Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Legal Guide to Emerging Technologies. By Imran Ahmad & Shreya Gupta. Toronto: LexisNexis, 2023. xiv, 113 p. Includes index. ISBN 9780433524748 (softcover) $130.00.

Reviewed by Katarina Daniels
Research Lawyer, Library Services Lead
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP

Legal Guide to Emerging Technologies provides a clear and structured introduction to . . . [more]

My last Slaw column discussed two recent cases in which Ontario’s Law Society Tribunal found individuals who had previously engaged in sexual misconduct involving minors were currently “of good character”. The findings in those cases, AA and Colangelo, have since been (repeatedly) upheld on appeal.[1]

Unsurprisingly, these decisions were controversial in the court of public opinion (sample Toronto Star comment: “When your [sic] a member of a governing body that characterizes pedophiles as people ‘of good character’, you have a problem”). Lawyers and law students similarly expressed dismay with the outcomes (for example, one commenter on . . . [more]

I have the impression, no more than that, and in no sense verifiable nor measurable, that among the eminent experts and commentators, there seems to exist a possibly small number of self-interested and obsessive nerds, primarily in North America, on the periphery of that part of the law publishing industry which actually has paying customers, who spend much of their time pretentiously telling us that the major players are about to go under and be overtaken by minnows. I understand that similar but different paranoia extends also to legal practice; it seems, to me at least, to be . . . [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) : Il est indéniable que l’autobus conduit par l’accusé a embouti la garderie, tuant 2 enfants et en blessant 6 autres, et qu’il ne s’agissait pas d’un geste accidentel, mais le tribunal conclut que l’accusé était, au moment des gestes reprochés, aux prises avec un trouble mental de . . . [more]

As a child living in remote Northern B.C., my dad had a dog sled team made up of several Siberian Huskies. Huskies are working dogs prized for their strength and endurance. They require significant exercise and mental stimulation. A Husky without a task is easily bored and can be destructive. In the summertime, my dad would harness his dogs to a small cart to keep them occupied and happy. Without their cart, they would howl their displeasure.

I’m afraid I might be a Husky. I love to work. I love setting tasks and completing them, whether I’m paid for it . . . [more]

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Rough & Messy Justice: A Train Heist, Murder & Misdeeds

Author: W. Keith Regular
Foreword by Hon. Peter W. L. Martin
Publisher: Durvile
Publication Date: May 1, 2025
True Cases Series, Book 12
ISBN: 978-1-990735-66-0 (pbk)
E-book and audiobook also available
6” x 9” | 288 Pages | B/W Photographs
Price: $35 . . . [more]

On December 18, 2024, the Supreme Court of British Columbia issued a decision in Clearview AI Inc. v. Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, 2024 BCSC 2311. At its core, the case involved a challenge by a U.S.-based artificial intelligence (AI) company against a binding order from British Columbia’s privacy regulator. The company, Clearview AI, had amassed a large facial recognition database by scraping billions of publicly accessible images from the internet, many of which depicted individuals located in British Columbia, without obtaining their consent.

The decision is significant not only for its factual context, but for what . . . [more]

A case scheduled for fall 2025 before the Ontario Court of Appeal will presumably address the appropriate test for granting leaves to appeal (see Knauff v. Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (Div. Ct.) (“Knauff“). The resulting decision should tell us whether parties seeking leave to appeal from the Divisional Court should follow West Whitby Landowners Group Inc. v. Elexicon Energy Inc. (Ont. CA) (“West Whitby”) or Davis v. Aviva General Insurance Company (Ont. CA) (“Davis“).

In West Whitby, a panel composed of Brown, Huscroft and Miller JJ.A. questioned whether Re Sault Dock Co. . . . [more]

This is a case of not closing the barn door after the horse is out, to use a pre-twentieth-century expression for a twenty-first-century issue. But, more precisely, I want to argue for propping the barn door open to enable the rest of the horses to run free after a good number have been questionably sold off.

Let me explain. Think of those sold-off horses as the research studies that at least three major research publishers – Taylor & Francis, Wiley, and Oxford University Press with more deals pending – have rented out to AI giants, such as Microsoft, for the . . . [more]