FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OTTAWA, May 13, 2011 – The Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of Canada, announced today that Justice Ian Binnie and Justice Louise Charron have written to the Minister of Justice, the Honourable Robert Nicholson, to inform him that they will retire from the Supreme Court of Canada. Justice Charron’s retirement will be effective August 30, 2011. Justice Binnie’s retirement will take effect upon the same date or, if there is a delay in the nomination process, so soon thereafter as his replacement is appointed. The Judges Act provides that a judge of the Supreme Court of . . . [more]

I don’t know how many lawyers outside of Quebec know about this cause célèbre in plagiarism. Claude Robinson, a screenwriter and illustrator, has been fighting for the last 16 years against the television production company Cinar and others for plagiarizing his ideas and depriving him of his copyright on the television series Robinson Sucroë. So far this case has cost Robinson $2.4 millions dollars in lawyers’ fees. However, Mr. Robinson’s law firm, Gowlings Lafleur Henderson, has agreed to postpone their honoraries until the end of the legal proceedings.

Robinson Sucroë is an animated Franco-Québécois television series, created by . . . [more]

Bob Dylan's lyrics have been quoted 186 timesin judicial decision and court briefs, at least according to a study done by law professor Alex Long.

We haven’t talked much about the killing of Osama bin Ladin here on Slaw, and there is considerable debate in international law over it. Contrary to what Jonathan Kay has said in the National Post, international law is still relevant, and even more so when the tables are switched.

Although it was completely unplanned, the Ontario Court of Appeal released a timely decision on Friday in United States of America v. Khadr dealing not with the more infamous Omar Khadr, but his brother, Abdullah Khadr, on extradition proceedings seeking to have him turned over to the United States.

In . . . [more]

Several US blogs and media outlets have taken aim at Canada’s human rights system following a decision last month by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal ordering stand-up comedian Guy Earl to pay $15,000 to an audience member for insulting her.

The Grievance Settlement Board’s March 28th privacy award made for some sensational headlines that decried the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s disregard for occupational health and safety inspector privacy by undertaking CPIC checks without consent. The headlines do not do justice to the difficult and significant issue dealt with in the award that relates to the MOL’s obligation to disclose information about inspectors pursuant to the Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. McNeil.

The Supreme Court issued McNeil in January 2009. The Court held that the Crown is not a single entity for the purposes of its prosecutorial . . . [more]

The Supreme Court of Canada released the much anticipated decision in Ontario (Attorney General) v. Fraser this morning.

The majority held that the Agricultural Employees Protection Act, 2002, (“AEPA”) which excluded agricultural workers from the Labour Relations Act (“LRA”) following Dunmore v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2001 SCC 94, [2001] 3 S.C.R. 1016 did not violate s. 2(d) of the Charter. . . . [more]

The Ontario Superior Court recently released a judgment about recovering domain names, South Simcoe Railway Heritage Corporation v. Wakeford 2011 ONSC 1234, in this case a .com name rather than .ca domain name.

Someone who had been active in a voluntary organization registered a domain name for the organization and later transferred it into his own name. He also changed all the registration information settings to private so no one, including the organization, could track who was responsible for the site.

The plaintiff organization brought actions in ‘detinue sur trover’ (a new cause of action for me after all . . . [more]

While Quebec is consulting and holding public hearings on euthanasia and assisted suicide, on April 26, 2011, British Columbia’s Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) and three other plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in BC’s Supreme Court challenging Canada’s Criminal Code provisions against euthanasia and assisted suicide.

In a recent training session I attended, I was surprised to hear how many of the participants indicated that, to control business-related driving hazards, they use global positioning systems, or GPS, to help keep track of their employees, whether using an employer-provided vehicle or personal vehicle.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal (Cojocaru v. British Columbia Women’s Hospital and Health Center 2011 BCCA 192) has overturned — 2-1 –the ruling of a judge whose written reasons for judgment:

. . .cannot be considered to represent his reasons, do not meet the functional requirement of public accountability, and do not allow for meaningful appellate review.

The judge in question adopted 321 paragraphs of his 368 paragraph judgment “almost word-for-word” from the respondent’s written closing submissions and did not acknowledge the borrowing.

It’s by no means unheard of for judges to adopt counsel’s written submissions as . . . [more]

The Supreme Court has wrapped up its two-day hearing into the federal government’s request that the Court rule on the constitutionality of proposed legislation to create a national securities regulator.

Appeal courts in Alberta and Quebec have ruled that the proposal would violate the Constitution because it would intrude on provincial powers.

The facta of all the parties and intervenors of the case are available on the Court’s website.

As well, the hearings were broadcast via webcast and the webcasts are archived.

The Department of Finance has posted background material on the issue, as well as links to . . . [more]