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]

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

Around and Around Again
Neil Guthrie

I’ve commented on this before, but around is rapidly becoming an epidemic. And one that needs to be contained. Of late, around has been taking the place of better and clearer words like on or about. … . . . [more]

During the pandemic, the federal government introduced several programs to provide financial assistance to those affected by economic lockdowns and business closures. The Canada Emergency Response Benefit program (CERB) provided $2,000 for an initial 4-week period, with an extension to 28-weeks for a maximum of $14,000.

Eligibility for CERB included:

•  individuals residing in Canada;
• who were at least 15 years old;
• who had stopped working or had been working reduced hours due to COVID-19;
• who did not expect to earn over $1,000 in employment or self-employment income for at least 14 days in a row during a four-week period;
• who

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 fait de porter des accusations contre un indicateur de police pour une infraction qu’il a lui-même dévoilée aux policiers, alors que ceux-ci ne lui ont donné aucune explication satisfaisante à propos de l’absence d’immunité, est choquant et susceptible de miner l’intégrité du processus judiciaire.

Intitulé :  . . . [more]

Lexum focus has always been on using the latest technology to automate legal publishing with the goal of improving the cost/benefit ratio of accessing legal information. For this reason, we historically favoured full text search engines over classification systems based on a thesaurus. The manual labelling of judicial and administrative decisions is a labour-intensive process that has traditionally contributed to the high costs of legal publishing. Where large volumes of decisions are rendered, it also makes exhaustive publishing difficult to achieve, justifying the selection of a limited number of “reported decisions.” Lexum has always headed straight in the opposite direction. . . . [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:

• Lawyer (Full-time) | Etobicoke, ON
  (Kostyniuk & Greenside Lawyers)
• Tax Lawyer – Canadian Sales Tax (Full-time)| Vancouver, BC
  (Thorsteinssons)
• Real Estate Legal Assistant (Full-time) | Abbotsford, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group LLP)

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

There has been significant debate in courtrooms and arbitration hearings over the years about the threshold point at which a complainant establishes a prima facie case of discrimination by an employer on the ground of family status. In British Columbia, the law stood to be clarified after that province’s Human Rights Tribunal got it wrong concerning two spouses who worked at a mine and sought scheduling accommodations. The Supreme Court of British Columbia’s decision in Gibraltar Mines Ltd. v Harvey, 2022 BCSC 385 is sure to be cited or read . . . [more]

Suppose that “JM” is a Canadian person, who believes that their legal rights have been infringed. The problem might have arisen at work, at home, with a corporation, or with some part of the government. JM has tried to resolve the matter privately with the other side, but got nowhere. Next, JM did some online research and perhaps spoke to a lawyer. It turns out there is a public body that’s supposed to make decisions, and uphold rights, in disputes like JM’s.

JM brings their dispute to that body. JM wants to be heard, by someone who is competent and . . . [more]