Examining the Courts’ Approach to Covid-19 Related Charter Challenges and the Steps to Alleviate Concerns Surrounding Access to Justice in the Criminal Courts.
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in both federal and provincial governments putting in place measures and restrictions to protect the health of Canadians. While many of these measures have been implemented with the good intention of protecting the health of Canadians and reducing the stress on hospitals, the measures have also engaged the Charter in different ways.
This timely program, “Covid-19 and The Charter” explores the different ways in which various government measures and restrictions have engaged and impacted civil liberties, criminal law and access to justice. This includes the Courts’ approach to Covid-19 related Charter challenges, including the level of deference to legislatures and the way the Courts have afforded that deference. Some of the ways Courts have departed from the usual principles of constitutional interpretation in the Covid-19 context will be highlighted.
Our experienced panel will discuss the issue of delay caused by Covid-19 in the criminal courts and the approaches the courts and the governments have taken in dealing with this delay including the Legal Aid introduction of Judge Led Intensive Case Management Certificates.
The program will address the ways in which Covid-19 has impacted access to justice in the criminal courts and the steps lawyers and other court participants can take to alleviate some of the concerns surrounding access to justice.
Topics include:
• How have government measures impacted civil liberties, criminal law and access to justice? • What is the Courts’ approach to Covid-19 related Charter challenges? • What is the level of deference to legislatures? • How have Courts departed from the principles of constitutional interpretation? • Issues of delay • Impact on access to justice
Toronto Lawyers Association
For more than 135 years, the Toronto Lawyers' Association, located within the Courthouse Library, has represented the interests of lawyers practising in the City of Toronto. The association was founded to support its members in three key areas: Knowledge, Advocacy, and Community. To uphold these pillars, the association offers a year-round mix of online and in-person education programs for lawyers, hosts both free and paid events to foster in-person networking, and submits advocacy pieces on behalf of its members to the Ontario bench and bar, all levels of government, and the broader public.
Charter Litigator/Criminal Defence
Seasoned Criminal Trial Lawyer with experience in all levels of Court in Ontario. Conducted successful trials in both the Ontario and Superior Court of Justice. Expertise in Sentencing. Per-Diem Assistant Crown Attorney proficient in SCOPE. Dedicated mentor to law students and newly called lawyers. Impeccable work ethics, punctual, highly organized with a positive can-do attitude.
Principal at Roth Advocacy Professional Corporation
Jonathan Roth is a skilled advocate widely recognized for his impeccable reputation within the legal and broader communities. Before founding Roth Advocacy, Jonathan litigated on Bay Street both with an international law firm and the federal Department of Justice, where he advised and represented the Attorney General of Canada, and departments and agencies of government, before the courts and administrative tribunals. He has appeared in the Federal Courts and at all levels of court in Ontario, and has briefed matters before the Supreme Court of Canada. Jonathan has intimate knowledge of the courts, having served as a judicial clerk to the judges of the Court of Appeal for Ontario, the Province’s highest appellate court. Jonathan takes seriously his relationships with judges, counsel and especially clients. In addition to a robust commercial litigation practice, Jonathan maintains an active practice focused on public law, including a recent Charter challenge to the federal government’s hotel quarantine order. Jonathan’s work has been published in or reported by the Globe and Mail, the National Post, the Toronto Star, the Toronto Sun, CTV News, CBC News, Radio Canada International, the Vancouver Sun, the News Forum and Canadian Lawyer magazine. Jonathan holds a Juris Doctor, with Honours, from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, where he received academic awards in the areas of advocacy, taxation, estate planning and international trade law. In his spare time, Jonathan enjoys reading, spending time with his family, and Peleton rides.
Chief Judge
Judge Rutherford graduated in 1993, summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in History with Honors in the Liberal Arts from Southern Methodist University. Judge Rutherford is certified by the state of Texas to teach English, Reading, and History, and she taught middle school Language Arts in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD before attending law school. Judge Rutherford attended SMU School of Law from 1995 to 1998, where she was a member of the Barristers, an Articles Editor for the SMU Law Review Association, and a student attorney in the SMU Civil Clinic. Judge Rutherford graduated second in her class, magna cum laude, and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Following law school, Judge Rutherford worked as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable A. Joe Fish, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, and then joined Thompson & Knight LLP in Dallas. As an Associate in the Real Estate Section at Thompson & Knight, Judge Rutherford represented individual and institutional clients in various real estate transactions and real estate related litigation matters. Judge Rutherford returned to the Northern District of Texas in 2004. She worked as a career judicial law clerk for U.S. Magistrate Judges Jeff Kaplan, Paul D. Stickney, and David L. Horan. From 2015 to 2017, Judge Rutherford was the senior judicial law clerk to the Honorable Barbara M.G. Lynn, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas. Judge Rutherford was twice recognized by the Federal Bar Association, Dallas Chapter, as the District Chambers Staff Person of the Year, in 2013 and 2017. Judge Rutherford is a member of the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Bar College, the Federal Bar Association, the Dallas Bar Association, and the Dallas Women’s Lawyers Association. She has published numerous articles and is a frequent presenter at CLE events and bench bar conferences. She has been an Associate and a Barrister in the Patrick E. Higginbotham American Inn of Court and is a current Barrister in the Barbara M.G. Lynn American Inn of Court. Judge Rutherford is admitted to practice in the Northern District of Texas and the Eastern District of Texas.
Partner at Goddard & Shanmuganathan LLP
Janani is a passionate and dedicated advocate. Her track record speaks for itself. She has been counsel on almost 40 appeals at the Ontario Court of Appeal. She has argued at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. She was also co-counsel in R. v. Nur, the first case in over 30 years where the Supreme Court found a mandatory minimum sentence unconstitutional and struck it from the Criminal Code. Janani is now one of Canada’s leading experts on challenging mandatory minimum sentences, having been part of four other successful challenges. Janani is also a skilled trial lawyer. She was co-counsel on two successful homicide trials, including a first-degree murder trial that involved her client ‘confessing’ to the police at the end of a Mr. Big operation. She has represented clients charged with all kinds of offences and has won acquittals in complex cases involving drugs, sexual assaults and bodily harm. In addition to criminal law, Janani also does regulatory work, defending professionals subject to investigations and disciplinary proceedings. She has defended lawyers before the Law Society of Ontario on interlocutory suspensions, good character hearings, and discipline proceedings. Janani also acts for health professionals. Janani Shanmuganathan Outside of the courtroom, Janani teaches other lawyers, law students, and undergraduates. She lectures at legal education programs on trial and appellate advocacy. She is an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and has taught in the undergraduate Criminology program at the University of Toronto. She is published in the Supreme Court Law Review and wrote a chapter in a recent textbook on prosecuting and defending drug charges (Prosecuting and Defending Drug Cases: A Practitioner’s Handbook (2019), Emond Publishing: Toronto). She is also on the board of the South Asian Bar Association and is volunteer duty counsel with the Law Society of Ontario and with the Probono Inmate Appeal Program at the Ontario Court of Appeal. Janani started her legal career as an articling student at Greenspan Humphrey Weinstein, one of the country’s leading criminal law firms, and was a lawyer at Derstine Penman Criminal Lawyers and Erin Dann Barrister before joining Goddard & Shanmuganathan LLP as a partner. She received her undergraduate and Masters degrees in Criminology and her law degree from the University of Toronto.
