August 28, 2026
A recent Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal decision demonstrates the sometimes difficult balance between protecting Charter rights and ensuring that serious criminal charges are decided on their merits.
August 27, 2026
Lawyers in Nova Scotia are examining whether a legal challenge could be launched against the province after it made what they called the “cruel” move of amending income assistance regulations to make homeless people living in tents and cars ineligible for an enhanced welfare benefit.
August 27, 2026
Alberta’s Court of King’s Bench has made some tweaks to its rules on digital orders while offering a new guide for litigants in family law cases.
August 27, 2026
The inability to afford a lawyer remains the biggest barrier to legal services in Manitoba, but obstacles also arise when various bodies operate in silos rather than coming together to serve the “whole person,” an official says following the release of a survey on access to justice in the province. Earlier this month, the Law Society of Manitoba (LSM) released its “What We Heard from Community Report” as part of its ongoing Access to Justice (A2J) Initiative.
August 26, 2026
The guilty plea entered Aug. 25 by a Toronto jail inmate who viciously attacked his elderly cellmate should prompt more than horror at the brutality of the assault. It should also prompt a difficult legal question: what, if anything, can an extraordinary act of violence reveal about the offender’s mental state?
August 26, 2026
Family court is not built to resolve ordinary disputes. It is built to hold families at the moment they are most unstable. It is where private collapse becomes public process, where fear, grief, control and loss are forced into legal form.
August 26, 2026
A sentencing judge has delivered another sharp reminder that a court’s punishment cannot be considered in isolation from the conditions under which an accused has already been held. Justice Esther Rosenberg’s decision, released on Aug. 19 (R. v. Daniel), is significant not because the offences were minor. They were anything but.
August 25, 2026
Some criminal cases seem to cry out for punishment. Others force criminal law to ask a more fundamental question: can a person be held criminally responsible for conduct he did not consciously control?
August 24, 2026
A national civil liberties group has launched a Charter challenge against what it calls the “chronic” underfunding of criminal legal aid in Manitoba. And a leading voice for criminal lawyers in the province is echoing the sentiment that funding has long stagnated.
August 24, 2026
As generative artificial intelligence becomes more capable, law schools at some Canadian and American universities have announced bans on laptops, tablets and mobile phones in classrooms. Supporters say restrictions protect academic integrity and restore focused learning. Critics counter that blanket bans are difficult to enforce, disadvantage some students and avoid the challenge, that of teaching future lawyers to use AI responsibly.