Results tagged “law”

It's been two months since Mariam Makhniashvili disappeared without a trace, and Toronto police are attempting a new tactic in their search for clues: peeking into thousands of homes around the Bathurst and Eglinton area. Sixty officers began knocking on doors this week, asking for residents to let them in to root around, scouting for possible evidence. They hope to cover about six-thousand houses and apartments, and although homeowners are not legally obligated to let officers inside without a warrant, denying the request is bound to make some people feel like automatic suspects, possibly subjecting themselves to further scrutiny. As for the motivation of the Toronto Police Service, some would say that canvassing neighbourhoods has worked before, while the more cynical might wonder if the force is attempting to improve the optics of the case, given that any leads seem to have run dry. However, by knocking on doors and asking to be invited in, the police are asking the community to waive its right to privacy, albeit for an important reason. "The innocent have nothing to fear," goes the mantra, yet one of the cornerstones of human rights is the protection of privacy and prevention of arbitrary interference and intimidation. Keep calm and carry on?

What was advertised as a civic rally looked more like a mid-afternoon coffee break. On October 19, friends, colleagues, and supporters of Darcy Allan Sheppard—the cyclist who died after an altercation on August 31 with former Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant—mingled on the lower steps of Old City Hall at 2:30 p.m. with their coffee mugs and lunch boxes, but did little else.

If there's one thing people agree about, it's that they hate politicians a lot more than they hate prostitutes. Everything else is up for grabs.

Renting in Toronto is already a trying experience, what with landlords charging outrageous rents for their "bright, sunny" basement apartments. But renters with furry companions face another hassle: apartment ads that boldly state "No pets," and landlords who won't rent to someone with a pet.

U of T's flat fee proposal for Arts and Science students—the one that would force new students to pay for 5.0 courses, regardless of how many courses, from 3.0–6.0, they actually took—has barreled over the final administrative hurdle at the University of Toronto, and was passed this evening by the university's Governing Council at a meeting held at the school's Mississauga campus.

Can a commercial printer invoke religion in order to refuse services?

Beginning in mid-April, you may have noticed Lettuce Eatery's twelve Toronto locations sporting new signage that rebrands the chain as Freshii, a name that may have some people scratching their heads. "It might not be the greatest name in the world, and it doesn't really mean anything," Freshii's young CEO, Matthew Corrin, says over the phone from Chicago. "It connotates freshness and fun. A name doesn't really mean anything until you attach the brand to it."

Two weeks after the University of Toronto got one step closer to passing a contentious proposal that would force many new students to pay a flat fee regardless of the number of courses they were actually enrolled in, the University of Toronto Students' Union (UTSU) and the Arts and Sciences Students' Union (ASSU) have—according to a press release sent out by them this morning—"filed an urgent application asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to stop a flat fee proposal from moving ahead."

Toronto needs a song. Yes, there are plenty of tunes about Toronto, plenty of albums inspired by Toronto, plenty of lyrics that namedrop Toronto. But we lack an anthem. Songs that have this city as their explicit subject tend to be at least one of: a) ironic, b) mournful, c) novelties, or d) dated. Yet we suspect there are already some hymns-in-waiting that defy these categories; perhaps you've even written one yourself.

Last week, further to news reported on Illegal Signs, we briefly noted the Ontario Superior Court's refusal to grant Strategic Media a temporary exemption from certain provisions of the City of Toronto's sign bylaw. If granted, Strategic Media (and most likely all other advertisers) would have been allowed to suspend compliance with these provisions until a court resolved the ongoing claim [PDF] over whether these provisions are valid.

Ticketmaster's shady relationship with the secondary ticketing market is back in the news, with a half-billion dollar lawsuit filed in Toronto accusing the company of scalping its own tickets. The lawsuit follows hot on the heels of last week's ticket sales for a string of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concerts across the United States and Canada: after Ticketmaster told customers it had sold out of tickets, those customers were redirected to TicketsNow—"a Ticketmaster company"—and encouraged to fork over hundreds of extra dollars on tickets that were never available for regular sale. (U.S. Congress threatened an investigation, while TicketsNow quickly announced it'd no longer sell tickets before an event's actual on-sale date.) The case could set a precedent for how tickets are bought and sold across Canada, and it’ll be fascinating to see how it plays out.

While the conflict in Gaza cools down—at least for now—the war of words in Toronto continues to boil.

Photo by guspim.

The Star's Rosie DiManno has been covering the first of what will be many trials related to Jane Creba's sad death, and we've been dutifully avoiding reading her coverage so as to preserve our sanity. But DiManno, who usually only breaks laws of good taste and good writing, may have gone against the spirit if not the letter of the...uh, actual law, in yesterday's column. DiManno, writing about one witness—one of the co-accused who will likely be tried later—said that "Because he was only 17 at the time of the Yonge St. shootout, purportedly between two groups of males, the witness can't be identified. Even the sweet-sticky street name by which he was more familiarly known is covered by a publication ban." Tricky! Publication bans under the federal Youth Criminal Justice Act, the Ministry of the Attorney General's website notes, are there to prevent "the name of the young person or any other information that could or would identify the young person as having been dealt with under the Act" from being published—"sweet-sticky street name"s, you'd think, included.

Photo by Michael Chrisman from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.

Not satisfied with the long odds currently on offer at Ontario's casinos, problem gamblers have found a new way to probably not win an obscene amount of money. According to the CBC, problem gamblers who have voluntarily excluded themselves from casinos are filing a $3.5 billion lawsuit against the OLG, claiming that the system that is intended to keep them out of casinos doesn't work.

Photo of a Koodo mobile ad by Marc Lostracco.

The Supreme Court today announced, in a 9–0 decision, that the federal government of Canada is obligated to disclose to Omar Khadr and his attorneys all relevant documents and information obtained through Canadian interviews of Khadr conducted in 2003. (A federal judge will determine which of these documents are relevant to Mr. Khadr's case.) The federal government previously withheld this information on security grounds.

Little-known fact: Third-party mobile signs, such as the one above for the U of T Career Centre, are illegal in Toronto (and the City recently hired a sort of bounty hunter to drive around in a truck, seizing and impounding them). Perhaps this is one of the reasons why.

The province has ordered the City of Toronto to stop stonewalling in the face of freedom of information requests about allegedly illegal billboards.

Photo by Fanch the System.

Photo by Joe Lee (London, via Londonist).

The Globe and Illegal Signs report today that Titan Outdoor Canada Company has asked the courts to save its sixteen vinyl billboards from a City of Toronto removal order.

Nobody likes to be stranded during the holiday season due to car trouble. Whether it's a dead battery, unexpected snowfall, or executing a 180-degree spin into the ditch alongside the 401 on the way back to the city, inclement weather and Murphy's Law often combine to make this a busy time of the year for auto clubs like CAA. Even beloved weekend movie hosts occasionally require their assistance.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

Torontoist is ending the year by naming our Heroes and Villains of 2007––the people, places, and things that we've either fallen head over heels in love with or developed uncontrollable rage towards over the past twelve months. Get your dose, starting Boxing Day and running into the new year, three times a day––sunrise, noon, and sunset.

It looks like there will now be a reprieve for all of you filthy, dirty scum who have dared to engage in file-sharing, downloading, and the elusive but nonetheless nefarious "time-shifting."

When Austrian company Wiener Stadtwerke approached Owen Pallett/Final Fantasy about using the song "This Is The Dream of Win & Regine" in a commercial, Pallett declined (probably nicely). So, naturally, Wiener Stadtwerke used the song in a commercial in June of this year anyway––or, at least, the most similar re-recorded version of Final Fantasy's song possible, changing a few notes in the violin part, adding some guy awkwardly singing "can you feel it?" and crediting...