Continuing Legal Education BC (CLEBC) is offering its annual Conflict Resolution Conference in an innovative virtual 24-hour format.

This is a great opportunity to learn from and with innovators from around the world who will share how the field is responding to COVID-19, increased calls for anti-oppression work within our systems, and the challenges of shifting our practices online. AND to do all this from the comfort of your home and at very affordable prices.

The conference site describes this unique approach:

“Participants will have the opportunity to learn about:

• conflict resolution responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including both new

Early in the pandemic, António Guterres the 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations, stated,

Early signs are that the COVID-19 virus poses a greater direct health risk to men, and particularly older men. But the pandemic is exposing and exploiting inequalities of all kinds, including gender inequality. In the long term, its impact on women’s health, rights and freedoms could harm us all.

More recently, Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, Dr. Howard Njoo, highlighted the need for better data to address the inequalities that the pandemic has exposed.

We already know that despite 246,000 jobs added in August, . . . [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) : L’amende de remplacement qui doit être imposée en raison de l’impossibilité de confisquer les produits de la criminalité dont l’accusé a bénéficié en raison de sa participation à la distribution de plusieurs dizaines de millions de dollars à des membres ou à l’entourage de la kleptocratie dictatoriale . . . [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:

• Library Statistics Analyst (Contract role) | Ontario
  (Legal Information and Resource Network [LIRN])
• Paralegal – Real Estate (Full time) | Chilliwack, BC
  (Waterstone Law Group LLP)

Use is essential in Canadian trademark law. The Federal Court of Appeal has addressed the “use” of a trademark in association with services on the internet. in the context of a non-use cancellation action.

The Trademarks Act defines “use” in relation to services if the trademark “is used or displayed in the performance or advertising of those services”.^[1] Courts have held that the mere advertising of services in Canada will not constitute use in Canada in association with a service. Some aspect of the services must be performed or delivered in Canada.^[2] This is a fact based assessment . . . [more]

Emojis are everywhere. They have become so popular that in 2015 the Oxford Dictionary chose 😂as the word of the year. Their conspicuous usage has already become present in our legal systems. ☺in Canada, 🔫in France, 👍in Spain, 💃🏻👯‍✌️☄️🐿️in Israel, ✈️in New Zealand or 🤐in Australia are just of the few noteworthy examples of the new frontiers of cases involving emojis. Professor Eric Goldman at the Santa Clara University School of Law has aimed to compile a list of cases in the United States where emojis as well as emoticons^[1] have been used in courts. . . . [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. Toronto Transit Commission v Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113, 2020 CanLII 71739 (ON LA)

Most importantly, the facts do not disclose condonation. Aside from the point made in the case law that criminal and near-criminal acts cannot be used to support a condonation defence (see, for example, the Stelco (Shime) decision, cited above, where the arbitrator says this would amount to collusion . . . [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

An Easy Way to Find Out About Foreign Legislation
Susannah Tredwell

If you’ve been asked to find foreign materials in a jurisdiction you know little or nothing about, GlobaLex (https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/index.html) provides a number of country-specific resources covering Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. … . . . [more]

“Someone should <do something>!”

“Someone should <change something>!”

“Someone should <fix something>!”

I’ve uttered these phrases. Maybe you have as well. You’ve certainly heard them said.

So many of the challenges and opportunities we see could be realized if only “someone” would do the thing that opens the door, addresses the negative, or creates the good.

So who is this “someone,” and what’s preventing them from acting?

Whether are talking about the practice of law or the business of law, the administration of justice or access to justice, the making of law or the application of law, the “someone” in . . . [more]

Facebook is increasingly known to be used by older people, with well over a third of Canadians on Facebook being older than 45 years in August 2020. Despite the smaller user base, Facebook is almost two-thirds of all social media use by visits by all social media users in Canada.

With that much use, there’s bound to be problems. And where there are problems, there is often litigation.

The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal recently released a decision in Strom v Saskatchewan Registered Nurses’ Association, which set aside the decision by the Discipline Committee of the nurses’ regulatory college, that . . . [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 as well as leaves to appeal granted so you will know what the SCC will soon be dealing with (September 12 – October 9, 2020 inclusive).

Appeals

Bankruptcy and Insolvency: Priorities; Anti-Deprivation Rule
Chandos Construction Ltd. v. Deloitte Restructuring Inc., 2020 SCC 25 (38571)

The anti-deprivation rule exists in Canadian common law and has . . . [more]