The Manitoba Law Journal: Citations at the Supreme Court of Canada

The Manitoba Law Journal’s mission is to produce high-caliber, engaging scholarship on matters that are of relevance to the society and the law throughout Manitoba, across the country and around the world. As an open-access journal listed on the major legal research databases, we actively seek to impact not only scholarly discussion of the law, but the practical operation of our legal system as well.

One mark of success in this regard is citation within the courts at all levels. The work of our contributors has been cited in decisions across the country and at the highest court in the land, the Supreme Court of Canada. Since 1980, the Manitoba Law Journal has been cited 42 times at the Supreme Court of Canada. In addition, over the past 10 years, it has been cited 34 times by federal and provincial Courts of Appeal, reinforcing continued achievement of our mission.

A list of recent Manitoba Law Journal Supreme Court of Canada citations is compiled below.

R. v. Friesen, 2020 SCC 9

  • A criminal law case, wherein the appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada is based on whether or not the Court of Appeal erred when they interfered with the sentencing judge’s initial sentence (content warning – se xual violence).

Fleming v. Ontario, 2019 SCC 45

  • A constitutional law case focusing on the limits of police powers and how they play into lawful (or unlawful arrests), as well as whether the police have common law power to arrest someone acting lawfully in order to prevent apprehended breach of peace by others.

R, v. Goldfinch, 2019 SCC 38

  • A criminal law case focusing on whether certain relational evidence between accused and complainant in a sexual assault trial is admissible (content warning – sexual violence).