We live in a world where communication happens instantaneously and copious amounts of real and false information can be spread rapidly to a large number of people. Information has become so abundant that those who aren’t well-versed researchers can easily be overwhelmed and have difficulty … [Read more...]
Oh, S***! Court of Appeal Rules on One Man’s Bowel Movements and Charter Rights
In R. v Poirier [2016] ONCA 582 the Ontario Court of Appeal excluded the drugs excreted from Mr. Poirier’s rectum because of the manner of the police investigation that led to its discovery. Without that evidence, Mr. Poirier was acquitted of all charges.Mr. Poirier was arrested after five … [Read more...]
Pregnancy Discrimination Remains an Issue
Whenever I teach undergrad students about gender discrimination, they are often quite shocked to discover that as recently as the 1970s, there was a Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruling that found that discrimination on the basis of pregnancy was not a form of gender discrimination (See: Bliss v … [Read more...]
Exploring New Frontiers for the Delivery of Legal Services in Canada
A brush with the judicial system in any capacity is not a pleasant experience for most people. Even those who succeed in a court usually do not walk out happy. But if you are amongst the increasing number of people who simply cannot afford to pay for legal services, the experience with the judicial … [Read more...]
Celebrating Anniversaries: A Year after CHRT’s Ruling on Discriminatory Funding of Welfare Services for First Nations Children
January 26, 2017 marked the first-year anniversary of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal’s (“The Tribunal”) landmark decision regarding the issue of funding for child welfare services provided to First Nations children on reserve and in the Yukon. The complaint was filed in 2008 by the First Nations … [Read more...]
1984 and None Turn Back: Two Timely Novels
George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984, published less than a year before the English novelist and journalist’s untimely death in 1950, has had extraordinary staying power. Indeed, twice in recent times it has raced up the bestsellers lists, to the Number 1 position at Amazon in 2013 after the … [Read more...]
Who’s The Boss? – Jurisdiction Over the Environment in Canada
In the last issue of LawNow I talked about some of the reasons environmental law can be challenging to understand. One of those reasons was that different levels of government in Canada have power to make rules about different things. In this article I want to discuss the basics of who has … [Read more...]
Keystone XL and NAFTA
No Party may directly or indirectly nationalize or expropriate an investment of an investor of another Party in its territory or take a measure tantamount to nationalization or expropriation of such an investment ("expropriation"), except: (a) for a public purpose; (b) on a non-discriminatory … [Read more...]
Aboriginal Child Protection and Dual Citizenship: Membership has its Benefits
In British Columbia, the Director representing the Ministry of Children and Family Development must notify the Aboriginal community (i.e. Indian Band) when there are child protection concerns such as removal of a child from their parents.Under the Child, Family and Community Services Act … [Read more...]
Cumulative Cause.2
Introduction The constitutional freedom of expression that Canadians enjoy does not extend to private workplaces. What are employee limits on speaking out against private employers?The last Employment Law column narrated the story of Ms. Kim, a media specialist in the position of Senior … [Read more...]
