The federal government’s proposal to revive mandatory minimum punishments that courts had ruled unconstitutional will likely insulate the changes from future challenges, legal experts say.

But widespread criticism remains over the use of such required minimum punishments for people convicted of specific offences, with those against the changes citing negative impacts on Indigenous people and other marginalized communities, as well as research that shows harsher sentences often do not deter crime.

The federal government’s plan to name femicide in the Criminal Code and introduce measures to reduce violence against women is being lauded by advocates who have long worked for stricter penalties for these crimes, and for official recognition of their prevalence.

The proposals are contained in Bill C-16, tabled on Tuesday, which would make a wide range of changes to the Criminal Code. Among them would be the introduction of several scenarios that would meet the definition of femicide, including murder of an intimate partner while motivated by hate based on sex and gender. The bill would classify femicide as first-degree murder, even if the killing is not planned and deliberate.

The federal government has moved to toughen the Criminal Code for the second time this fall, in a new bill focused on violence against women and children, as well as court delays that have derailed many serious cases in recent years.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government described the changes in a statement as an overhaul of the Criminal Code, and “one of the most consequential reforms” in a generation.

The Supreme Court of Canada this week will hear two cases that involve overlapping Aboriginal title, as courts across the country grapple with increasingly complex questions related to Indigenous land rights.

Both cases at the top court involve the Gitanyow First Nation, which is seeking to prove that it has Aboriginal rights and title to about 6,200 square kilometres of land in northwestern British Columbia.

The Gitanyow claim overlaps Nisga’a Nation land, which is covered by a modern treaty that provided governance and ownership rights over around 2,000 square kilometres. The Gitanyow land also overlaps an area that the Tsetsaut/Skii km Lax Ha Nation claim as their territory. The land is in the Nass River area, north of Prince Rupert.

The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday sent a drug trafficking case back to trial in the lower courts, even though the prosecution had exceeded a strict deadline.

But the top court did not rule on broader questions of how delays in the justice system are handled.

Strict criminal trial deadlines imposed by the Supreme Court of Canada are derailing about 10,000 cases a year, a list that includes several alleged murders and hundreds of alleged sexual assaults, according to the latest Statistics Canada data.

The dire situation has led the federal government and the three biggest provinces to call on the Supreme Court to provide some leeway on the time limits, called Jordan deadlines, in a drug-trafficking case to be heard at the top court in Ottawa on Thursday.

Ontario wants to reinstitute the widespread use of cash bail, more than a half century after the practice was mostly abandoned in Canada because of concern it unfairly harmed lower-income people.

The move follows federal efforts to toughen bail and sentencing laws with changes to the Criminal Code. Both are responses to political and public pressure tied to violent crime and public safety.

Twenty years ago, Cosmo Jacobson was convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of a Crown witness who had been set to testify against him for charges in an earlier home-invasion case.

Last week, he participated as a speaker at a seminar for some judges on the Ontario Court of Justice in a panel about the treatment of inmates and conditions of life behind bars.

Now, some attendees are complaining. A written statement from Jason Gennaro, a spokesman for the court, said some had “expressed concerns about the panel.” Correspondence was sent to all 356 judges on the Court of Justice to acknowledge the concerns.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Wednesday scored a legal victory in his government’s push to allow internet gamblers in the province to bet in games with players outside of Canada.

In early 2024, the government asked the province’s top court for an interpretation of the Criminal Code on whether bettors in Ontario were allowed to play in online games with players from outside the country.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s controversial ruling against mandatory-minimum jail sentences for some child-pornography crimes has shone a harsh spotlight on how the top court weighs the law in such cases.

The 5-4 decision on Oct. 31 – with Chief Justice Richard Wagner co-writing the dissent – led a range of political leaders across the country to lambaste the ruling.