Articles

On August 29, 2020, the Ontario Court of Appeal rendered an important decision on the priority between a child’s refugee claim and a parent’s application for return of the child to another country. Maryellen Symons summarizes the key points of this decision.

As provincial economies reopen and many employees return to the physical workplace, the issue of childcare remains as many schools and daycares are closed or operating at reduced capacity.

On October 5, 2020, the federal government re-introduced Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying). Among other things, this Bill would remove the requirement that a person’s death be “reasonably foreseeable” in order to obtain a physician's assistance to end their life. This article discusses the federal governments obligations to uphold its international commitments, protect the rights of marginalized Canadians, and reconsider Bill C-7.

New tools are at the disposal of municipalities, with the introduction of electronic meetings and proxy voting.

There were only three substantive decisions released by the Court of Appeal this week. In Paulpillai Estate v. Yusuf, the Court reviewed in detail the factors to be considered in an analysis of whether an order is final or interlocutory for the purposes of determining the proper appeal route. Other topics covered this week included bank negligence, and building code violations. Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend.

When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March, everyone was saying that we are all in it together. Six months in, it is clear that we are not. We have seen huge disparities in terms of the impacts of this virus on the elderly, the unemployed and underemployed, women, the disabled, Indigenous peoples and racialized minorities.

I am a new member of the OBA Women Lawyers Forum Executive and I am excited to share my first article for the WLF’s article page and Section Insider. I wanted my first contribution to be something positive and inspiring for women lawyers, but a few experiences in my solo tax and estates practice (since launching it in 2019) raise certain persistent issues prevalent in our profession.