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.

Legal Data and Information in Practice: How Data and the Law Interact. By Sarah A. Sutherland. New York: Routledge, 2022. xxi, 148 p. Includes illustrations, tables, bibliography, and index. ISBN 9780367649906 (hardcover) US$170.00; ISBN 9780367649883 (softcover) US$42.95; ISBN 9781003127307 (eBook) US$42.95. <routledge.com>.

Reviewed by Sharon Wang
Associate Librarian
Osgoode . . . [more]

The search for legal information and assistance

The current design of our legal services delivery system makes Ontario’s access to justice crisis worse. Far too many Ontarians who cannot afford a lawyer struggle to find help from a disjointed cluster of private and public legal service providers. Rather than participating in an integrated intake and referral process that could direct people to the appropriate resource based on the type of problem they are experiencing, their eligibility, and the level of intervention they require, front-line agencies (struggling to keep-up with rising demand) waste thousands of precious hours each year interacting with . . . [more]

I have been lucky enough to work with executives who understand the power of quality communication. Whether running a single office or multiple international locations, staff want to understand what their leadership is thinking. Leaders who lean into communication programs tend to have significantly higher approval ratings, their companies have less turnover, and employees feel they are part of a growth plan.

Over the years, we have seen a fundamental shift in the willingness of executives to share. Knowledge is power has evolved to having and sharing knowledge being the cornerstone of reputation and influence, and therefore power. Long are . . . [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 n’a pas erré en déclarant délinquant à contrôler l’appelant, un pédophile, ni en rendant une ordonnance d’interdiction d’utiliser Internet pour une période de 15 ans; toutefois, il est nécessaire de moduler l’ordonnance pour permettre à l’appelant d’utiliser Internet dans certaines circonstances, mais . . . [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, Oral Judgments and Leaves to Appeal granted from September 1 – October 5, 2023 inclusive.

Appeals

Administrative Law/ Immigration: Standard of Review; Inadmissibility
Mason v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration),  2021 FCA 156, 2023 SCC 21 (39855)

The statutory provision at issue, s. 34(1)(e) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (“IRPA”), . . . [more]

By Daniel Standing, LL.B., Content editor, Frist Reference Inc.

A recent wrongful dismissal decision of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, 2023 BCCA 354, sheds significant light on the factors that can rightly be considered when assessing whether conduct amounting to sexual harassment provides just cause for termination, and the legal viability of a global award of damages. The decision is helpful to employers who might otherwise be tempted to take the complainant’s side and obtain an apology from the alleged wrongdoer. . . . [more]

Let me ask you a question. If you are a researcher interested in comparing laws and regulations related to indigenous peoples in several countries, which keywords should you use to find relevant information? Aboriginal Law, First Nations, Native Law, Tribal Law, Indian Law, something else, all of the above? Well, it depends. For those of you who have engaged in comparative research, be it legal or not, you know that the answer is always “it depends”. The reality is that different jurisdictions and legal systems have evolved and continue to do so in a myriad of disparate ways. . . . [more]

At the beginning of each month, we tell you which three English-language cases and French-language cases have been the most viewed* on CanLII in the previous month and we give you a small sense of what the cases are about. 

For this past month, the three most-consulted English-language decisions were:

1. Singh et. al. v Braich, 2023 ONSC 5053

[1] This motion is about an examination for discovery gone wrong.

[…]

[3] The defendant brings this motion to compel the plaintiff to answer questions that plaintiff’s counsel objected to. The defendant relies on Rule 34.14 of the Rules of Civil . . . [more]

How does a Court assess a class action claim against a high-tech giant where the evidence is that the plaintiff reaffirmed the conditions of use numerous times in making her transactions in the world following the Supreme Court of Canada’s seminal case in Uber Technologies Inc. v. Heller, 2020 SCC 16, [2020] 2 S.C.R. 118.

In Heller, the Supreme Court found a compulsory arbitration clause in a contract of adhesion was unconscionable and unenforceable. The facts in that case would have required Heller to expend a year’s earnings to dispute the service agreement with Uber.

After Heller, . . . [more]

Last year, I submitted a report to the Law Society of British Columbia concerning the lawyer development and licensing system in that province. The report made only one recommendation — that BC create and adopt an entry-level lawyer competence framework as the basis for a new licensure system — which the law society’s Benchers accepted.

But my report also included a range of what I called “suggestions” — actions that I thought were worthwhile and beneficial, but that didn’t rise to the level of full “recommendations” that the Benchers would have to approve or reject. My goal was to encourage . . . [more]