The Canadian Constitution Foundation has been granted leave to intervene at the Supreme Court in Annapolis Group Inc v Halifax Regional Municipality.
The underlying case involves an allegation by Annapolis Group that the Halifax Regional Municipality is obstructing its attempts to develop Annapolis owned land, while simultaneously encouraging the public to use Annapolis land as a park. Annapolis alleges that this amounts to a de facto expropriation of their property by the government.
“A de facto expropriation is when the government has not taken property in name, but in every other practical sense they have taken the property. And a government cannot expropriate property without compensation,” said CCF Litigation Director, Christine Van Geyn. “We are intervening in this case because this is an opportunity for the Supreme Court to revisit the test on de facto expropriation, and we will be making argument about what we think the proper legal test should be.”
The CCF is supporting Christine and Daniel Reio after the Ontario government refused to provide financial assistance following the April 2024 discovery of approximately 1,000-year-old human remains on their Port Colborne property. The discovery triggered a mandatory archaeological investigation and Indigenous consultation process, with costs estimated at hundreds of thousands of dollars – potentially more…
The Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada in R v Singer, arguing that police powers to enter private property without a warrant under the doctrine of “implied license” must be narrowly defined.
The Canadian Constitution Foundation has been granted intervenor status in an Ontario Court of Appeal hearing dealing with civil forfeiture. The case AG (Ontario) v 947014 Ontario and Norwood Estate (Norwood Estate) involves the scope of the Ontario Civil Remedies Act. This is legislation that governs the seizure and forfeiture of assets suspected and determined…
