Introduction Alberta has recently suffered several sudden, prominent, ruinous natural calamities: the 2012 wildfires in Slave Lake, the 2013 flood in southern Alberta, and the 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray. The 2013 flood affected hundreds of thousands of people and took five lives. It is the … [Read more...]
The Evolution of the War Measures Act
"We are living in extraordinary times," opined Anglin J in Re Gray (1918) 57 SCR 150, "which necessitate the taking of extraordinary measures." It was 1918, the final year of the First World War, and the extraordinary measures at issue were powers exercised by the government pursuant to the federal … [Read more...]
Updated Rules Protect Albertans from Disaster
The Emergency Management Amendment Act is now in effect, providing communities with an easy reference as they develop and refine their emergency management plans and programs. “We have all seen the number and severity of disasters increase over the years – and every time a major event happens, we … [Read more...]
The Emergency Medical Aid Act and Emergency Situations
The New Testament story of the Good Samaritan is familiar to most people with even a basic knowledge of Christian teachings. Briefly, Jesus is reputed to have been asked “who is my neighbour?” In other words, give us an example of what would constitute an act of compassion for a stranger in trouble. … [Read more...]
Tax and the Sharing Economy
Although there is no one definition of the “sharing economy,” we will view it as interactions in which individuals or less formal businesses share personal property or services with others for payment. This concept is not new: people have always had the opportunity to engage in activities such as … [Read more...]
Housing Affordability in Canada: The Vancouver and Toronto Experience
Introduction These days, you’re bound to come across the issue of housing affordability in Canada, especially in Vancouver or Toronto. You have probably also heard about how housing affordability is especially difficult for Canadian millennials. Millennials, which are younger adults between the … [Read more...]
The Colour of the Law
Colour is almost always contrasted with something else in law; where the ‘something else’ is right, and the ‘colour’ is blackened out as a legal non-being. Gray, C.B., “The Colour of Law: Law is Constituted from the Colour of Right,” (2008) Les Cahiers De Droit, 49:3 at p. 393 Law is infused … [Read more...]
Colours and Trade-Marks
We live in a world of colour. From the brightest shade of red to the darkest hue of violet, colours can influence your mood, evoke your emotions, and even establish certain mental connections. A bouquet of red roses may make you think of romance and Valentine’s Day, while the same bouquet in a sharp … [Read more...]
Black-Letter Law
Studying the law, exactly as it is written, is one approach to understanding it. However, this approach creates as least as many issues as it clarifies. It requires us to ask the question: how do words, removed from their factual, historical, and socio-legal context, become a body of rules that … [Read more...]
Law Society of Ontario Targets Systemic Racism in the Legal Profession
An amended Rules of Professional Conduct was just one of 13 recommendations delivered by the Law Society of Ontario in a lengthy report designed to address issues of long-standing systemic discrimination in the legal system. Entitled Working Together for Change: Strategies to address issues of … [Read more...]
