October 08, 2025
Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser has pushed back against the demands of five premiers that Ottawa should drop its novel arguments at the Supreme Court that there are substantive constraints on governments’ powers to invoke the Charter’s s. 33 “notwithstanding” clause — arguments that those five provinces contend “represent a complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain that brought the Charter into being” in 1982.
October 08, 2025
Appeal by attorney general from Federal Court decision. There were two questions of law before the Federal Court. First, could the estate of a deceased member of a class action have claimed damages for breach of s. 11(h) Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms right? If the answer to this was yes, did provincial estates statutes providing for an “alive as of” date prohibit or limit recovery of those Charter damages?
October 06, 2025
Saskatchewan has brought into force legislative changes that will allow “non-lawyer legal professionals” to deliver certain services to the public — something officials with the province’s law society say will enhance access to justice for “underserved” residents.
September 25, 2025
A registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) is structured to allow eligible Canadians to accumulate income tax-free in an account. Withdrawals are taxable but can be made at a relatively low tax rate compared to that paid for investments outside an RRSP. The account is meant to facilitate investment for retirement purposes and considerable tax savings can be realized.
September 23, 2025
No settlement involving a person under disability, which includes the elderly incapable of managing their property and personal care, is binding on that incapable person unless the court approves of the settlement. That is because, while settling disputes before a hearing is encouraged by our judicial system, the legislature also recognizes that the incapable person would not have been able to properly consent to the settlement, and the court ought to review settlement for appropriateness to safeguard the incapable person’s interests.
September 19, 2025
In a far-reaching adverse possession judgment that rejects a judge-made immunity for municipal parkland facing matured possessory claims in Ontario, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 5-4 that two Toronto homeowners own a piece of adjoining municipal parkland that was fenced into their backyard decades ago by the home’s previous owner.
September 11, 2025
Lawyers dealing with elder issues face an uncomfortable dynamic when those responsible for seniors take advantage.
September 03, 2025
Legal experts, advocacy organizations and prominent Canadians are asking Ottawa to urgently legislate and implement measures to counter the digital risks to Canada’s autonomy and democracy posed by artificial intelligence (AI), foreign interference and U.S. tech giants’ dominance of domestic digital infrastructure.
September 03, 2025
The Court of Appeal for Ontario’s recent decision in Metske v. Metske, 2025 ONCA 418 provides an important lesson to farming families and their professional advisers: good intentions and family loyalty, while laudable, are no substitute for clear, enforceable agreements. The decision narrows the scope of proprietary estoppel in the agricultural context and underlines the commercial reality that a succession plan must be both documented and financially achievable.
September 02, 2025
As Manitoba’s law society takes stock of its most recent fiscal year, the regulator’s new president aims to continue the work of minding lawyers’ well-being as part of a new strategic plan. Law Society of Manitoba (LSM) president Kyle Dear recently sat down with Law360 Canada to discuss the recent release of the law society’s 2025 annual report — a 31-page snapshot of the regulator’s latest fiscal year, which ran from April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2025.