The appellant challenged the constitutional validity of s. 68 of Saskatchewan's Correctional Services Regulations, 2013, which sets a balance of probabilities as the applicable standard of proof in inmate disciplinary proceedings.
The majority held that the proceedings constitute an offence punishable by imprisonment within the meaning of s. 11 of the Charter because disciplinary segregation and loss of earned remission are functional forms of imprisonment, thereby overruling R. v. Shubley.
The majority further held that s. 68 infringes s. 11(d) of the Charter by permitting findings of guilt without proof beyond a reasonable doubt, and that this infringement is not saved by s. 1 because an obvious Charter-compliant alternative exists.
The dissent would have dismissed the appeal on the basis that Shubley remains good law and that neither the criminal in nature nor the true penal consequence prong of the Wigglesworth test is satisfied by Saskatchewan's inmate disciplinary proceedings.
