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Property, in the legal sense, can mean real property in the form of land and buildings, or personal, movable property. Property law — whether under the common law in most of Canada, or the Civil Code in Quebec — deals with a wide range of rights and obligations owing to individuals and governments, and has evolved enormously, particularly in fairness to women, since the 19th Century.
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The Quebec Biker War was an almost decade-long territorial conflict between two outlaw motorcycle gangs in Quebec: the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine. The war centred on control over the narcotics trade in Quebec. It was also driven by intense rivalries and deep-seated animosities between major figures in Quebec’s criminal underworld. (See Organized Crime.) The conflict involved over 80 bombings, some 130 cases of arson and 20 disappearances. More than 160 people were killed and over 200 were injured, including many innocent bystanders.
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Article
From 10–27 October 1864, leaders from the five British North American colonies met in Quebec City. They continued to talk about merging into a single country. These talks had begun at the Charlottetown Conference the month before. At Quebec City, the Fathers of Confederation chose how the new Parliament would be structured. They also worked out the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments. The decisions that were made in Charlottetown and Quebec formed 72 resolutions. They were known as the Quebec Resolutions. They formed the basis of Confederation and of Canada’s Constitution. This article is a plain-language summary of the Quebec Conference, 1864. If you would like to read about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Quebec Conference, 1864.
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The Quebec Resolutions are a list of 72 policy points. They formed the basis of Canada’s Constitution. They emerged from the Charlottetown Conference and the Quebec Conference in the fall of 1864. Those meetings were held by leaders from the five British North American colonies. They worked out the details of how they would unite into a single country. (See Confederation.) The Quebec Resolutions were finalized at the London Conference in 1867. They formed the basis of the British North America Act (now called the Constitution Act, 1867). It was the first building block of Canada’s Constitution. It created the Dominion of Canada on 1 July 1867. This article is a plain-language summary of the Quebec Resolutions. If you would like to read about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Quebec Resolutions.
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Article
Representation by population (or “rep by pop”) is a political system. It is when seats in a legislature are assigned based on population. This upholds a basic idea of democracy that all votes should be counted equally. Rep by pop was a deeply divisive issue in the Province of Canada (1841–67). It became an important factor in Confederation. This article is a plain-language summary of Rep by Pop. If you would like to read about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Rep by Pop.
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Article
In 2001, Robert Pickton was charged with murdering 26 women at his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, BC. He was convicted on six charges and sentenced to life in prison. Pickton claimed to have killed 49 women. His case was the largest serial killer investigation in Canadian history. It was also a flash point in the wider issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. In 2012, a government inquiry found that “blatant failures” by police led to a “tragedy of epic proportions.” This article contains sensitive material that may not be suitable for all audiences. This article is a plain-language summary of the Robert Pickton Case. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry: Robert Pickton Case.
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Section 98 was an offence in the CRIMINAL CODE of Canada from 1919 to 1936. The section was drafted in 1919 in response to the general labour unrest in the country, which culminated in the WINNIPEG GENERAL STRIKE.
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For many offences, the Criminal Code prescribes only maximum sentences, giving judges wide latitude to determine fit penalties. Judges consider a broad array of aggravating and mitigating factors in sentencing. One aggravating factor is the motivation of racial or group hatred for an offence.
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Sexual abuse of children has been defined in Ontario as abuse that includes "any sexual intercourse, sexual molestation, exhibitionism or sexual exploitation involving a child that could be a violation of the Criminal Code or render the child in need of protection under the Child Welfare Act.
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Until it was amended in 1982 the Criminal Code contained the offence of rape. The offence required proof that a man had sexual intercourse with a woman other than his wife without the woman's consent. It was punishable by up to life imprisonment.
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Macleans
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on April 10, 1995. Partner content is not updated. For Alice Clark, joining the RCMP in 1980 was the fulfilment of a teenage dream. Two years later, the Hamilton native was posted to the 60-member detachment at Red Deer, Alta., where, at first, the men she worked with were welcoming and helpful. Then, she was transferred to city traffic duty.
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Macleans
The sheer cowardice of the act was chilling. Someone, it appears, waited in the dusk that comes early this time of year for Tara Singh Hayer, the editor of North Americas largest Punjabi-language newspaper, to return to his home in Surrey, B.C., at the end of the workday on Nov. 18.This article was originally published in Maclean's Magazine on November 30, 1998
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Stare decisis [Latin, "let the decision stand"] refers to the doctrine of precedent, according to which the rules formulated by judges in earlier decisions are to be similarly applied in later cases.
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Substantive Law, body of law concerned with rights and obligations, as opposed to PROCEDURAL LAW which concerns how to enforce and defend such rights and obligations.
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When a person dies, that person's property or its value is transferred to the persons entitled to it after payment of any outstanding debts and liabilities; this process is described as succession.
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