Written by Daniel Standing, LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

Sick leave abuse is notoriously hard to catch. As a form of workplace fraud, one such incident can rupture the trust at the centre of even a long-standing employment relationship, prompting the employer to emphasize deterrence over rehabilitation when it imposes discipline. An Ontario arbitrator recently considered the plight of an employee who wrongfully entered a pandemic leave program that was designed to help facilitate isolating at home when required. When his ulterior motives came to light, even his long period of service could not tip the scales in favour of . . . [more]

“A lean compromise is better than a fat lawsuit”. – George Herbert

In Dalquee v Gandhi, 2022 ONSC 3521, the defendant brought a motion to strike the claim of the plaintiffs, without leave to amend. The relief was granted in part. The claim was struck. However, Justice Myers granted leave to the plaintiffs to deliver a fresh as amended statement of claim.

In reaching his decision, Justice Myers noted factors to consider when bringing a motion:

• Civil litigation is about money. It is expensive and fraught with risk.
• If the plaintiffs chose to draft the claim on

Each Wednesday we tell you which three English-language cases and French-language cases have been the most viewed* on CanLII and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about. La version française suit.

For this last week, the most-consulted three English-language decisions were:

1. Public Health Sudbury & Districts v Ontario Nurses’ Association, 2022 CanLII 48440 (ON LA)

44. The impact of this decision is that the grievor must demonstrate that she has a practice or belief, that has a nexus with her creed, that calls for a particular line of conduct, here the decision to . . . [more]

Procedural resources are vital for the prosecution of cases before courts and tribunals. These resources range from case-relevant legislation – including the legislation establishing the court or tribunal – to the rules of procedure and decided cases of the court or tribunal. They ground arguments, and guide and assist lawyers in making compelling cases. Claims can fail or succeed depending on the procedural resources available and accessible to litigants. Fairness dictates that these procedural resources be readily available to all litigants who need them, not just to lawyers.

Litigants represented by lawyers have little-to-no worries regarding these procedural tools. Their . . . [more]

On March 3, 2022, the Arctic Council became the latest collateral casualty to the Russian invasion in Ukraine. A mere week after Russian troops began invading and bombarding Ukraine, seven members of the Arctic Council (Canada, United States, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Finland) condemned the belligerent actions of its eighth member, Russia. Their condemnation also included pausing the work of the Council as well as all of its subsidiaries immediately and until further notice. The indefinite hold on the activities of such an important forum for international cooperation will inevitably have severe impact regionally and internationally on salient topics, . . . [more]

Here are excerpts from the most recent tips on SlawTips, the site that each week offers up useful advice, short and to the point, on practice, research, writing and technology.

Research & Writing

Finding Alberta Government Publications
Susannah Tredwell

If you’re trying to find an Alberta government publication one very helpful resource is Alberta’s open government portal. … . . . [more]

Every week we present the summary of a decision handed down by a Québec court provided to us by SOQUIJ and considered to be of interest to our readers throughout Canada. SOQUIJ is attached to the Québec Department of Justice and collects, analyzes, enriches, and disseminates legal information in Québec.

PÉNAL (DROIT): Les extraits des propos de l’appelant cités par le juge de première instance n’étaient pas pertinents relativement à la question de la culpabilité, alors que ce dernier devait circonscrire les aspects précis permettant d’inférer chez l’appelant l’intention spécifique de nuire à l’exercice des attributions du policier; par conséquent, . . . [more]

Written by Lewis Waring, Paralegal and Student-at-Law, First Reference Editor

In Canadian Pacific Railway v United Steelworkers – TC Local 1976 (“Canadian Pacific”), an employer’s dismissal of an employee who committed a safety infraction while intoxicated with cannabis was upheld as reasonable. The safety-sensitive nature of the workplace, the employee’s history of intoxication and the lack of any connection to medical or addiction issues were key factors in a labour arbitrator’s decision to uphold the employee’s dismissal. . . . [more]

For a while during the pandemic, online hearings were the only option for courts and tribunals. Justice was done on Zoom, or else it wasn’t done at all.

Now, as we emerge from the age of Covid (knock on wood!), online vs. in-person is a recurring controversy across Ontario’s justice sector. After the Superior Court of Justice ordered most contested family law matters to return to court, a group of family bar lawyers organized in defence of the online option. By contrast, the Landlord and Tenant Board is insisting on fully online practice, while the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario . . . [more]

Lately, there has been an explosion of court documents being rejected from filing. Reasons for rejection are numerous. There is almost no discernible pattern. Reasons include, but are not limited to:

• failure to provide a back page,
• submitting documents separately when they should be combined,
• failing to have a witness to an electronic signature (not to be confused with a commissioned document),
• a form is missing,
• information is missing on the form,
• disapproving of the affiant’s signature, and so forth.

It is speculated that the change in staffing at the courts is the cause for the increase in rejections. (E.g. . . . [more]

This for you who don’t love the law. You often wonder if you should do something else, if you chose the right career path, if you have wasted a big chunk of your life as a mercenary of justice. If you divvy up your time the way you want to, your priorities would be ordered from highest to lowest: family, travel, exercise, beach, reading, work, Netflix. But an accounting of how you actually spend your time shows your priorities are backwards, starting with work and work-friends, then moving on to Netflix and sports-watching, and last and least, family. Reflecting on . . . [more]