Growing a business takes people. In early days, many startups have just one “employee”: the founder. At some point, the founder might retain the services of independent contractors to perform certain services. And eventually, many startups and growing businesses hire employees and become, for the … [Read more...]
The Continuing Relevance of International Law in Canada
To some Canadians, international law may be perceived as an amorphous body of law with little, if any, direct impact on their day-to-day life. After all, international law was historically referred to as the “Law of Nations”: the laws which governed the conduct of sovereign states as actors on the … [Read more...]
BenchPress – Vol 43-2
Important Limit to the Duty to ConsultAlberta’s Mikisew Cree First Nation took the federal government to court over its omnibus budget bill of 2012. This bill made significant changes to Canada’s environmental protection regime. The Mikisew were not consulted at any stage of the legislative … [Read more...]
Where the Monarchy Meets the State: Canada’s Vice-Regal Offices
It is a role that straddles several worlds - political, royal, legal and diplomatic - and combines tact, careful judgment, discretion and wisdom. Welcome to the offices of the governor general of Canada and the provincial lieutenant governors.As a constitutional monarchy, Canada’s Parliament has … [Read more...]
Alternatives to Court: Arbitration
In our first column in this series, I introduced the basic alternatives to resolving family law disputes in court – negotiation, mediation and arbitration – and talked about some of the surprising research on lawyers’ views about litigation. In the second column, Sarah Dargatz wrote about … [Read more...]
R v Reeves: Shared Computer? Don’t Fret—Your Secrets are Safe
People share things. They share rooms, apartments, and wi-fi passwords. They share socks, Netflix accounts, and leftovers. But what does this sharing entail, exactly? As a shared owner, what rights do you actually have? Does shared ownership allow one to unilaterally decide what happens to the … [Read more...]
New & Updated Resources at CPLEA – Vol. 43-4
All resources are free and available for download on cplea.ca. We hope that this will raise awareness of the many resources that CPLEA produces to further our commitment to public legal education in Alberta. For a listing of all CPLEA resources go to: www.cplea.ca/publicationsIn this … [Read more...]
BenchPress – Vol 43-4
A series of cases decided in January 2019 highlight the ongoing problems with solitary confinement within Canada’s corrections system.The British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled on a challenge filed by the John Howard Society and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association against the Attorney General … [Read more...]
Convicted on Sexism: How does sexist reasoning in favour of the complainant work in today’s #metoo culture?
In R. v. J.L. 2018 ONCA 756, The Ontario Court of Appeal allowed the appeal of an accused who was convicted of sexual assault. The trial judge convicted the accused because he felt that the complainant would not engage in the acts as described by the accused because she was a young woman. The … [Read more...]
Important Concepts in Environmental Law – “Polluter Pays”
Your parents may have told you: “If you make a mess, you have to clean it up.” In a nutshell, that is the basis of the “polluter pays” principle. There is a lot wrapped up inside the simple principle of polluter pays. The roots of the principle come from economics rather than from … [Read more...]
