I just returned from a glorious 3-week summer break and am now trying to catch up on my accumulated emails. A few things caught my eye that I thought may be of interest to other SLAW devotees:

1. IAALS events – I have followed the Institute for the Advancement of the America Legal System for some time. It is a U.S. leader in the analysis and reform of the U.S. justice system, including through unbundled legal services. Two events to note:
   1. Redesigning Legal Speaker Series: The next session is on August 24, 2021 and is entitled “Legal Tech –

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

John Locke once lamented the limited ability of language to express an idea when he said, “So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with.” He could very well have been talking about an employment contract dispute. An employee may try to introduce ambiguity into a provision that the employer considered watertight at the time of drafting. In this article, Bryant v Parkland School Division, 2021 ABQB 391, a case in which the plaintiffs sought . . . [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.

Managing Privacy in a Connected World. By Éloïse Gratton & Elisa Hendry. Toronto: LexisNexis Canada, 2020. 488p. Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 9780433503651 (softcover) $190.00. 

Reviewed by Stef Alexandru
Librarian
Lawson Lundell LLP
In CLLR 46:2

Managing Privacy in a Connected World expertly ties together privacy and emerging practice . . . [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. Conlin v Edmonton (City) Police Service, 2021 ABCA 287

[62] The appellants are correct that there is a fine line between a correctness standard of review and a finding that there was only one possible outcome that was reasonable. Empirically, there is never only one possible outcome, because there are always at least two: the challenged outcome selected by the decision maker, . . . [more]

The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright) is a copyright collective meaning that it manages certain rights on behalf of copyright holders. Importantly Access Copyright does not itself hold any of the copyrights that it manages.

York University (York) is Canada’s third-largest university with over 50,000 students and approximately 1,500 full-time faculty members.^[1] York had a license to use some of the works licensed by Access Copyright from 1994 to 2010. Access Copyright applied to the Copyright Board for an interim tariff during a period when renewal negotiations were languishing. York initially complied with the interim tariff but then . . . [more]

INTRODUCTION

The Supreme Court of Canada in Fraser concluded that, with the minor adjustment of reading in an additional provision, the Ontario Agricultural Employees Protection Act (“AEPA”) is constitutional. In UFCW v. MedReleaf Corp. Phase 2 (“MedReleaf”), the Ontario Agricultural, Food and Rural Affairs Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) concluded that the caselaw since then does not warrant a different outcome. The recent Divisional Court decision in United Food and Commercial Workers International Union v. Aurora Cannabis Enterprises Inc. (“Aurora”) upheld the Tribunal’s decision.

The United Farm and Commercial Workers International Union (“UFCW”) had also brought complaints about MedReleaf’s conduct during 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

Unnatural Compounds
Neil Guthrie

No, not enclosures where odd things happen. Rather, combinations of words that look strange. The New York Times – generally a newspaper one admires – has taken to writing things like monthslong: see, for example, Mary Hui, ‘After a Dip, Hong Kong Real Estate Again Eyes the Stratosphere’ (22 March 2019). … . . . [more]

We have become accustomed for some time to hearing about new start-ups and initiatives on the technology side of legal information provision. Indeed, some might say that we hear of too many of them and that a percentage of them might disappear into obscurity before long. We read less of fresh ideas and innovation in relation to the provision of actual added-value legal content from law publishers. Perhaps this is not surprising, for obvious reasons.

It is all the more pleasing to observe an exciting fresh start from my friend and law publishing comrade, Jason Wilson, together . . . [more]

Industrialization transformed western society, reorganizing economies for the purpose of manufacturing and wealth generation. These changes came with at considerable costs, some of which are only being more recently recognized, such as harm to the environment.

The more immediate and obvious harms to workers were of a greater concern a century ago and were in many ways the focus of organized labour, both before and after unions became legal on 1872, with the passing of the Trade Unions Act. This statute was enacted specifically to gain union support prior to the election that year, forming the 2nd Parliament of . . . [more]

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 July 17 – August 20, 2021 inclusive.

Appeals

Bankruptcy and Insolvency: CCAA; Priorities
Canada v. Canada North Group Inc., 2019 ABCA 314, 2021 SCC 30 (38871)

The CCAA generally empowers supervising judges to order super-priority charges that have priority over all other claims, including . . . [more]