Articles 2020

Personal injury cases involving catastrophic injuries can be some of the most hotly-contested actions in this field of law. Significant amounts of money are often on the line. Since most civil cases settle before trial, a mediation session where the parties are brought together to negotiate with a neutral third party can be the pivotal moment in proceedings. In this article, I offer some thoughts on how to effectively mediate catastrophic injury cases.

To meet the growing housing demands, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks has been undertaking extensive consultation regarding amending regulations for the Environment Protection Act and the Ontario Water Resource Act concerning dewatering construction sites ending on October 30, 2023. A closer examination of the proposed regulations reveals gaps that will inevitably lead to violations of environmental law.

This article provides a brief overview of the decision of the BC Supreme Court in Gitxaala v. British Columbia (Chief Gold Commissioner). The Court found that the province of BC owes a duty to consult to potentially affected Indigenous peoples prior to granting mineral claims under the Mineral Tenure Act. The Court also found that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act did not implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in BC.

On October 13, 2023, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its advisory decision regarding the constitutionality of the federal government’s environmental assessment (EA) regime in Reference re Impact Assessment Act. A majority of the SCC found that much of the federal government’s Impact Assessment Act (the “Act”) and the Physical Activities Regulations ( the “Regulations”) under the Act are unconstitutional.

The article discusses the recent case Held v. State of Montana, a youth-initiated action relating to climate change.

The article summarizes an interview with Diana Cooke, Director, Children and Youth Unit at the Ontario Ombudsman.

The article discusses recent cases relating to youth advocating for government action to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Beneficiary designations can be a useful estate planning tool with the added benefit of helping to reduce exposure to Ontario’s estate administration tax; however, utilizing them is not without its pitfalls. In this article, Blair Botsford reviews key issues relating to beneficiary designations, including certain drafting challenges.

This article reviews the reconsideration outcome of WSIAT's Decision No. 243/21R which addressed a Tribunal order to provide loss of earnings benefits to the worker to age 65.