The province of Ontario will now require divorcing couples to attend an information session on mediation, which will be necessary before their proceedings can go forward. This information session is meant to provide alternatives to the court system in the hopes that it will alleviate the heavy caseloads many courthouses are facing.

As reported by Ms. Kathryn Blaze Carlson in the National Post:

By mandating the information session, and by subsidizing mediation for couples who choose to forgo litigation, Ontario has joined an international push toward mediation and away from costly, time-consuming and oftentimes nasty litigation. Britain and New

. . . [more]

or, as ever, be careful what you ask for, and from whom you ask it.

or, paraphrasing a certain English r&r band, you may not always get what you want, but you’ll sometimes get what you need.

Like the Buckley commercial says, though, you may not like the taste. (I have no idea how it tastes, since I’ve never tried it.)

Pennyfeather v. Timminco Limited, 2011 ONSC 4257 (July 13, 2011)

(Perell J.)

[1] The Defendants, Timminco Ltd., Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch, Robert Dietrich, Rene Boisvert, Arthur R. Spector, Jack L. Messman, John C. Fox, Michael D. Winfield and Mickey M. . . . [more]

on account of prosecutorial misconduct at trial. The prosecuting lawyers put “evidence” in front the jury that the judge had ruled inadmissible. When caught out, they suggested the jury be told to disregard that evidence. The trial judge was not impressed. (http://tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=371713)

There is to be a Sept 2 hearing to decide if there will be a new trial.

Canadian judges are somtimes equally unforgiving where prosecutorial misconduct is involved which results in the jury hearing inadmissible evidence – see R v. Kusk, 1999 ABCA 49 – even where Charter issues are not mentioned. . . . [more]

It appears that SLAW has not yet mentioned what appears to be a very useful and reasonably priced current awareness and case law service in Manitoba: Cite-on-Site Publications.

The site is run by Manitoba lawyer Brad Brooks and offers current awareness newsletters with case law summaries for the following 5 topics of Manitoba law: civil, criminal, family, first nations and municipal. Annual pricing seems extremely reasonable, with a range from $20 per year for the municipal service and $100 per year for the First Nations service, with the other services falling in between those ranges. Sample newsletters are provide . . . [more]

Here’s an interesting question, arising out of a case before a Colorado court: may the state require a defendant in a criminal trial to enter the password that will decrypt a computer drive with full disk encryption? The Electronic Frontier Foundation has entered a brief in the case of US v. Fricosu arguing Friday that to require the defendant either to hand over the information on the drive or to provide the password enabling the prosecution to get access to the data would infringe her constitutional right against self-incrimination. Apparently the authorities have offered a limited form of immunity to . . . [more]

After 5 years of litigation, the parties in a class action dispute arising out of the Caledonia standoff came to a $20 million settlement on Friday, approved by Justice David Crane of the Hamilton court. There are 440 residential claimants and an additional 400 business and subcontractor claimants.

The underlying issue of the conflict, the development land of Douglas Creek Estates, has yet to be resolved. The province has already paid $16 million for the land, $46.2 million on policing, $6.9 million for builders and developers, and $3.85 million for a Brantford ministry office. Some residents are not entirely happy . . . [more]

The July 9 issue of the Canada Gazette was published and it includes the second set of proposed regulations under Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL). These are the Governor in Council regulations from Industry Canada, not to be confused with the CRTC regulations that were pre-published last week for consultation.

You can read the pre-publication in the Gazette here:

The consultation period for these proposed regulations is 60 days. . . . [more]

What follows will be no revelation to most Slaw regulars (or irregulars as the case might be) so feel free to move along, but also feel to contribute some expertise if the feeling moves you. While celebrating Canada Day last week, it occurred to me that not everybody who visits Slaw will be as comfortable with some of the legal foundations of Canada as those regulars (or irregulars) are; so what follows are some of the legalities that make Canada… well Canada.

Canadian Constitutional documents being specifically:
– The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
– Canadian Constitution Act 1867, . . . [more]

This article by Jennifer Ip, Senior Claims Counsel at LAWPRO, follows up on Monday’s post on E&O coverage issues when dealing with foreign law, and appeared in the same December 2010 issue of LAWPRO Magazine.

When you shop for a contractor for a home renovation, you are often reminded about the need to ensure your contractor has third party liability insurance and workers’ compensation insurance – just in case.

Do you ask that same question when you shop for a lawyer outside of Ontario (or whatever is your home jurisdiction)? Do you remember to ask if the foreign lawyer carries . . . [more]

The Library of Parliament has released a document outlining the current and emerging issues that will face the new Canadian Parliament elected on May 2, 2011.

William Young, Parliamentary Librarian, explains:

“The pages that follow illustrate the kind of work we can do for you: 27 concise and easy-to-read briefings on subjects ranging from cybercrime to the impact of demographic changes on public policy. The issues are presented in summary form and represent just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to our subject-matter expertise (…)”

“The sheer volume of information presented at the beginning of a new Parliament

. . . [more]

Now and in the coming months, members of the Canadian Forces will be returning from military service in Afghanistan in significant numbers. Many of them, Reservists, will be returning to civilian work. We all owe these soldiers a debt of gratitude for their service. Employers specifically owe them a number of legal obligations, under Employment/Labour Standards legislation in various jurisdictions.

Seems that every couple of years or so I feel compelled to refer to the witticism about the unpleasant nature of making laws and sausages. This time, however, the link between the making of food and laws is rather more serious; this time the laws would compel us to avert our eyes — from farming, at least.

As factory farming has grown over the years, competition has increased and the pressure on farmers to keep the price of food low has remained steady. The result in many, or most, cases has been a deterioration in the conditions in which food . . . [more]