Access to Justice
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July 14, 2025
Federal Court judge strikes SRL’s submission in employment dispute over AI hallucination citation
In another sign of AI’s growing impact on the law, the Federal Court has ordered that a self-represented respondent’s motion record be removed from a court file because it relied in part on a non-existent court decision hallucinated by an artificial intelligence (AI) research tool.
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July 14, 2025
Alberta giving $1.25 million to groups in bid to end gender-based violence
Alberta is launching a new grant program through which more than $1 million will be available to community organizations as part of the province’s ongoing bid to tackle gender-based violence.
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July 11, 2025
Court finds conflict of interest for corporate class in COVID-19 business losses class action
In a class action related to losses that businesses suffered due to COVID-19 health orders, the Alberta Court of King’s Bench has adjourned an application to certify an additional corporate class, finding conflict of interest relating to the plaintiffs’ pleadings and within the proposed class itself.
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July 10, 2025
What’s in a name? Including femicide in the Criminal Code
Recently, federal Justice Minister Sean Fraser indicated he would be “open” to including the term “femicide” in the Criminal Code, possibly as part of a number of reforms he expects to present to Parliament in the fall.
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July 10, 2025
‘External monitor’ sees progress & challenges in military’s handling of its sexual misconduct crisis
Ottawa has renewed its pledge to abolish, for the most part, the military justice system’s jurisdiction over sexual offence investigations and prosecutions involving military members. Meanwhile, the military has not delivered on the government’s aim to transfer most existing military sexual offence cases to Canada’s civilian courts — explaining that complainants and provincial authorities have not agreed to the transfers, according to a new report released by the Department of National Defence (DND).
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July 07, 2025
Investigation of Robert Pickton’s death: Are some people of lesser value?
In the early 1990s, Canadians were rightfully shocked by the disappearance of about 20 female sex workers from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. By 1991, relatives and social activists were speculating that a serial killer was at work. Police initially dismissed this idea, suggesting that the women’s transient lifestyle meant they could be anywhere. The number of missing women grew without any clear explanation. Most of them were involved in prostitution.
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July 07, 2025
A common mistake in statutory interpretation
In the training that I deliver on statutory interpretation, I caution against relying on prior interpretations of a statutory provision or a related provision without first doing your own interpretive analysis of the provision. In Pepa v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2025 SCC 21, the Supreme Court of Canada overturned a tribunal decision that made this mistake.
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July 04, 2025
B.C. increases staffing of RCMP hate crimes unit
In an effort to address hate-motivated offences, British Columbia is increasing the staffing capacity of its hate crimes unit, led by the B.C. RCMP.
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July 03, 2025
Court: B.C.’s new arbitration ban doesn’t apply in Rogers customer dispute over $1M hacking loss
In one of the first tests of British Columbia's amended consumer protection law, the B.C. Supreme Court has allowed a bid by telecom giant Rogers to block court action in favor of arbitration in a case where a customer’s phone was hacked, allegedly resulting in her losing an estimated $1 million in Bitcoin. The court found that the amended legislation, which prohibits mandatory arbitration clauses and class action waivers in consumer contracts, did not apply retroactively despite a transitional provision.
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July 02, 2025
New N.S. real estate rule has sellers disclose erosion, flooding issues with coastal properties
Nova Scotia has new real estate rules enabling potential buyers of coastal homes to find out from sellers if a property has been impacted by erosion or flooding.
Access to justice: The language of the litigant counts | Ruphine Djuissi
Access to justice in French is a critical issue for Francophones across Canada, particularly with respect to the availability of legal services in French, the quality of interpretation and translation, and equal language rights. It also includes access to French-speaking lawyers and court documents written in French. It is important to ensure that Francophones have access to legal services in their mother tongue or first official language.
Ontario committed to expanding Unified Family Courts but Toronto still lacking
Ontario’s government is vowing to continue working towards the expansion of Unified Family Courts across the province. But a local lawyer says that until a UFC is placed in the Toronto area, millions are being left to navigate a confusing, “two-tiered” family court system.