Since the onset of COVID-19 and the requirements for physical distancing, the Canadian court system has been criticized for being archaic, outdated, out of touch with the modern era and too deeply traditional. Most commentators have vigorously pushed for our criminal courts to utilize videoconferencing technologies to deliver justice – arguing that using videoconferencing technology platforms to conduct court business will be more beneficial to Canadians, ease the growing backlog of cases, reduce cost and improve access to justice.

As a result, courts across Canada have increasingly accepted videoconferencing technology as a fair and efficient way to move judicial proceedings . . . [more]

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and which French-language case have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about.

For this last week:

1. Armstrong v. Royal Victoria Hospital, 2019 ONCA 963 (CanLII)

[87] In any case where standard of care is at issue, the court must determine what is reasonably required to be done (or avoided) by the defendant in order to meet the standard of care: Berger v. Willowdale A.M.C. (1983), 1983 CanLII 1820 (ON CA), 41 O.R. (2d) 89 (C.A.), at p. . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Miscellaneous Jargon
Neil Guthrie

We’ve had lots on bad business jargon in this space, but other fields of endeavour have also been polluting the language. Surface: This is from the world of technology, a jargon-generator if ever there was one. … . . . [more]

Project managers have the responsibility of organizing and directing the completion of projects. In normal times, this might mean making sure the project stays within scope, doesn’t go over budget, and is completed on time. However, this year brought about a change none of us expected, adding an extra layer of challenge and forcing project managers into unchartered territory.

Over the past year, CanLII worked with over 30 volunteers to compile an open BC litigation practice manual. Looking back on this experience, there are a few things I’ve learned about managing a project during a pandemic that I’d like to . . . [more]

We are witness to a parallel or alternate dimension where the constitutional rights democratic nations have toiled to enshrine and interpret, including freedom of speech, can be effectively – and imperceptibly – bypassed. While this situation prevailed prior to COVID-19, the pandemic has fast-tracked erratic private mediation of expression out of sheer necessity.

Questions respecting social media platforms’ ad hoc or arbitrary reactions to sensitive matters abound, including Twitter’s unprecedented restraint of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden piece and Facebook’s slowdown of the story.

Presumably recognizing some degree of state-like responsibility, platforms are deploying algorithmic decision-making tools and . . . [more]

Most of us are looking forward these days to vaccines, especially to help us see a world where we are living following a pandemic. Not everyone is keen on vaccines though, and those divisions extend to disputes between parents over their kids.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice recently released an appeal in A.P. v. L.K. of an arbitration, where the arbitrator concluded it was not in the best interests of the two children of the relationship to become vaccinated. A court may confirm, vary, or set aside an arbitral award, or remit it to the arbitral tribunal, under s. . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PROCÉDURE CIVILE : En publiant l’enregistrement d’une audience virtuelle de la Cour d’appel sur Facebook, le défendeur a contrevenu à la règle interdisant l’enregistrement et la rediffusion des audiences; par conséquent, il se voit ordonner de retirer l’enregistrement vidéo de sa page Facebook et de ne pas le publier, ni . . . [more]

“Minds have been opened and changed over the past few months,” legal author and commentator Richard Susskind wrote in a 2020 article titled The Future of Courts. “Many assumptions have been swept aside.”

The global pandemic has forced lawyers and justice system stakeholders out of their normal physical environments and into what on the surface appears to be the safe harbour of the virtual world. Remote hearings may protect us all from a virus; the platforms that make them possible may, however, have their own issues.

An internet truism is that if you’re not paying for the product, you are . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs:

• Legislative Affairs Specialist (Full-time) | Remote/within commuting distance to Victoria, BC
  (Ecojustice)
• Research Resources and Inclusivity Initiatives Librarian (Full-time) | Ithaca, New York
  (Cornell University Law Library)

By Daniel Standing LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

 
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice put forward several motions in a wrongful dismissal case, Kaminsky v. Janston Financial Group, 2020 ONSC Number 5320 (CanLII) via Zoom in August. The parties ended up in court following Carolyn Kaminsky’s dismissal from her position within her family’s business. The decision turned on a point of civil procedure and provides employers with insight into what they may argue at trial based on their knowledge of facts amounting to just cause at the time of dismissal. . . . [more]