February

The Canadian Bar Association’s 2017 Annual Meeting takes place in Montreal on August 17. Resolutions that will be debated and voted on include new CBA bylaws and regulations, the need for a national commissioner for children and youth, and a denunciation of the violence against gay and bisexual men in Chechnya.

The CBA’s Legislation & Law Reform team has been busy working with our National Sections to send a number of submissions to government.

Niall Rand, a graduate law student at the UBC Peter A. Allard School of Law, is the winner of the 2017 Canadian Bar Association (CBA) National Environmental, Energy and Resources Law Section Law School Essay Contest Gowling WLG - David Estrin Prize.

The CBA Administrative Law Section is pleased to announce that Mark Mancini is the winner of the 2017 Paul Smith Memorial Award for his paper titled “Just a Pillowfight?: Standard of Review And Expertise in Constitutional Law."

The Commissioner of Federal Judicial Affairs is seeking applications from barristers or advocates who are members in good standing of any provincial or territorial Bar, and who have extensive professional experience spanning at least ten years, to fill an existing vacancy at the Federal Court in Vancouver and create a pool of candidates to staff future prothonotary positions in Ottawa, Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Spring 2017

The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) welcomes the news that the selection criteria will respect the constitutional convention of regional representation, and that applications will be sought from Western Canada and Northern Canada.

The CBA National ADR Section is pleased to liaise with the ADR Institute of Canada.

Raymond Adlington has been elected from a field of three 2017-18 Board members to be vice-president of the CBA – and next year’s president.

On July 11, the CBA Immigration Law Section sent a letter to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness and the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, voicing concerns with the lengthy processing times for various immigration applications at the CBSA’s Southern Ontario Region, as well as with the Flagpoling pilot project that was initiated on June 16, 2017.