Family
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January 06, 2025
Domestic violence in Ontario: A beginning to an end? | Michael Cochrane
In three previous columns I examined the incredible cost to taxpayers of the consequences of domestic violence (billion$), the ill-considered judicial invention of a special tort of family violence (an invitation to a return to trench warfare over unhappy relationships) and the questionable value of trying to criminalize coercive behaviour in relationships (as if corrosive behaviour — as defined in the bill — could be deterred when it is so embedded in some cultures). All three of those issues deal with the aftermath of the violence, not the origins of the violence or the prevention of the violence, so let’s turn to that now.
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January 06, 2025
Presenting materials for a motion | Gary S. Joseph
Happy new year to all and thank you to the many readers who provide feedback to my frequent rants. Here’s another, one in my ongoing series of “do as I say not as I do.”
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January 03, 2025
Dozens of Indigenous governments working to run their own child and family services
In the five years since enabling federal legislation came into force, 85 Indigenous governments, representing more than 110 communities across Canada, have given notice to exercise their jurisdiction over child and family services or have made requests to enter into discussions about entering coordination agreements with the federal government, according to Indigenous Services Canada (ISC).
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January 02, 2025
Novel family violence tort, solicitor-client privilege & insurance are on the SCC’s winter menu
What does Canadian securities law mean by making timely disclosure of “material” changes? Should the judiciary create a new tort of “family violence”? Were a lawyer’s Charter rights breached as a result of police wiretapping her phone call to a client?
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January 02, 2025
Key deadlines, tax compliance for executors and trustees
I have previously written about executors’ tax compliance responsibilities. In the past two-plus years since that article, there have been a number of changes of which executors and trustees should be aware. This article provides an overview of key tax compliance responsibilities of executors and trustees and highlights some of these recent changes.
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December 24, 2024
N.B. Court of Appeal certifies class action related to Oxytocin use by Moncton birthing room nurse
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal and certified a class action relating to a nurse’s use of Oxytocin on patients while they were in labour, allegedly causing harm to several mothers.
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December 23, 2024
Feds release data on opioid-related harms, finds almost 4,000 deaths in six months
The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has released the latest surveillance data on opioid and stimulant-related harms, noting that from January to June this year there were an average of 21 related deaths per day.
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December 23, 2024
MARITAL OR FAMILY PROPERTY - Equalization or division - Considerations for unequal division - Conduct of parties
Appeal by appellant from a property division order dividing the family property unequally in her favour. The parties were married for 50 years. Aside from property division, the trial judge granted the divorce order and dismissed the appellant's claim for spousal support.
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December 20, 2024
SCC clarifies scope of Quebec youth court’s power to remedy ‘encroachments’ on children’s rights
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled 9-0 that the statutory power of Quebec’s youth court to order help for a “child in difficulty” whose rights have been “encroached” upon only authorizes corrective measures that relate directly to the particular child’s situation.
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December 20, 2024
Nova Scotia court certifies class action against Northwood care facilities over COVID-19 deaths
The Nova Scotia Supreme Court has certified a class action against Northwood Group concerning allegations that the Halifax-area elder care provider’s failure to adhere to existing protocols to prevent infections in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic led to the deaths of 53 residents at its facilities.