The Complete Brief
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June 05, 2025
Undue influence and suspicious circumstances
Lawyers who deal with potentially vulnerable clients must always be on the lookout that such clients are not the subject of undue influence. Undue influence can be exerted by people in a position to exploit the client’s vulnerabilities, such as caregivers, parents and children, and can include those who have been granted power of attorney for property or personal care.
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June 05, 2025
Viewing estate and related family disputes through a different lens
As Canada becomes a more aged society, the number of estate and related family disputes continues to grow. As this growth happens, we need to review how we approach estate dispute resolution to ensure we can keep pace with the evolving expectations of families, the changes in our society and the advancements in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in general.
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June 05, 2025
Were health, safety concerns overlooked in sentencing?
Michael Allen Wiens was sentenced by a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia on May 29, 2024, to three years’ imprisonment for sexually assaulting a female while the victim was unconscious in her home. The judge in Surrey, B.C., also ordered Wiens to register under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) for 20 years.
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June 05, 2025
Ineffective counsel plea in family law
Family law counsel are quite familiar with client complaints. Our clients are experiencing an emotionally taxing event in their lives, and blaming is often part of the process. In previous published articles I have described my blaming hierarchy: blame the other spouse, blame the opposite counsel, blame the judge and then… blame your own lawyer. We live with this reality in our practices.
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June 04, 2025
‘Strong borders’ bill would expand police & spy agency powers, federal tools to control migration
A wide-ranging federal omnibus bill — introduced by the minority Liberal government under the rubric of border security — would expand the powers of federal officials to restrict refugee claims and migration while also boosting the investigative and other powers of law enforcement and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) in the name of protecting national security and clamping down on money laundering, fentanyl trafficking and other organized crimes.
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June 04, 2025
Judge Brian Hutcheson retires from B.C.’s provincial court
The Provincial Court of British Columbia has announced that Judge Brian Hutcheson retired on May 31, 2025.
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June 04, 2025
Competition Bureau publishes guidance on competitor property controls
Following a public consultation, the Competition Bureau has published guidance on competitor property controls for commercial real estate, providing transparency on its enforcement approach.
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June 04, 2025
Labour leaders call on Ottawa to impose immediate retaliatory tariffs on U.S. steel, aluminum
The leader of Canada’s largest labour organization is calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government to immediately match increased U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, which doubled to 50 per cent effective June 4.
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June 04, 2025
Court allows contempt motion in trademark case for social media videos
The Federal Court has found a corporate plaintiff’s director in contempt of court for posting videos on social media relating to the mediation process to settle trademark litigation.
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June 04, 2025
Ontario introduces legislation to cut red tape, protect economy
The Government of Ontario has introduced legislation that, if passed, would “support the province’s goal of cutting red tape to make Ontario the most competitive place in the G7 to invest, create jobs and do business.”