In-House Counsel
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March 16, 2026
FCA orders RCMP review body to decide delayed appeals within 6 months
The Federal Court of Appeal has ordered the RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) to issue findings in long-delayed disciplinary appeals within six months, ruling that the Federal Court erred in denying mandamus relief after concluding the delay was not unreasonable.
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March 16, 2026
Ontario privacy, access to information proposals spark concerns about transparency, oversight
Ontario’s recently announced overhaul of its access to information and privacy framework has sparked backlash, with observers saying the proposed changes threaten transparency and oversight in the province.
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March 16, 2026
Court of Appeal for Ontario confirms stay where enforcement sought against non-party to arbitration
In Sociedad Concesionaria Metropolitana de Salud S.A. v. Webuild S.p.A., 2026 ONCA 28, the Court of Appeal confirmed that enforcement proceedings in Ontario should be stayed based on forum non conveniens.
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March 16, 2026
Supreme Court of Canada’s surreal reasoning in Case and Loyer
When a person tells you, “I had a dream last night,” most people understand exactly what that means. The speaker is about to recount the swirl of mental imagery, sounds and emotions experienced during sleep. The story of missing a train, falling from the sky or walking into a classroom naked is not understood as a report of reality but as an account of imagination. Dreams are, almost by definition, the mind untethered from the ordinary constraints of perception and memory. The Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí described dreams as “hand-painted dream photographs.”
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March 16, 2026
Employers ignore mental health issues at their peril
Employers who think they are being clever by rushing to dismiss an employee, or quickly accepting a resignation before the employee explicitly raises mental health accommodation, often create liability for themselves.
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March 16, 2026
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bot
Over the past several decades, law became intertwined with numerous technologies that we simply incorporated into our workflow. We anticipate more creative destruction with generative AI, but with AI, we look into the mirror and sense the mirror looks back. Something more seems to exist than just the simple context window interface, and we tend to anthropomorphize. If all Roomba owners put googly eyes on their machine, most would believe the little guy was truly alive.
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March 13, 2026
Feds reboot new police powers, obligations to give police & CSIS ‘lawful access’ to digital data
Following public outcry and stiff political opposition to its sweeping “strong borders” omnibus bill (Bill C-2), the minority Liberal government has migrated the expanded “lawful access” powers and new obligations for electronic service providers to assist police and CSIS investigators from C-2 into standalone legislation (Bill C-22).
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March 13, 2026
Cross-border clarity: How U.S. franchise reform could affect Canadian brands
The American Franchise Act (AFA), a bipartisan bill currently moving through U.S. Congress, could help bring clarity to franchising as a business model, with implications for Canadian operators.
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March 12, 2026
B.C. ban on arbitration clauses in consumer contracts is retrospective, not retroactive: court
The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that amendments to the province’s Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act (BPCPA) banning arbitration clauses in consumer contracts do not apply retroactively, upholding a stay of proceedings against Rogers Communications Canada Inc. in favour of arbitration.
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March 12, 2026
Health Canada adds five fentanyl precursors to list of permanent controlled substances
Health Canada’s addition next month of five chemicals to the list of permanent controlled substances that are precursors to the manufacture of fentanyl prompted a question to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, asking why Canada, unlike the U.K. and the U.S., does not also list under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) the animal tranquillizers that frequently contaminate fentanyl.