The Ontario Court of Appeal has ruled that an employee had the right to unilaterally revoke her notice of resignation due to changing circumstances, and was wrongfully dismissed when her employer would not allow her to do so.

Quick facts

December 31, 2016, a 64-year-old employee resigned after her employer said it would be implementing a new computer system, citing her concern with learning a new system. The employee’s supervisor offered the employee an opportunity to reconsider and told the employee she could revoke the notice if she changed her mind.

On October 11, 2016, the employer announced it wouldn’t . . . [more]

Corporations are essential to the modern economy. They allow for the organization and strategic application of capital in focused manner that allows for wealth to grow, and have been a fundamental legal innovation for the emergence of the capitalist economy.

Of course, corporations as legal entities are a legal fiction that converts what would otherwise be a piece of property into a party with its own free-standing rights. These rights are limited, however, and continue to be defined.

The Court in cases like Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec and British Columbia Securities Commission v. Branch confirmed that although they enjoy . . . [more]

A recent British Columbia Court of Appeal decision confirmed that the stringent test set out in Health Sciences Assoc of BC v Campbell River and North Island Transition Society (B.C.C.A., 2004 “Campbell River“) to determine if there was a duty to accommodate based on family status and if there is a prima facie case of discrimination based on family status, continues to be the applicable test in British Columbia. . . . [more]

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a standardized test administered by the American-based Law School Admission Council (LSAC), and is one of the most ubiquitous criteria for law school admissions across North America, including at Canadian law schools. Its use is not without controversy or its detractors, and there are some unique challenges that emerge in administering the LSAT in the context of applicants with medical disabilities.

The LSAT is notably not used in numerous law schools overseas. The Fairness Commissioner confirms that the number of internationally trained lawyers has risen from 7% in 2005, to over a third . . . [more]

The Ontario Court of Appeal recently held in Petersoo v. Petersoo that a family law arbitrator should not ensure that a represented party is aware of an issue that is raised in the arbitration. This contrasts with Moore v. Apollo Health [and] Beauty Care, in which the Court of Appeal determined in 2017 that a judge who did not ensure that an unrepresented plaintiff who had intended to raise a claim had failed in his responsibility. . . . [more]

Any planning of a public calendar can be challenging in a diverse and multicultural society. The Law Society of Ontario, for example, learned this the hard way when they scheduled the Barrister exam this year on June 4, 2019, which coincided with Eid celebrations of Muslims across the province.

The planning of a Federal election is a more extensive endeavour, not only in the national scope of the exercise, but in the more significant limitations imposed by statute. The Canada Elections Act, states,

Date of General Election

Powers of Governor General preserved

56.1 …

Election dates

(2) …each general

Several years ago, I covered in the Western Journal of Legal Studies the emergence of class actions as a viable mechanism to promote privacy interests in the public. Central to this promise was the inability of statutory remedies to provide any meaningful deterrence against these breaches. I specifically focused on the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA), which had never had a successful prosecution at that time.

Since then, there has been successful prosecutions under PHIPA starting in 2016, and there have been some changes that might make it more viable in protecting privacy interests. Amendments under Bill . . . [more]

A recent decision of the Ontario Superior Court in Cormier v 1772887 Ontario Ltd., 2019 ONSC 587 (CanLII) involved the number of years of service that were included in the calculation of notice, whether a termination clause was valid, and also if inappropriate deductions were made from the employee’s pay.

Quick facts

The employer operated a business across Canada that involved marketing and advertising.

A long-time employee (with almost 23 years of service) was dismissed without cause and claimed $136,577.75 in damages for wrongful dismissal. In her claim, the employee submitted that she was entitled to 24 months of . . . [more]

A century ago, Western civilization was still extensively using domesticated animals, specifically the horse, as one of the main means of transportation. Though domesticated for at least 6,000 years, this animal provided an invaluable means for people, goods, and services to move throughout North America, especially in inland areas away from shipping routes.

As could be expected, the common law at the time contained ample number of decisions that related to horses or incidents connected to horses. The horse was a central piece of technology that enabled civilization. Of course, all of that changed with the introduction of the Model . . . [more]

The case of Dawe v. Equitable Life Insurance Company 2018 ONSC 3130, which extended the 24-month upper limit on the reasonable notice period for an older, long-term, senior manager who was unable to secure comparable employment to 30 months; and were the motion judge stated that, if asked, he would have awarded 36 months, was appealed.

You can read more on the motion judge’s decision on Slaw here.

On appeal, which decision (Dawe v. Equitable Life Insurance Company of Canada 2019 ONCA 512) was released on June 19, 2019, the appeal’s judge held that the motion judge’s approach . . . [more]

Christopher Callow provided summer and winter maintenance to ten residential condominiums at Baycrest Gardens. The condos are managed by Condominium Management Group (CMG) and in particular by Tammy Zollinger, a Property Manager. A representative of each of the condo corporations formed the Joint Use Committee (JUC). CMG terminated Mr. Callow’s winter maintenance contract earlier than expected and did not offer him, contrary to his expectations, a subsequent winter contract.

Justice O’Bonsawin at trial, after a lengthy consideration of the testimony of Mr. Callow and seven witnesses for CMG, as well as the circumstances surrounding performance of the winter contract, . . . [more]

A national identity, in a multicultural, multilingual, and highly mobile population, is a challenging concept for a modern post-nation state democracy. Nations are themselves a socially constructed community, imbued with rights, responsibilities and laws.

This Canada Day, reflecting on what Canadian citizenship means, and what legal democratic rights this citizenship provides, may provide some insight into our federal election this fall, and the future of our democracy.

In his 1983 book, Imagined Communities, Benedict Anderson describes some of the features of these social constructs:

The nation is imagined as limited because even the largest of them, encompassing perhaps a