Preamble

This post is the third of a series considering three major issues under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the impact of how the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has defined rights; the relationship between rights; and the relationship between guarantees of rights and freedoms and section 1 of the Charter.

I focus the discussion of these issues through the lens of section 3, which guarantees the right to vote and to be eligible to sit in the legislature. Following the exploration of the SCC jurisprudence relating to each of the three issues in relation to . . . [more]

Today, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (“DEI”) practices have become indispensable in almost every legal workplace. DEI practices aim to promote a new notion of professionalism, one where individuals from all walks of life enjoy fair treatment and full participation. “Merry Christmas” has become “Happy Holidays”. Profiles of Black and Asian-looking lawyers surge during Black History Month and Asian Heritage Month. Rainbows are slapped onto logos before the pride parades. Land recognitions are performed before major events.

However, do these actions mean this new notion of professionalism is working well?

Where It Starts: DEI as a Departure from a “History of

Russia is using the law as a weapon against its own citizens to silence all criticism of its unlawful war of aggression against Ukraine. International attention has been focused on Russia’s high-profile criminal prosecutions of independent journalists and opposition politicians. Comparatively little attention is being paid to thousands of dissenters punished with hefty fines under a new censorship law that forbids the “discrediting” of Russia’s armed forces.

One Russian human rights organization, OVD-Info, is pushing back against the law by facilitating the submission of a battery of complaints to the Russian Constitutional Court. The complainants argue that the law against . . . [more]

This week Slaw is presenting works by students in my upper year Professional Responsibility course at the University of Ottawa. The assignment given to the students was open-ended: write a 800-900 word essay on a topic of your choice. I instructed the students to focus on a single issue and try to use the assignment as an opportunity to reflect and elaborate on a specific point raised in our course readings or in class.

I encourage students to bring their own experiences into the classroom and share them with us and in their writings. This year was our first fully . . . [more]

Ethics are the core of the legal profession, guiding lawyers, young and old in their interactions with clients, the public, and the bar. Each jurisdiction maintains a Code of Professional Conduct as a set of rules for lawyers to follow as members of the profession to maintain the profession’s honour and dignity. Much of each Code is open to interpretation and therefore can only form part of a lawyer’s approach to ethical conduct. Every lawyer also relies on their personal ethics, character, and the advice of their mentors, colleagues, and peers.

This short paper will address the challenges of ethical . . . [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) : Le comportement abusif des policiers lors de l’arrestation de l’accusé constitue une atteinte à l’intégrité du système de justice qui sera révélée, perpétuée et aggravée par le déroulement du procès ou son issue, et il n’y a aucune autre réparation susceptible de corriger cette atteinte que l’arrêt . . . [more]

In Moffitt v. TD Canada Trust, 2023 ONCA 349, the Ontario Court of Appeal addresses the test for summary judgment motions. Justice Brown, writing for the Court, confirms that a summary judgment motion brought under Rule 20 of the Rules of Civil Procedure has the same test regardless of whether a party has elected for a judge alone trial or a jury trial.

In Ontario, the test for whether granting a summary judgment is appropriate is not concerned with who would act as the trier of fact if a trial is required. The focus is on whether a trial . . . [more]

Written by Lewis Waring, LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

In a recent Alberta ruling, an employer was found to have failed to accommodate an employee’s rare disability when it refused to accept a lesser known medical test. Instead of maintaining a flexible attitude, the employer arbitrarily decided to reject the employee’s medical evidence merely because the test violated its policy. As a result, the employer was found liable for disability discrimination under the Alberta Human Rights Act.

Background

The employer was a public sector health services organization. The employee worked for the employer from 1992 in different positions until . . . [more]

In a recent episode of HBO’s Succession, billionaire daughter Shiv Roy learns that she can’t hire her preferred divorce lawyer because the lawyer is “conflicted out”. Surprised that her husband, Tom Wambsgans, would have chosen the same lawyer she wished to retain, Shiv inquires after a few other top New York divorce lawyers, only to discover they too were conflicted out. Shiv realizes Tom “met with or retained every useable lawyer in New York” to prevent them from representing her against him—a move her shrewd father pulled on her mother many years before. (“I got mommed,” Shiv later tells . . . [more]

A number of years ago, my boss told me he wanted to have a one on one meeting. He was leaving the organization shortly, and he had never done a one on one meeting with me except on my request, so I knew something was going down.

We sat in his office guest chairs, across from one another, as was his habit. He said he wanted to touch base before he left the organization, and then the meeting began. It turned out to be largely a recitation of my flaws and missteps as an employee over the years we worked . . . [more]

Preamble

This post is the second of a series considering three major issues under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: the impact of how the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has defined rights; the relationship between rights; and the relationship between guarantees of rights and freedoms and section 1 of the Charter.

I focus the discussion of these issues through the lens of section 3, which guarantees the right to vote and to be eligible to sit in the legislature. Following the exploration of the SCC jurisprudence relating to each of the three issues in relation to . . . [more]