Canada uniquely provides a notice and notice regime by which copyright owners can require an ISP to forward notices of alleged infringement to a suspected typically anonymous internet user claimed to be infringing the owner’s copyright.

Courts describe one of the purposes of the notice-and-notice regime is “to provide copyright holders the information they need in order to bring infringement actions against suspected violators, who will usually be Internet users whose identities are unknown to the copyright holders, but known to the respective ISPs”.^[1]

The Supreme Court has also described a purpose of the notice and notice regime was . . . [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

Are You Doing Your Utmost or Your Upmost?
Neil Guthrie

To do one’s utmost is to make the maximum possible effort: We will do our utmost to meet the deadline imposed by the regulator. What one sometimes sees (or, more often, hears) is upmost instead of utmost. Close, but no cigar. … . . . [more]

Climate change is the single greatest existential threat facing Canada. Greater than terrorism. Greater than cyber attacks on our digital infrastructure. Even greater than the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite this, Canada has failed miserably in responding to this threat, despite knowing about it for decades. The reasons for this ultimately come down to politics, and narrow interests far too often confined by political cycles.

In 2019, Canada’s independent environment auditor, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development, released a report which stated,

As Commissioner, I was proud to present the results of the first truly national picture of climate

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.

ACTION COLLECTIVE (RECOURS COLLECTIF) : Estimant détenir une créance conditionnelle à la suite de l’approbation de leurs honoraires, les avocats des représentants demandent la communication de l’identité et des coordonnées des membres du groupe; toutefois, étant donné que leur objectif ultime semble être d’obtenir des honoraires additionnels en intentant éventuellement . . . [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:

• Operations Manager – College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents (Full-time) | Remote/Canada
  (College of Patent and Trademark Agents of Canada)
• Director, People and Culture (Full-time) | Remote/Vancouver, BC
  (Ecojustice)

Lewis Waring, Paralegal, Student-at-law, Editor, First Reference Inc.

In McGuinty v 1845035 Ontario Inc (McGuinty Funeral Home) (“McGuinty”), an employee who returned to the workplace after an extended leave was found to have been constructively dismissed despite the fact that he had continued to work after the event leading to his constructive dismissal had taken place. McGuinty is important because it shows employers that a possible constructive dismissal claim does not necessarily go away once an employee returns to the workplace. In other words, a constructive dismissal claim does not require that an employee no longer comes into the office. . . . [more]

Recently Singapore, New Zealand and Chile signed an agreement on how they will run their trading relationships in the electronic age: the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA). It spells out how the parties will carry on business electronically, including the basic legal framework (UNCITRAL Model Law on E-Commerce, Electronic Communication Convention (and parties ‘shall endeavour’ to adopt the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records), operation of a Single Window for customs and transit documents, and many other elements of trade in the modern era.

The obligations are set out in the context of the WTO, including its Trade Facilitation Agreement . . . [more]

Periodically on Thursdays, we present a significant excerpt, usually from a recently published book or journal article. In every case the proper permissions have been obtained. If you are a publisher who would like to participate in this feature, please let us know via the site’s contact form.

Temporary Entry into the Canadian Labour Market

Series: Immigration Law Series
Authors: Stephen Green, Alexandra Cole, Cristina Guida and Peter Salerno
General Editors: Chantal Desloges & Cathryn Sawicki
ISBN: 978-1-77462-011-3
Publisher: Emond Publishing
Page Count: 462
Publication Date: February 2021
Regular Price: $99

Excerpt: Chapter 5 “Authorization to Work Without a Work . . . [more]

Despite hiccups on vaccine receipt and distribution, we now know that by the end of the year, there’s a very good chance we’ll all be back to normal. That means there’s still another considerable block of time to get through first. We don’t want to be in either survival or neutral mode forever. So as we finish weathering this storm, what should law firm strategy look like for the remainder of 2021?

First and foremost, stick to your longer-term strategic plan. The point of a strategic plan is that it helps to guide a firm through the goods times, and . . . [more]

The United States just endured a second impeachment trial. The outcome was foreseen, but the procedure was necessary. On January 6^th both branches of Congress convened for a ceremonial act to tally the states’ certified results. This began at 2pm, but when they got to the votes from Arizona, objections were raised by Republican Representatives and Senators. At the same time, a mob spurred on by President Trump to march to the Capitol, began to break into the building. I was watching online and could hardly believe what I was seeing.

The Capitol Police were overwhelmed and violent people . . . [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. Zak v Zak, 2021 ABQB 80 (CanLII)

[20] It is trite law that the fact that a judge has found against a party does not constitute evidence of bias. Equally, the fact that a judge has made findings of fact that one party has behaved poorly does not constitute evidence of bias. Indeed, in cases of high-conflict family litigation such as . . . [more]