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 more than 80 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. Welcome to the Food Court 2. BC Provincial Court eNews 3. The Court 4. Excess Copyright 5. Michael Geist

Welcome to the Food Court
Canadian Cosmetic Regulations to Receive a Makeover

The Cosmetic Regulations, which exist under the Food and Drugs Act, came into force in 2006 and have not experienced a significant amendment since. The current regulations allow industry to label the cosmetic either by individually identifying the fragrance ingredient or using the term “parfum” at the end of the list of ingredients. For consumers with allergies or sensitivities, manufacturers aren’t required to provide much information to help guide them when trying to avoid products that may contain ingredients that could cause some form or reaction. …

BC Provincial Court eNews
Technology enables Provincial Court to continue operation despite Golden courthouse fire

On March 13, 2023 fire devastated the Law Courts in Golden, British Columbia. Not just courtrooms, but paper court files were destroyed. Twenty years ago, this would have caused serious delays or put an end to many court proceedings. But today, the Provincial Court of BC has been able to continue its work in Golden with much less disruption thanks to more recent advances in digital record-keeping and remote court appearances. …

The Court
Is Crown Immunity Absolute? The SCC to Hear Appeal in Attorney General of Canada v Power

The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) will soon comment on the compelling question of how far Crown immunity stretches. Having granted leave to appeal in Attorney General of Canada v Power, 2022 NBCA 14, the SCC will soon provide clarity as to whether or not the Crown can be held liable for damages for passing legislation later deemed unconstitutional by the courts. …

Excess Copyright
Copyright Board Rules of Practice and Procedure: Plus Ça Change, Plus C’est La Même Chose?

After years of concern about extraordinary delays and other problems that led a Senate Committee to label the Copyright Board back in 2016 as “dated, dysfunctional and in dire need of reform”, the Board has finally come up with some supposedly new “Copyright Board Rules of Practice and Procedure: SOR/2023-24” The only thing that is reasonably clear from this very prolonged, non-transparent and no doubt very expensive exercise and the resulting new document is that the Board is trying to justify yet another budget increase of as much as a million dollars a year. …

Michael Geist
Why the Senate Should Restore the User Content Amendment and Send Bill C-11 Back to the House of Commons

Bill C-11 took a major step forward late last week as the government cut off debate yet again and forced a vote on an amended bill that rejected the Senate’s fix to concerns about user content regulation. The vote has sparked heated debates on social media, including mistaken insistence by some that the bill does not affect user content (it clearly does) or that it will censor what Canadians can say online (it will not). The reality is that Bill C-11 has important freedom of expression implications not because it will limit people’s ability to speak, …

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