Top Five 2006: R v Boulanger
Each year at OJEN’s Toronto Summer Law Institute, a judge from the Court of Appeal for Ontario identifies five cases that are of significance in the educational setting. This summary, based on these comments and observations, is appropriate for discussion and debate in the classroom setting.
R v Boulanger, [2006] 2 S.C.R. 49, 2006 SCC 32
A police officer’s daughter was in a car accident, and the officer asked the attending police officer to produce a more comprehensive accident report. The supplementary report saved the daughter $250 in an insurance deductible. The Supreme Court of Canada determined that this officer did not commit the offence of breach of trust. Although the officer showed bad judgment, his actions did not “rise to the level of seriousness required to establish the actus reus [guilty act] of the offence of breach of trust” [para. 67]. The full decision is available here.
