Access to Justice
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December 17, 2025
Ontario Court of Appeal resolves ‘jurisdictional dead end’ in labour dispute
Ontario’s top court has ruled that judges must maintain authority over claims involving entities not party to a collective agreement, but has emphasized that “proper respect” is owed to specialized tribunals and requires courts to consider staying parallel litigation if the dispute is before a labour arbitrator.
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December 17, 2025
SCC rejects latest bid to get intervener counsel into court; AGs & other interveners limited to Zoom
The Supreme Court of Canada is poised to hear argument from dozens of interveners in a groundbreaking case about the Charter’s “notwithstanding” clause and the “architecture” and “unwritten principles” of the Constitution, however, intervener counsel won’t be allowed to set foot in the top court’s iconic Ottawa courtroom.
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December 17, 2025
New Indigenous sentencing court opens in Chilliwack, B.C.
The Provincial Court of British Columbia opened the province’s tenth Indigenous sentencing court on Dec. 11 in Chilliwack. Indigenous courts currently operate in nine other B.C. communities.
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December 17, 2025
View from inside: Sleep in jail
We all know that decent sleep is important for mental and physical health. Lots of people struggle to get a good night’s sleep consistently. Jails and prisons, though, seem to set out to make it hard to get a decent night’s sleep — just one of the many ways these places work against their stated purpose of helping people who commit crimes rehabilitate.
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December 17, 2025
Bill C-16 must go further for older Canadians
Elder abuse does not always announce itself with bruises or broken bones. Often, it arrives through isolation, intimidation, financial control and fear. For many older victims, coercive control is the harm that shapes daily life long before anyone calls it violence or criminal neglect. It is gradual, cumulative and profoundly destabilizing, yet frequently invisible to outsiders.
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December 16, 2025
Terms of warrant come into question in London, Ont., firearms case
A nurse from London, Ont., Lynda Marques, was shot and killed on Sept.10, 2021, by two masked men believed to be rivals of her fiancé, Ali Bhatti, as she was parking in the driveway of the home she shared with Bhatti.
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December 15, 2025
How holiday stress contributes to domestic-related calls and charges
The holiday season is often celebrated as a time of warmth, tradition and togetherness. Yet for many households in Canada, it also brings a unique mix of pressures that can contribute to increased conflict in the home.
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December 12, 2025
Canada, Ontario expand Toronto justice centres for at-risk youth
The federal government and Ontario have announced five new youth justice centre locations in Toronto that aim to improve access to legal and community supports for at-risk youth in the city.
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December 12, 2025
New rights advisers available in B.C. for those involuntarily admitted under Mental Health Act
People experiencing a mental health crisis in British Columbia now have the legal right to meet with an independent adviser to better understand the support available to them.
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December 12, 2025
An ‘AI crash’ could leave behind an environmental mess
The world’s artificial intelligence (AI) boom is accelerating at a pace that few anticipated even a year ago. Data centres are rising across continents. Chip manufacturers are operating at maximum capacity. Investors are pouring billions into technologies, the long-term returns of which remain uncertain. Analysts now warn that this acceleration may be building towards an “AI crash.”