In-House Counsel
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March 25, 2026
Feds announce new EI Board of Appeal to begin work on April 1
On March 25, the federal government announced that the new Employment Insurance Board of Appeal (EI BOA) will begin receiving and hearing appeals as of April 1, 2026.
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March 25, 2026
Competition Bureau clears Welltower’s acquisition of 34 retirement homes subject to divestiture
The Competition Bureau has reached a consent agreement with Welltower OP LLC, allowing the company to proceed with the acquisition of 34 retirement home properties on the condition that it sell four retirement homes from its existing portfolio.
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March 25, 2026
Top four mistakes made by respondents on appeal
When served with a Notice of Appeal to the Ontario Court of Appeal or the Divisional Court, respondents may be tempted to take a cavalier approach. After all, the respondent was already successful in the lower court or tribunal proceeding. Much of the appeal will concern justifying the respondent’s victory. The respondent may hold a sincere conviction that all that is required for the appeal is to repeat and rely on the materials, evidence, and law from the underlying proceeding.
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March 24, 2026
SCC judges probe what Charter s. 33 ‘override’ may mean for survival of Charter judicial review
The argument that a legislature’s use of the Charter’s s. 33 “override” clause can temporarily prevent judges from striking down a law but not from reviewing the law’s constitutionality or stating that the law infringes Charter rights and freedoms sparked a lively exchange between counsel and the bench as the Supreme Court of Canada kicked off its inquiry into the constitutionality of Quebec’s controversial “secularism” (Bill 21) law.
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March 24, 2026
Generative AI not immune from potential legal action
The use of AI chatbots by self-represented litigants and lawyers has raised alarms in the justice system because the chatbots are prone either to hallucinate cases or to cite a legitimate case for a proposition which simply cannot be found in that case. With respect to lawyers, in general, the courts have awarded personal costs sanctions against them and are beginning to refer them for potential disciplinary penalties. A lawyer has a duty to not mislead a court.
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March 24, 2026
When does an email settlement become binding? Lessons from JH Drilling in Alberta
Settlement negotiations increasingly happen by email, often before a formal agreement is signed. In JH Drilling Inc. v. Barsi Enterprises Ltd., 2026 ABKB 48 (JH Drilling). The Alberta Court of King’s Bench confirmed that an email correspondence may constitute a contract binding upon the parties. As a binding contract, the parties’ settlement agreement may preclude further litigation.
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March 24, 2026
Midnight in the garden of good and evil logic
AI now pervades civilization and the legal system. As AI becomes our “partner in understanding” we must interrogate what these systems might be thinking — or valuing. We sometimes want something from them and get something completely unintended. We ask AI to produce as many paperclips as possible and in order to secure the materials and power it decides to destroy humanity. Computer scientists, perhaps underwhelming, call this the alignment problem.
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March 23, 2026
A few questions about the Law Society of Ontario’s mandatory Indigenous law requirement
It is déjà vu all over again at Ontario’s legal regulator.
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March 23, 2026
Class conflicts in corporate COVID-19 claims: Alberta court weighs limits of one class
Class actions promote litigation efficiency and access to justice, but they can also expose tensions between groups of plaintiffs whose interests do not fully align. In Ingram v. Alberta, 2025 ABKB 420, (Ingram) the Alberta Court of King’s Bench (the court) showed how those tensions can become a certification issue when a proposed class definition sweeps together businesses with potentially opposite economic interests.
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March 23, 2026
Seismic Bill 21 case draws record counsel & intervener presence at this week’s four-day SCC hearing
This week’s blockbuster Bill 21 appeal at the Supreme Court involves 140 counsel of record — with 64 of them slated to make oral argument over four days on behalf of the 10 main party groups and the record 51 interveners.