Simon's Legal Resources

Charter - s.7 Legal Rights - Absolute Liability

. Canadian Pacific Railway Company v. Teamsters Canada Rail Conference

In Canadian Pacific Railway Company v. Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (Fed CA, 2024) the Federal Court of Appeal allowed an appeal from a finding of civil contempt, here in relation to a railway labour arbitration award.

Here the court comments on the Charter and absolute liability:

[31] I note, parenthetically, that absolute liability offences cannot include imprisonment as a potential consequence, as this would offend section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Re B.C. Motor Vehicle Act, [1985] 2 S.C.R. 486, 1985 CanLII 81 (SCC) at 515). Therefore, as noted by the Federal Court in Canadian Private Copying Collective v. Fuzion Technology Corp., 2009 FC 800, 349 F.T.R. 303 [Fuzion Technology], civil contempt under the Federal Courts Rules, when brought against individuals, cannot constitutionally create an absolute liability offence (at para. 57). This reasoning applies to the offence at large, but not to a corporate defendant, since a corporation cannot be imprisoned; see, e.g., Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec (Attorney General), [1989] 1 S.C.R. 927, 1989 CanLII 87 (SCC) at 1002. The directing minds, can, however.