The House of Commons adjourned for the summer on June 20, 2024. A number of federal bills received Royal Assent the same day, including two omnibus acts, Bill C-59, the Fall Economic Statement Implementation Act, 2023, and Bill C-69, the Budget Implementation Act, 2024, No. 1.

While not all the amendments made by these acts came into force on Royal Assent, a number of them did. However, the federal Justice Laws Website has not yet added these changes to the consolidated legislation and, based on previous patterns, the consolidated legislation will take a while to be updated.

As . . . [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.

La juge de la Cour supérieure a correctement conclu que la condamnation antérieure de l’accusée, pour le même événement, en raison d’une infraction de conduite avec les facultés affaiblies par l’alcool (art. 320.14 (1) a) C.Cr.) entraînait l’application de la règle interdisant les condamnations multiples et justifiait l’arrêt des procédures . . . [more]

On May 21, 2024, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea delivered a groundbreaking advisory opinion on state parties’ climate change obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

The unanimous opinion found that state parties have legal obligations to implement measures to prevent, reduce and control greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including by enacting laws and regulations. In developing those measures, states must consider the best available science and international treaties like the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

This is the first time an international court . . . [more]

Written by Christina Catenaci, BA, LLB, LLM, PhD, Content Editor, published by First Reference Inc.,

In April 2024, the New Brunswick Labour and Employment Board confirmed the decision of the Director of Employment Standards that an elected municipal councillor with a local government governed by the Local Governance Act was not an employee. He claimed that his six-month suspension was a violation of the Employment Standards Act and that he was owed damages. The Board concluded that the councillor did not meet the definition of “employee.” Therefore, the Board dismissed the councillor’s claim. . . . [more]

Following ChatGPT’s public release in November 2022, there has been growing discussion about how generative AI intersects with lawyers’ professional obligations as found in codes of conduct. I published some early thoughts on this topic in Slaw.ca (see here and here). Several Canadian law societies have now also published guidance. Providing this sort of information is essential, in my view, for building needed tech literacy in the profession, particularly as AI becomes increasingly integrated into common tools that lawyers already use on a daily basis. Unfortunately, we have already seen that appropriate AI use by lawyers is not inevitable . . . [more]

Most of the semi-permanent controversy concerning articling revolves around whether it should be retained as a requirement for lawyer licensure, and if so, how the profession can ensure there are enough articling opportunities for all licensure candidates. Rarely discussed, but relevant to both inquiries, is a simpler question: How long should the articling term last?

It’s revealing that there’s no single answer to that question. Currently, most Canadian jurisdictions impose a 12-month or 52-week articling period, which may include time spent in a bar admission course. In Ontario, however, the articling term is ten months long, and in British . . . [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) : Le juge de première instance a commis des erreurs de droit en analysant la question de la capacité de la victime à consentir aux actes sexuels survenus avec l’accusé; il a erré en estimant que le témoignage de la victime ne lui était d’aucune utilité dans l’analyse . . . [more]

I recently learned of a new AI-detection software that I was curious to test.

What a Human Eye Can Pick Up

This spring, two faculty members asked me for some help in determining whether student papers may have been generated by AI.

I found a few non-determinative clues such as, the lack of footnotes for key concepts, the lack of pinpoint citations in footnotes, and writing that is generalized, high-level or non-analytical.

But up until now, I hadn’t heard of any AI detection software that could help.

AI to the Rescue?

So I was curious to try out QuillBot – . . . [more]

This article offers a concise overview of the Council of Europe’s (CoE) recent efforts in shaping global artificial intelligence (AI) governance. The newly adopted Framework Convention on AI has important implications for member states and beyond, notably Canada. Organizations and employers beginning to navigate the AI landscape will want to assess the widespread impact of this treaty on businesses worldwide. . . . [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.

The Trouble with Big Data: How Datafication Displaces Cultural Practices. By Jennifer Emond, Nicola Horsley, Jörg Lehmann & Mike Priddy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2022. Includes index. ISBN 9781350239623 (hardcover) $143.95; ISBN 9781350239654 (eBook) Open Access.

Reviewed by Brianna Storms
Information Resources Librarian
Queen’s University

The authors of the open-access book . . . [more]