Labour & Employment

  • May 09, 2024

    N.B. looks to greater regulations for private career colleges

    In the name of increased protections for post-secondary students, New Brunswick is proposing legislative changes that would mean greater regulation over private career colleges in the province.

  • May 09, 2024

    Terminated for failure to follow vaccination policy? No EI for you.

     Are we done with COVID vaccination policy litigation? Not yet.

  • May 09, 2024

    How AI protections in new SAG-AFTRA agreement affect Canadian actors

    “What’s the difference between theft and research?” went the old joke back in university. Answer: volume!

  • May 09, 2024

    IRCC’s inadequate online access for clients seeking immigration info ‘untenable’: federal watchdog

    The years-long failure of the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) to create a functional system to digitally communicate with would-be immigrants has pushed tens of thousands of IRCC clients (and their lawyers) to try to track the progress of their immigration applications via the access-to-information portals of the federal immigration department and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), says federal Information Commissioner Caroline Maynard, who called the status quo and resulting deluge of access to information requests “simply untenable.”

  • May 08, 2024

    Federal workers’ unions file legal challenges, complaints against three-day on-site work mandate

    Unions representing 270,000 federal public service workers have filed a series of legal challenges in opposition to the government’s new mandate requiring its workers to report to the office three days per week, according to a release by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC).

  • May 07, 2024

    Sweeping national security bill would boost state investigative powers; expand & create crimes, AMPs

    The federal government has introduced a sweeping national security bill that would create a publicly accessible “foreign influence transparency” registry; expand the warrant, production and disclosure powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS); affect criminal accused or judicial review applicants seeking access to relevant “information related to international relations, national defence or national security”; expand the current “sabotage” offence; and create new “foreign interference” offences, along with administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of up to $5 million and five years in prison, including for knowingly obstructing the operations of the office of a proposed new “Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.”

  • May 07, 2024

    Ontario privacy commissioner sides with province on disclosure of health-care staffing info

    Ontario’s privacy watchdog has sided with the province in its attempts to keep information about staffing shortages in the health-care sector private.

  • May 07, 2024

    Lessons from Leafs’ latest exit from the playoffs and executive employment law | Frank Portman

    Unfortunately, the time has now come for what has become a depressingly annual rite of spring in Toronto: the earlier-than-expected exit of the Toronto Maple Leafs from the Stanley Cup playoffs. In this hockey-mad market, there will be plenty of experts, many of the armchair variety, who will dissect the reasons for the latest disappointment.

  • May 07, 2024

    Transmission of U.S. citizenship: Blessing or curse?

    Children of U.S. citizens often can go their whole lives without knowing that they actually are — already — U.S. citizens themselves. To individuals in this situation, finding out you are already a U.S. citizen can be like winning the lottery or your worst nightmare. U.S. citizenship comes with certain rights and privileges but also with certain obligations. Those who want to divest themselves from these obligations can do so but may be frustrated with how lengthy the process of renouncing or relinquishing U.S. citizenship can be.

  • May 06, 2024

    Ottawa’s proposed $72M for immigration legal aid in 2024 helps but more funds needed, CBA says

    Immigration lawyers say federal Budget 2024’s boost for immigration legal aid is very welcome, but higher funding is necessary if the burgeoning number of refugee claimants are to access justice in Canada. As unveiled on April 16, 2024, by Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Budget 2024 proposes $72 million for immigration legal aid in 2024-25, up from $43.5 million per year in Budgets 2023 and 2022.