The Complete Brief
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March 12, 2026
Ontario Superior Court of Justice abolishes Zoom hearings for Toronto family law cases
In a sweeping policy shift poised to dramatically increase the cost of separation and divorce for thousands of Toronto families, the Family Branch of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has announced that, effective April 2, 2026, all family law motions at the Toronto courthouse will presumptively proceed in person — and no longer by Zoom.
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March 12, 2026
Patel v. Bhatt: A model for child abduction under the Hague Convention
International child abduction cases are a matter of great concern to Canadian and international courts alike. The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (the Convention) was designed to secure the prompt return of children who were wrongfully removed to or retained in any contracting state, and to ensure that the rights of custody and access under the law of one contracting state are effectively respected in the other contracting states.
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March 12, 2026
B.C. proposing faster environmental assessment process
B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office (EAO) is seeking feedback on an expedited environmental assessment process aimed at reducing assessment timelines and supporting more efficient decision-making for major projects.
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March 12, 2026
Peter Danner joins McCarthy Tétrault’s Calgary office as partner
McCarthy Tétrault has added Peter Danner as a partner in its M&A group in Calgary.
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March 12, 2026
Lerners welcomes new partner Pam Hrick
Pam Hrick has joined Lerners LLP as a partner in the firm’s Toronto office, working with its dispute resolution and advocacy group, as well as its personal injury (sexual assault and abuse) group.
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March 12, 2026
Sound of silence sinks deal: Settlement agreements need sharper drafting
The Ontario Superior Court’s decision in Cross v. Cooling Tower Maintenance Inc., 2025 ONSC 7203 is a useful reminder that settlement agreements must be drafted with care, especially where salary continuance, mitigation obligations and repayment provisions are involved. If counsel intend a breach to trigger serious consequences, those consequences must be set out clearly. Courts will enforce the agreement the parties made, not the one that one side later wishes it had drafted.
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March 12, 2026
N.W.T. issues ‘What We Heard’ report on planned trespass laws
Many residents of the Northwest Territories consider trespassing on private property to be a problem and want laws that give them more tools to remove trespassers, require them to identify themselves and allow their arrest.
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March 12, 2026
Lowering the rate of Indigenous over-incarceration in Saskatchewan
Canada’s criminal law is written in Ottawa, but the provinces enforce it. That constitutional division helps explain why incarceration rates vary so dramatically across the country. Nowhere is the contrast more striking than in Saskatchewan, which has at times recorded the highest incarceration rate in Canada and one of the highest among sub-national jurisdictions in the western world.
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March 12, 2026
SENTENCING - Offences against person and reputation - Offences relating to conveyances
Appeal by Georgopoulos from a sentence of two and a half years’ imprisonment and a six-year driving prohibition imposed following his conviction for dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm. The appellant, a 42-year-old mortgage broker with no criminal record, was driving and while attempting to pass a streetcar, he accelerated from 52 km/h to 112 km/h in a 40 km/h zone without braking, striking a parked car, the streetcar, and another vehicle.
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March 12, 2026
Student paper snapshots in animal law: Animals vs. plastics
As part of my ongoing Student Paper Snapshots in Animal Law series in these pages, I am not only featuring my own animal law students from the Peter A. Allard School of Law at UBC, but I have also invited students from other universities to showcase their thought-provoking research papers.