Matthew S. Estabrooks

The plaintiffs, representing Ottawa taxi plate holders and brokers, brought a class action against the City of Ottawa for its response to Uber's entry into the local market in 2014.

The court found that the City owed a duty of care to the taxi industry based on a long-standing, collaborative relationship and was negligent in failing to enforce its 2012 taxi by-law against Uber.

However, the court dismissed the plaintiffs' claims that the City's actions violated section 15 of the Charter or the Human Rights Code, finding no disproportionate discriminatory impact based on race or immigrant status.

The court also dismissed the claim that the City's taxi licensing fees constituted an unlawful tax, finding a reasonable nexus between the fees and the cost of services provided.

The appellants (Crown) appealed a Divisional Court order that declared the Math Proficiency Test (MPT) unconstitutional for infringing s. 15(1) of the Charter due to disproportionate adverse impact on racialized teacher candidates, and found it not justified under s. 1.

The Court of Appeal found that the Divisional Court erred by relying on incomplete and preliminary data (July 2021 Data) to conclude a disproportionate adverse impact.

The Court of Appeal, reviewing more complete data (December 2021 Data), determined that the MPT did not have a disproportionate adverse impact on racialized candidates' entry to the teaching profession, nor did it reinforce existing disadvantages.

The appeal was allowed, and the Divisional Court's order, including the declaration that s. 18(1)(c) of the OCTA was unconstitutional, was set aside.

The Applicants sought judicial review of Ontario's Mathematics Proficiency Test (MPT), a standardized test required for teacher certification.

They argued the MPT violated s. 15 of the Charter by having a disproportionate adverse impact on racialized teacher candidates.

The Divisional Court found that the MPT infringed s. 15, as statistical evidence showed significant disparities in success rates for Black and Indigenous candidates.

The Court further held that the infringement could not be justified under s. 1, as the Respondent failed to show the MPT minimally impaired the rights of racialized candidates, given the availability of less impairing alternatives like requiring math courses in Bachelor of Education programs.

The legislative provisions creating the MPT were declared unconstitutional and of no force and effect.

The Crown appealed a Nova Scotia Court of Appeal decision that set aside convictions for first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder and ordered a new trial.

The Supreme Court agreed that the trial judge's instructions on party liability for first degree murder were in error, such that the first degree murder conviction could not stand.

However, the Court held that the trial judge was not required to charge the jury on manslaughter, as the evidence did not meet the air of reality test.

The Court further held that the trial judge did not err in the evidence left for the jury under the third prong of the Carter test for admissibility of co-conspirator hearsay.

Accordingly, the appeal was allowed in part: the conspiracy conviction was restored and a conviction for second degree murder was substituted.

The appeal concerned whether online music previews streamed before purchase are fair dealing for the purpose of research under the Copyright Act.

The Court held that research must be interpreted broadly and assessed from the user perspective, not only from the service provider perspective.

Applying the CCH framework, the Court found the previews fair in purpose, character, amount, alternatives, nature of the work, and market effect.

Because the previews were short, lower quality, temporary, and supported consumer selection without substituting for purchases, no additional royalties were payable for them.