The importance of religion in Canada is reflected in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both in section 2(a)’s guarantee of “freedom of conscience and religion” and in the inclusion of “religion” as a protected ground under section 15’s equality provision. As all guarantees, these are subject to section 1’s justification for limiting rights, which are “subject only to such reasonable limits prescribed by law as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society”. And as do other rights, those related to religious belief may come into tension with other rights and guarantees.

In January 2018, . . . [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

Further Confusing Pairs
Neil Guthrie

I forget where we are in the series. Part 8? Anyway… Avert/advert: One averts one’s gaze from something unpleasant; one adverts (turns one’s attention) to other matters. The two have been confused since the Middle Ages. …

Practice

Create Your Own Personal Pension Plan
Jackie Porter

2019 is here and rather than lament about funds you already spent in 2018, now . . . [more]

Two student-led organizations recently contacted me with their Call for Submissions announcements. While we don’t wish Slaw to become a hub for press releases, I do generally like to help out student groups. Hopefully Slaw readers will also find these interesting.

The first is McGill’s 2019 Annual Law Graduate Conference, scheduled for May 8-9, 2019 in Montreal. The theme of this year’s conference: “Law: Proactive or Reactive”; and the call for submissions can be found on the event website at: https://www.mcgill.ca/agcl/

Any questions, contact the GLSA committee by email at gradlawconference.law@mcgill.ca.

Secondly, the Western Journal of Legal . . . [more]

The IALL conference is one of my favorite meetings to attend. The International Association of Law Libraries’ 37^th Annual Course on International Law and Legal Information took place in Luxembourg, from Sunday, September 30, to Wednesday, October 3. I’d never been to Luxembourg before, but will make up any excuse to go again! The theme was “Law in Luxembourg – Where Local Tradition Meets European and International Innovation.” The programme for the 2018 IALL meeting was wonderful as usual – educational, enlightening, and entertaining. I met a robot, TORY! I encourage everyone, even though you do not specialize in . . . [more]

On Sept. 14, 2018, the Government of Ontario announced a challenge to the federal government’s Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, which will have significant economic and environmental implications, irrespective of how it is decided. A statement of particulars was required by this date, and the province specified that the Act creates an unconstitutional tax because it is ultra vires of the federal government, and contravenes s. 53 of the Constitution Act, 1867. The full arguments are available here.

Given the broad public interest, the Court of Appeal ordered that any province or territory may intervene as a . . . [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.

FAMILLE : Le juge de première instance a commis une erreur révisable en refusant de rétracter le jugement ayant prononcé la déchéance de l’autorité parentale du père car, d’une part, le délai de 48 mois établi par la jurisprudence pour conclure à un abandon n’a pas été dépassé et, d’autre . . . [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 (newest first):

• Policy Counsel (Contract Role) | Ottawa, ON
  (Federation of Law Societies of Canada)
• Associate Lawyer, Class Actions (Full-time) | London, ON
  (Harrison Pensa LLP)
• Litigation Support (Part-time) | Toronto, ON
  (Patrick John O’Sullivan Professional Corporation)
• Lawyer Opportunities

The ex-CEO of General Electric for a time had an empty corporate jet follow his own corporate jet “just in case.”

But it was a paragraph in his explanation letter that I found most instructive:

“Given my responsibilities as C.E.O. of a 300,000-employee global company, I just did not have time to personally direct the day-to-day operations of the corporate air team. I had every right to expect that it was professionally run. Other than to say ‘Hello,’ I never spoke to the leader of corporate air in 16 years.” [emphasis mine]

Now GE has lots of money invested . . . [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.

Understanding Justice Needs: The Elephant in the Courtroom

Hague Institute for Innovation of Law (HiiL) | November 2018

Excerpt: Project Introduction & Chapter 6: Enabling the Justice Sector Transition

Project Introduction

For the first time, we quantify and pinpoint the yearly need for fair solutions. In this report, we estimate that each . . . [more]

Is an electronic signature valid in law? Twenty-five years after the Internet was opened to commercial use, that may seem to be a surprising question. An off-the-cuff response might be, “why shouldn’t it be?” The law does not prescribe a form or medium for a signature. Any method of associating a legal entity (human being, corporation, government) with a piece of information (document, text, inscription) will do the job, if the legal entity had the intention that the association should be for the purpose of signing it.

A signature may have many purposes, of course: to indicate consent, to show . . . [more]

There’s change on the horizon for Manitoba’s legal community, and not everyone is on board with it.

If you’ve ever read my posts here (and I haven’t written in quite a while, so you may not have), you will likely not be surprised to learn that I support the current efforts of Legal Aid Manitoba to seek permission from the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (“IRB”) to use trained advocates rather than lawyers to represent asylum-seekers where appropriate to do so.

According to this CBC News report, Legal Aid Manitoba is seeking to have its advocates not only . . . [more]