Abstract
This is a lightly edited transcript of a keynote address delivered at the 24th Annual Osgoode Constitutional Cases Conference on April 9, 2021.
Citation Information
Martin, Sheilah.
"“The Power of Advocacy”."
The Supreme Court Law Review: Osgoode’s Annual Constitutional Cases Conference
104.
(2022).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.60082/2563-8505.1427
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/sclr/vol104/iss1/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
References
1 Peter W. Hogg, Constitutional Law of Canada, 1st ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 1977).
2 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Part I of the Constitution Act, 1982, being Schedule B to the Canada Act 1982 (U.K.), 1982, c. 11.
3 Stephen A. Higginson, "Constitutional Advocacy Explains Constitutional Outcomes" (2008) 60:4 Fla. L. Rev. 857, at 861 [hereinafter "Higginson"].
4 Chief Justice Wagner, Remarks about Joseph Arvay, Q.C. at the opening of proceedings at the Supreme Court of Canada on December 8, 2020, online: https://static1.squarespace. com/static/58619081ff7c506c99486b12/t/5fd933eac8a6414ff9776a5a/1608070122541/Remarks+ of+the+Chief+Justice+of+Canada.pdf.
5 Henry v. British Columbia, [2015] S.C.J. No. 24, 2015 SCC 24 (S.C.C.).
6 Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, [2013] S.C.J. No. 72, 2013 SCC 72 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Bedford"] Canada (Attorney General) v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society, [2012] S.C.J. No. 45, 2012 SCC 45 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Sex Workers United Against Violence"].
7 Pratten v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [2012] B.C.J. No. 2460, 2012 BCCA 480 (B.C.C.A.).
8 Canada (Prime Minister) v. Khadr, [2010] S.C.J. No. 3, 2010 SCC 3 (S.C.C.).
9 Reference re Same-Sex Marriage, [2004] S.C.J. No. 75, 2004 SCC 79 (S.C.C.) Barbeau v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [2003] B.C.J. No. 994, 2003 BCCA 251 (B.C.C.A.).
10 Health Services and Support -Facilities Subsector Bargaining Assn. v. British Columbia, [2007] S.C.J. No. 27, 2007 SCC 27 (S.C.C.) Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v. Saskatchewan, [2015] S.C.J. No. 4, 2015 SCC 4 (S.C.C.).
11 Luciuk (Guardian ad litem of) v. Canada, [2020] F.C.J. No. 1037, 2020 FC 1008 (F.C.).
12 British Columbia Civil Liberties Assn. v. Canada (Attorney General), [2019] B.C.J. No. 1151, 2019 BCCA 228 (B.C.C.A.).
13 Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Canada (Minister of Justice), [2000] S.C.J. No. 66, 2000 SCC 69 (S.C.C.).
14 Vander Zalm v. British Columbia (Minister of Finance), [2010] B.C.J. No. 1836, 2010 BCSC 1320 (B.C.S.C.).
15 Justice Bertha Wilson, "The Making of a Constitution: Approaches to Judicial Interpretation" (Autumn 1988) Public Law 370, at 381.
16 British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, "Tributes", Offıcial Report of Debates (Hansard), 42nd Parl., 1st Sess., No. 3 (December 8, 2020), at 14 (Hon. M. Rankin), online: https://www.leg.bc.ca/content/hansard/42nd1st/20201208am-Hansard-n3.pdf.
17 British Columbia, Legislative Assembly, "Tributes", Offıcial Report of Debates (Hansard), 42nd Parl., 1st Sess., No. 3 (December 8, 2020), at 13 (Hon. D. Eby), online: https://www.leg.bc.ca/content/hansard/42nd1st/20201208am-Hansard-n3.pdf.
18 National Judicial Institute, "Advancing Judicial Education", Year in Review 20162018, online: https://www.nji-inm.ca/index.cfm/publications/public-resources/nji-in-review2016-2018/ at b.
19 Fay Faraday, Tracy Heffernan & Helen Luu, "Winning the Right to Housing: Critical Reflections on a Holistic Approach to Public Interest Litigation" (2019) 90:2 Sup. Ct. L. Rev. 31, at paras. 31-34 [hereinafter "Faraday, Heffernan & Luu"].
20 Joëlle Pastora Sala & Allison Fenske, "The Wheels of Justice: Reflections from the Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba" (2019) 90:2 Sup. Ct. L. Rev. 93, at para. 8 [hereinafter "Sala & Fenske"].
21 Sex Workers United Against Violence.
22 Supreme Court of Canada, "Supreme Court Hearings: Attorney General of Canada v. Downtown Eastside Sex Workers United Against Violence Society" (January 19, 2012), online: https://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/webcastview-webdiffusionvue-eng.aspx?cas= 33981&id=2012/2012-01-19--33981&date=2012-01-19&fp=n&audio=n, at 01h: 54m: 51s.
23 Sex Workers United Against Violence, at para. 64.
24 Richard A. Posner, Reflections on Judging (Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England: Harvard University Press, 2013), at 270-71; John I. Laskin C.J.C., "What Persuades (or What's Going On inside the Judge's Mind)" (2004) 23:1 Advocates' Soc. J., at 230-32.
25 Supreme Court of Canada, "Supreme Court Hearings: Canada (Attorney General) v. PHS Community Services Society" (May 12, 2011), online: https://www.scc-csc.ca/casedossier/info/webcastview-webdiffusionvue-eng.aspx?cas=33556&id=2011/2011-05-12-33556&date=2011-05-12&fp=n&audio=n, at 02h: 13m: 44s. See also Joseph J. Arvay & Alison Latimer, "Cost Strategies for Litigants: The Significance of R. v. Caron" (2011) 54:2 Sup. Ct. L. Rev. 427, at 434.
26 Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), [2015] S.C.J. No. 5, 2015 SCC 5 [hereinafter "Carter"].
27 Joseph J. Arvay, "Is there a constitutional right to die?" (2012) James L. Lewtas Lecture 2, online: https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/lewtas/2/.
28 Edmonton Journal v. Alberta (Attorney General), [1989] S.C.J. No. 124, [1989] 2 S.C.R. 1326 (S.C.C.).
29 Justice Bertha Wilson, "Constitutional Advocacy" (1992) 24:1 Ottawa L. Rev. 265, at 270 [hereinafter "Justice Wilson, 'Constitutional Advocacy'"].
30 Fraser v. Canada (Attorney General), [2020] S.C.J. No. 28, at para. 42, 2020 SCC 28 (S.C.C.).
31 Mari J. Matsuda, "Looking to the Bottom: Critical Legal Studies and Reparations" (1987) 22:2 Harv. CR-CLL Rev. 323, at 324.
32 Jula Hughes, Vanessa MacDonnell & Karen Pearlston, "Equality & Incrementalism: The Role of Common Law Reasoning in Constitutional Rights Cases" (2013) 44:3 Ottawa L. Rev. 467, at 476 [hereinafter "Hughes, MacDonnell & Pearlston"].
33 Justice Wilson, "Constitutional Advocacy", at 273.
34 Higginson, at 868.
35 Higginson, at 868.
36 Canada (Attorney General) v. PHS Community Services Society, [2011] S.C.J. No. 44, 2011 SCC 44 (S.C.C.) [hereinafter "Insite"].
37 Supreme Court of Canada, "Supreme Court Hearings: Canada (Attorney General) v. PHS Community Services Society" (May 12, 2011), online: https://www.scc-csc.ca/casedossier/info/webcastview-webdiffusionvue-eng.aspx?cas=33556&id=2011/2011-05-12-33556&date=2011-05-12&fp=n&audio=n, at 02h: 35m: 45s.
38 Hughes, MacDonnell & Pearlston, at 474.
39 Justice Wilson, "Constitutional Advocacy", at 272.
40 Justice W. Ian Binnie, "In Praise of Oral Advocacy" in David Stockwood, Q.C. & David E. Spiro, eds., Ethos, Pathos and Logos: The Best of the Advocates' Society Journal 1982-2004 (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2005), 17 at 18.
41 Chief Justice Wagner, Remarks about Joseph Arvay, Q.C. at the opening of proceedings at the Supreme Court of Canada on December 8, 2020, online: https://static1.squarespace. com/static/58619081ff7c506c99486b12/t/5fd933eac8a6414ff9776a5a/1608070122541/Remarks+ of+the+Chief+Justice+of+Canada.pdf.
42 Supreme Court of Canada, "Supreme Court Hearings: Canada (Attorney General) v. PHS Community Services Society" (May 12, 2011), online: https://www.scc-csc.ca/casedossier/info/webcastview-webdiffusionvue-eng.aspx?cas=33556&id=2011/2011-05-12-33556&date=2011-05-12&fp=n&audio=n, at 02h: 33m: 00s.
43 Higginson, at 889.
44 See, for example, Sala & Fenske, at para. 8; Faraday, Heffernan & Luu, at paras. 33-35, 70-78.
45 Joseph J. Arvay, Convocation Address (delivered at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, June 24, 2016) [unpublished].
46 Joseph J. Arvay, Convocation Address (delivered at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, June 24, 2016) [unpublished].
