Regulators deny access to experimental hepatitis C drug

An application for access to an experimental hepatitis C drug under Canada's Special Access Programme has been turned down. In the process, Canada's drug regulators have created discomfort and uncertainty about how the Special Access Programme is managed.     

Countering Punitiveness: Understanding Stability in Canada's Imprisonment Rate

Canada's imprisonment rate has not changed appreciably since 1960. This stability contrasts with the increased imprisonment rates experienced by Canada's most obvious comparators—the United States and England and Wales. We examine this divergence and propose several interrelated explanations for Canada's anomalous pattern. While Canada is shown not to be immune to pressure for harsher practices and policies, it has been able to counter or balance these trends with other more moderating forces. In particular, we suggest that Canadians have largely been able to escape several of the wider forces or "risk factors" at the root of higher incarceration in other countries. Further, we suggest that certain protective factors of a historical, cultural, and structural nature can also be identified that have limited the extent to which Canada has adopted the same punitive policies documented in the United States and England and Wales.     

Canada ordered to implement WTO ruling against "stockpiling" of generic drugs

In the last issue, we reported on a mixed World Trade Organization (WTO) ruling regarding Canada's patent laws, based on a complaint by the member states of the European Communities (joined by the United States). In March 2000, a WTO Panel accepted the provision in Canada's Patent Act that creates an "early working exception" to patent rights--in other words, that allows a third party to use a patented invention during the term of patent protection, as long as the use is for obtaining regulatory approval of an equivalent product to be sold once the patent expires. This was an important victory from the perspective of allowing earlier access to generic versions of patented drugs.     

Court approves final Red Cross bankruptcy plan to compensate blood victims

Following two years of negotiations, the insolvent Canadian Red Cross Society received court approval on 14 September 2000 of its plan to compensate victims of Canada's tainted blood tragedy (and pay other creditors).     

Drug policy in Canada--the way forward

This article is one of a series commissioned to mark the tenth anniversary of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, discussing past developments and future directions in areas of policy and law related to HIV/AIDS. It takes a critical look at Canada's drug policy. Despite calls for a balanced approach focused on reducing drug-related harm, Canada's method of dealing with problems of illicit drug use has remained prohibitionist in nature, and by far the greatest part of federal funding is devoted to supply-reduction initiatives. Considerable changes in policy and law are needed to significantly reduce the harms associated with injection drug use in Canada. These include developing a comprehensive and integrated strategy, exploring alternative legal frameworks, piloting innovative approaches to reducing injection-related harms, and investing in broad social policies that address the determinants of injection drug use.     

Ontario appellate court denies HIV-positive man's constitutional claim to medical marijuana

In January 2002, the Ontario Court of Appeal denied a claim by a Toronto man living with HIV/AIDS that Canada's laws prohibiting marijuana possession and cultivation infringe his constitutional rights to liberty and security of the person.     

New immigration law comes into effect as regulations finalized

The new regulations make it easier for same-sex partners to immigrate to Canada. However, the government has rejected suggestions to change the way it determines whether potential immigrants living with HIV/AIDS or other health conditions would place excessive demands on Canada's health and social services.     

House of Commons committee releases report on Canada's drug strategy

On 17 May 2001, the House of Commons created a Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs based on a motion introduced by Randy White, Canadian Alliance MP (Langley-Abbottsford) and gave it a very broad mandate to study "the factors underlying or relating to the non-medical use of drugs in Canada" and to propose recommendations aimed at reducing "the dimensions of the problem involved in such use." In December 2002, the Committee released its report, entitled Policy for the New Millennium: Working Together to Redefine Canada's Drug Strategy. The report contains many good recommendations, but fails to deal adequately with the fundamental harms caused by Canada's drug laws and federal government inaction. Far better is the supplementary report written by NDP MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East), which contains an excellent, informed critique of the report. The supplementary report from the official opposition, written by MPs Randy White and Kevin Sorenson (Crowfoot, Alberta) also makes for interesting, if troubling, reading--it is based nearly exclusively on fiction rather than facts and science.     

The role of popular mobilizations in the struggle for the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

In spite of the best efforts of Canada's first ministers, the debate leading up to the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was characterized by the mobilization of several demanding factors of the Canadian populace. The Hays-Joyal hearings on the Constitution provided a formal setting for popular participation, and in fact drew submissions from a variety of special interest groups. Significantly, the minimal class representation in both the formal and informal processes of Charter construction was in stark contrast to the militant interventions of women's and Native's lobbies. In spite of the resistance of the politicians, and in spite of internal weaknesses, these movements were able to impose some elements of their collective demands on the otherwise limited vision of rights in Canada. Their voices were in fact heard over the din of federal-provincial squabbling.This article is a revised version of a Chapter from the author's Doctoral Dissertation, entitledCanada's Passive Revolution: The Charter and Hegemonic Politics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, August 1992.     

Canada refuses to issue a visa to an HIV-positive worker on antiretroviral drugs

Citizenship and Immigration Canada has denied an application for a visa from an HIV-positive man even though he is in good health. The man was seeking to fill a two-year work term in Canada. The case raises concerns about Canada's immigration policies for people with HIV and about the ability of organizations working in AIDS to hire HIV-positive foreign workers.     

Supreme Court denies leave to appeal in medical marijuana charter challenge

As previously reported in this publication, in January 2002 the Ontario Court of Appeal denied Jim Wakeford's claim that Canada's laws prohibiting marijuana possession and cultivation infringe his constitutional rights to liberty and security of the person. On 22 November 2002 the Supreme Court of Canada announced that it would not hear his appeal from that decision.     

WILL WOMEN JUDGES REALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

This article details the experience of Canada's first woman Supreme Court Justice, now retired and teaching law at the University of Ottawa. Like many by virtue of their unique perspective, she casts light on the central core of being a judge and examines the human side of this important, albeit, lonely task. The article specifically considers the issue of gender in the judiciary.     

“Moral Panics” Deflected: The Failed Legislative Response to Canada’s Safety Crimes and Markets Fraud Legislation

This paper critically examines the enforcement, or lack thereof, of criminal laws relating to corporate crime. Using Canada's recently enacted corporate criminal liability (safety crimes) and markets fraud legislation as its empirical focus, it seeks to explain why these laws were introduced, only to fall into a state of virtual disuse. The authors explain how, in the wake of yet another crisis in capitalism, the state felt compelled to enact criminal laws to offset the abuses of corporate power in these two arenas. However, despite promises to 'get tough' on corporate crime, the enforcement of both laws has been sporadic and, in many respects, non-existent. The authors argue that both the passage and the ineffectiveness of Canada's safety crimes and markets fraud legislation can be traced to their shared Keynesian origins as responses to a crisis in neoclassical economics. In essence, both laws are caught-up in a tug-of-war between two opposing yet not incompatible visions of how best to regulate the capitalist marketplace. As a result, even if some corporations and corporate actors are held to legal account, the underlying causes of corporate crime, including the class-based exploitation that is fundamental to capitalism, remain untouched. The authors conclude by arguing for enforcement of corporate crime laws that recognizes the limits of this struggle and the necessity to stave-off capitalism's endemic harms.     

Canada loses appeal of WTO panel ruling on minimum patent terms

In the last issue, we reported on a ruling of a Panel of the World Trade Organization (WTO) that Canada was in breach of the international Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement). The Panel found that Canada's Patent Act does not provide the minimum patent terms required by the trade agreement. Canada appealed that decision, but on 18 September 2000 the WTO Appellate Body upheld the Panel ruling.     

THE CORPORAL PUNISHMENT DEBATE IN CANADA

The controversial issue of corporal punishment of children is now before the Supreme Court of Canada. Whether or not Canada's highest court rules that the "reasonable chastisement" defense to charges of assault on children by parents and teachers is unconstitutional, it is likely that Parliament will move forward with reforms. Social science evidence on the negative effects of corporal punishment has been accepted by the federal government, and it seems likely that Canada will soon join the list of countries that prohibit the practice.     

Impeding Earl Warren: California's health insurance plan that wasn't and what might have been

It is widely believed that the turning point for U.S. health insurance came in 1949 when Congress failed to adopt President Harry Truman's proposal for a national system. The possibility that a system of state-level health plans might have emerged before Truman's plan has received little attention. Yet several attempts to enact such a plan were made in California by Governor Earl Warren in the mid-1940s. Had Warren succeeded, the California example might have been emulated by other states and the United States might have evolved a system similar to Canada's provincial programs.     

MOVIN' ON

In Canada, relocation cases are governed by the 1996 Supreme Court of Canada decision in Gordon v. Goertz , thanks to Canada's constitutional and judicial structure. Gordon rejects presumptions or burdens, mandating an individualized best interests inquiry in every case. Since 1996, appeal courts have done little to develop or refine this approach. Trial level decisions do reveal certain trends, allowing moves in about 60% of cases, but more often for "primary caregivers" and much less often in shared custody cases. Federal custody reform proposals to date have not addressed relocation issues.     

Children's street connections in a Canadian community

Preteen children's street activities in a small southern Ontario city were examined for understandings about how children on the street affiliate with one another and with adults after school. The everyday connections between children, shopkeepers, and municipal workers demonstrate that the municipal workers and merchants can offer caring, support, and sanctions to children when parents or teachers are not accompanying them. This provides children on the street with a form of guidance from extrafamilial mentors. The findings point to community-based potentials for naturally occurring crime prevention strategies, a significant aspect of Canada's new law: Youth Criminal Justice Act. 2003.     

Regulating physician supply: the evolution of British Columbia's Bill 41

This paper traces the development of British Columbia's controversial Bill 41, which empowers that province's Ministry of Health to restrict the issuance of billing numbers entitling physicians to seek payment from the provincial medical services plan. The bill and its predecessors have been the subjects of two court challenges by the medical profession, and the legal battles continue. The bill has also taken on a role in the evolving interpretation of Canada's new Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Meanwhile, the policy appears to be slowing the rate of growth in physician supply in the province, but its impact on the real target--medical care costs--is still uncertain.