Webinar: Four years of legal cannabis: Legal challenges and new case law

Panel Members:
Dr. Nathalie Desrosiers (moderator, RCMP), Joanna Wells (Justice Canada), Robert Palser (Alberta Crown Prosecution Service), Dallas Mack (Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General), Bill Gorman (Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service), Dr. Karen Woodall (University of Toronto Mississauga)

Content: It’s been four years since the legalization of cannabis in Canada. Our community has questions surrounding this change from both the legal and scientific perspective. Together, a panel of legal experts, representatives from Justice Canada, and the scientific community will address this new and evolving topic. They will discuss how the legal landscape changed, what legal challenges have been brought forward, and what case law has been put in place in the last 4 years. They will also explore the implications of these legal changes and challenges on the forensic science community.

Dr. Nathalie Desrosiers is the moderator of this panel discussion. She is employed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a Team Lead in Toxicology. Dr. Desrosiers completed their Ph.D. in Toxicology at the University of Maryland Baltimore after completing their B.Sc. in Forensic Science and Analytical Chemistry, and M.Sc. in Chemistry at Laurentian University. Before joining the RCMP, Dr. Desrosiers worked at s Forensic Scientist at The Ontario Centre of Forensic Sciences as well as for the New York State Police.

Robert Palser (LL.B.) is a Senior Policy Counsel with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, Traffic Safety Coordinator of Alberta, and the Director of the Driving Offences Initiative. He was called to the bar of Alberta in 2002. Robert is a Qualified Technician, trained in Standard Field Sobriety Testing, Drug Recognition Evaluations, and Collision, and is a nationally recognized expert in motor vehicle law. His Policy work includes body worn video, disclosure, safety searches, and street checks.

Dr. Karen Woodall is an Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) in Forensic Science at the University of Toronto Mississauga. Dr. Woodall worked as a Forensic Toxicologist at the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto for 20 years before joining the University of Toronto. As a forensic toxicologist, she regularly testifies in court as an expert witness in many different types of trials including drug trafficking, homicide, sexual assault and impaired driving cases. Karen is also a member of the Canadian Drugs and Driving committee which acts as an advisory body to the Department of Justice with respect to issues of drug impaired driving. Her research includes toxicology and the opioid crisis, the role of drugs in motor vehicle fatalities and oral fluid drug testing equipment.

Bill Gorman is Senior Crown Counsel at the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service. Bill received their LL.B from the University of New Brunswick in 1988 after completing their B.Sc. in Biology at St. Francis Xavier University. Bill has 19 years of defence work and 14+ years of experience working as Crown. He is SFST and DRE trained. He successfully argued the first 2 constitutional challenges to the per se amendments in Nova Scotia (the first 2 in the country) upholding the constitutionality of the amendments

Carl Lem has been an Assistant Crown Attorney in Ottawa since 2006. He is currently the East Region’s representative on the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General’s Drugs and Driving Team.

Joanna Wells works as Legal Counsel in the Criminal Law and Policy Section of Justice Canada.