Access to Justice
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March 10, 2026
Sex assault appeal: Judge entitled to consider totality of evidence when assessing credibility
Daniel Shee Chong was convicted of sexual offences based on the accounts of two former piano students, AR and MJ, and two others, DP and MR.
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March 10, 2026
Keegstra in Bill C-9: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code: Hate propaganda, hate crime access
More than three decades after the Supreme Court of Canada decided R. v. Keegstra, [1990] 3 S.C.R. 697, the case continues to shape how Canadians think about hate speech, free expression and the limits of the Charter. Yet, while legal analysis has focused intensely on constitutional doctrine, far less attention has been paid to the place that gave rise to the case: Eckville, a small rural community in central Alberta. Revisiting Keegstra today, particularly in light of renewed legislative debates surrounding Bill C-9, requires not only revisiting the court’s reasoning, but also reconsidering how Eckville and central Alberta itself has been constructed in media, academic and greater legal narratives.
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March 09, 2026
Courtroom to community: Reconciliation means amplifying access to justice, Indigenous voices
“Canada’s adoption of the UNDRIP into Canadian law via the UNDA must mean more than a status quo application of the section 35 framework,” wrote Justice Julie Blackhawk in the seminal Kebaowek First Nation v. CNL federal court case (Kebaowek First Nation v. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, [2025] F.C.J. No. 300). For the Indigenous grassroot leaders and youth seeking to intervene in the constitutional challenge to the provincial government’s Bill 5 that was passed in June 2025, this revisioning of the status quo remains a live issue.
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March 09, 2026
Dead men talking, 2026 style
The Mafia instructed their wannabe associates that dead men don’t talk, so once they make their bones and whack a rat — never leave a witness.
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March 09, 2026
In their own words: Why we chose to platform women’s voices
At the Paralegal TownHall, we have always believed that the legal profession is strengthened when people are given a platform to share their knowledge, experiences and perspectives openly. Our community was built around the idea that conversation, collaboration and shared insight move a profession forward.
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March 06, 2026
Exclusion of refugee claimants from subsidized childcare violates women’s Charter s. 15 rights: SCC
In a Charter s. 15(1) equality rights milestone, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Quebec’s exclusion of refugee claimants from eligibility for subsidized childcare in the province unconstitutionally discriminates against women based on their sex.
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March 06, 2026
Ontario’s auto insurance shift to the LAT and access to justice: Consistency, oversight and reform
Ontario’s decision to move most statutory accident benefits disputes from the courts to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) has undoubtedly reshaped accident benefits litigation culture, including how quickly disputes move and how parties evaluate risk. The question of whether those changes have improved access to justice for claimants or simply redistributed systemic pressure into a forum remains.
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March 06, 2026
Ottawa councillor’s trial highlights need for better judicial resource management
On March 5, Ottawa councillor Matthew Luloff was found guilty of impaired driving, a verdict that closes one chapter of public accountability while raising a broader question about how Ontario’s courts allocate their most finite resource: time.
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March 06, 2026
Saskatchewan Appeal Court considers Gladue factors in sentencing for child abuse
Should an Indigenous mother receive a lighter sentence when she abuses her children? K.M. appealed her convictions for failing to provide the necessaries of life, unlawful confinement, assaulting J.K. with a weapon and assaulting L.D., and she also appealed the sentence. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision was delivered on Jan. 6 (R. v. K.M., 2026 SKCA 3).
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March 05, 2026
Has Ontario’s auto insurance shift to the LAT improved access to justice or restricted it?
Ontario’s decision to move most statutory accident benefits disputes from the courts to the Licence Appeal Tribunal (LAT) is now close to a decade old. With that distance comes a clearer view of what the tribunal model has achieved and what it has complicated.