para 115.

95 CETA, supra note 93.

96 Thales DIS Canada, supra note 94 at para 132.

97 Ibid at para 134.

98 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, GA Res 61/295, UNGAOR, 61st Sess, Supp No 49, UN Doc A/61/49 (13 September 2007).

99 Colville Lake Renewable Resources Council v Northwest Territories, 2023 NWTSC 22.

100 Ibid at para 93.

101 Mineral Tenure Act, RSBC 1996, c 292; Gitxaala v British Columbia (Chief Gold Commissioner), 2023 BCSC 1680 [Gitxaala].

102 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, SBC 2019, c 44.

103 Gitxaala, supra note 101 at paras 444–70.

104 Interpretation Act, RSBC 1996, c 238, s 8.1(3).

105 Gitxaala, supra note 101 at para 409; see also paras 410–18.

106 Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (UK), 1982, c 11.

107 Excise Act, SC 2002, c 22.

108 R v Van der Peet, [1996] 2 SCR 507.

109 R v Montour and White, 2023 QCCS 4154 at paras 1171–1204.

110 The Nuchatlaht v British Columbia, 2023 BCSC 804 at para 75.

111 Ibid at paras 79–88.

112 Ibid at para 95.

113 Ibid at paras 96–106.