For well over 100 years, students in industrial-era trade apprenticeships and professions have learned by ‘watching and doing’ under the supervision of the master craftsman. Historically, there was little or no pay or benefits associated with these tutelages. They were viewed as voluntary educational experiences which benefited the apprentice and burdened the senior craftsman. Most […]
EMPLOYMENT | What to do with Your Conscience at Work?
March 3, 2020 By Peter Bowal
We hear a lot today about people following their conscience. Conscience is more than mere preferences and choices. It is about one’s values, spiritual worldview and visceral sense of right and wrong. Few employees want to compromise on their deepest conscientious beliefs for their jobs. These beliefs often arise from religious convictions but are technically […]
FAMOUS CASES | Provinces Leaving Canada Part II: The Clarity Act
The obligations we have identified are binding obligations under the Constitution of Canada. However, it will be for the political actors to determine what constitutes “a clear majority on a clear question” in the circumstances under which a future referendum vote may be taken. – Reference Re Secession of Quebec, [1998] 2 SCR 217 at […]
VIEWPOINT | The Supreme Court of Canada Changes Its Mind
January 7, 2020 By Peter Bowal
[on the Supreme Court of Canada being ‘the most progressive in the world’] I would say so, yeah, and I must say I’m very proud of that. – Richard Wagner, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada (June 2018) Introduction In an article for LawNow a few years ago, I was staggered to see […]
EMPLOYMENT | Opening the Legal Profession: The Andrews case
While legislatures must inevitably draw distinctions among the governed, such distinctions should not bring about or reinforce the disadvantage of certain groups and individuals by denying them the rights freely accorded to others. – Andrews v Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 SCR 143 Introduction In the recent federal election, a party leader campaigning […]
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