Privacy law is the new frontier in personal rights. Although privacy may be “a protean concept” (R v. Tessling, para 25), it is one of the most fundamental issues in a digital era.

The lack of statutory development, and the challenges of extending existing statutory frameworks to emerging privacy issues, has forced the courts to develop new rights of action to protect the privacy interests of Canadians.

The second of these, the tort of public disclosure of private facts, has a troubled history. Decided on a default judgement, including the setting aside of the decision when . . . [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.

PÉNAL (DROIT) : Les appels interjetés à l’encontre des déclarations de culpabilité de Robert Poirier, ancien maire de Boisbriand, et de France Michaud, une dirigeante de la firme d’ingénierie Roche, sous divers chefs d’accusation de fraude et de corruption afférents à l’adjudication de contrats par la Ville de Boisbriand pendant . . . [more]

A British Columbia Arbitrator recently held in a preliminary award that an employee who reported to work smelling of alcohol did not provide the employer with reasonable cause to test that employee for drugs.

What happened?

A couple of years ago I wrote a column here about using trade agreements to promote laws among the contracting states that would promote electronic commerce. The example discussed was the Trans-Pacific Partnership, then in draft form.

There have been some developments since then that may be of interest.

CPTPP

The Trans-Pacific Partnership had a bit of a bumpy ride, as President Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement before it was signed. The other parties to the negotiation made some changes to the text then signed it under the name Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. . . . [more]

As the number and sophistication of social engineering attacks increases, victims are examining their insurance policies to see if they are covered. In The Brick Warehouse LP v. Chubb Insurance Company of Canada, 2017 ABQB 413, and in Taylor & Lieberman v. Federal Insurance Company, 2017 WL 929211 (March 9, 2017 9th Cir.), fraudulent emails, as part of a social engineering attack, were sent to company employees who acted on them transferring money from the insured’s account. In both cases courts held that coverage under the Fund Transfer Fraud policy was denied as the victim knew or consented to . . . [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. David v. Loblaw, 2018 ONSC 6469

[4] I make no comment on the merits of those arguments here. They will doubtless be argued at a certification hearing some months down the road. I merely set out the background in order to illustrate why the request for funding approval has arisen. Given the discrepancy between, on one hand, the very large size . . . [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

CanLII Adds the Canadian Legal Research and Writing Guide
Susannah Tredwell

For anyone looking a good guide to legal research, Catherine Best’s “Best Guide to Canadian Legal Research” has been updated by a team of legal research experts (Melanie Bueckert, André Clair, Maryvon Côté, Yasmin Khan and Mandy Ostick) and added to CanLII’s commentary section. ….

Technology

Speed Up Your Computer by Closing Unnecessary Applications
Luigi . . . [more]

After much Trump-inspired drama over Canada’s participation in his new North American trade accord, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) was issued on September 30, 2018 (with final ratification by the three countries still pending at this point). While there is much ado about cheese, milk, and automobiles to it, intellectual property rights also figures prominently in the agreement. Its intellectual property provisions seek “the promotion of technological innovation… to the mutual advantage of producers and users… [in] a balance of rights and obligations.” While this would seem to make it all about patent regulation, it also allows for a need . . . [more]

In my April column, I mentioned the introduction of Bill C-75 by the federal government. It was introduced for first reading in the House of Commons in March, and is now before the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights, from where it will go back to the House for third reading.

Unless amended, Bill C-75 will wipe out criminal law practices in most law school clinics in Canada, and worsen the administration of justice in our criminal courts. At no time has the federal government indicated that it intended to stop law students from representing accused persons. No evidence . . . [more]

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) has been Canada’s most significant legislative attempt to deal with privacy issues in society. The new Regulations under the Digital Privacy Act, which create privacy breach recording obligations, came into force on Nov. 1, 2018.

Although the Privacy Commissioner has provided guidance on these amendments previously, the guidance document was updated further on Oct. 29, 2018, along with a new form for reporting a privacy breach. The guidance form was finalized following 20 submissions from various sectors on the draft document.

Despite these changes, the Privacy Commissioner has noted . . . [more]