Legislation cracking down on crooked immigration consultants (Bill C-35) comes into force on June 30, 2011. At the same time, the...

Since the economic burden of mental illnesses in Canada has been estimated at $51-billion per year, with almost $20-billion of that coming from workplace losses, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) has launched a collaborative project with the Bureau de normalisation du Québec (BNQ) and the standards division of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA Standards) to create a voluntary national standard for mentally healthy workplaces. The standard aims to help Canadian employers support the psychological health and safety of their employees. According to the government, Canada is the first country in the world to develop such a standard.

A new law came into effect yesterday: the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, S.C. 2010, c. 21 (the “Act”).

While the definition of a consumer product is quite broad (according to s. 2 of the Act, it is “a product, including its components, parts or accessories, that may reasonably be expected to be obtained by an individual to be used for non-commercial purposes, including for domestic, recreational and sports purposes, and includes its packaging”), a number of goods are already excluded from this legislation under Schedule 1, products which are already covered by another piece of legislation. Such consumer . . . [more]

…For Ice Cream or more properly “Iced” Cream, (this is one of those words that we have slang-ed much like Web Log to Blog). As we approach the Summer Solstice, the first day of summer, on Tuesday of next week, it’s time to celebrate our (all-too-brief) summer, notwithstanding that many of us have not experienced much summer-like weather yet. Nonetheless, I have already experienced more than one ice cream headache aka. brain freeze, cold stimulus headache or more accurately sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (say that 3 times fast). It is generally agreed that the feeling of someone driving an ice pick into . . . [more]

Most Canadian jurisdictions (except PEI and the Territories) have Class Actions statutes and our courts are increasingly having to deal with the complex issues that class litigation presents. One of the most difficult issues is the co-ordination of litigation that involves class members in multiple jurisdictions. Because our federal courts (with a statutory jurisdiction) have not the sort of diversity jurisdiction that facilitates the consolidation of multi-state proceedings) our courts must fashion solutions within the structure of provincial superior court primacy over civil litigation.

The defects of the current system have been described as follows:

Overlapping, multijurisdictional class actions

. . . [more]

There are 320,000 inhabitants of Iceland, a country about twice the size of Nova Scotia. But small in size doesn’t mean small in thought. They’re in the process of revising their constitution at the moment, and one feature of the process is the invitation to the public to comment on committee drafts as they’re presented online. To get the widest possible involvement, they’ve established a Facebook page and a Twitter account for the purpose, as well as the basic web page.

As the official page states:

The Constitutional Council is eager to make sure the public can be up

. . . [more]

My dad made beautiful lawns. I cultivate no grass. This sort of careful sidestepping is part of the way that one generation succeeds another, I believe. And in my case it’s also how I avoid the plague that’s even now striking Calgary. I’m talking of Taraxacum officinale, better known as pissenlit and dandelion. Apparently they’re spreading like crazy in Calgary, and the city can’t do anything about it.

The reason is that provincial legislation no longer lists the humble (and edible) dandelion as a noxious weed. Alberta, like most provinces, has a Weed Control Act that lets you — . . . [more]

The Alberta Law Reform Institute (ALRI) has launched a new website. It has a new look, new address and best of all new features. 

The new website offers three easy methods of communication:

A Mailing List – Receive notices of new publications or any other significant activities. Be assured that this will not create a flood of messages in your inbox, but simply an occasional update from ALRI.

A Feedback Form – A quick method to comment on their work or provide your suggestions. You can find this option under the Your Views tab on the new website.

An . . . [more]

On Friday June 3, 2011, the Ontario government enacted the Integrated Accessibility Regulation under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act. The Regulation gave force of law to three new standards to address barriers facing persons with disabilities in the areas of transportation, employment and information and communications.

It is not surprising that many Canadian are cyncial of their federal Parliamentarians.

Example in point: Bills C-1 and S-1 have been published. Despite respectively being – in name – “An Act respecting the administration of oaths of office” and an “Act relating railways” – of course neither bill has anything to do with either topic and neither bill will pass first reading.

Apparently, it all has to do with a “custom” dating back over 400 years ago for “pro forma” bills. I didn’t find the explanation on LegisINFO or Wikipedia to be entirely satisfactory. Wouldn’t . . . [more]

The first session of Canada’s 41st Parliament is set to open tomorrow (Thursday, June 2, 2011).

Regardless of how you voted in the last election, are you cynical or hopeful that our elected politicians will earn their keep and have a productive Parliamentary session? (Alas, I remain cynical).

Early activity this week should see the election of a new Speaker of the House and perhaps some indication of the direction the new majority Conservative government will take in Friday’s Speech from the Throne.

A good Canadian Press article provides a great overview of what to expect with this new . . . [more]

On the last day of April the UFC or Ultimate Fighting Championship held an event at Rogers Centre (nee Skydome) in Toronto. Personally, I’m not a fan but I find aspects of the MMA odyssey, that could be said to have culminated on April 29th in Toronto, to have interesting legal aspects. What does a combat sport have to do with law? Quite a bit; until 2010 mixed martial arts was illegal in Ontario; however, a regulatory change announced last August and commented on here at Slaw at the time was implemented last Autumn and allowed for this multi-million dollar . . . [more]