On March 22, 2018, the Quebec government introduced Bill 174: An Act mainly to relax the parental insurance plan to promote better family-work balance. If enacted, this Act comes into force on the date of assent, except section 12, which comes into force on the date to be set by the Government.

The main changes in the Bill include:

1. Maternity benefits

• Increase the period, currently 18 weeks, to 25 weeks, within which maternity benefits can be provided following the birth of a child.
• Increase the number of weeks of maternity benefits for a multiple pregnancy. In the event of

On March 20, 2018, the Quebec government tabled Bill 176, An Act to amend the Act respecting labour standards and other legislative provisions mainly to facilitate family-work balance to facilitate work-family balance and to modernize and reform Quebec labour standards. Labour Minister Dominique Vien said, "The many proposed changes take into account the new realities of workplaces, such as the changing family patterns, the aging population and ensuing retirements, and would encourage the retention of staff in a context of scarcity of labour." Measures in the Bill include: . . . [more]

Recent research comparing family law dispute resolution processes from the Canadian Research Institute for Law and the Family and the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice provides fascinating insights on the views and attitudes of lawyers in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. The report, described in an earlier article by Jean-Paul Bevilacqua, concludes that while family law lawyers view litigation as useful for high-conflict disputes and cases involving risks to persons and property, litigation is not their preferred resolution process. The lawyers surveyed said that mediation, collaborative negotiation and arbitration are more likely to produce results that are in . . . [more]

On March 20, 2018, the Manitoba government introduced legislation that would amend the Employment Standards Code to, among other things, extend provisions for parental leave and leave for individuals to care for a critically ill adult family member.

The changes to the Employment Standards Code include: . . . [more]

The 2017 Ontario Accessibility Compliance and Enforcement Report is now available online and outlines the activities undertaken by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario in 2017 to oversee compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act and its accessibility standards.

The report explains the results of the December 31st compliance reporting obligations of obligated organizations, and the various audits and inspections conducted by the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario in 2017. Overall, the report clearly indicates that there is a lot of enforcement work still needing to be done for Ontario to reach the goal of becoming an accessible province . . . [more]

Written wholly by Christina Catenacci, BA, LLB, LLM, and PhD candidate at the University of Western Ontario

In February 2018, the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics released a report that summarized issues and recommendations concerning the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

The report was authored by Bob Zimmer, the Chair of the Standing Committee, and presented to the House of Commons in the first session of the 42nd Parliament.

More specifically, the report was generated following the decision to undertake a review of PIPEDA. This review began February 14, 2017; it consisted of . . . [more]

On March 6, 2018, the Ontario government tabled Bill 203, Pay Transparency Act, 2018 to close the wage gap between women and men in the province by imposing significant obligations and restrictions on employers relating to the disclosure of information about the compensation of employees and prospective employees. The government says it will spend up to $50 million over the next three years on the initiative. . . . [more]

This article appeared in the February 2018 issue of LAWPRO Magazine.

If you scanned social media or the headlines in many online or print-based newspapers or magazines published in 2017, you were pretty much guaranteed to see posts and articles on artificial intelligence (AI).

Most of these articles suggest that AI is in the process of fundamentally changing our lives at work, home and play. And if you believe the comments in these articles, the good news is that we will have more free time to enjoy virtual-reality worlds and have our self-driving cars take us around the countryside. The . . . [more]

Earlier this year, Justice Perell approved a replacement class representative in Sondhi v. Deloitte Management Services LP on a motion for what has already been an exhausting certification process in a class proceeding.

The matter involves a class, who although technically are lawyers, have not been considered as such by their employer or the parties procuring their services. These members typically consist of younger lawyers and new graduates who have been unable to otherwise find employment as lawyers in a traditional context.

I do know many of these young lawyers. I know that they are bright and talented, and would . . . [more]

On February 27, 2018, the federal government tabled its 2018-19 budget, the third budget for the sitting liberal government. The 2018-19 budget focuses on gender equality, economic growth, job creation and a strong middle class.

In his budget speech, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau stated, “The Canadian economy is doing well-remarkably well. Over the last two years, hard-working Canadians have created nearly 600,000 new jobs, most of them full-time. Unemployment rates are near the lowest levels we’ve seen in over 40 years.”

The updated fiscal 2018-19 forecasted deficit is $18.1 billion, improved from the fall economic statement estimate of . . . [more]

When the federal government proposed changes on tax policies for private corporations last summer, some lawyers expressed significant concerns.

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA), the largest legal organization in Canada, launched a campaign against these measures. In one letter, as part of a coalition for small business tax, they stated,

These are not minor amendments, but are sweeping changes that will affect all sectors of Canada’s business community and we ask that you not move forward with these proposals. Instead, the organizations listed below stand ready to meet with you and your officials to offer our support and ideas for

Children’s Participation in Justice Process: Finding the Best Ways Forward was a two-day national symposium held in Calgary, Alberta on 15 and 16 September 2017 that brought together a broad, multidisciplinary spectrum of leading stakeholders to share information and dialogue about how the voices of children and youth are heard, how their interests are protected and how their evidence is received in justice processes. The symposium was preceded by a half-day conference on the fundamentals of family law in Canada on 14 September 2017, designed for mental health professionals and symposium participants who were not justice system professionals, intended to . . . [more]