In 1899, Treaty 8 was negotiated with several First Nations groups in Northern Alberta—North East Saskatchewan, Southwest parts of the Northwest Territories and later Eastern British Columbia—resulting in land surrender to the Crown. However, members of the Lubicon Lake Band were left out of the … [Read more...]
Alternatives to Court: The Collaborative Process
John-Paul Boyd explained why people might want to find an alternative to court to reach a resolution about their family law disputes in the November/December 2018 issue of LawNow. One alternative to court is the Collaborative process. Many processes, such a negotiation or mediation, can be … [Read more...]
Limits on Recourse for Donors Once a Gift is Made
It is an under-appreciated nuance of Canadian charity law that s. 92(7) of our Constitution actually gives the provinces the bulk of regulatory authority over charities. Provincial governments often don’t exercise their jurisdiction in this area, so the federal government’s Canada Revenue Agency … [Read more...]
No Judicial Role in Religious Disputes: Jehovah’s Witnesses v Wall
Introduction A perennial criticism of the Canadian judiciary is its excessive activism. Many think that the courts have helped fashion Canada into a nanny state and the Supreme Court of Canada is the most interventionist of the nanny courts. The recent case of Highwood Congregation of Jehovah’s … [Read more...]
A Year of Holidays
Introduction The Christmas and New Year holiday season is a good time to reflect generally on work and legally enforced rest. This article is about the law of holidays, the legislated observance, and payment of holidays by employers across the country for the benefit of their workers. There is … [Read more...]
Post Jordan Mentality vs. Humanity: Who Wins?
After the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling in R. v Jordan, 2016 SCC 27, which clarifies and streamlines the Charter of Rights and Freedoms delay of proceedings applications pursuant to section 11(b), “Jordan issues” in the courtroom are still alive as ever. Crown Attorneys, judges and court staff … [Read more...]
Important Concepts in Environmental Law – The “Precautionary Principle”.
Last issue we talked about sustainable development. This time the topic is the precautionary principle. Most human activity has risk. When we are deciding whether we should do something, we balance the risks against the possible rewards. Risk has two parts. First, there is the probability that … [Read more...]
Important Concepts in Environmental Law – the Idea of “Sustainable Development”
In the next few columns I am going to talk about some concepts that are important to understanding environmental law. The first is the idea of sustainable development. A quick search of the CANLII website shows the phrase appears in Canadian federal and provincial legislation 359 times and in … [Read more...]
Back to the Future on Registered Charities and Political Activities
Regulation of registered charities' "political activities" has long been a bugbear of both the sector and governments. My last column dealt with an Ontario Superior Court decision that ruled parts of the current Income Tax Act (ITA) provisions governing charities' political activities … [Read more...]
Effects of the Notwithstanding Clause on Human Rights
Recently, there has been much discussion of the use of the notwithstanding clause, which is section 33(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter). Section 33(1) reads: Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, … [Read more...]
