Jeffrey Beedell

The appellant union disputed an arbitrator's award regarding the calculation of vacation benefits for casual employees who became permanent.

The arbitrator concluded that time as a casual employee was not to be included.

On judicial review, the chambers judge found the arbitrator's reasons insufficient and unreasonable, but the Court of Appeal overturned this decision.

The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed the appeal, clarifying that under the Dunsmuir reasonableness standard, the adequacy of reasons is not a stand-alone basis for quashing a decision nor a question of procedural fairness.

Instead, reasons must be read together with the outcome to determine if the result falls within a range of possible, acceptable outcomes.

The accused was convicted of possession of child pornography after police searched his computer pursuant to a warrant.

The warrant was obtained based on an Information to Obtain (ITO) sworn by a police officer after a computer technician reported seeing suspicious bookmarks and a webcam pointed at a child's play area.

The Supreme Court of Canada held that the search violated s. 8 of the Charter because the ITO, which contained misleading and incomplete information, failed to establish reasonable and probable grounds to believe the accused possessed child pornography.

The Court distinguished between the offences of accessing and possessing child pornography, holding that possession requires control over the underlying data files, not merely viewing images online.

The evidence was excluded under s. 24(2) of the Charter, and an acquittal was entered.