Recently, extradition has been front and centre in our news cycle (see: CBC, January 22, 2019 “China accuses U.S., Canada of abusing extradition in Huawei case”). There are very important human rights aspects to the process of extradition. These are critical to our democracy and the rule of law. For … [Read more...]
Charities’ Political Activities Question Quieted, If Not Fully Resolved
The long tumult over registered charities' role in public policy debate appears on the cusp of being resolved, or at least being significantly quieted, in the wake of three recent developments.First, in December, the federal government enacted legislation to amend the Income Tax Act (ITA) in … [Read more...]
Believe It or Not Tenancy Questions
Here at CPLEA, we receive hundreds of questions about landlord and tenant issues every year. While a majority of them are relatively straightforward, we occasionally receive some questions that leave us scratching our heads or in a state of disbelief (or sometimes a bit of both). In this article, … [Read more...]
What is ‘Self-Dealing’ in Employment?
Introduction While they have human bosses, most employees work for corporations, which are legal fictions with no physical existence. That renders employers technically vulnerable to their own employees who might want to take advantage of them. It is both impossible and undesirable to scrutinize … [Read more...]
A Brief Overview of Canadian Immigration Law
Immigration law in Canada can seem daunting and confusing to understand. It would certainly be difficult to condense all immigration-related concepts within a single article. This article serves as a basic overview to provide an understanding of common terms and immigration programs in Canada. It … [Read more...]
Legislation By Thunderbolt: the Remarkable Career of Dave Barrett
“True enough, the country is calm. Calm as a morgue or a grave, would you not say?-Vaclav HavelI recall an era where progressive politics in Canada was both exciting and a little bit dangerous for the wealthy elite and the power brokers. One of the first politicians who engaged my interest … [Read more...]
Privacy Rights of Children
Introduction There is an ever-increasing concern for privacy rights of children. Privacy has many different dimensions and involves many different actors. The Oxford dictionary describes it as: “a state in which one is not observed or disturbed by other people”. Privacy may be sought from the … [Read more...]
Privacy in Judicial Decisions
Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.– Lord Acton (1834-1902) Introduction The legal protection of personal information that is collected and held by government is a relatively recent … [Read more...]
Citizens in the West should care about discriminatory immigration policies
An executive order banning citizens from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States ushered in the first major policy conflict of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.Demonstrations quickly spread across airports as prominent Democrats, some Republicans and … [Read more...]
Refugee Protection and the Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement
The right to be protected from persecution is an international human right. Under Canada’s immigration laws, a person in Canada can claim status as a Convention Refugee or as a Person in Need of Protection.Article 1(2) of the United Nations 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (the … [Read more...]
