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February 11, 2026
For decades, negotiation remained the “black box” of legal work. While research became transparent and file management became auditable, negotiation stayed insulated behind “instinct” and “professional judgment.” Those things mattered — and still do — but they were hard to explain, document and audit. That insulation used to be acceptable.
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February 10, 2026
The Federal Court of Appeal’s recent judgment that Ottawa reasonably added plastic manufactured items to the federal list of “toxic” substances in Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), enabling the regulation of single-use plastics under s. 93 of the Act, may soon head to the Supreme Court of Canada.
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February 10, 2026
As we discussed in the first article (see below for link) of this two-part series, the final quarter of 2025 marked notable developments in Canadian class action law, with courts continuing to refine the boundaries of certification and leave across securities, consumer protection and privacy class actions in eight important decisions. We covered three of the eight key decisions from the Supreme Courts of Canada, Ontario and British Columbia in the first article, and we will now discuss the remaining five.
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February 04, 2026
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is asking the federal government for a greater say in judicial appointments and has threatened to withdraw funding to support any new judicial appointments in the province unless a more collaborative process is set up. In an open letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney, Smith also said Ottawa needs to relax bilingualism requirements for judicial appointments “that do not reflect Canada’s broader linguistic diversity in Western Canada and alienates Albertans and western Canadians alike.”
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February 04, 2026
Appeal by Lungu from chambers judge’s summary dismissal of her negligence claims. This appeal arose from a medical malpractice action involving a trigger point needling treatment performed by Dr. Cabrita, a medical doctor specializing in physiatry. Lungu alleged that Dr. Cabrita performed the trigger point needling treatment without her informed consent and pierced and destroyed her bones with the needles, causing disabling and permanent pain.
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February 03, 2026
The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that a longtime WestJet employee’s persistent unwelcome comments, which had sexual undertones, were “sexual harassment” that could possibly justify his termination, notwithstanding that the labour board below made findings that none of his intrusive comments to his female coworkers were “sexual in nature or intent” and that no one interpreted his comments in a sexual manner.
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February 03, 2026
The open court principle is a powerful doctrine that has been inextricably linked to the rights guaranteed by s. 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The principle permits public access to information about the court, which, in turn, fosters the public to discuss, opine and criticize court practices and proceedings. As well, the principle permits members of the public to obtain information about the courts and the cases that are heard by them.
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February 02, 2026
The Ontario Superior Court is set to consider a $60-million agreement to settle a class action concerning allegations that children held in Ontario’s youth detention facilities, also known as training schools, were subjected to a toxic environment as well as physical, sexual and psychological abuse.
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January 30, 2026
Elaborating on how to interpret insurance contracts, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed 7-2 the appeal of two homeowners who sought to compel their insurer to fully pay for rebuilding their flood-destroyed house, despite an exclusion for “compliance costs” and the ancillary exception that caps the compliance costs payout at $10,000 “for the increased cost of demolition, construction, or repair to comply with any law regulating the zoning, demolition, repair or construction of any insured buildings.”
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January 30, 2026
Ontario’s top court has ordered a new law licence assessment for a man who admitted to the sexual abuse of children, saying a fresh look is required to determine whether he is of the “good character” required of a lawyer.
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January 28, 2026
It always starts the same way. A report. A result. A line of text that feels heavier than it should. Numbers that mean something; just not to you. You tell yourself you’ll wait. You tell yourself not to panic. And then, because waiting is the hardest thing of all, you open your laptop.
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January 28, 2026
Here is my annual list of the top 10 business decisions in Canada for the year just ended. This two-part series begins with the cases ranked sixth through tenth, in ascending order. Part two will cover the top five cases.
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January 27, 2026
As Parliament resumed this week, Jewish advocacy groups renewed their calls for immediate legislative and other measures to address antisemitism and the dramatic resurgence of violent extremism against Jews in the wake of the mass murder by Hamas terrorists in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
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January 27, 2026
Serious injury can happen during everyday activities like walking a dog, having a good time on the water or visiting a friend’s property. Seasonal conditions in fall and winter can also increase everyday hazards that could trigger liability, especially when an injury happens on private property. When something goes wrong in any of these situations, it is not always clear who is legally responsible.
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January 27, 2026
Nine people have become partners at Aird & Berlis. According to a statement from the firm, they are:
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January 27, 2026
On Jan. 26, the Toronto Star reported on very serious allegations that criminal defence lawyer Sudine Riley has made against police serving as security in the Oshawa, Ont., courthouse. She says she was seriously assaulted by them while just doing her work in the ordinary course.
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January 26, 2026
A Saskatchewan court is set to consider a proposed settlement for a class action concerning Bayer’s anticoagulant (blood thinning) drug Xarelto, which is alleged to have caused bleeding-related injuries in some patients.
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January 23, 2026
The importance of mentorship and elevating young lawyers was a focal point of the Ontario Bar Association’s (OBA) Civil Dinner, which celebrates excellence in the bar. Both recipients of the OBA awards emphasized the vital position role models play in the profession.
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January 23, 2026
Sentencing in the high-profile prosecution of members of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) remains on pause as the Supreme Court of British Columbia considers constitutional arguments that could have lasting implications for drug trafficking cases across the country, as well as for public health efforts to reduce the harms of the ongoing toxic drug crisis.
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January 22, 2026
My law firm had a thriving real estate practice in the 1980s. When the real estate market tanked from 1989 until about 1996, they were not happy times. We did not hire any real estate lawyers in those days.
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January 21, 2026
In a case that might land on the steps the Supreme Court of Canada, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled unanimously that the federal cabinet wrongly invoked the Emergencies Act to declare a national “public order” emergency in 2022.
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January 21, 2026
Lawyers who live in a billable-hour world know that time is money, but for those working with traumatic subject matter, time equals exposure. The more hours spent inside a client’s worst days, the more likely it is that the work follows you home at night.
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January 20, 2026
Following a handful of recent hate-related incidents, Manitoba’s government is launching a $1-million fund for cultural groups and places of worship to enhance safety and security.
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January 16, 2026
The Supreme Court of Canada began hearings in its very busy winter session this week, which features a potentially watershed constitutional appeal and the surprise announcement that Justice Sheilah Martin, the court’s senior western judge, will retire next spring.
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January 16, 2026
Canada’s privacy commissioner is expanding a current investigation into X Corp., the company that operates social media platform X, after reports that the platform’s chatbot is “being used to create explicit images of individuals without their consent.”