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

Use CanLII’s Subject Classification Terms to Narrow Your Search Results
Susannah Tredwell

CanLII recently announced the addition of AI generated subject classification to its Ontario and Saskatchewan case law which makes it much faster to see what area of the law a case falls into. … . . . [more]

On May 19, 2021, the Federal, Provincial and Territorial Privacy Commissioners provided an unusual and joint statement around vaccine passports, where they cautioned about the use of these measures, even when effective in addressing the harm of the pandemic,

At its essence, a vaccine passport presumes that individuals will be required or requested to disclose personal health information – their vaccine/immunity status – in exchange for goods, services and/or access to certain premises or locations. While this may offer substantial public benefit, it is an encroachment on civil liberties that should be taken only after careful consideration. This statement focuses

One Sunday each month we bring you a summary from Supreme Advocacy LLP of recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers a weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, to which you may subscribe. It’s a summary of all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted from March 10 – April 13, 2022 inclusive.

Oral Judgments

Criminal Law: Homicide
R. v. Pope, 2021 NLCA 47; 2022 SCC 8 (39817)

The Chief Justice: “A majority of this Court, made of Justice Moldaver, Justice Karakatsanis, Justice Brown, Justice Kasirer and Justice Jamal, would dismiss the . . . [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) : Le juge de première instance s’est assuré que, malgré le travail déficient de l’interprète lors de certains échanges entre les policiers et l’appelant, la version des faits donnée par ce dernier n’avait pas été viciée par les erreurs de l’interprète; par conséquent, l’appel est rejeté.

Intitulé :  . . . [more]

Janet is preparing for the review she’s having in the afternoon. She knows she’s going to get some positive feedback, but she’s also going to hear about some things that did not go so well, and some of it may surprise her.

To get ready for this meeting, she says to herself, “I’m going to use this as an opportunity to learn about where I can focus on getting better in my legal practice.”

Maryann is stuck on a tough assignment. The partner she reports to is busy and trusts Maryann to take a run at drafting something quite complex . . . [more]

Each Friday, we share the latest job listings from Slaw Jobs, which features employment opportunities from across the country. Find out more about these positions by following the links below, or learn how you can use Slaw Jobs to gain valuable exposure for your job ads, while supporting the great Canadian legal commentary at Slaw.ca.

Current postings on Slaw Jobs:

• Director of Programs and Partnerships (Full-time) | Virtual with a preference for Ottawa or Montreal)
  (CanLII)
• Lawyer (Full-time) | Etobicoke, ON
  (Kostyniuk & Greenside Lawyers)
• Tax Lawyer – Canadian Sales Tax (Full-time)| Vancouver, BC
  (Thorsteinssons)
• Real Estate Legal Assistant (Full-time)

Written by Lewis Waring, Paralegal, Student-at-law (last year), Editor First Reference Inc.

In Cyncora v Axton Inc (“Cyncoxa”), an employer discriminatorily dismissed its employee with a disability despite the employee’s undisputed absenteeism. The fact that the employer had some legitimate concerns about the employee’s fitness for its time-sensitive workplace did not remove the reality that one of the underlying reasons for its struggles with the employee was his ongoing struggle with depression and anxiety. . . . [more]

Several times each month, we are pleased to republish a recent book review from the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR). CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL/ACBD), and its reviews cover both practice-oriented and academic publications related to the law.

Cold Case North: The Search for James Brady and Absolom Halkett. By Michael Nest, Deanna Reder & Eric Bell. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2020. 311 p. Includes illustrations, maps. ISBN 9780889777491 (softcover) $24.95; 9780889777545 (hardcover) $89.00.

Reviewed by Leslie Taylor
Research and Instruction Librarian
Lederman Law Library, Queen’s University . . . [more]

Case management Judge Trent Horne of the Federal Court recently said “The Copyright Act is, at the risk of understatement, complex.”^[1]

His case serves to illuminate several key points of that complexity. Generally, copyright owners need to be added as parties to a lawsuit or their not being added has to be justified. Secondly, the pleadings must satisfy the Court that a licensee has the right to sue.

The starting point is that a copyright owner can sue a defendant for copyright infringement and the owner would generally be a party to that lawsuit.

The status of a licensee . . . [more]

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

For this last week:

1. Ezokola v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2013 SCC 40

[84] In light of the foregoing reasons, it has become necessary to clarify the test for complicity under art. 1F(a). To exclude a claimant from the definition of “refugee” by virtue of art. 1F(a), there must be serious reasons for considering that the claimant has voluntarily made a significant and knowing contribution . . . [more]

Preventing a mediator-arbitrator from expressing a tentative view of the strength of a party’s position during mediation would have a “chilling effect” on the effectiveness of the mediation-arbitration process.

So says the Federal Court of Appeal in a recent labour relations case. It is one of a growing number of cases where courts have recognized the value of mediation-arbitration and expressed reluctance to tie the hands of the mediator-arbitrator too much.

In Fono v. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, 2021 FCA 125, an employee sought judicial review of the decision of an adjudicator under the Canada Labour Code. The . . . [more]