On March 26, 2026, Bill C-12, the Strengthening Canada’s Immigration System and Borders Act, received Royal Assent. Framed as a response to system pressures and “asylum shopping,” the law marks one of the most significant shifts in Canada’s refugee regime since 2002. Its core effect is simple but profound: it narrows who gets access to a full refugee hearing, and how.

Three changes deserve particular attention.

A One-Year Deadline for Refugee Claims

Canada has replaced a flexible standard requiring claims to be made “without delay” with a strict one-year filing deadline. Claims submitted after that period . . . [more]

It has been clear for a long time that self-represented litigants struggle to understand the system they are often thrown into. By contrast, lawyers study for years, and have the benefit of ever-mounting daily experience, topped off with the privilege and deference associated with belonging to the legal profession. It’s no wonder then that SRLs tend to muddle blindly through the system, piecing together whatever information they can find from a host of sources, some more reliable than others. Naturally they make mistakes, and are inefficient, contributing to the existing backlog and straining the legal system. These litigants are very . . . [more]

Individuals who disclose wrongdoing are sometimes subjected to negative perceptions, but nothing is more counterproductive to societal progress than such stigma. Reporting unethical or illegal conduct is both appropriate and necessary and those who demonstrate the courage to come forward should be recognized as heroes—not disparaged. Whistlblowers play a critical role in promoting positive change.

The Origins of Whistleblower Protection: Marven and Shaw’s Landmark Stand

In 1777, U.S. naval officers, Richard Marven and Samuel Shaw, made a bold and dangerous decision to expose the misconduct of their commander-in-chief, Commodore Esek Hopkins[1]. At the time, the stakes were extraordinarily . . . [more]

It is with deep sorrow that we mark the unexpected passing of our friend and colleague at the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ), Lisa Moore, who passed away in December. Lisa was a generous colleague, an incisive researcher, and a quiet but formidable force in the access to justice community. Lisa devoted her professional and academic life to understanding how people actually experience legal problems, and to insisting that access to justice research remain accountable to those lived realities. Her passing leaves a profound absence in a field she helped shape with care, rigour, and compassion.

What distinguished Lisa’s . . . [more]

At the beginning of January, the Globe and Mail ran an article about the Chief Justice of Ontario’s visits to communities across Ontario, part of an outreach undertaking. From Chief Justice Tulloch’s perspective, this type of initiative provides the members of the bench with an opportunity to gain a, “better understanding of the people we are serving.”

While this is a crucial consideration for adjudicators, such outreach serves to benefit communities as well. Not only does it humanize the law by putting an actual face on justice, but it serves to humanize the individuals who are engaged in interpreting and . . . [more]

On January 23, 2026, a disturbing incident unfolded in the Oshawa courthouse that forced the Canadian legal profession to confront a truth many Black lawyers have long known but too often endured in silence. Sudine Riley, a Black woman and criminal defence lawyer, had just completed a trial and was working in a private interview room when uniformed Durham Regional Police officers challenged her presence in the courthouse. What followed, according to her lawyer, was a violent assault: her head was slammed onto a desk, knees pressed into her back and neck, her headscarf ripped off, and she was handcuffed, . . . [more]

When the distinguished Canadian jurist, Kimberly Prost, began her term as a judge of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2017, she could not have imagined what happened on 20 August 2025. That day, the United States imposed sanctions on her, putting her on a list alongside those implicated in terrorism and organized crime.

Judge Prost is one of eight ICC judges sanctioned by the US during 2025, along with the ICC prosecutor and two deputy prosecutors. They are all being penalised – without any due process – for performing their professional duties as mandated by the Rome . . . [more]

Canada is at a pivotal moment in children’s privacy. Federal reform under Bill C-27, including the proposed Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA), continues to advance, while provinces such as Quebec—through Law 25, which introduces enhanced rights and stricter consent obligations, have already begun reshaping the legal landscape. At the same time, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) continues to identify children’s privacy as a policy and enforcement priority, underscoring the need for a modernized framework that reflects minors’ unique vulnerabilities and developmental needs. OPC Annual Report 2021 , Bill C-27 Overview Quebec Law 25 Summary

Despite . . . [more]

Recently, the law societies across Canada came together to launch Ours to Protect, a national campaign to raise awareness about the importance of the rule of law. In Canada, when we talk about threats to the rule of law, we tend to glance nervously at chaos in other countries, especially the United States. The United States has provided a dramatic study in how quickly respect for legal norms can erode. The Trump White House openly vilified judges who ruled against it – accusing them of abusing their powers and even suggesting they be impeached or prosecuted. Some years . . . [more]

If you’ve been adrift on the internet desperately trying not to drown in the flood of legal information, great news! You’ve found a raft!

No, that’s not really funny. When you’re representing yourself, trying to get to the information you want does often feel like drowning. There’s so much info, mostly not what you need, so you wind up flailing about desperate to stay afloat while the currents try to pull you under. Or you get caught in whirlpools of misinformation. Or weighted down by too much case law.

Few make an intentional choice to dive in and go DIY-lawyering. . . . [more]

In a bizarre procedural twist, the Ontario Divisional Court issued two contradictory decisions on consecutive days in the same case. Two written motions for leave to intervene in Dosu v. Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario was sent to two different judges – Justice Sharon Shore and Justice Shaun Nakatsuru – who rendered opposite rulings. Justice Shore dismissed the would-be intervenors; the next day, in a separate ruling, Justice Nakatsuru granted them intervention, setting the stage for what appears to be an embarrassing judicial outcome for the court.

The anomaly in the motions outcome – essentially a legal coin flip yielding . . . [more]

“Reserves do not improve with age. The longer a decision sits unwritten, the heavier it becomes.”

When the Honourable Deena Baltman (retired) offered this observation during a recent continuing professional development session for Deputy Judges, she articulated something that every judge knows but rarely voices. Her presentation, titled Managing Reserves, was pragmatic and concrete: write promptly, ideally within 48 hours; avoid over-reserving; schedule writing time ruthlessly; resist the temptation to wait for motivation, inspiration, or provocation.

Yet what has stayed with me is not just the efficiency of her techniques but the unspoken premise beneath them: that timeliness in . . . [more]