I attended a training last week on the Charter of the French Language (“Charter”), also known as Bill 101, a provincial law that has provoked a lot of reactions in the past from both ends of the spectrum.

This legislation was first adopted in 1977 under the Parti québécois’ first mandate. However, it is incorrect to think that the issue of language only became important at this point in Quebec’s modern history. Bill 63 or An Act to promote the French language in Quebec, passed in 1969 and Bill 22 or the Official Language Act, passed in 1974, . . . [more]

What is the duty of a real estate agent to verify the information provided by the vendor of the property to prospective purchasers?

In this space I frequently moan about the danger of mediation stemming the flow of judicial precedent, but here is a nice legal question answered by the Court of Appeal for Ontario this month.

The property was a residential home with significant structural and plumbing problems.

The agent, who acted for both the purchaser and the vendor, became the meat in the sandwich.

The purchaser sued the agent for failing to advise the purchaser to obtain professional . . . [more]

Currently Universities and Colleges across Canada are spending hundreds of man-and-woman hours pulling together a list of copy machines, computers, scanners, etc., at the whim of Access Canada Copyright (got the name wrong throughout this post, initially), the agency created, and then named in high irony, to restrict the educational use of materials, to pursue an obsolete model of protecting the interests of creators, and to funnel the resulting funds into pockets unknown. At least, that’s what you might think their mandate was if you judged by their actions. For their self-image, see their About Us page.

Backed . . . [more]

While the punishment appears for the moment to have been postponed, there is another horrible, barbarous story out of Iran. This time it’s not the stoning of a woman but the deliberate blinding of a man. He is alleged to have blinded a woman by throwing acid in her face when she spurned his advances. A Iranian court has now decided to order that he be blinded in return.

While there was a (justified) international outcry over the threat that a woman would be stoned, there has been none—at least that I’m aware of—over this latest barbarity. The man should, . . . [more]

On May 11, 2011, Manitoba proposed Canada’s first adult abuse registry as well as tough new offences and penalties to better protect adults with intellectual disabilities. The registry would make the names of those who abuse or neglect vulnerable adults under any Act available to employers for screening potential employees or volunteers. Similar registries already exist in the United States.

When I started working about 15 years ago, I was paid about slightly above minimum wage, at $6.90 per hour. I worked at large clothing retailer, folding khakis and giving on advice on whether or not a customer looked best in “boot cut” or “loose fit” jeans. Since those halcyon denim days, I have noticed a steady and continual increase in the minimum wage rate in Québec.

Indeed, as the Commission des Normes de Travail helpfully outlines on its site, minimum wage has been steadily progressing from its institution at $4.35 per hour in 1986. As of May 1, . . . [more]

Should there be a legal duty to notify people about whom a story is to be published, to give them an opportunity to go to court to stop the publication?

Max Mosley, former Formula 1 motor racing chief says so.

The News of the World, a UK tabloid, ran a story a few years ago revealing that Mosley had taken part in a sadomasochistic orgy with prostitutes. In 2008 Mosley won damages from the UK High Court of for breach of privacy.

Mosley claims that the UK is in breach of human rights laws because there is no remedy for . . . [more]

A simple question for Slaw-yers: was #Elxn41 the “Social Media Election”?

The term was tossed about during the campaign with conjecture on how social media would impact the election; so now that the election is over and we have had some time to reflect, was it the “social media election”? I am unsure, but my inclination is that it was not. Primarily because I did not see a lot of content generated specifically for social media, nor have I observed an impact that can be attributed to social media. I saw of lot of content generated in a traditional fashion . . . [more]

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]

Back in May 2007, Simon Fodden mentioned the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dealing with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. Alex Manevich followed soon after with decisions denying the link between vaccines and autism, and an insightful discussion on policy aspects of statutory bars to claims not fully grounded in scientific evidence.

More recently, Michael Lines raised the retraction by The Lancet and findings of unethical behaviour by physicians in the U.K. who claimed a link between vaccines and autism.

But just when you think a debate of this . . . [more]

The University of Toronto is hosting a cyber-surveillance event this week that includes the typical academic workshops, as well as an artistic component. The event and the workshop are part The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting, a research project funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council.

From the press release:

Digitally mediated surveillance is an increasingly prevalent, but still largely invisible, aspect of everyday life. As we work, play and negotiate public spaces, on-line and off, we produce a growing stream of personal digital data of interest to unseen others. CCTV cameras hosted by private and public

. . . [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]