The Privacy and Access to Information Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association offers suggestions (available in French only; all quotations taken from the submission are translations) regarding the consent guidelines of the Commission d’accès à l’information du Québec (CAI).

The Women Lawyers Forum of the Canadian Bar Association, in a May 29, 2023 letter to Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien, expressed its opposition to Bill C-311, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (violence against pregnant women). The bill was defeated in the House of Commons a few weeks later.

The Administrative Law Section and the Competition Law and Foreign Investment Review Section of the Canadian Bar Association welcome a foreign influence transparency regime to help detect covert actions by foreign governments that can be detrimental to Canada’s national interest. However, as they explain in a letter to Public Safety Canada, the Sections have one significant concern.

The Canadian Bar Association urges the federal government to introduce legislation to combat the recent and dramatic rise in hate crime, in particular against members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirited, queer, intersex, and otherwise gender and sexually diverse (2SLGBTQI+), religious minority, racialized and ethnic communities.

In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the Judicial Issues Subcommittee of the Canadian Bar Association expresses strong support for recent concerns expressed by Chief Justice Richard Wagner over the high number of judicial vacancies.

Bill C-47, Budget Implementation Act, 2023, was recently tabled in the House of Commons with amendments on reportable and notifiable transactions sought by the CBA. First, an overly narrow definition of “solicitor-client privilege” is deleted from the Income Tax Act. Second, the new notifiable transactions regime will not apply retroactively.

The Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Community Section, the Health Law Section, the Criminal Justice Section and the Child and Youth Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, in a letter to Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth Marci Ien, urge the federal government to launch a public consultation on non-consensual, deferrable and medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex children.

In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and several of his ministers, the President of the Canadian Bar Association, Steeves Bujold, exhorts them to make a detailed action plan to effectively implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children, or UNCRC.

The Aboriginal Law Section, Equality Subcommittee and Family Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association applaud the federal government’s vision for a countrywide early learning and child care system. As detailed in a letter to the Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, Bill C-35, the Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act, would benefit from a few improvements.

The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, in a letter to Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, raises some cautions and suggests improvements to the recent pilot project lifting the 20-hour-per-week cap on the number of off-campus work hours for international students during their school term.