Many new Canadians are unfamiliar with the legislation that protects them in the workplace. Research indicates that immigrants with limited English speaking abilities often turn to their children to act as intermediaries to pass on information, including legal information. By developing resources … [Read more...]
Vaclav Havel and the Meaning of Tragedy in Politics and Law
Vaclav Havel, who died in Prague shortly before Christmas in 2011, was a great dissident hero and champion of civil liberties who played a vital role in opposing the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. He became a powerful rallying voice in the peaceful overthrow of the totalitarian political system … [Read more...]
Quitting and Giving Notice: What Employees Need to Know
Introduction Since employees like to be in control of their lives, they think they can quit an employer any time it suits them. But woe to the employer who feels the same way about terminating employees. Somehow employees think employers cannot freely dismiss employees but employees can … [Read more...]
When Prosecution Met Defence: The Michael Bryant Case
Facts of the Case At 9:47 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2009, former Ontario attorney general and CEO of Invest Toronto Michael Bryant, driving home after dinner with his wife, had a violent encounter with a younger man on a bicycle, Darcy “Allan” Sheppard. Sheppard was drunk, and at a traffic light on Bloor … [Read more...]
Role of the Organization of American States in Canadian Human Rights: Part 2
This is a continuation of an earlier column about the Report on Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women in British Columbia, Canada which was issued in December 2014 by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“IACHR”) of the Organization of American States. The Report concludes with a series … [Read more...]
Viewpoint 39-5: Hundreds of recommendations go unimplemented
Legal Strategy Coalition demands greater government commitment and accountability to ending violence against Indigenous women and girls An alarming study released recently shows that governments in Canada have repeatedly ignored expert recommendations to stop violence against Indigenous … [Read more...]
A Judge Balances Controversy with Compassion
No person is criminally responsible for an act committed or an omission made while suffering from a mental disorder that rendered the person incapable of appreciating the nature and quality of the act or omission or of knowing it was wrong. - Criminal Code of Canada, Section 16 This is known as the … [Read more...]
Essential Services and the Right to Strike
On January 30, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada decided Saskatchewan Federation of Labour v Saskatchewan (“SFL”). In a 5-2 decision, the Court determined that the Public Service Essential Services Act (“PSESA”), in restricting certain public sector workers’ rights to strike, violated freedom of … [Read more...]
Medical Care and Children: Law, Ethics and Emotions Collide
While I imagine that being a judge is never easy, some situations and cases present more difficult decisions than others. And I imagine that the most troubling rulings a judge must make are those which may be expected to lead directly to the death of another person. While Canada does not have the … [Read more...]
The Indian Act: Can it be abolished?
Two simple observations are made so often about the Indian Act as to amount to clichés: That the 1876 Act is still with us, and that it should be “abolished.” The first of these is technically false; the 1876 Act was repealed in 1951, and replaced with the Act we have today, though it has been … [Read more...]
