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 forty-one 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. All About Information  2. The Court  3. Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada  4. First Reference  5. Official Clio Blog

All About Information
SCC favours expression over privacy without restraint
Here is Paul Broad and my summary of today’s remarkable Supreme Court of Canada decision in Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 401. (The Court struck down Alberta PIPA as violating section 2(b) of the Charter.) I’m more open in this forum to think openly about the decision, which strikes me as being most characterized by its unrestraint. The Court could have issued a pronouncement clearly confined to the precise labour-relations context before it, but did not. . . .

The Court
Supreme Court Upholds Sniffer Dog Searches
In a pair of recent decisions, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld sniffer dogs searches that trial court judges had ruled unconstitutional. The use of sniffer dogs engages section 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which protects against unreasonable search and seizure. In the first case, R v. Chehil, 2013 SCC 49, the court unanimously held that the sniffer dog search did not violate section 8. In the second case, R v. MacKenzie, 2013 SCC 50, the court was divided, with a narrow majority holding that there was no section 8 violation. . . .

Employment & Human Rights Law in Canada
Making Cyberbullying a Criminal Offence in Canada
On Wednesday, the Canadian federal government introduced Bill C-13, a ‘new’ cyberbullying bill to address the increasingly harmful effects of intimate images going viral online. The cyberbullying proposals are part of a wider omnibus bill that amends a few acts, including the Criminal Code and Evidence Act. Many of the cyberbulling provisions are in fact similar to provisions in Bill C-30 that was introduced in February 2012, but that was withdrawn due to the public opposition over the extent to which ISPs would have been required to hand over customer information. For further commentary, here’s a good summary of critique on the bill by CBC journalist, Andre Myers. . . .

First Reference
WSIB making progress: The hard reality for employers
Elizabeth Witmer, who has held the position of WSIB chair for over a year now, recently reported that the WSIB has made significant progress in the quality of service it provides to Ontario workers and employers. Looking back four years earlier, the future and sustainability of the WSIB system seemed bleak as finances continued to worsen and the unfunded liability reached unbelievable levels—2012 the number was reported to be upwards of 13 billion. Something needed to change. Witmer exclaims that the WSIB has now begun to pull away from that “tipping point” and focusing on the “longer-term viability of workers’ compensation in Ontario.” . . .

Official Clio Blog
Clio whitepaper offers guidance to law firms that are considering a Cloud practice management platform
Themis Solutions Inc., the creator of Clio, a Cloud-based case management platform for SME sized legal practices, has released a new whitepaper to provide guidelines for European legal firms that are considering a Cloud Practice Management platform. The Clio whitepaper ‘European Cloud practice management – where to start?’, examines a number of elements such as the benefits of Cloud practice management systems, questions to ask a prospective Cloud supplier, and local compliance, privacy and regulatory issues that must be taken into consideration. . . .
_________________________

*Randomness here is created by Random.org and its list randomizing function.