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Monday’s Mix

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from sixty recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. The Treasurer’s Blog  2. IP Osgoode  3. ABlawg.ca  4. Legal Post Blog  5. First Reference

The Treasurer’s Blog
Le goût de l’accès à la justice en français
As you may know, I normally write in English and post a French translation. Occasionally, I do the opposite. This week, clicking the “Français” tab above will reveal the English translation. L’honorable Julie Thorburn de la Cour supérieure de justice a récemment parlé de l’importance des droits linguistiques des francophones en Ontario. Lors d’un déjeuner-causerie organisé par l’Association du Barreau de l’Ontario, la juge Thorburn a examiné le commentaire de la Règle 1.03 du Code de déontologie des avocats qui prévoit que l’avocat doit, s’il y a lieu, informer son client de son droit à l’emploi du français dans le traitement de son dossier. . . .

IP Osgoode
Talking “Open Innovation” in Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture
The contemporary global order for the promotion of innovation exaggerates the role of intellectual property (IP) as a closed proprietary model of knowledge production and protection. Partly as a boomerang effect of that order and/or partly as a coincidence of the phenomenal rise in the information and communication technologies, there has been increased gravitation toward open, collaborative, shared, communal, and interdependent models of innovation. This trend is typified by the rise of open software movement and cognate endeavors in the era of wiki, open access, creative commons, crowdsourcing, etc. . . .

ABlawg.ca
Unlawful Delay in the Preparation of Recovery Strategies under SARA and New Questions about Northern Gateway
Case commented on: Western Canada Wilderness Committee v Canada (Fisheries and Oceans), 2014 FC 148
The federal government is failing to adhere to legislated timeframes for implementing recovery strategies under the Species at Risk Act, SC 2002, c 29 (SARA). In Western Canada Wilderness Committee v Canada (Fisheries and Oceans), 2014 FC 148, the Federal Court has declared this to be unlawful conduct by the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and the Minister of the Environment in relation to 4 species at risk: the pacific northwest humpback whale; marbled murrelet; woodland caribou (southern population); and Nechako river white sturgeon. . . .

Legal Post Blog
African activities contributed to Heenan Blaikie’s demise, firm founder says
Heenan Blaikie LLP founder Peter Blaikie has sent staff an internal email in which he attributes the firm’s demise to controversial business dealings in Africa. Mr. Blaikie hasn’t been involved with the firm’s management for many years, but he still keeps a desk in the firm’s Montreal office. Apart from a one-page statement released earlier this month that expresses his sadness over the 40-year-old firm’s dissolution, he has refrained from public comment. Yet on Tuesday, Mr. Blaikie sent staff an email in which he suggested they read a National Post report from last weekend that connects the firm’s collapse to some controversial business in Africa involving former Heenan Blaikie partner Jacques Bouchard. . . .

First Reference
It’s time to re-examine your health and safety training
The Occupational Health and Safety Awareness and Training Regulation (O. Reg. 297/13), will come into effect on July 1, 2014, allowing workplace parties time to prepare. This blog post will provide you with more information about this regulation, an overview of your new training obligations, and identify a number of resources that you can use to assist you in becoming compliant. . . .
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*Randomness here is created by Random.org and its list randomizing function.

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