Territories all over the world come in different shapes, sizes and with a diverse range of government power as well as statutory and constitutional constraints. Despite the usage of the same term, territories vary tremendously from country to country. They may be considered integral constituents of the countries they belong to or an unincorporated, detached or loosely linked separate jurisdiction.

Born in a territory myself, I have always been interested in the legal frameworks in which territories are created, and how they (d)evolve over time especially in times of crises. To that end, I had the opportunity to coordinate a . . . [more]

Over the past year of researching legal technology and learning more systemic ways of thinking about the future, I have become quite interested in the discipline of futurism especially the work of Amy Webb. What most interests me about it is looking at the present and trying to extrapolate what current trends mean for the future in the short, medium, and long terms. I am less interested in looking out many years and saying what I think will happen without showing the work of how I got there, so here is my view of the legal technology, practice, and information . . . [more]

Lawyers tend to get excited when the courts create a new tort, and for good reason. The judiciary is reluctant to instigate such reform to the common law absent compelling facts, and a strong societal need for them to do so.

In Seneca College v. Bhadauria, the Court of Appeal found that a cause of action existed for the tort of discrimination, on the basis that the Ontario Human Rights Code,

18 I regard the preamble to the Code as evidencing what is now, and probably has been for some considerable time, the public policy of this Province

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 January 1 – February 5, 2021 inclusive.

Appeals

Contracts: Duty to Exercise Contractual Discretion
Wastech Services Ltd. v. Greater Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District, 2019 BCCA 66; 2021 SCC 7 (38601)

The duty to exercise contractual discretion is breached only where the discretion is exercised . . . [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.

DROITS ET LIBERTÉS : Un homme noir a fait l’objet d’un traitement différencié et inhabituel de la part des policiers de la Ville de Gatineau alors qu’il a été interpellé, détenu, fouillé ainsi qu’arrêté et qu’il a reçu un constat d’infraction sans motif sérieux ou raisonnable; en l’espèce, les comportements . . . [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, People and Culture (Full-time) | Remote/Vancouver, BC
  (Ecojustice)
• Legislative Affairs Specialist (Full-time) | Remote/within commuting distance to Victoria, BC
  (Ecojustice)

A recent decision of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, in the judge’s words “highlights the perils of not having a dispute resolution mechanism built into a contract.”

Madam Justice Loparco described the lawsuit in North Pacific Properties Ltd v Bethel United Churches of Jesus Christ Apostolic of Edmonton as a “Jenga tower.”

The case involved a very complicated real estate deal (119 paragraphs summarizing the evidence). The saga started in 2006, with an agreement to sell property to a developer and transfer of part of it back to the Bethell church. The original buyer assigned the purchase agreement to . . . [more]

Observers of the justice system and the legal profession, as well as writers of myriad reports by the Canadian Bar Association and others seeking to improve access to justice, all come to the same conclusion: to be successful, the system must be human-centred – arranged around and for the people it serves.

This should be a given – to be successful any enterprise has to think about what the people using its services need. Successful enterprises remove as many obstacles for users as possible, in order to provide a friction-free experience.

One of the frequent complaints from those who need . . . [more]

By Daniel Standing LL.B., Editor, First Reference Inc.

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice issued a ruling in Sager v. TFI International Inc., 2020 ONSC 6608 which considered an interesting contract interpretation issue that arose in the underlying wrongful dismissal claim. The termination clause appeared to be generous to the employee but was ultimately found invalid for violating the Canada Labour Code. As a result, the employee was entitled to more notice than he received under the contract. . . . [more]

Legal institutions demonstrate both a reliance on and a resistance to evidence-based decision-making. Across all areas of the law, cases are built, argued and decided on evidence that is meticulously gathered and assessed. Rigorous fact-seeking is the standard that gives credibility to law’s oft-cited assurances of impartiality and due process. Yet, the very legal mechanisms for which this standard informs and justifies decisions are often themselves without the data necessary to evaluate the frameworks within which they operate. The result is that there is a lack of data in the legal field in Canada (and elsewhere) on the processes used . . . [more]

In an article by Slate.com, Pilar Escontrias proclaims “It’s time to see the bar exam for what it truly is: the relic of a racist club.” The bar exam in the United States has a “sordid history as one of the many racialized gatekeeping mechanisms into the practice of law. The legal profession was a virtually unregulated, open field of practice for generations until immigrants, Black, and Jewish people started applying for bar admission in the late 19th century”. Suddenly the bar exam emerged. One reason for the bar exam was to act as a gatekeeper against minorities.

In . . . [more]