September 03, 2026
A Jan. 13 issue of the Ottawa Citizen reported on the sentencing of Alam Buoc, who had been found guilty by a jury of second-degree murder. Superior Court Justice Robert Maranger described the crimes in exceptionally harsh terms, calling Buoc a “homicidal maniac” and “a monster.” He characterized the July 2017 killings as “cold-blooded and ruthless” and said the motive appeared to be trivial. It involved an alleged dispute over a bullet that Buoc believed one of his friends had taken. The sentence imposed was the same as if the crime had been first-degree murder: life imprisonment without parole eligibility for 25 years. Buoc appealed, and the Ontario Court of Appeal delivered its reasons on July 6, 2026 (R. v. Buoc, 2026 ONCA 492).
September 03, 2026
In the early years of art restitution, after the signing of the Washington Conference Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art in 1998, several museums in the United States launched pre-emptive strikes against claimants of looted artworks who expressed an interest in discussing or resolving their claim. Examples include the Toledo Museum of Art v. Ullin, 477 F. Supp. 2d 802 (N.D. Ohio 2006); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston v. Seger-Thomschitz, 623 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2010) and The Museum of Modern Art v. Schoeps, 549 F. Supp. 2d 543 (S.D.N.Y. 2008). The first two cases were dismissed in favour of the museums and in the latter case an out-of-court settlement was reached.
September 03, 2026
Within the legal community, there is growing recognition that the billable hour can negatively impact lawyers’ lives. Billable-hour culture can lead lawyers to make judgments about the value of activities based on whether they are billable. If you are spending the day with your children, your mind might start to calculate how many billable hours you are missing out on. Time becomes a commodity, and you may begin to view meaningful activities as wasteful.
September 03, 2026
Appeal by Fan from a judgment enforcing a written divorce settlement agreement respecting family property and debt. Fan and He cohabited for 10 years, married and divorced four times, and acquired a family home and business in British Columbia.
September 02, 2026
Alberta has announced that applications are now open for service providers to access $15 million in grant funding to expand services and supports for those experiencing family violence.
September 02, 2026
The B.C. Court of Appeal has issued a practice directive adopting the Canadian Open Access Legal Citation Guide (COAL), a free, publicly accessible legal citation guide, as its preferred method for civil and criminal filings in an effort to advance access to justice.
September 02, 2026
To help address Canadians' rising costs from global oil disruptions and U.S. tariffs, the federal government has extended to next year its temporary suspension of the federal fuel excise tax on gasoline, diesel fuel, and aviation fuel, including leaded and unleaded aviation gasoline.
September 02, 2026
Canada’s largest member-owned music rights organization, SOCAN, has filed a lawsuit against Suno Inc., alleging that its AI music-generation platform generated and streamed outputs that copy songs in SOCAN’s repertoire, infringing the performing rights in those works.
September 02, 2026
The Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador has ruled that a claimant cannot rely on 60 years of possession ending before 1977 to independently establish title against the Crown, holding that the province's 1976 land-law reforms govern the claim.
September 02, 2026
Yukon residents say victims who had intimate images that were shared illegally face barriers in accessing justice due to the expense of legal services, a lack of privacy and a rigid reporting system.