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. ReconciliAction YEG 2. Robeside Assistance 3. Canadian Privacy Law Blog 4. Barry Sookman 5. Double Aspect

ReconciliAction YEG
Alberta Justice Finds that Alberta Independence Would Contravene Treaties with First Nations (Chief Electoral Officer of Alberta v Sylvestre, 2025 ABKB 712)

On December 5, 2025, Justice Feasby of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, issued his decision in Chief Electoral Officer of Alberta v Sylvestre, 2025 ABKB 712 regarding whether a referendum on Alberta Independence proposed under the Citizen Initiative Act, SA 2021, c C-13.2 would contravene the Constitution Act, 1982 . Justice Feasby found that Charter rights would no longer be guaranteed, and thus Alberta independence would contravene the Constitution. Justice Feasby also found that Alberta independence would contravene Treaties 6, 7, and 8, which combined cover virtually all of Alberta. …

Robeside Assistance
Recently Published Ottawa Decisions

Family Matters: Saucier v. Lafrance-Dion (2026 ONSC 3370) In a custody dispute, the Court granted the mother sole decision-making authority and primary residence of the child, with supervised parenting time for the father, transitioning to unsupervised visits upon completion of anger management. Child support was recalculated based on the father’s updated income.
Justice R. Maranger …

Canadian Privacy Law Blog
PIPEDA Replacement Tabled in House of Commons

The proposed new privacy law includes order-making powers, penalties but completely sidelines the existing Privacy Commissioner: On June 15, 2026, the Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation Even Solomon tabled in the House of Commons Bill C-36, called “An Act to enact the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, to amend the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and to make amendments to other Acts”. This is the long-awaited privacy bill that is slated to replace the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which has regulated the collection, use and disclosure of personal information in the course of commercial activity in Canada since 2001. …

Barry Sookman
Artificial Intelligence, Access to Justice, and the Future of Law

For more than half a century, access to justice has been one of the most persistent challenges facing legal systems in Canada. Governments have funded legal aid. Courts have simplified procedures. Law societies have promoted pro bono services. Legal clinics have expanded their reach. Yet despite these efforts, legal services remain unaffordable for many people and legal processes remain inaccessible to many Canadians. In Hryniak v. Mauldin,[1] Karakatsanis J. writing for the Supreme Court of Canada stated …

Double Aspect
You Can’t Have a Pony

This is, I hope, the lost post in the sort-of-series occasioned by the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent unprincipled and inconsistent decisions on constitutional interpretation. In my comment on Alford v Canada (Attorney General), 2026 SCC 14, I wrote that, despite my harsh criticism of the Supreme Court’s majority, “I have no time for the populist clowns demanding that Supreme Court judges be removed from office in case they dare make decisions that the clowns dislike”. …

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