R v Skinner
supreme Court of Canada case
R v Skinner, [1990] 1 SCR 1235, is a leading constitutional decision of the Supreme Court of Canada on the freedom of expression under section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms ("Charter").
Background
Dorman Skinner was arrested while trying to proposition an undercover police officer. He was charged with "communicating in a public place for the purpose of obtaining the sexual services of a prostitute" contrary to section 195.1(1)(c) of the Criminal Code. He was convicted at trial. On appeal, Skinner argued the provision of the Criminal Code violated his right to freedom of expression under section 2(b) of the Charter. The Court of Appeal agreed and found a violation that could not be saved under section 1 of the Charter. It was also suggested the provision may also violate the right to freedom of association under section 2(d) of the Charter.
The issues before the Supreme Court was whether section 195.1(1)(c) of the Criminal Code violated sections 2(b) and 2(d) of the Charter, and if so, whether the provision was justifiable under section 1 of the Charter.
In a 4–2 decision, the Court overturned the ruling of the Court of Appeal. It held that the provision violated section 2(b) but was saved under section 1, and did not violate section 2(d).
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17111648. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1990 and 1235.
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This entry incorporates text from “R v Skinner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.