Impact of the Charter on the Law of Evidence

• Author: Panel Discussion
• Pages: 335-347

Impact

of the

Charter

on the

Law of

Evidence

Panel

Discussion

THE

HONOURABLE

MR.

JUSTICE LASKIN:

I

have

the

good fortune

to

chair

this

panel.

I say

that

it is my

good fortune because

we

have

two

marvel-

lous panellists here,

Earl

Levy

on my

right

and

David Stratas

on my

left.

All

I

have

to do is ask a few

questions

and

then

you get to

hear them

answer

and

provide

you

with

a

wealth

of

opinion

and

information.

Both

panellists

are

well known.

Let me

just take

a few

seconds

to

introduce them.

Earl,

I

think

is

fairly

recognized

not

just

by his

peers

but by all

judges

as one of the

outstanding criminal

defence

lawyers

in

this coun-

try.

For

many years

he was

president

of the

Criminal Lawyers' Associa-

tion

and his

leadership turned

the

association into

the

powerful

and

effective

voice

of the

defence

bar

that

it is

today.

Let me

also

say

that

Earl

is one of

only

a

handful

of

individuals

who

have received

the

pres-

tigious Martin medal, which

is the

Criminal Lawyers' Association's

highest honour.

David

Stratas

is a

former

law

clerk

to

Madam Justice Wilson when

she was on the

Supreme Court

of

Canada.

He is now a

partner

at

Heenan

Blaikie.

David

is a

brilliant public

law

lawyer

and an

expert

in

constitutional law.

I do not

know quite

how he

does

it but

somehow dur-

ing his

hectic professional

life

he

manages

to

teach

an

advanced course

in

constitutional

law at the law

school

at

Queen's.

I can

also tell

you

from

firsthand

experience, because

we

have done

a lot of

teaching together,

that

David

is a

superb teacher

of

advocacy, both written

and

oral.

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