The Avoidance of Stereotypical Reasoning in Rendering Judgment

Canadian trial judges have been encouraged to rely upon “reason, common sense and life experience” in making credibility assessments (see R. v. Delmas, 2020 ABCA 152, para. 31, aff’d 2020 SCC 39). However, a number of recent Canadian Court of Appeal decisions have concluded that this use of common sense has, at times, caused Canadian trial judges to stray into stereotypical reasoning, rendering their credibility-based judgments invalid. In very succinct terms, the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal recently indicated that “[r]eliance on a stereotype in assessment of credibility is impermissible and an error of law” (see R. v. Stanton, 2021 NSCA 57, para. 84).