The Complete Brief
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September 29, 2025
Ontario privacy ruling a ‘wake-up call’ for hospitals, children’s aid societies: legal expert
An Ontario court has sided with the province’s information and privacy commissioner over notification requirements after separate data breaches at a Toronto hospital and a children’s aid society in the GTA, rejecting a narrower interpretation of the duty argued by both organizations.
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September 29, 2025
Sara Romeih joins Aird & Berlis
Sara Romeih, who was called to the Ontario bar in 2020, has joined the litigation and dispute resolution group at Aird & Berlis.
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September 29, 2025
Historical child sex offences demand no less accountability than those committed today: SCC
Paul Sheppard is a former teacher and headmaster of the now closed Saint John’s School of Alberta, an elite all-male boarding school along the North Saskatchewan River in Stony Plain, near Edmonton.
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September 29, 2025
UN and Palestine: Recognition, refugees and Canada’s role
This week at the United Nations General Assembly, history was made. Several Western nations, including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, France and Portugal, formally recognized the State of Palestine. In doing so, these countries joined the overwhelming majority of UN members — now 157 of 193 — that formally acknowledge Palestinian statehood.
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September 29, 2025
Arbitrator’s disclosure back in the spotlight with SCC’s dismissals in Aroma and Vento, part two
The Supreme Court of Canada dismissed on Sept. 18, 2025, an application for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision in Vento Motorcycles, Inc. v. Mexico, 2025 ONCA 82.
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September 29, 2025
EXTRAORDINARY REMEDIES - Habeas corpus
Appeal by Leinen from chambers judge’s decision suspending the effect of an order. Leinen was involuntarily transferred, on an emergency basis, from the Mission Institution (a combined minimum and medium security prison) to the Kent Institution (a maximum-security prison).
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September 26, 2025
SCC clarifies that Friesen sentencing principles apply to historic sexual crimes against children
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that the contemporary sentencing principles the court laid down for sexual crimes against children, in its 2020 landmark ruling in R. v. Friesen, must also be applied in sentencing historical sexual offences against children. On Sept. 26, 2025, the top court handed down reserved reasons for its unanimous oral judgment last April, which restored the six-year prison term that a trial judge imposed on ex-teacher Paul Sheppard for his repeated sexual abuse of a 12-year-old boarding school student in 1993 and 1994: R.v. Sheppard, 2025 SCC 29.
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September 26, 2025
Ottawa introduces bill to remove CAF jurisdiction over sexual offences, enhance military justice
National Defence Minister David McGuinty has introduced legislation that would remove the Canadian Armed Forces’ jurisdiction over the investigation and prosecution of Criminal Code sexual offences committed in Canada, according to a release.
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September 26, 2025
Canada welcomes World Trade Organization’s fisheries subsidies agreement
Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu has welcomed the coming into force of the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies for sustainability.
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September 26, 2025
Ontario law society makes moves on public transparency, trust
Increasing transparency and working toward restoring public trust were the orders of the day as benchers of the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) met for their most recent meeting.