Natural Resources
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October 10, 2025
SCC clarifies when Quebec 10-year ‘extinctive prescription’ period reboots for collecting on judgments
The Supreme Court of Canada ruled 9-0 in a Quebec appeal that filing and serving a notice to seize property counts as a judicial application interrupting the 10-year deadline to collect payment on a judgment — thereby restarting for a further 10 years the “extinctive prescription” period (comparable to a limitation period in the common law provinces) that applies to rights resulting from most money judgments under art. 2924 of the Civil Code of Québec.
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October 10, 2025
Marineland belugas deserve legal protection, not posturing and politics
In 2019, Canada enacted groundbreaking federal law banning the capture and breeding of whales, dolphins and porpoises for entertainment, the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, also known as the “Free Willy” bill, whereby Canadian facilities are not allowed to hold, breed or import whales and dolphins.
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October 09, 2025
Adverse possession, municipal parkland: The implications of Kosicki v. Toronto
In a closely divided 5-4 ruling in Kosicki v. Toronto (City), 2025 SCC 28, the Supreme Court of Canada confirmed that municipalities and other public bodies in Ontario are not immune to adverse possession claims, unless the land in question is explicitly protected by legislation.
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October 08, 2025
PM wraps Washington visit focused on trade, Arctic security
Prime Minister Mark Carney concluded a working visit to Washington, D.C. on Oct. 8 that included a White House meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump focused on “key priorities in trade and defence.”
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October 08, 2025
Fraser calls provinces’ demand to scrap Ottawa’s SCC arguments on notwithstanding clause ‘untenable’
Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser has pushed back against the demands of five premiers that Ottawa should drop its novel arguments at the Supreme Court that there are substantive constraints on governments’ powers to invoke the Charter’s s. 33 “notwithstanding” clause — arguments that those five provinces contend “represent a complete disavowal of the constitutional bargain that brought the Charter into being” in 1982.
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October 07, 2025
Energy experts Antonopoulos, McLaughlin join Osler in Calgary
Osler has welcomed energy law lawyers George Antonopoulos and Mauryah McLaughlin to its national energy group. The new partners will be based in Calgary.
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October 07, 2025
Attorney General Sean Fraser tells SCC the law needs to protect people with ‘no voice’
There was a celebratory mood at the opening ceremony for the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2025-26 court year, but Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Sean Fraser and other legal leaders delivered a sober message to the Ottawa courtroom packed with lawyers and judges.
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October 07, 2025
Lawyer ordered to pay costs for non-disclosure of gen AI use and citing fake precedents in court
In a cautionary case for litigation lawyers who use generative artificial intelligence (AI) for court submissions, a Federal Court associate judge recently hit an immigration lawyer with personal costs for submitting two defective AI-generated precedents and for breaching the Federal Court’s requirement to disclose any generative AI use in court filings.
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October 06, 2025
N.B. looking for feedback on water quality legislation
New Brunswick’s government is seeking input on proposed changes to laws governing water quality in the province. According to an Oct. 6 news release, environmental organizations, industry groups, First Nations and the public “can all take part in shaping new legislation that matches the needs and values of their communities.”
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October 03, 2025
Carney, Trump to discuss trade as U.S. softwood tariffs escalate tensions
Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to visit Washington on Oct. 7 to meet President Donald Trump, just days after the U.S. slapped fresh tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, escalating the trade dispute between the two countries.