Monday, November 13, 2017 Sometimes, litigants get so caught up in zealotry that they lose sight of basic underlying factors. That, perhaps, is part of the cost of the adversarial system. But when the zealot is the Crown in a country that faces vexing issues of delays in the court system and access to justice […]
Monday, December 04, 2017 Why is it that after 150 years of persecuting our Aboriginal neighbours, we still insist on misleading them? Why do we keep shrouding their hopes in mist? Justin Trudeau pleased many when Canada announced that it was a “full supporter” of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples […]
Wednesday, December 20, 2017 I’ve never met former Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. But I’ve read most of her judgments and written about many of them over the past 23 years. I’ve also read the accolades that accompanied her retirement. The opinions were unanimous, an undivided public and professional outpouring of affection, admiration and gratitude for […]
January 3, 2018 If there’s one thing that’s clear about pension reform in 2018, it’s that sponsors will have their hands full, particularly in Ontario. “There’s no question in my mind that impending changes to Ontario’s pension laws will motivate administrators and service providers to up their game,” says Mary Picard, a partner at Dentons […]
Friday, January 05, 2018 Something’s been lost so far in the debate about contingency fees that the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) calls “[protecting] access to justice for the public, while ensuring protection from unscrupulous practices and unreasonable fees.” Unfortunately, what’s been lost are a lot of people. They’re called “pensioners,” a group that […]
Friday, January 12, 2018 One Judge Down, CBC Radio’s revealing documentary about the shocking circumstances surrounding former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Gerald Le Dain’s abrupt resignation from the court in 1988, is both a sorrowful reflection about how even the most enlightened among us treat mental illness and an eye-opener about misplaced values that still […]
Friday, February 02, 2018 The #MeToo Movement, a cause so noble in its aim of correcting the historical abuse heaped on women, should never have become mired in the controversy that now threatens it. But it did, the day that some of the movement’s proponents and publicists overstepped the boundary between “MeToo” and “YouToo.” It’s […]
Changes will hit those with American property, dual citizens with Canadian earnings and even needy startups hoping for VC funds from U.S. February 6, 2018 While much of the commentary on U.S. tax reform has focused on the impact on business, some nasty surprises are in store for individual Canadians, particularly those with dual citizenship […]
Artificial intelligence has the potential to wreak havoc on diversity initiatives February 20, 2018 Artificial intelligence (AI), it seems, has become the cutting-edge target for proponents of diversity in the workplace. Some experts claim that AI is increasingly biased against women and non-white people. Even robots, they claim, are being sexist and racist. The bias […]
Tuesday, February 27, 2018 If you’re Law Society of Ontario (LSO) treasurer Paul Schabas, you’ve got to be frustrated by the results of the recent LSO survey that prompted 20 per cent of responding articling students to reveal that they had received “unwelcome attention.” The results evidence the culture of a profession lagging precariously behind […]