Family
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June 06, 2025
PM Carney appoints parliamentary secretaries to support lawyer-rich cabinet & PMO
Prime Minister Mark Carney has tapped a number of lawyers to assist the many lawyers he has already appointed to key cabinet posts.
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June 05, 2025
Carney government introduces promised ‘affordability’ measures in the Commons
The recently elected government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has introduced an “affordability” bill in the Commons to enact some of the tax cuts and other measures the Liberals pledged during the last federal election.
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June 05, 2025
Ottawa reintroduces Citizenship Act reforms that create new framework for ‘citizenship by descent’
The minority Liberal government has reintroduced Citizenship Act amendments that would create a new “citizenship by descent” framework going forward, allowing those born abroad to Canadians, beyond the first generation, to access Canadian citizenship based on a Canadian parent’s “substantial connection” to Canada.
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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
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
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
Dealing with invisible disabilities in the workplace
Researchers continue to discover new ways to diagnose and treat so-called “invisible disabilities,” giving new hope to long-term disability claimants.
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June 02, 2025
Prime Minister Carney taps Montreal lawyers for key roles in PMO
Prime Minister Mark Carney has hired prominent Montreal lawyer Marc-André Blanchard, the former chair and CEO of McCarthy Tétrault LLP, as his chief of staff, while ex-federal justice minister David Lametti, counsel with Montreal’s Fasken, is also taking on senior responsibilities in the new Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), according to media reports.
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June 02, 2025
Clear as mud? Ontario courts provide context regarding waiver of OBCA dissent rights
In the context of shareholders’ agreements, contracting parties may waive their statutory dissent rights afforded under the Business Corporations Act (Ontario) (OBCA). In order for the waiver to be enforceable it must be made with clear and direct language.