Queen’s University Library has added a new chapter on “An Introduction to Researching Indigenous Legal Orders” to their Canadian Legal Research Manual.

The introduction to the chapter notes that it “provides a very brief introduction to researching Indigenous legal orders. It is not meant to be comprehensive, but rather a starting point primarily intended for non-Indigenous law students researching in an academic setting.”

It includes an overview of the terminology, an overview of sources of Indigenous law, a discussion of ethical considerations and limitations of resources, as well as a list of further reading. Suggested resources include . . . [more]

Once a patent is granted, it can be asserted in litigation against an alleged infringer. One of the remedies that can be obtained is “reasonable compensation” for pre-grant infringement pursuant to section 55(2) of the Patent Act. While relief is often sought and granted for pre-grant infringement, the remedy has some subtleties, including those arising from changing practices at the Canadian Patent Office.

Section 55(2) of the Patent Act states the following:

55(2) A person is liable to pay reasonable compensation to a patentee and to all persons claiming under the patentee for any damage sustained by the patentee

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Jumping off the Ivory Tower Podcast 2. Sunday Night Administrative Review 3. Librarian of Things 4. Law of Work 5. Blogue SOQUIJ

Jumping off the Ivory Tower Podcast
Can’t Buy My Silence

Our final episode for this season focuses on the campaign to ban the misuse of . . . [more]

…All my notions – notions of good and evil, of pleasant and unpleasant, of funny and serious, of ugly and beautiful – are essentially middle-class notions; my taste in books and food and clothes, my sense of honour, my table manners, my turns of speech, my accent, even the characteristic movements of my body, are the products of a special kind of upbringing and a special niche about half-way up the social hierarchy.

-George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier

Many in the legal profession who came from a working- or middle-class background can relate intimately to Orwell’s account of . . . [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) : Dans une affaire de possession, d’accès et de distribution de pédopornographie, le juge de première instance a accordé un poids insuffisant aux caractéristiques personnelles de l’accusé, qui présente une déficience intellectuelle; il y a lieu de substituer à la peine prononcée une peine de 6 mois de . . . [more]

As a supplement to our Sunday Summary each month, Supreme Advocacy LLP in Ottawa presents Supreme One-Liners, a super-short descriptive guide to the most recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers its more comprehensive weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, summarizing all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted.

Appeals

Real Property: Riparian Rights
Zardev Inc. v. Dydzak, 2026 SCC 27 (41291)

Clarifications re riparian rights, submerged lots, accessories.

Leave to Appeal Granted

Administrative Law/Police: Mandamus
Royal Canadian Mounted Police External Review Committee, et al. v. Benison, et al., 2026 FCA 53 . . . [more]

This is the sixth article in my series on RECLAIM, a cultural operating system for law firms built on how human beings are actually wired. Having covered Respect, Equity, Clarity, Learning, and Autonomy, I turn this month to the I: Inclusion.

A few years ago, I coached an associate in the real estate group of a large firm. She could have written a recruiting brochure for her team without exaggerating a word.

The group did the biggest deals in the city, and they knew it. They were proud of the work, and prouder of how they . . . [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.

Canadian University Law: Essentials for Legal and Higher Education Professionals. By Sayeh Hassan & Anna S.P. Wong. Toronto: LexisNexis, 2025. xv, 212 p. Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 9780433533450 (softcover) $120.00.

Reviewed by Julie A. Lavigne
Legal Studies Librarian
Carleton University

Academic freedom and institutional autonomy, both foundations of . . . [more]

Over the past several years, artificial intelligence has moved steadily from the margins of organizational life toward the centre of ordinary operations. It now appears throughout the systems organizations rely upon and the work their people perform, frequently arriving without any deliberate decision to adopt it. For a growing number of organizations, the question is no longer whether artificial intelligence will appear in some form. It has already arrived, and that development carries real implications for boards of directors.

I have spent a fair amount of my career in and around boardrooms, working on questions of corporate governance, non-profit governance, . . . [more]

Rachel Birnbaum and Nicholas Bala’s recent discussion paper, Shaping the Future of Child-Inclusive Mediation in Canada, is an important contribution to the ongoing evolution of family mediation practice in Canada.

The paper provides a thoughtful overview of the research supporting child-inclusive mediation and reaffirms the principle that children should have opportunities to participate in decisions that affect their lives. As the authors note:

“The objective of child-inclusive mediation is not to have children making decisions but adding their input to the decision-making process. The research demonstrates that when children are consulted and included, they have better outcomes.”

Yet despite . . . [more]

Each Monday we present brief excerpts of recent posts from five of Canada’s award­-winning legal blogs chosen at random* from more than 80 recent Clawbie winners. In this way we hope to promote their work, with their permission, to as wide an audience as possible.

This week the randomly selected blogs are 1. Legal Feeds 2. The Trauma-Informed Lawyer 3. Michael Geist 4. Double Aspect 5. Timely Disclosure

Legal Feeds
SCC affirms 7-2 that methods of medical treatment cannot be patented in Canada

Methods of medical treatment cannot be patented under Canadian law, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in . . . [more]

As a supplement to our Sunday Summary each month, Supreme Advocacy LLP in Ottawa presents Supreme One-Liners, a super-short descriptive guide to the most recent decisions at the Supreme Court of Canada. Supreme Advocacy LLP offers its more comprehensive weekly electronic newsletter, Supreme Advocacy Letter, summarizing all Appeals, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted.

Leave to Appeal Granted

Sentencing: Mandatory Minimums
Quebec (Attorney General) v. Denis, 2026 SCC 25

Mandatory minimum of six months for obtaining sexual services from minor is constitutional.

Intellectual Property: Patents
Pharmascience Inc. v. Janssen Inc., 2026 SCC 26 (41209)

What is/is not . . . [more]