Labour & Employment
-
November 05, 2025
New federal immigration levels plan cuts targets for permanent & new temporary resident admissions
Ottawa’s three-year plan to reduce immigration to “sustainable” levels includes new “one-time” initiatives to “recognize eligible Protected Persons in Canada as permanent residents over the next two years” and to “accelerate the transition of up to 33,000 work permit holders to permanent residency in 2026 and 2027.”
-
November 05, 2025
Regulatory bodies should keep to their lane
Regulatory bodies exist to serve the public interest by enforcing laws, upholding professional standards and ensuring fair processes within the sectors they oversee. Their legitimacy rests not on popularity or political influence but on trust, neutrality and the perception of impartiality. When regulators take public positions on political issues, they risk undermining these foundations.
-
November 05, 2025
Canada’s 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan: Sharp temporary cuts, permanent stability
Canada’s 2026-2028 Immigration Levels Plan, announced in Budget 2025, represents a decisive policy U-turn, recalibration after years of record population growth under the former Trudeau government.
-
November 05, 2025
Frédéric Desmarais joins Lavery as labour law partner
Lavery has added Frédéric Desmarais as a partner in its labour and employment law group in Montreal.
-
November 04, 2025
Federal budget proposes new laws, spending cuts and $1 trillion in ‘generational investments’
The Liberal government’s 2025 federal budget contains dozens of legislative and justice-related proposals, including new and expanded anti-money laundering provisions, a new Canada Labour Code restriction on the use of non-compete agreements, and the creation of an Environmental Protection Tribunal of Canada. Summed up, the stated theme of the federal budget introduced by Finance and National Revenue Minister François-Philippe Champagne in the House of Commons on Nov. 4, 2025, is “smarter public spending and stronger capital investment.”
-
November 04, 2025
Court dismisses Sobeys bid to halt picketing at company stores
The Alberta Court of King’s Bench has refused Sobeys Capital Inc.’s application for a stay of an Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) decision permitting striking employees who work at a distribution centre and a warehouse to picket at the company’s Calgary grocery stores.
-
November 04, 2025
Border infractions can haunt non-citizens: Why appeals matter for immigration status
The consequences of border infractions under the Customs Act and the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (respectively, the CA and PCMLTFA; collectively, the Acts) are minor in most instances — but for non-citizens in Canada, the circumstances can be very different, as border infractions may produce a significant headache from an immigration status standpoint.
-
November 04, 2025
Brain fog and other long COVID problems in the workplace
The pandemic may not be on many people’s radars these days, but those with long COVID continue to struggle with a serious illness that is often misdiagnosed, frequently dismissed and not fully understood.
-
November 04, 2025
When the soul suffers: Why moral injury should be compensable in law
It is a curious paradox of modern professional life that physical injury is readily compensable and psychological injury is increasingly actionable, yet wounds of conscience remain invisible to the law.
-
November 03, 2025
B.C. Court of Appeal upholds BMO class action over underpaid vacation, holiday pay
The B.C. Court of Appeal has upheld certification of a class action against the Bank of Montreal over allegations that it systematically underpaid statutory vacation and holiday pay to certain groups of employees.