The Complete Brief
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April 17, 2025
CIVIL PROCEDURE - Costs - Offers to settle - Appeals - Cross-appeals
Appeal by Maharaj and cross-appeal by Town of Rosetown (Town) from costs order made by chambers judge (Judge).
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April 17, 2025
Discharge of bankrupt - Debts not released by discharge - Student loans
Appeal by Piekut from judgment of the British Columbia Court of Appeal, which affirmed a decision denying Piekut’s release from government student loans debts.
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April 17, 2025
Top jurists urge ‘vigilance, courage’ to defend rule of law amid rising political attacks abroad
Top judges from Canada and around the world recently gathered with other jurists in Ottawa for the Supreme Court of Canada’s 150th anniversary symposium, where a prominent Canadian legal expert remarked that the new U.S. administration’s stance towards courts and the rule of law reflects expansive conceptions of executive power and impunity espoused by Germany’s Nazi regime in the 1930s.
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April 17, 2025
Personal autonomy: The right to decide when making controversial gifts
In our aging society where many of us live well into our nineties, often with diminished capacity, the issue of autonomy to make gifts is of increasing importance.
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April 17, 2025
How judges respond to divorcing spouses who weaponize social media
In the digital age, social media has become a battleground for high-conflict divorces. Courts are increasingly faced with cases where one party uses online platforms to disparage, harass or intimidate their former spouse.
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April 17, 2025
Here’s what happens when a sentencing judge considers the why and not the what
Our courts are clogged. Guilty pleas are often accepted to expedite matters and free up court time. However, a recent decision of Justice Brock Jones of the Ontario Court of Justice demonstrates how justice should be applied in the hurly-burly of crowded courtrooms.
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April 17, 2025
Meet the chief encouragement officer
Recently my friend and colleague Nathalie Plamondon-Thomas and I were kidding around about the importance of encouragement within organizations, and she suggested that maybe companies and associations should appoint chief encouragement officers. Half in jest, half seriously.
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April 17, 2025
Ontario’s civil procedure overhaul: From fishing expeditions to reliance-based disclosure
Ontario’s civil justice system is on the cusp of its most sweeping transformation in over a century. The Civil Rules Review 2025, launched by Chief Justice Geoffrey Morawetz and Attorney General Doug Downey, is not simply tinkering at the edges — it’s a fundamental reimagining of how litigation is conducted in this province.
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April 17, 2025
Top 10 tips for Canadian citizens crossing the U.S. border
The Government of Canada has recently updated the official travel advisory for Canadians who intend to travel to the United States.
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April 16, 2025
Canadian authorities disrupt crypto scam, announce enforcement action against phishing platform
A coordinated operation involving securities regulators and police services has identified and informed 89 victims of cryptocurrency fraud whose wallets were compromised using a tactic called “approval phishing.”