Family
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June 16, 2025
Appeal Court remedies unfair marriage agreement
In Bradley v. Callahan, 2025 BCCA 69, the parties’ September 1997 marriage agreement, some 35 pages, executed two days before their marriage, became the subject of intense litigation when their marriage ended in 2014, culminating in a 40-day trial and an appeal to British Columbia’s Court of Appeal in 2024.
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June 16, 2025
Horror of provincial jails in Canada
Much to my surprise, on my first day in a provincial jail after my arrest, the two prisoners with whom I shared a cell (I slept on the floor with my head by the toilet) both told me that the conditions in this jail were much worse than in the federal prisons where they had served time.
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June 16, 2025
Ontario Court of Justice appoints 10 new judges
The Ontario government has announced the appointment of 10 new judges to the Ontario Court of Justice, effective June 16, 2025.
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June 16, 2025
The Friendly Bar series, No. 1: Do not define a lawyer by one case
In the legal profession, it is all too common for lasting impressions of a colleague to be formed based on a single file or interaction. Whether it is a difficult case, a tense negotiation or an adversarial court conference, that one experience often comes to define a lawyer’s entire professional identity. Informal whispers such as “They are unreasonable” or “They are unprofessional — avoid them” circulate rapidly, ultimately hardening into a reputation that may be undeserved and unrepresentative.
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June 16, 2025
Bill C-5: A legal feeding frenzy at the expense of Indigenous jurisdiction
The federal government’s proposed Bill C-5 — which includes the Building Canada Act — sets a two-year timeline for major project approvals. On the surface, it promises efficiency and economic momentum. But from the perspective of many Indigenous leaders and legal professionals, this legislation signals a looming crisis: the sidelining of Indigenous law, the erosion of meaningful consultation, and a surge of culturally incompetent legal advocacy that risks deepening colonial harm.
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June 13, 2025
SCC rules admissibility of Crown-led ‘sexual inactivity’ evidence must be decided in a voir dire
Holding 9-0 that evidence of a complainant’s “sexual inactivity” forms part of their “sexual history” — and is therefore presumptively inadmissible at trial — the Supreme Court of Canada has also clarified that the common law screening procedure for Crown‑led sexual history evidence “should mirror” the s. 276 Criminal Code regime that applies in a voir dire for defence-led sexual history evidence.
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June 13, 2025
Trial judge erred in interpreting resulting trust in property dispute, finds B.C. Court of Appeal
In a mother-son dispute over a property, the B.C. Court of Appeal has found that the lower court judge committed a palpable and overriding error in interpreting the respondent’s resulting trust claim.
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June 13, 2025
Musings do not always give rise to enforceable promises, Ontario court says in dispute over farm
Ontario’s top court has overturned a decision that awarded damages to a man and his partner in a dispute over his parents’ farm, saying the judge in the case was wrong to raise the issue of proprietary estoppel.
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June 13, 2025
Tax Court gives guidance regarding shared custody and the Canada Child Benefit in Wong v. The King
Disputes over the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) are among the most sensitive in tax litigation, particularly when they involve shared custody. These cases raise questions that are not only legal and financial but also deeply personal. The recent decision of the Tax Court of Canada in Wong v. The King, 2025 TCC 24, provides important guidance on how courts assess eligibility for the CCB in shared parenting arrangements.
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June 12, 2025
BCSC aims to fight investment scams targeting elderly with new ringtones
The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has launched a new ad campaign using custom ringtones to help seniors and their families avoid investment scams.