I have been following a discussion about the concerns regarding the government’s cancellation of the long-form questionnaire for the 2011 Canadian Census. The following message just went out over the Canadian law libraries listserv CALL-L. I have reproduced it here with the author’s permission:

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to draw your attention to a serious issue that has arisen regarding the upcoming 2011 Canadian census. The government has decided to cancel the census long-form questionnaire and replace it with a voluntary survey, which cannot be counted on to produce reliable information.

The decision poses a severe

I was in Whistler, British Columbia, for a law firm retreat and stayed at one of the best hotels – you know, one of those places with the ultra plush bedding, towels that stack high and spa-inspired toiletries that smell good enough to taste. 

About a month before my stay, this hotel started a pilot program to accept dogs. So, not only did my family join me, so did our beloved Golden Retriever. After two nights in the palace, complete with The Dog, I spent the better part of an hour filling out their dog service survey. I used every . . . [more]

The Canadian Bar Association recently released the report Moving Forward on Legal Aid: Research on Needs and Innovative Approaches [pdf, 125 pages]. From the CBA:

As part of its renewed approach to advancing access to justice, the CBA has released a 125-page research report, Moving Forward on Legal Aid: Research on Needs and Innovative Approaches. Prepared for the CBA by Melina Buckley, LL.B., Ph.D., the report considers the current state of legal aid policy development, both in Canada and internationally, as well as innovative approaches to delivering access to justice.

You may read a longer summary and download a . . . [more]

China confirmed earlier today that it will renew Google’s license in the country for another year, after a month-long stand-off between the two. Google had publicly claimed on Friday that an agreement had been reached.

David Canton, David Bilinsky, Simon Fodden, Michel-Adrien Sheppard and I all commented on the standoff previously here on Slaw.

In January 2010, Google ceased omitting search results deemed by the Chinese government as subversive or pornographic, after complying for the past 4 years. The decision was made after allegations of Chinese hackers attacking Google’s server to obtain information about anti-government activists. ISPs . . . [more]

“If you build it, he will come.” (Field of Dreams (1998))

If you write it on Slaw, be prepared to be quoted.

I was watching Roy Halliday pitch, tonight. The game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Cincinnati Reds was on TV. It was scoreless through almost 11 full innings. Philly scored in the bottom of the 11th to win, 1-0. The Reds pitcher – a rookie making only his 3rd start in the show – lost his perfect game in the top of the 9th. He surrendered his first and only hit. Halliday was “almost” as good. . . . [more]

Today marks the opening of the Calgary Stampede with the annual Stampede Parade. Prime Minister Harper attended. I have always wondered how public figures, like the Prime Minister, balance security with openness. Our Calgary office closes on parade day so I won’t wear my boots until I visit next week.

The Stampede Parade is an exciting kick-off to ten days of good ol’ fashioned western fun. Led by our own World Champion Calgary Stampede Showband, the parade showcases floats, bands, riders, cultural entries, and many more! Downtown streets are closed from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., so get your

The Torontoist has an excellent run-down today on the various security, civil liberty and Charter issues that have arisen from the recent G20 meeting in Toronto–see Did police break the law during the G20?.

Ontario Ombudsman André Marin has announced he is launching an investigation into the controversial Ontario regulation made under the Public Works Protection Act prior to the G20. From the Ombudsman’s press release posted this morning:

The investigation, to be conducted by the Special Ombudsman Response Team (SORT), will examine the involvement of the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services in the origin of Regulation

or, as I might title it today, “The Good, the Bad, and the American.” And it’s about nothing more contentious than language.

The Good? There are, of course, all sorts of species of “good” in writing. For us in law, one kind of a sometime good is plain language. For decades now, supporters of plain language in law have been urging lawyers to, well, learn to write so that others can understand them easily. Which isn’t easy. The U.S. government has a site replete with examples and tools and a page referring to foreign resources — none of which is . . . [more]

I have in the past hoped for good (or better) interfaces to the massive amounts of older Canadian legal materials being digitized on the Internet Archive.

While that hope still remains (since I think there is a need for it), I was pleasantly surprised this morning that by simply searching the words “ontario AND regulations AND 1979” in the “Canadian Libraries” database, the result came first and it was relatively easy to get to the particular regulation I was looking for by choosing the PDF format of the document (although the PDF file was a bit large at over . . . [more]

Many of you are likely already familiar with the alleged facts in the disturbing and complicated case of Captain Robert Semrau. For those who are not, here’s a quick refresher. 

Capt. Semrau was serving a tour of duty with the Canadian military in Afghanistan. He was assigned to a small Operational Mentor and Liason Team (OMLT) tasked with working hand-in-hand with a larger force of Afghani military assisting them in becoming a self-sufficient fighting force capable of challenging the Taliban militia on their own when Canada’s mission comes to a close. On Oct. 19, 2008 his orders were to troll . . . [more]

At lunch today, I got a look at the Westbusinesslaw.com platform which offers a sophisticated set of templates to get at corporate documentation, both Edgar and Sedar filings, but also a massive storehouse of global corporate documentation, precedents and models. It got me thinking about the power of an installed base. West had started moving from the purely legal market and document databases into financial information back in the Eighties. That trend accelerated after the Thomson acquisition and in turn the merger with Reuters.

But of course, there were installed bases on the finance side: Dow Jones, of course, which . . . [more]

CourtCanada, a private software development company, has sued Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General for breach of contract, claiming $10,000,000 in damages and a further $2,000,000 in punitive damages. CourtCanada supplies the Ministry with OSCAR, the Online System for Court Attendance Reservations, currently operating in the Estates List and the Commercial List of the Superior Court.

The plaintiff alleges that expansion of OSCAR throughout the Civil and Bankruptcy Lists was expected under the agreement and that the Ministry wrongfully cancelled that expansion. Moreover, CourtCanada alleges that the Ministry has “attempted to sabotage OSCAR in the Commercial List,” as an . . . [more]