February

The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA Section) wrote to the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship to comment on the Government Response to the Citizenship and Immigration Committee Report, Starting Again: Improving Government Oversight of Immigration Consultants, presented to the House of Commons in October 2017.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Cynthia Petersen took an unusual path to the bench, moving from academia to legal practice to the court. Along the way she made a name for herself doing public interest litigation for LGBT communities. She sat down recently for an interview with OBA student member Natasha R. Yard, talking about what took her to the bench, and what she found once she got there. She also has some advice for litigators.

Business-related advocacy in the last few months has included submissions on CASL, Big Data, corporate wrongdoing and the Global Skills Initiative, among others.

Canadian Bar Association President Kerry L. Simmons, Q.C. welcomes the appointment of the Honorable Richard Wagner as Chief Justice of Canada.

Launching in January, the 2018 Skilled Lawyer Series will provide lawyers across the country with an opportunity to refresh and update their skills.

Message from the Chair and Section Opportunities - December 2017

Are financial statements a whole new language to you? How are you at drafting effective business documents? If you answered “a little” and “umm…” respectively, the 2018 Skilled Lawyer Series is for you.

CBA International Initiatives is providing guidance and support to partners in Vietnam as they create courses on policy development and legislative drafting. They’ve introduced a skills-based method to curriculum development that is a new approach in the country.

Katya Hodge, Manager of Media and Public Relations, had an interesting conversation with Nik Nanos about the polling his firm is conducting for the CBA.

Our Professional Development people have lined up a host of spring conferences, and a brand new slate of substantive law webinars covering topics such as litigating social change through the Charter, civil forfeiture and mental health for the winter law series.