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College of Law

Research Area(s)

  • Police Powers
  • Legal Theory
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Criminal Law (domestic)
  • Charter of Rights
  • Canadian Constitutional Law

Professional education

  • BA (Sask)
  • JD (Sask)
  • LLM (Toronto)
  • PhD (Alberta)

Profile

Dr. Colton Fehr joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Saskatchewan in a tenure-track position January 1, 2024. He was previously an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law at Thompson Rivers University and the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. Before embarking on an academic career, Dr. Fehr worked as a law clerk at the Provincial Court of Saskatchewan and as a Crown prosecutor for Saskatchewan Justice. His teaching and research interests fall broadly into the areas of criminal law, criminal procedure, evidence, and constitutional law. Dr. Fehr is currently a research affiliate with the Centre for Constitutional Studies and is an editor on several Canadian law journals, including being a member of the Criminal Law Quarterly’s editorial board. His scholarship has appeared in numerous academic journals and he is the author of two books: Constitutionalizing Criminal Law and Judging Sex Work: Bedford and the Attenuation of Rights.

Courses taught

  • Criminal Law
  • Criminal Procedure
  • Evidence
  • Advanced Criminal Law
  • Charter in Criminal Law
  • Jurisprudence
  • Sentencing
  • Crime & Public Policy
  • Legal Research & Writing

Publications

(a) Books

  1. Judging Sex Work: Bedford and the Attenuation of Rights (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2024).  
  1. Constitutionalizing Criminal Law (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022).

(b) Articles

  1. “Turning Breadcrumbs into Dialogue: An Institutional Justification for R v Bykovets” (2025) 103 Canadian Bar Review (forthcoming).  
  1. “Cell Phone Searches Incident to Arrest: Revisiting R v Fearon Ten Years Later” (2025) 73 Criminal Law Quarterly (forthcoming).  
  1. “Getting Rid of the Riot Act” (2025) 47 Manitoba Law Journal (forthcoming) (with Steven Penney). 
  1. “Search Incident to Arrest and the Role of Law Enforcement Interests” (2024) 56 University of British Columbia Law Review (forthcoming).  
  1. “R v JJ, Trial Delay, and the Recent Trend of Staying Sexual Assault Charges” (2024) 83 Criminal Reports (7th) (forthcoming).  
  1. “The Legality of Incorporating Provincial Law into a Criminal Offence” (2024) 109 Supreme Court Law Review (forthcoming).  
  1. “The Role of Intervenors in Constitutional Litigation after Sharma and McGregor” (2024) 1 Thompson Rivers University Law Review (forthcoming).  
  1. “Unpacking Bill S-12: Pragmatic Compromise or Undue Deference?” (2024) 28 Canadian Criminal Law Review (forthcoming).  
  1. “Studying Religious Symbols and Bias in Court Proceedings” (2024) 61:3 Osgoode Hall Law Journal (forthcoming) (with Nicholas Fraser).  
  1. “Searching Short-Term Rental Units: When Will Police Require a Warrant?” (2024) 71 Criminal Law Quarterly (forthcoming) (with Robert Diab).  
  1. “Unpacking the Implications of Remand Time Constituting Punishment” (2024) 62:1 Alberta Law Review (forthcoming).  
  1. “A Promising Piece of the Puzzle: Human Dignity and the Role of Section 1 of the Charter” (2024) 33:1 Constitutional Forum 67-74.  
  1. “Over the Hills: Section 12 of the Charter at 40” (2024) 102:2 Canadian Bar Review 393-418.  
  1. “The Moral Foundation of Criminal Defences and the Limits of Constitutional Law” (2023) 68:3 McGill Law Journal 291-327.  
  1. “Are Limits on Granting Credit for Time Served on Remand Constitutional?” (2023) 27 Canadian Criminal Law Review 129-47.  
  1. “Criminal Law in Canada” in Neil Boyd, ed, Understanding Crime in Canada: An Introduction to Criminology, 3rd ed (Toronto: Emond, 2023) 41-60.  
  1. “Reflections on the Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in v. Sharma” (2023) 60:4 Alberta Law Review 933-54.  
  1. “Yombo c R: Affirming and Obscuring the De Minimis Defence” (2023) 81 Criminal Reports (7th) 59-63.  
  1. “Remedying Unreasonable Delay” (2023) 60:3 Alberta Law Review 739-54.  
  1. “Litigation Under Section 7 of the Charter after R v Brown” (2022) 80:1 Criminal Reports (7th) 80-85. 
  1. “Criminal Records for Marijuana Possession: Is Eligibility for a Pardon Enough?” (2022) 45:4 Manitoba Law Journal 19-41.  
  1. “Defending the Castle: Search Incident to Arrest after R v Stairs” (2022) 26:3 Canadian Criminal Law Review 227-41. 
  1. “Vaccine Passports and the Charter: Do they Actually Infringe Rights?” (2022) 43:1 National Journal of Constitutional Law 95-113. 
  1. “Should the Common Law Authorize Random Stops on Private Property?” (2022) 70:3 Criminal Law Quarterly 338-51. 
  1. “Deterring Rights Litigation: R v Basque” (2022) 78:1 Criminal Reports (7th) 138-43. 
  1. “Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccinations and the Charter” (2022) 31:1 Constitutional Forum 7-18. 
  1. “Why De Minimis is a Defence: A Reply to Professor Coughlan” (2021) 67:1 McGill Law Journal 1-23. 
  1. “Familial DNA Searching and the Charter” in Chris Hunt and Robert Diab, eds, Digital Privacy and the Charter (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2021) 261-81.  
  1. “Criminal Law and Digital Technologies: Drawing Lessons from the Canadian and American Experiences” (2021) 53:3 University of British Columbia Law Review 651-702.  
  1. “The Constitutionality of Excluding Duress as a Defence to Murder” (2021) 44:4 Manitoba Law Journal 109-33.  
  1. “Tying Down the Tracks: Severity, Method, and the Text of Section 12 of the Charter” (2021) 25:2 Canadian Criminal Law Review 235-53.  
  1. “Re-thinking the Process for Administering Oaths and Affirmations” (2020) 43:2 Dalhousie Law Journal 637-56.  
  1. “Automatism and the Burden of Proof: An Alternative Approach” (2020) 25:2 Canadian Criminal Law Review 115-22.  
  1. “Re-thinking the Instrumental Rationality Principles of Fundamental Justice” (2020) 58:1 Alberta Law Review 133-52.  
  1. “Criminal Law and Digital Technologies: An Institutional Approach to Rule Creation in a Rapidly Advancing and Complex Setting” (2019) 65:1 McGill Law Journal 67-113.  
  1. “Instrumental Rationality and General Deterrence” (2019) 57:1 Alberta Law Review 53-68.  
  1. “Consent and the Constitution” (2019) 42:3 Manitoba Law Journal 217-48.  
  1. “A Proposal for Police Acquisition of ISP Subscriber Information on Administrative Demand in Child Pornography Investigations” (2019) 24:2 Canadian Criminal Law Review 235-47.  
  1. “Infusing Reconciliation into the Sentencing Process” (2019) 28:2 Constitutional Forum 25-30.  
  1. “Digital Evidence and the Adversarial System: A Recipe for Disaster?” (2018) 16:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 437-57.  
  1. “The ‘Individualistic’ Approach to Arbitrariness, Overbreadth, and Gross Disproportionality” (2018) 51:1 University of British Columbia Law Review 55-74.  
  1. “The Constitutionality of Using Production Orders to Obtain Stored Communications Content” (2018) 23:2 Canadian Criminal Law Review 171-82.  
  1. “Self-Defence and the Constitution” (2017) 43:1 Queen’s Law Journal 85-122.  
  1. “(Re-)Constitutionalizing Duress and Necessity” (2017) 42:2 Queen’s Law Journal 99-134.  
  1. “Reconceptualizing De Minimis Non Curat Lex” (2017) 64:1 Criminal Law Quarterly 200-24.  
  1. “Domestic Detention under Article 78(2) of the ICC Statute” (2017) 15:1 Journal of International Criminal Justice 31-50.  
  1. “The (Near) Death of Duress” (2015) 62:2 Criminal Law Quarterly 123-49.  
  1. “Divorced from (Technological) Reality: A Response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s Reasons in R v Fearon” (2015) 20:1 Canadian Criminal Law Review 93-110 (with Jared Biden).  
  1. “Cell Phone Searches Incident to Lawful Arrest: A Case Comment on the Ontario Court of Appeal’s Decision in R v Fearon” (2014) 60:3 Criminal Law Quarterly 343-59.

(c) Book Reviews

  1. Book review of Search and Seizure by Robert Diab and Chris Hunt (2024) 47 Manitoba Law Journal (forthcoming).  
  1. Book Review of How to Conduct a Sentencing Hearing in Canadaby Gregory Koturbash (2024) 87 Saskatchewan Law Review 135-39.  
  1. Book Review of Sexual Regulation and the Law: A Canadian Perspective by Richard Jochelson and James Gacek (2020) 57:4 Alberta Law Review 1045-52.  
  1. Book Review of Reconciling Sovereignties: Aboriginal Nations and Canada by Felix Hoehn (2013) 76:2 Saskatchewan Law Review 366-69.

(d) Op-Eds & Reports  

  1. “Police Powers and Public Order Disturbances: A Background Paper Prepared for the Public Order Emergency Commission” (6 September 2022), online: <https://publicorderemergencycommission.ca/files/documents/Policy-Papers/Police-Powers-and-Public-Order-Disturbances-–-Penney-and-Fehr.pdf> (with Steven Penney).  
  1. “Enacting the Charter Made us More Liberal and Less Democratic” The Hub (20 April 2022), online: <https://thehub.ca/2022-04-20/opinion-enacting-the-charter-made-us-more-liberal-and-less-democratic/> (with Steven Penney).