Access to Justice
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February 21, 2024
Factors contributing to the LTB crisis at Tribunals Ontario | Kathy Laird and Voy Stelmaszynski
In part one of this series, we presented the most recent data from Tribunals Ontario’s Annual Report and its website about the enormous delays at the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB) and the backlog of 53,000 plus applications. The available data from Tribunals Ontario is less than complete and is often confusing, misleading or seemingly contradictory.
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February 21, 2024
Feds seek Parliamentary approval to spend $28 million more on legal aid for immigrants & refugees
With the coming two-year anniversary of Russia’s country-wide invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced it is providing Pro Bono Ontario with nearly half a million dollars to help war-displaced Ukrainians with their immigration-related legal problems.
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February 20, 2024
170 lawyers, law students raise concerns about expanding MAID for mental illness | Derek Ross
On Feb. 1, 2024, the federal government introduced Bill C-62 to impose a three-year delay on the expansion of assisted death to those whose sole underlying condition is a mental illness. If the bill does not pass, MAID for mental illness will, under a “sunset clause” contained in a previous bill, be legalized on March 17, 2024.
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February 20, 2024
Nova Scotia opens new grant to aid in ending racism, inequality
Community organizations in Nova Scotia can now apply for a new grant for projects aimed at ending racism and inequity through removing “barriers” in various sectors — including the justice system.
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February 20, 2024
Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board numbers speak for themselves | Kathy Laird and Voy Stelmaszynski
There is little justice to be found for Ontarians who have to turn to Ontario’s busiest tribunal — the Landlord and Tenant Board (LTB). The LTB has been failing badly since 2019, when the current government began removing its experienced adjudicators and moved the LTB under the leadership of Tribunals Ontario, a mega-cluster of tribunals.
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February 20, 2024
Animal photos are good for your health
Human and animal health are linked, including in ways that you may not have suspected.
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February 16, 2024
Elected regulator ousted for racist comments | Sara Blake
A regulator of a profession may remove an elected member who refuses to sign the regulator’s code of conduct for elected members: Agnew v. Manitoba Dental Assn. [2023] M.J. No. 169.
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February 15, 2024
B.C. invests $29M in legal aid for family violence victims, prompted by constitutional challenge
British Columbia is soon to have a “historic level of access to legal aid services” through the expansion of legal aid eligibility criteria, allowing more people in the province to receive legal representation through a new family law clinic model. The B.C. government is investing $29.1 million in this over the next three years, allowing Legal Aid BC to have the capacity to serve 4,500 new family law clients.
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February 14, 2024
Court rules PM, justice minister ‘failed’ litigants & courts with many tardy judicial appointments
A Federal Court judge has refused to order the Trudeau government to fill the present high level of 75 superior court vacancies within specified timeframes; instead the judge recognized a “constitutional convention” that judicial vacancies “must be filled within a reasonable time” and declared his “expectation” that Ottawa will begin to discharge its unfulfilled constitutional duty to fix the country’s “untenable and appalling crisis and critical judicial vacancy situation,” including by reducing the vacancies to the mid-40s “within a reasonable time.”
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February 14, 2024
Federal Court grants Amnesty International leave to intervene in racial discrimination class action
The Federal Court has granted Amnesty International Canada leave to intervene in the certification motion of a class action concerning allegations that the federal government has discriminated against Black employees for decades.