The Complete Brief
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November 20, 2025
Serena Tobaccojuice's case puts correctional system on trial
Serena Tobaccojuice, a 43-year-old Cree woman and one of Canada’s longest-serving female inmates, awaits sentencing in Nova Scotia for unlawfully confining two correctional officers in 2022. Although she wielded bent tweezers and blocked a doorway for 18 minutes, the officers were unharmed. Originally charged with hostage-taking, she pleaded guilty to the lesser offence.
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November 20, 2025
Black box breaks open: Why Cohere’s legal defeat is a warning shot for Canadian enterprise
For the better part of three years, the Canadian technology sector has heralded Cohere as our homegrown champion, a “sovereign” answer to the Silicon Valley giants, providing enterprise-grade artificial intelligence that serious businesses could trust. We were told that, unlike consumer-grade chatbots prone to chaotic fabrications, Cohere was built for the boardroom: reliable, secure and designed to meet the rigorous demands of industry.
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November 20, 2025
Real estate agreements of purchase and sale: Beware HST provisions
In a real estate transaction, buyers and sellers often haggle over the purchase price of a property. While the buyer will want to pay as little as possible for a property, a seller will want to maximize their return.
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November 20, 2025
Young persons and the self-contained bail regime under the Youth Criminal Justice Act
The goal of this article is three-fold: to reflect on my non-profit work experience working with children and youth, share limited relevant information about the self-contained bail regime of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, S.C. 2002, c. 1 (YCJA), and briefly discuss how the proposed bail reform may affect youth bail hearings. As this goal is rather ambitious, I would only be able to scratch the surface of the last item. I leave the invitation to other counsel to contribute to this important discussion.
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November 20, 2025
TREATIES AND AGREEMENTS - Construction and interpretation - Treaty moneys and annuities
Appeal by Peepeekisis Cree Nation (Nation) from chambers judge’s decision regarding seizure of Settlement Agreement monies. Stonechild was a member of the Nation. He was obligated to pay child support to Ms. Whitecalf under the terms of an order of a judge of the Court of King’s Bench (Maintenance Order).
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November 19, 2025
B.C. trade mission secures MOUs to boost lumber demand in Asia
A British Columbia trade mission to Asia has resulted in two new memoranda of understanding (MOUs) expected to boost demand for B.C. lumber in Japan and South Korea’s expanding wood-construction markets, according to a release issued on Nov. 19.
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November 19, 2025
Alberta’s use of notwithstanding clause condemned by rights groups, medical association
The Alberta government is once again invoking the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to shield controversial legislation from scrutiny by the courts, a move being called troubling by legal and medical observers, who say use of the clause should not become normalized for governments as a way of doing business.
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November 19, 2025
Liberal government unveils first budget bill, says criminal justice bill to come before Christmas
The Carney government’s 2025 legislative to-do list got longer with the rollout of its first budget implementation omnibus bill, which proposes dozens of tax and other statutory measures.
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November 19, 2025
Ontario court rules forum clause survives corporate transfer in dismissal dispute
The Ontario Superior Court has upheld a forum selection clause in an employment agreement in a dispute over the dismissal of an employee whose contract was transferred from a federal Crown corporation to its subsidiary operating under private management.
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November 19, 2025
Ontario, Alberta privacy commissioners release investigation into breach in education sector
The information and privacy commissioners of Ontario and Alberta have released reports on their investigations into a “massive privacy breach involving PowerSchool education technology (edtech) used by schools in their respective provinces.”