Personal Injury
-
February 20, 2024
B.C. prosecutors update hate crime policy to include hate propaganda, conversion therapy offences
The B.C. Prosecution Service (BCPS) has announced revisions to its hate crime policy. The definition of hate crime has been updated to include “hate propaganda” offences, such as advocating or promoting genocide, public incitement of hatred, willful promotion of hatred, and willful promotion of antisemitism.
-
February 15, 2024
B.C. invests $29M in legal aid for family violence victims, prompted by constitutional challenge
British Columbia is soon to have a “historic level of access to legal aid services” through the expansion of legal aid eligibility criteria, allowing more people in the province to receive legal representation through a new family law clinic model. The B.C. government is investing $29.1 million in this over the next three years, allowing Legal Aid BC to have the capacity to serve 4,500 new family law clients.
-
February 14, 2024
Court rules PM, justice minister ‘failed’ litigants & courts with many tardy judicial appointments
A Federal Court judge has refused to order the Trudeau government to fill the present high level of 75 superior court vacancies within specified timeframes; instead the judge recognized a “constitutional convention” that judicial vacancies “must be filled within a reasonable time” and declared his “expectation” that Ottawa will begin to discharge its unfulfilled constitutional duty to fix the country’s “untenable and appalling crisis and critical judicial vacancy situation,” including by reducing the vacancies to the mid-40s “within a reasonable time.”
-
February 14, 2024
General damages of $180K: HRTO signals changing landscape | Stuart Rudner
For many years, I have been critical of the fact that our judicial system allows people who engage in harassment or discriminatory conduct to get off with a mere slap on the wrist. However, the decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario in L.N. v. Ray Daniel Salon & Spa, 2024 HRTO 179, provides some hope that change is underway.
-
February 13, 2024
SCC’s output fell to 34 judgments in 2023, renewing questions, concerns within the bar
Is the Supreme Court of Canada giving enough legal guidance to Canadians, particularly in private law cases? It’s a question simmering within the legal community, one that attracts the attention of academics and litigators and that might benefit from the court shedding some light, especially because the numbers of cases the nine judges hear and decide have been trending down for more than a decade, without explanation.
-
February 13, 2024
NUISANCE - Public nuisance - Liability - Animals
Action by plaintiff for damages due to defendants’ negligence. The plaintiff was walking with her husband and her leashed chihuahua Kobe when she tripped on the curb and broke her left fibula above her ankle after the defendants' unleashed golden retriever, Hunter, bounded across the defendants' yard and across the street toward them.
-
February 09, 2024
Access to diagnostic imaging for Canadians with disabilities
On Jan. 8, United States Attorney General Merrick Garland issued draft revisions to the regulations implementing Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The draft revisions (Rules) were published in the Federal Register on Jan. 12, and the period for public comments formally ends on Feb. 12.
-
February 08, 2024
Barring intervener counsel from pleading in person at SCC ‘improves access to justice’: CJ Wagner
The Supreme Court of Canada’s controversial policy of restricting intervener counsel to virtual appearances, rather than giving them the same hybrid option as party counsel to appear in person before the judges, “offers substantial savings, especially to those farthest from Ottawa” and “as such levels the playing field and improves access to justice,” Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner told the Canadian Bar Association (CBA).
-
February 08, 2024
Staying safe during winter activities
Canadians are well-versed in embracing the outdoors despite the varying challenges posed by the country’s distinct seasons.
-
February 07, 2024
Immigration minister says efforts to bring beleaguered Gazans to Canada stymied at border crossing
Immigration Minister Marc Miller says he’s “pretty pissed off” that Ottawa’s new humanitarian program to bring to safety Palestinians at risk in the war-torn Gaza Strip is being stymied at the Rafah border crossing from Gaza into Egypt by local authorities' refusal to permit exits for people Canada has approved for special temporary resident visas.