CPLA was granted leave to present arguments before the Ontario Court of Appeal in Dorsey v Canada, a case concerning the scope of the writ of habeas corpus. As was pointed out in the CPLA’s factum, the writ of habeas corpus is one of the only tools federal prisoners can use to protect and uphold their statutory and constitutionally protected liberty interests. Transfer and placement decisions within federal prisons have an enormous impact on the day-to-day lives and release prospects of all federal prisoners. When their protected interests become vulnerable to disregard by penal authorities, their liberty is jeopardized.
You can read the full legal submissions here.
This is not the first time the CPLA has provided appellate submissions on habeas corpus. In 2018, for example, the CPLA intervened in Chhina v Canada, a Supreme Court case addressing the application of habeas corpus to immigration detainees. You can read CPLA’s factum from that case here.
canadian prison law association