Mariam Sheikh

The applicant, a Justice of the Peace, brought a motion for a stay pending the outcome of her application for judicial review of the Justices of the Peace Review Council's recommendation that she be removed from office.

The respondent took no position on the motion.

The court applied the RJR-MacDonald test and found that the applicant raised serious issues to be tried, would suffer irreparable harm if removed from office pending review, and the balance of convenience favoured granting the stay.

The motion for a stay was granted.

The Crown appealed the acquittal of the respondent for second-degree murder, where the trial judge found the respondent acted in self-defence.

The Crown argued the trial judge erred in law by failing to consider the whole of the evidence, making an unsupported factual finding, failing to undertake a contextualized reasonableness inquiry, and not considering the risk to third parties.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no overriding error in the trial judge's holistic consideration of evidence and self-defence factors, despite acknowledging a minor factual error that did not materially impact the verdict.

The court reiterated that appellate courts cannot reweigh evidence or hear appeals from unreasonable acquittals.

The appellant, a Bombardier in the Canadian Armed Forces, was convicted of disgraceful conduct and administering a noxious thing after distributing cannabis-laced cupcakes to soldiers during a live fire artillery exercise.

She appealed her convictions and sentence.

The Court Martial Appeal Court dismissed the appeal.

The court found no breach of section 7 of the Charter regarding allegedly lost cupcake wrappers, as there was no unacceptable negligence or prejudice.

The court also held that the military judge did not misapprehend the circumstantial evidence and that the guilty verdicts were reasonable.

Finally, the court upheld the sentence of 30 days' imprisonment and dismissal from service, emphasizing the extreme danger the appellant's actions posed to the 150 personnel involved in the exercise and the need for general deterrence and denunciation.