Canadian Lawyer

8 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP the law as it relates to child pornography," Segal wrote. In addition, the nearly year-long investigation of the sex- ual assault allegations, although thorough, extended beyond an acceptable time frame, Segal found. "In the course of this investigation, Rehtaeh changed schools twice, and was hos- pitalized for weeks following renewed thoughts of suicide," he said. "In the end, she did not receive the support and assistance a young person in crisis required." Among the 17 recommendations Segal has made are several focused on improvements within the Public Prosecu- tion Service. These include amending the service's Direc- tive on Providing Advice to the Police "to be realistic in its application, while remaining responsive to its underlying rationales." The amended directive should include requiring a Crown "file" be created for every case in which advice is provided to the police, and a brief endorsement or notation in the Crown file should minimally be done in every case where advice is provided, Segal said. Where the Crown determines that there is no realistic pros- pect of conviction or there are insufficient grounds to lay a charge, the basis for this opinion should be put in writing and forwarded to the police on request, he added. — DM This case is full of holes C E N T R A L uebec Superior Court Jus- tice Stéphane Sansfaçon didn't say a woman's action to get permission to wear a colander on her head in her driver's licence photo was vexatious, but he called it zany, or bonkers ("loufoque"). She claimed to belong to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a parody movement that mocks religious fundamentalism. Its followers are called "Pastafari- ans." They worship a giant spaghetti monster that created the universe 4,000 years ago while drunk. In his October ruling, the judge quotes its web site: "With millions, if not thousands, of devout worshipers, the Church of the FSM is widely con- sidered a legitimate religion, even by its opponents — mostly fundamentalist Christians, who have accepted that our God has larger balls than theirs." The Société de l'assurance automo- bile du Québec forbids head covering in licence photos except for religious or medical reasons. It cites as examples the hijab, the kippa, or the turban, provided they don't hide the face. The SAAQ was of the opinion that the claimant did not demonstrate that the motives of her demand were religious. She went to the Superior Court for redress. The judge was utterly irritated by this case and wrote that the court's time and scarce resources should be devoted to litigation that has real con- sequences on people's lives. The deci- sion was coincidentally rendered in the midst of the niqab controversy, during the last federal election, when some voters were showing up at advance polls wearing potato sacks, brown bags, or Halloween masks to express their opposition to the wearing of the niqab at the voting booth. Media commentators were generally critical, calling such behaviour, including the colander woman action, disrespectful, even intolerant, toward religious people. The Church of the FSM was cre- ated in the United States around 2005 in reaction to the Kansas School Board's decision to teach creationism and intelligent design alongside the Crown attorney erred in cyber bullying case Continued from page 8 Q A s of Oct. 1 last year, the Quebec Ministry of Justice made publicly avail- able an online registry of persons, businesses, and organizations that have been declared "litigants subject to authorization," also known as vexatious litigants, by a Superior Court order. As of November, there were approximately 200 names on the list. The order limits a party's right to file an action by forcing them to get the authorization of a judge before they can file a new procedure. The ministry, through its spokesperson, told Canadian Lawyer that although it doesn't keep statistics on the matter, it could nevertheless affirm that the number of such litigants has been rising in the last 15 years. In 2000, when the Superior Court started to study the subject of vexatious litigants, there were, in Quebec, 41 persons declared as such, compared with the actual 200. The registry, accessible on the justice ministry's web site, is formatted as a research tool to find information on the listed parties by typing the name of the litigant or the case's file number. — PE QUEBEC SETS UP VEXATIOUS LITIGANT REGISTRY PASCAL ELIE

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