Articles

On Thursday, June 20, 2024, the OBA Elder Law Section hosted its 2024 Elder Law Day which focused on addressing advanced issues in Elder Law. Participants came together to learn from experts in their field regarding the latest developments in the law and the current issues impacting our aging population.

Following are our summaries of the civil decisions of the Court of Appeal for Ontario for the week of October 21, 2024.

On August 20, 2024, the Ontario Land Tribunal (“OLT” or “Tribunal”) launched consultations on proposed changes to its Rules of Practice and Procedure (the “Proposed Rules”). Consultations ran from August 20 to September 27, 2024. On October 1, the Tribunal announced it was reviewing the feedback received during consultation and would provide further details once that review was complete.

A quick tour of ways to celebrate National Child Day and World Children's Day on November 20. Child Day is an opportunity to learn more about children's rights and, in 2024, to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the ratification of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

On August 7th, 2024, the Divisional Court of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released an important decision affirming the rights of children with capacity to make decisions about their own health care under Ontario’s Health Care Consent Act, 1996. This decision marks a pivotal moment in the province’s recognition of capable children’s indisputable right to consent to medical treatments.

This essay by a former summer student at Justice for Children and Youth argues that children should be able to recover damages from doctors for the negative lifelong consequences of medical decisions made preconception. The author looks to past and recent Ontario cases, including a strong dissent in Florence v Benzaquen, 2021 ONCA 523, to argue that the law is not settled in this area. The views expressed in this essay are those of the author only.

On April 1, 2024, significant amendments to the Conservation Authorities Act (the “CA Act”) and a new regulation under the Act, came into effect. This new regulation, Ontario Regulation 41/24: Prohibited Activities, Exemptions and Permits, ( “O. Reg. 41/24”), revoked and replaced the 36 individual regulations that governed Conservation Authorities. The new regulation governs prohibited activities, exemptions and permits under the CA Act.

Canadian provinces have been taking steps to shift the responsibility and cost of recycling certain materials from municipalities to the producers of the materials. In Ontario, this shift has been pursued through the Blue Box Regulation, 391/21, while in Alberta it falls under the Extended Producer Responsibility Regulation, 194/22.