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 seventy 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. Michael Spratt  2. BC Liquor Law 3. Vancouver Immigration Blog  4. Canadian Securities Law  5. FamilyLLB

Michael Spratt
An Open Letter to Chief Bordeleau

Dear Chief Charles Bordeleau, It happened again. A factually guilty man was acquitted of all charges because your police officers failed to follow even the most basic constitutional requirements. Back in 2013 the Ottawa Citizen raised serious questions about the lack of continuing Charter training your officers receive. So did I. Your response was that “Charter breaches are exceptional” and that your officers receive adequate Charter training through “discussions on parade and peer-to-peer training”. …

BC Liquor Law
Her Majesty the Queen v. Gerard Comeau

Over four days in late August, 2015 the harrowing tale of Mr. Comeau’s fateful trip across the J.C. Van Horne Bridge that connects Quebec and New Brunswick, with a trunk full of booze, was played out in a court room in the town of Campbellton, New Brunswick – population 7, 385. The facts were straightforward, and are now well known: Mr. Comeau, like so many other New Brunswick residents, from time-to-time made the trek to a liquor store just inside the border of Quebec to take advantage of cheaper alcohol prices. …

Vancouver Immigration Blog
The Problem of Employer Reference Letters for Economic Immigration under Express Entry

The importance of employer reference letters in today’s economic immigration system cannot be understated. The current Express Entry process is largely applicant driven through self-declaration, up to and until the point a decision is made. With the Applicant essentially able to select the dates and self-select the National Occupation Code (“NOC”) to match their work experience, it is understandable that immigration must closely scrutinize the supporting documentation. …

Canadian Securities Law
Securities Act will soon include whistleblower protections

Employees in Ontario can soon expect to be protected from anti-retaliatory measures in connection with whistleblowing activities. As part of the Ontario Budget Measures Bill 173,which received royal assent on April 19, 2016, the Ontario government has approved amendments to the Securities Act (Ontario) (OSA) that are intended to implement protection for reprisals against employees who provide information about a possible contravention of Ontario securities law, or a by-law or other regulatory instrument of a recognized self-regulatory organization (SRO), or who are involved in an investigation or proceeding related to the information provided. …

FamilyLLB
Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines Are Now an Even Handier Tool

We have written before about the role of the Spousal Support Advisory Guidelines (SSAG), which are designed to provide guidance and inject some certainty into the court’s task of setting spousal support levels between former spouses in certain prescribed scenarios. But since they are only “advisory” (rather than mandatory) in nature, questions sometimes arise as to when courts should use them, when they can or should deviate from them, and under what support-adjudicating circumstances can they be referred to by courts in the first place. …

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