Monday 19 October 2020

N.L.'s COVID-19 travel ban decision to be appealed, Canadian Civil Liberties Association says

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Replying to   @alllibertynews and 49 others 
Content disabled not once but twice 
Methinks Mikey Bryant and his buddy Cara Zwibel would have been wise to inform their lawyer Rosellen Sullivan that I would be touching base with him N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


N.L.'s COVID-19 travel ban decision to be appealed, Canadian Civil Liberties Association says

The organization doesn't agree with a ruling that provinces or territories have a right to exclude Canadians

 

CBC News · Posted: Oct 19, 2020 1:21 PM NT


The Canadian Civil Liberties Association says it is filing an appeal of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador's decision to uphold the province's COVID-19 travel ban. (Gary Locke/CBC)

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association is appealing a decision by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador to uphold the province's controversial travel ban, which was introduced this spring to restrict the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. 

Michael Bryant, executive director of the CCLA, said the organization decided to file the appeal with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador by Monday's deadline because it doesn't agree with a ruling that provinces or territories have the right to exclude a Canadian from entry.

Bryant said Canadians have a constitutional right to move freely within their country, and it's not up to a province or territory to exclude a Canadian citizen.

This summer, Justice Donald Burrage ruled the province's COVID-19 travel ban does, in fact, violate Section 6 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that allows Canadians to move freely through the country, but he said the ban is protected by Section 1, which allows reasonable exemptions to the charter.

"We are appealing because we cannot agree that provinces and territories have the power to erect borders to exclude Canadians, absent evidence that other measures like quarantines aren't working," said Bryant.

"It's during a pandemic that we need constitutional rights to be upheld by the courts because governments are driven so often by fear."

Cara Zwibel, a director at CCLA, said there was not enough evidence from the provincial government to deny entry to some people seeking to travel to the province.

"In Atlantic Canada and elsewhere in the country we have become increasingly concerned that provincial governments are putting up barriers to movement that are not reasonable or justified," she said.

There was fear, but there wasn't evidence.
- Cara Zwibel

According to Zwibel, the evidence put forward by the province stated there were "concerns" and "rumours" that travellers were not self-isolating upon arrival.

"The issue really comes down to the Section 1 justification under the charter, the question of whether the government had the evidence that it needed to decide to put in place restrictions when the rule it had before those restrictions were in place was that people had to self isolate," she said. "There's really no evidence that anything more was needed."

"There was fear, but there wasn't evidence."

During hearings this summer, Newfoundland and Labrador Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Janice Fitzgerald said she had not asked for precise models before ordering limits on travel into the province because the group doing that work was too new at the time.

Larger questions around travel rights

Lawyers for the CCLA and Halifax resident Kim Taylor filed the court challenge in May, after Taylor was denied a travel exemption to attend her mother's funeral in Newfoundland and Labrador. 

"In our view, the government's evidence didn't explain why the decision was made to completely prohibit travel for some when an isolation requirement would likely have been enough to achieve the province's public health objectives," said Zwibel on Monday.

"And at a more general level, this case is important because it asks whether governments are adequately protecting fundamental rights notwithstanding the significant challenges caused by the pandemic."

While travel restrictions have changed since the pandemic began, there is no current timeline for further alterations. Residents of Atlantic Canada are allowed to travel within the Atlantic bubble without being required to self-isolate.


Since the Atlantic travel bubble opened on July 3, mask wearing is mandatory at the St. John's International Airport. Residents of Atlantic Canada are allowed to travel within the bubble without being required to self-isolate. (Gary Locke/CBC)

The day before Taylor applied to come to St. John's, Fitzgerald issued a special order prohibiting anyone who lived outside the province from entering without an exemption issued by public health officials. 

Taylor's initial application was denied, she then appealed the decision and was granted entry to the province eight days after her initial application.

She launched legal action against the province, and the CCLA joined her case as a third party.

While there has been no date set for when the appeal will be heard, Zwibel said the timing of the case is "a little bit irrelevant," since it is of wider legal interest.

"This has become about more than the particular order — this is really about what kind of evidence courts need and what kind of evidence governments need to make restrictions on fundamental rights that are protected by the constitution," she said.

"Even if these restrictions are not in place by the time that this appeal is heard, this would be an important issue for the court to provide an opinion on."

Without a vaccine, it is likely COVID-19 will be around for some time — and so, too, would restrictions, in some form or another, Zwibel said.

"The question of whether provincial governments can put up borders and restrictions to the movement of Canadians" is a new and novel legal issue, she said. 

St. John's lawyer Rosellen Sullivan will be representing the civil liberties group as the case is heard in the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal.

Newfoundland and Labrador Health Minister John Haggie said he is not surprised the CCLA is filing an appeal of the ruling, but the restrictions will stay in place until either a different court ruling is handed down or the province receives different advice from public health officials.

Health Minister John Haggie speaks to reporters outside the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly Monday. (CBC)

"I think there's a drive from public health to keep some kind of restrictions in place, and at the moment my advice from public health is that we're where we need to be," Haggie said.

"If you look at the evidence from the experts … that was where we felt we needed to go, and I think our results since then have justified the decision, quite frankly."

Haggie said he's been watching the rising number of cases in other parts of Canada, pointing to Ontario, Quebec, B.C. and Alberta in particular.

The travel restrictions are a "key piece" of the province's multi-pronged containment plans, Haggie said, and seem to be doing what they're meant to do —  mainly, keeping the number of cases of COVID-19 low.

"For the moment it certainly makes public health jobs a little bit easier. They've got a lot on their plate at the moment and recrafting a travel order is just additional workload they quite frankly don't need at the moment," he said.

"If we are told that that is no longer constitutional and has to be lifted, we will look at what our options are at that stage, but I think it would be premature to speculate on what those might be."

As of Aug. 31, people who live outside the Atlantic region but who own a home in N.L. were allowed to start entering the province, but had to apply for a travel exemption before arrival.

The province's COVID-19 information portal has a specific section on travel restrictions and requirements for rotational workers, as well.

As of Monday, there are 11 active cases of COVID-19 in Newfoundland and Labrador, all of them travel-related. There have been a total of 287 cases in the province, with 272 recoveries and four deaths.

Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador






484 Comments 
Commenting is now closed for this story.
 
 
 
David Amos
Third time was a charm at closing time
Methinks Mikey Bryant and his buddy Cara Zwibel would have been wise to inform their lawyer Rosellen Sullivan that I would be touching base with him N'esy Pas?
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @David Amos: Methinks in the spirit of full disclosure I called Madame Sullivan's office and talked to her assistant at 11 AM my time I liked that lady a lot after all most Marimers love our Newfies N'esy Pas? 
 


Rosellen Sullivan

Called to the bar: 1999 (NL)
300-233 Duckworth St.
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador A1C 1G8
Phone: 709-739-4141
Fax: 709-739-4145
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pauley Norman
First line says it all to 'exclude Canadians' welcome to the Republic of Newfoundland.
 
 
Malcolm Freake
Reply to @Pauley Norman: We don't want you anti-maskers/anti-vaxxers/ deniers here.
 
 
Don Maurice
Reply to @Malcolm Freake: You already have enough of your own?
 
 
Denny O'Brien
Reply to @Pauley Norman: you have no right to make other sick.. if tlwe can keep beer from coming across the border then we can keep a deadly virus
 
 
Enzo WC
Reply to @Denny O'Brien:
Newsflash.
Healthy people don't make others sick.
The Charter is clear and the current practise has overreached.
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to Enzo WC: "The Charter is clear"

Yes, but perhaps not in the way you think. The Charter makes it clear that there can be reasonable limits imposed on our rights, including the s.6 mobility rights. This litigation is intended to clarify what those limits are.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: I hope you know that I concur
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Enzo WC: i also agree with you 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David Amos
Content disabled
Methinks Mikey Bryant and his buddy Cara Zwibel would have been wise to inform their lawyer Rosellen Sullivan that I would be touching base with him N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Steve Hyde
Just throwing this out there just in case any CCLA lackeys are watching:

There is a situation in Southwestern NS where a certain group of fishers are being targeted by another group of fishers and having their rights and freedoms trampled on, perhaps the CCLA could step in there instead of wasting everyone's time trying to burst the Atlantic bubble?
 
 
Steve Maclean
Reply to @Steve Hyde: but who’s tights are being trampled....that’s the question

 
Steve Hyde
Reply to @Steve Maclean : if you have to ask, then you better go get yourself educated on the subject
 
 
Steve Maclean
Reply to @Steve Hyde: both sides have a point.
 
 
Jonas Prince 
Reply to @Steve Maclean :
"Good people on both sides"...Where have I heard that before?
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to Steve Hyde: What could the CCLA do that hasn't already been done? The treaty rights in question have already been affirmed by the SCC.
 
 
Steve Hyde
Reply to @Don Wienauer: They can sue the Government of Canada, on behalf or with the Native fishers, for the Inaction on the Opinion the SCC already released 21 years ago, that's what they can do, thats if they truly care about rights and freedoms that is.

Trying to baby step their way to bursting the Atlantic bubble just proves one thing, they could care less about health and safety, and more about ensuring the virus spread around completely.
 
 
Steve Maclean
Reply to @Don Wienauer: one set of rules for everyone ....that fixed it
 
 
Alfred PIne
Reply to @Steve Maclean : The one set of rules were made by Supreme Court over 20 years ago in favour of the Mi'kmaq having a fishery within their treaty rights.
 
 
Carl Bainbridge
Reply to @Alfred PIne: actually, that is not entirely true. The set of rules for the natives was set in a treaty from the 1750's (or 1780's), the court case 21 years ago only confirmed that once again Canada was denying the natives treaty rights that had been granted centuries ago.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: True
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Carl Bainbridge: So you say
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David Guitard
Lawyers want to put us at risk to make some money. Greed.
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to David Guitard: I believe they're doing this one for free.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: I don't think so
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David Amos
Content disabled
Methinks Mikey Bryant and his buddy Cara Zwibel would have been wise to inform their lawyer Rosellen Sullivan that I would be touching base with him N'esy Pas?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Jack Dowhy:
I know Newfoundlanders and it seems they are endowed with a lot more common sense than the rest of this country seems to have.
 
 
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Jack Dowhy: Dream on
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
David Amos
Surprise Surprise surprise
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JOhn D Bond
To what point is this appeal going forward. Mobility, so they are fighting that the rights of the individual supersede those to society at large. What a load of .....
Wonder what odds the bookies in Vegas would give on that. Might be better than easy money.
 
 
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @JOhn D Bond: I know that you won't read this just as you no doubt know that I quite simply don't care whether you do or not. Perhaps some bookies would agree with me in the opinion that if an individual has no rights then the odds are we live in an UNJUST Society. Whether you believe me or not I already know for a fact that we do and have proved many times in court. Just because Plato claimed that the possibly fictional Socrates saw things differently than I does not make it so. As the old bard once wrote "There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy"

FYI I have always maintained that the philosopher was not motivated to drink the hemlock by the love of of his democratic society. I read somewhere long ago when I took an interest in such things that if Socrates opted to get out of Dodge to escape the death sentence he would have to take his well known to be nasty wedded partner to Troy with him. Hence I figured it was just a way he could make himself appear to be a Greek hero who met an honourable and tragic end but to me he was just attempting to justify finally getting clear of a quarrelsome wife once and for all Other religions agree with my reasoning Proverbs 25:24

Methinks many bookies would agree that many men have taken the coward's way out of this wonderful old world i truly beleive the word is more powerful than the sword and that individual rights are well worth fighting for in either fashion. Sometimes the little guy wins just like the dude whose name was given to me N'esy Pas?
 
 
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @David Amos: BINGO 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dallas Mcquarrie
I can only hope the Civil Liberties Association loses its appeal in a unanimous decision. The notion that my right to flit about the country trumps efforts to protect public health and safety in the midst of a pandemic is insane! What madness is it that proclaims that my right to risk the lives of thousands of people I've never met is more important than protecting the lives of those people?. This is the same principle, writ large, as bans on smoking in public places. Is the Civil Liberties Association going to go to court on behalf of a smoker's 'right' to expose people in public places to the risk of lung cancer?
 
 
David Amos
Content disabled
Reply to @Dallas Mcquarrie: Cry me a river
 
 
Tyler Durden 
Reply to @Dallas Mcquarrie: If you think people who are disagreeing with this are doing so because it prevents them from having a "flit about the country" it just demonstrates how completely out of touch you are with this issue.  
 
 
Don Wienauer 
Reply to Dallas Mcquarrie: Slight problem with your analogy: "a smoker's 'right' to expose people in public places to the risk of lung cancer" doesn't appear anywhere in the Charter.
 
 
David Amos  
Rely to @Tyler Durden: Methinks you don't know this dude like I do N'esy Pas?
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: Its not his only problem
 
 
Harvey York
Reply to @David Amos: so how do you k how him Dave? Please enlighten us
 
 
Harvey York
Reply to @David Amos: what are his other problems Dave? Please enlighten us 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Steve Thomas
This needs to be heard in the Supreme Court of Canada, where the issue can be laid to rest.
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to Steve Thomas: And it may well end up there. We'll see.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: Heres hoping
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
SarahRose Werner
Section 6 ensures the right "to move to and take up residence in any province; and
to pursue the gaining of a livelihood in any province." It does not ensure the right to go on vacation in any province or visit family members in any province.
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to SarahRose Werner: Justice Burrage in this very case disagreed with you. He found that the Charter's mobility rights are NOT limited to traveling for work or to set up a new residence: Referring to s.6 of the Charter, he said that "...the right to remain in Canada as embodied in this provision includes the right of Canadian citizens to travel in Canada for lawful purposes across provincial and territorial boundaries.

You can read the decision here:

https://www.canlii.org/en/nl/nlsc/doc/2020/2020nlsc125/2020nlsc125.html

To save time, I'd suggest starting at about paragraph 339.

Of course, the Charter says there can be limits on that mobility right in certain circumstances, but the court affirmed that it's not restricted to working or setting up residence.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: Well put and thanks for the tip
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: FYI I am concerned that the Supreme Court of Canada will use the same reasoning they used with beer crossing border into New Brunswick. 

''The ruling was authored by “The Court” − a signature used in major cases to lend a ruling more weight.

The court said the provinces cannot set out to impose trade barriers on the flow of goods. But as long as the provinces are regulating goods for a different purpose − as in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, which control the flow of liquor from elsewhere for public-health reasons − the side-effects on trade must be allowed."  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Chris Van Ihinger
hasn't the CCLA got better things to do than mess around with Newfoundland/Labrador's programme to mitigate the spread of Covid in their province?

We generally support CCLA's efforts to ensure our legislative, judicial and enforcement bodies adhere to and support our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but in this particular case we fear CCLA is losing touch, under the circumstances.

We're all in this together.
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to Chris Van Ihinger: If what you say is true, then the CCLA will lose. So what's the problem?
 
 
Tyler Durden
Reply to @Chris Van Ihinger: "We're all in this together."

What a crock. You don't give a rats behind about the difficulties this ban creates for anyone else as long as you are safe and sound. Me and you buddy, we're in nothing together. You are going to find that out the next time Newfoundland is looking for a financial bailout from the rest of Canada.
 
 
Tyler Durden
Reply to @Chris Van Ihinger: Newfoundlands travel ban says you are happy to be in this alone. It won't be forgotten.
 
 
Chris Van Ihinger
Reply to @Don Wienauer: If the CCLA wins this challenge, the courts' finding will make it more difficult for our gummermints to respond, promptly, to emergencies such as the current pandemic.
If they lose, their fine reputation for challenging situations that offend our Charter of Rights and Freedom will be forever marred. And who' is going to pay for this waste of our courts' time?
Much more better if the CCLA focus their powers on the question of whether people refusing to wear masks during major epidemics such as we are currently struggling against are, in fact, violating the rest of our rights to life, freedom and good health?
 
 
mellor byfield
Reply to @Chris Van Ihinger: How do you know they aren't already doing that? The CCLA has the ability to work on many cases at a time. Maybe it's hard for Newfoundlanders to comprehend multi-tasking.
 
 
Don Wienauer
Reply to Chris Van Ihinger: Wow. There's so much wrong with everything you said that I'm not even going to try to respond.
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: I concur why waste your precious time arguing with sheople with a closed mind?
 
 
David Amos
Reply to @Don Wienauer: For Instance notice Ed's public address to the CCLA appears to have gone 'Poof' ??? 
 
 
 
 

I must stand corrected ED's words still exist but many of mine still don't

 
 
 
 
Edward Bach 
Dear CCLA,
Thank you for standing up for our constitutional rights.

But governments are allowed to take extraordinary measures in extraordinary circumstances. We are in the midst of an extraordinary public health emergency and emergency measures are called for.

This time, you are wrong. Please shut up and sit down.
Your friend,
ED
 
 
Don Wienauer 
Reply to Edward Bach: "Shut up and sit down"? Really?

Wouldn't it be more useful for all of us for the courts to make clear for future reference just what the limits are?
 
 
Tyler Durden 
Reply to @Edward Bach: Dear Ed. You need to read The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms again if you are going to pretend to be Canadian. The word "extraordinary" does not appear in it anywhere.

The word the charter uses is "reasonable" when it talks about limitations, something the entire province brushed right over.

Your friend,
Grade 8 Social Studies
 
 
David Amos  
Reply to @Tyler Durden: Well put
 
 
David Amos  
Reply to @Don Wienauer: I concur
 
 
 
 
 
 

Supreme Court upholds interprovincial trade law in cross-border alcohol case

Canada has no constitutional guarantee of free trade between provinces, the Supreme Court has ruled in upholding a fine against a New Brunswicker who brought alcoholic beverages from Quebec into his home province.

Gérard Comeau was fined $292 after the RCMP caught him six years ago with 14 cases of beer and three bottles of spirits from Quebec. (Mounties on the Quebec side followed him back to the Restigouche River and radioed ahead to their colleagues on the other side as he crossed a bridge.) The province has a limit of 12 pints of beer or one bottle of liquor purchased outside its borders.

When he successfully fought the fine in New Brunswick Provincial Court, the case became about much more than beer. It had potential consequences for the flow of all manner of goods, from eggs to chicken and soon, to marijuana.

Related: Cross-border alcohol ruling could hit Alberta in pipeline dispute

Opinion: A sigh of regret, and of relief, for the Supreme Court’s cross-border alcohol ruling

Globe editorial: A nation weeps in its expensive beer

But the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously on Thursday that New Brunswick was within its rights to fine Mr. Comeau. The case turned on Section 121 of the 1867 Constitution, which says goods must be “admitted free” as they move from one province to another. The court said the term, although ambiguous, should be interpreted in light of the principle of federalism, which allows regional diversity and local concerns to be reflected within a single nation.

“The federalism principle supports the view that provinces within a federal state should be allowed leeway to manage the passage of goods while legislating to address particular conditions and priorities within their borders.”

The ruling was authored by “The Court” − a signature used in major cases to lend a ruling more weight.

The court said the provinces cannot set out to impose trade barriers on the flow of goods. But as long as the provinces are regulating goods for a different purpose − as in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories, which control the flow of liquor from elsewhere for public-health reasons − the side-effects on trade must be allowed.

Cost of 12 bottle pack of Molson Canadian across Canada

as of April 19, 2018
  

B.C.
2149

Alta.24.45
Sask.30.24
Man.22.99
Ont.22.95
Que.21.88
N.B.25.49
PEI25.99
N.S.25.99
Nfld.26.52
Yukon26.25

New Brunswick said its purpose is to manage the supply of liquor in the province, not to set up trade barriers.

The ruling was quickly seized on in the dispute between Alberta and British Columbia over a pipeline expansion, with B.C. saying a proposed Alberta law that would restrict the flow of oil out of the province would be struck down by the Supreme Court as a barrier to the flow of goods.

In Ottawa, the Conservative Party called on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to do more to reduce interprovincial trade barriers, citing a Senate study that put their cost at more than $50-billion a year. The Prime Minister said in London that the government will look at the decision, but that it has made progress with an internal free-trade agreement last year.

Ian Blue, a lawyer representing Mr. Comeau, said the judges shrank from doing their constitutional duty. “I thought the Supreme Court would have a little more courage than they showed,” he said in an interview. “We consider it a political decision to favour the status quo.” By that, he meant that the court “bought into the broader provincial rights paradigm that we live in nowadays.”

Price index of 12 bottle pack of Molson Canadian across Canada

Index Quebec = 100, as of April 19, 2018
RegionIndex
B.C.98.22
Que.100.00
Ont.104.89
Man.105.07
Alta.111.75
N.B.116.50
PEI118.78
N.S.118.78
Yukon119.97
Nfld.121.21
Sask.138.21

Others cheered. Rob Cunningham, senior policy analyst with the Canadian Cancer Society, which intervened in the case, said a decision in favour of Mr. Comeau could have affected public health by allowing people to get cigarettes from provinces such as Quebec that have lower tobacco taxes. “Had the decision gone the other way, it would have opened the floodgates for interprovincial cigarette smuggling,” he said.

Provincial regulations on the sales of cannabis, once possession is legalized this summer, would be easy to evade if the provinces could not set the rules within their borders, he said. “It would have been a race to the bottom for health, safety and environmental standards.”

A New Brunswick judge who heard expert evidence from a single historian ruled that Canada’s founding fathers intended to allow internal trade to be completely free. But the Supreme Court said the judge substituted an expert’s opinion for nearly a century of appellate court rulings.

Paul Bates, a lawyer who represented the Consumers Council of Canada, which intervened in the case, called the decision a “classic Canadian compromise.”

“We don’t live in a land of constitutional absolutes. We live in a land of compromises and reconciliation.”

He said the decision is good for consumers, who will be able to benefit from the protections of provincial laws, such as those that prohibit hazardous products that may be found in other jurisdictions.

But Alexandre Moreau, a public policy analyst with the Montreal Economic Institute, was disappointed. “It’s a big win for government monopolies, but it’s a guaranteed loss for 37 million Canadians.”

He cited the trucking industry: Provincial regulations on such things as tire size and the number of hours a driver may be at the wheel cause some firms to send their vehicles through the United States on trips between Canadian destinations. Or just to trade with U.S. states.

New Brunswick Provincial Court Justice Ronald LeBlanc had upended a 1921 ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada establishing that while customs duties are not allowed, other trade barriers are. Usually, lower-court judges have to follow Supreme Court precedents. But Justice LeBlanc cited the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling on prostitution laws, which established that when the facts and circumstances of a case change, lower-court judges can overturn rulings of higher courts.

In the Comeau case, however, the Supreme Court said all that had changed was that an expert had testified with a different view of Canadian history. If lower-court judges were allowed to overturn precedents for that reason, Canadian law would become chaotic, it said.

The Comeau case was the last to be heard by Beverley McLachlin before she retired as chief justice in December. She participated in the ruling.

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