Constitutional
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June 28, 2024
Veteran Toronto lawyer starts term as LSO treasurer
The Law Society of Ontario’s (LSO) new treasurer praised his predecessor, spoke of past accomplishments and talked about “ceremony, fellowship and policy.” The LSO’s June 28 Convocation featured remarks by newly elected treasurer Peter Wardle, a Toronto-based commercial litigation and professional liability lawyer who will serve in the role for the 2024-25 term.
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June 24, 2024
Manitoba Crowns had ‘many opportunities’ to abandon alleged ‘junk’ DNA case: lawyer
Crown prosecutors had “many opportunities to abandon” a shaky case against a Manitoba man wrongly jailed for murder — but “kept pressing on and pressing on” despite faulty DNA evidence, says his lawyer. The recent Manitoba King’s Bench ruling in Grant v. Government of Manitoba et al, 2024 MBKB 77, involves 61-year-old Mark Grant, who is suing Manitoba’s government and local police for being wrongly accused, convicted and imprisoned for the killing of a teen girl in 1984.
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June 21, 2024
Public school boards are bound by Charter; tribunals’ Charter rulings reviewed for correctness: SCC
In an important Charter and standard of review case, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that labour arbitrators and other administrative tribunals “should play a primary role” in deciding Charter issues within their bailiwicks — which Charter determinations courts should review on a “correctness” rather than “reasonableness” standard — and that the Charter applies to Ontario public school boards, thereby protecting board employees’ reasonable expectations of privacy in their workplaces and shielding employees from unreasonable search or seizure by their employers.
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June 20, 2024
Ottawa lists Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist entity in Criminal Code
The Government of Canada listed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code, effective June 19, 2024.
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June 17, 2024
Federal Court rejects Labrador Innu group's bid to quash MOU with rival organization
In an ongoing dispute among Labrador-based Innu groups, the Federal Court has ruled that a 2019 government decision to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on advancing reconciliation with the Nunatukavut Community Council (NCC), a self-described Inuit governing body, is not justiciable.
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June 17, 2024
Canadian counsel involvement in arbitration cases increasing, says first-of-its-kind report
On Canada’s commercial arbitration landscape, most professionals working in the field are lawyers and nearly half of them also run a litigation practice, according to the recently released results of the first survey of Canadian arbitration practitioners.
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June 14, 2024
New chief commissioner of Canadian Human Rights Commission announced
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani announced on June 14, 2024, the appointment of Birju Dattani as chief commissioner of the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC), effective Aug. 8, 2024,
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June 14, 2024
Federal Court upholds decision not to renew salmon farm licences over impact on wild salmon
The Federal Court has upheld a decision of the Fisheries Minister not to renew 15 aquaculture licences for Atlantic salmon fish farms in the Discovery Islands in British Columbia over concerns about the impact of the farms on wild salmon.
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June 12, 2024
Case shows why judges should advise parties before ordering a remedy, Ontario Court of Appeal says
Ontario’s top court has ruled that a trial judge was in error when she issued a stay of charges against a man who was arrested after police entered his residence without knocking, saying it was not justified because there were alternatives that would have been able to disassociate the court from police misconduct.
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June 12, 2024
Saskatchewan regulator details strategic plan progress for 2023
Saskatchewan’s law society made strides last year in rolling out parts of its current Strategic Plan — particularly in promoting diversity and equality, ensuring the competence of new lawyers and increasing access to justice for the incarcerated.