Calgary's Community Court is an alternative court space that gives people facing minor offences the support they need to improve their lives."Justice is a basic human need. In our highly regulated and complex society, people confront legal problems in myriad aspects of their daily lives. And … [Read more...]
Coming January 2026: The Family Focused Protocol
On January 2, 2026, the Court of King’s Bench is significantly changing family court in Alberta with its new Family Focused Protocol.Starting on January 2, 2026, the Court of King’s Bench is changing how it deals with family law cases. This new approach is called the Family Focused Protocol … [Read more...]
Caste system in Canada poses legal challenges but hope lies in strong human rights codes
Caste discrimination impacts the lives of many people in Canada, but human rights scholars and advocates are working to change that.Most Canadians might think of a caste system as something that happens somewhere far away, a brutal vestige of times past, and certainly unrelated to life in this … [Read more...]
2025 Employment Law Alberta Year in Review – Part 2
In 2025, Alberta courts decided on important employment law issues, including employment contracts, the duty to mitigate damages for wrongful dismissal, summary judgment, and more.This two-part article summarizes some important employment law decisions in Alberta in 2025. It does not focus on … [Read more...]
The Alberta Legislature repeatedly uses the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield controversial laws from court challenges
Alberta's use of the notwithstanding clause in the proposed Protecting Alberta’s Children Statutes Amendment Act and other controversial laws might impact Albertans' Charter rights.EDITOR'S NOTE This article was published on November 24, 2025. The Alberta Legislature passed Bill 9, the … [Read more...]
2025 Employment Law Alberta Year in Review – Part 1
In 2025, Alberta courts decided on important employment law issues, including severance pay and reasonable notice, employment standards, professional regulation, just cause for termination, and more.This two-part article summarizes some important employment law decisions in Alberta in 2025. It … [Read more...]
Breaking Deadlocks: How sealed bidding resolves real estate disputes in family law
Sealed bidding involves parties submitting secret bids without knowing what others are bidding. This process can break deadlocks in family law disputes over real estate as it promotes fairness and maximizes property value.In family law, figuring out who keeps specific real estate can be … [Read more...]
Alberta’s Compassionate Intervention Act and Charter Rights
In 2025, Alberta passed the Compassionate Intervention Act, which allows designated individuals to ask the court to admit someone for drug treatment without that person's consent. Some critics say it violates several Charter rights.In 2024, 1,414 people died in Alberta from drug poisoning, … [Read more...]
Will the Alberta Legislature use the Charter’s Notwithstanding Clause to shield controversial Education Act changes?
The Alberta government may use the notwithstanding clause to protect new controversial laws, including those requiring parents to be notified if their child wishes to use new, gender-related preferred names or pronouns at school.In November 2024, LawNow published Student Charter Rights in the … [Read more...]
Interprovincial Parenting Applications: Which court decides?
When co-parents live in different provinces and parenting issues arise, they can try to come to an agreement themselves or with the help of a professional. If not, there are legal processes to figure out which court should decide.EDITOR’S NOTE This article was first published in LawNow on … [Read more...]
