Access to Justice
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December 12, 2025
Lawyers’ year end 2025 and upcoming legal challenges 2026
As 2025 comes to an end and everyone attends their holiday parties, let’s prepare for the challenges that will be faced by legal professionals in the upcoming year. Here are a few that come to mind:
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December 12, 2025
Alberta Court of Appeal weighs in on medical privacy
How far does the privacy of medical records restrict police in their investigation of impaired driving? That question was at the heart of a decision recently released by the Alberta Court of Appeal (R. v. Ouellette, 2025 ABCA 340).
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December 10, 2025
Prison lawyers: Contraband smugglers or misunderstood advocates?
The main gate phone rang; it was the shift supervisor: “We got Milano’s lawyer comin’ in at 13:30, make sure you check him good!”
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December 09, 2025
Federal Protecting Victims Act proposes wide-ranging & some contentious criminal law changes
The federal government has introduced a wide-ranging “Protecting Victims Act,” which proposes, among many things: the expansion of various offences and punishments; new restrictions impacting the current interpretation of the Charter rights of accused persons to speedy trials and to make full answer and defence in sexual assault and other prosecutions; the creation of a number of novel Criminal Code offences; and the effective “restoration” for future sentencing (via a new judicial discretion “safety valve”) of “all” unconstitutional Criminal Code mandatory minimum penalties (MMPs) that were struck down as cruel and unusual punishment by various courts.
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December 09, 2025
Are Canadian courts fit for purpose?
With the Cowichan Tribes v. Canada (Attorney General), 2025 BCSC 1490 decision, the British Columbia Supreme Court cast aside nearly a millennium of certainty regarding land ownership. It did this by severely limiting the rights inherent to fee simple title. It additionally declared invalid land titles under the province’s Torrens land registry system (undermining the provincial guaranty inherent in Torrens systems). Given the nature of the claim, namely ownership and development of land that occurred in the absence of a formal treaty, this decision has nationwide implications.
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December 09, 2025
B.C. case highlights differences between ‘con code’ and law’s limited understanding of jail justice
Canadian courts often invoke the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when evaluating the actions of police, prosecutors and trial judges. Section 7, guaranteeing “life, liberty and security of the person,” forms the core of our constitutional framework. However, the protection it offers does not always reach those who need it most.
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December 08, 2025
Federal Court finds Canada owes fiduciary duty for on-reserve First Nations housing, water
A Federal Court judge has ruled that Canada owes a fiduciary duty to provide, ensure or not impede access to adequate on-reserve housing for remote First Nations.
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December 08, 2025
From hallucination to indictment: The criminalization of the AI-enabled lie
On Dec. 4, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice crossed a Rubicon that legal technologists and ethicists have been watching with trepidation for years. In Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 6785, Justice Fred Myers referred a lawyer, Jisuh Lee, to the Attorney General of Ontario for criminal contempt of court proceedings.
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December 05, 2025
Nova Scotia court approves $36.2M settlement in deaf schools abuse case
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has approved a $36.2-million settlement for a class action concerning the alleged abuse and mistreatment of former students at two schools for deaf children, according to a release issued on Dec. 4 by class counsel Wagners.
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December 05, 2025
Supreme Court rules in R. v. B.F. attempted murder case
When someone has provided a person with the means to take their own life, and that person makes an independent and autonomous choice to do so, the question arises: how are we to distinguish between the offences of culpable homicide and aiding suicide?