Information Technology
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February 27, 2024
Online harms bill would create new hate crimes, duties for social media, stiff fines, imprisonment
The federal government’s proposed Online Harms Act was welcomed by several advocacy groups who rated it a substantial improvement over Ottawa’s proposed blueprint three years ago; however red flags were raised, including questions around new hate crime provisions and penalties; whether the definitions of the targeted online harms are appropriately tailored; and whether a proposed new online regulator’s broad discretionary powers have adequate safeguards.
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February 23, 2024
Class action launched for data breach of RCMP, Canadian Armed Forces members’ information
A national class action has been launched against the Government of Canada and companies BGRS Ltd. and SIRVA “on behalf of all current and former RCMP members, members of the Canadian Armed Forces and other individuals working for the federal government whose personal information has been compromised in a major cyberbreach.”
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February 20, 2024
Alta.’s Justice Mary Moreau welcomed at celebration of first female-majority Supreme Court of Canada
The milestone appointment of Justice Mary Moreau was celebrated in Ottawa, where the ex-chief justice and former criminal lawyer and constitutional litigator from Alberta was lauded for her “unparalleled work ethic,” “great intelligence” as well as for her “humility” and “compassion.” “For the first time in the history of our country, the majority of judges sitting on the Supreme Court are now women,” federal Justice Minister Arif Virani said
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February 16, 2024
Court rejects Air Canada’s ‘remarkable’ denial of liability regarding misinformation by its chatbot
The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal has found Air Canada liable for incorrect information provided by its chatbot to a customer who relied on the chatbot’s information to book flights for bereavement.
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February 14, 2024
Court rules PM, justice minister ‘failed’ litigants & courts with many tardy judicial appointments
A Federal Court judge has refused to order the Trudeau government to fill the present high level of 75 superior court vacancies within specified timeframes; instead the judge recognized a “constitutional convention” that judicial vacancies “must be filled within a reasonable time” and declared his “expectation” that Ottawa will begin to discharge its unfulfilled constitutional duty to fix the country’s “untenable and appalling crisis and critical judicial vacancy situation,” including by reducing the vacancies to the mid-40s “within a reasonable time.”
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February 14, 2024
Securities regulator issues report on use and harms of AI in financial sector, seeks feedback
The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), Quebec’s securities regulator, has released a new issues and discussion paper titled Best practices for the responsible use of AI in the financial sector “for the purpose of engaging in an open dialogue about the opportunities and issues associated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the industry.”
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February 13, 2024
Audit of ArriveCAN app finds CBSA had poor financial record keeping, impacting value for tax dollars
On Feb. 12, the Auditor General of Canada Karen Hogan tabled a report in a House of Commons regarding the federal government’s ArriveCAN application that was used to collect traveller health data during the COVID-19 pandemic. She concluded that Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), and Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) “failed to follow good management practices in the contracting, development, and implementation of the ArriveCAN application.”
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February 13, 2024
Court denies stay of order requiring Bell, Telus to grant wholesalers access to FTTP facilities
The Federal Court of Appeal has dismissed a motion by Bell seeking a stay on an order by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) which directed Bell and Telus to provide reseller competitors access to their fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) facilities in Ontario and Quebec.
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February 13, 2024
SCC’s output fell to 34 judgments in 2023, renewing questions, concerns within the bar
Is the Supreme Court of Canada giving enough legal guidance to Canadians, particularly in private law cases? It’s a question simmering within the legal community, one that attracts the attention of academics and litigators and that might benefit from the court shedding some light, especially because the numbers of cases the nine judges hear and decide have been trending down for more than a decade, without explanation.
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February 09, 2024
Access to information requests ‘more than just numbers on a chart’: B.C. commissioner
B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner is calling out the provincial government for its response time when dealing with access to information requests, flagging thousands of incidents where officials exceeded the time allowed to respond to a request without having any legal authority to do so.