There’s no reason to start messing around with the consent model for gathering private information set out in PIPEDA, the CBA’s Privacy Law Section says. The regulations that accompany the law, now – they can use some work.

In March, a number of CBA Sections wrote to the federal government urging it to repeal Criminal Code section 159, which held the age at which it is possible to have consensual anal sex at 18 – a clear attempt to police homosexuality. Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has now signalled her intention to do just that in two separate bills.

The pre-clearance agreement reached in 2015 was negotiated by completely different administrations in each of Canada and the U.S., working under a different set of assumptions. Fast-forward to 2017. The key issue – expediting the movement of goods and people across the border – is still relevant. So what do we do with the enabling legislation?

It should be mandatory for passenger-carrying vessels to have a certain amount of insurance per passenger in case something bad happens, the CBA’s National Maritime Law Section says. But the government’s proposed changes to insurance regulations under the Maritime Act don’t go quite far enough.

Provisions in Canada’s Anti-Spam Law that will allow private rights action are scheduled to go into force on July 1 – the same date as a statutory review of the legislation is supposed to begin. The CBA’s National Privacy and Access Law Section suggests the government might find it expedient to hold off on the former until the latter has run its course.

Back for the second round on C-6, the CBA appeared before a Senate committee on proposed amendments to the Citizenship Act, this time with a submission amended to reflect changes made after our appearance before a House committee.

Can you pay too much attention to national security? Even in times such as these, when it seems some voices are always ready to tell us the next terror attack is around the corner, the answer is yes, if the deference paid to national security takes too much away from citizens’ civil liberties.

The National Environmental, Energy and Natural Resources Law Section, and the National Aboriginal Law Section teamed up to develop a submission and a follow-up letter for the federal government’s expert panel reviewing the environmental assessment process.

The National Maritime Law Section responds to a request for input from the federal government which is looking at changes to the Navigable Waters Protection Act as part of its broader review of environmental and regulatory processes.

Electronic communication has rendered most parts of 21st-century society virtually unrecognizable to even the early 20th-centry eye. But with a few exceptions a transplant from 1917 might be able to manoeuvre quite easily in today’s courtrooms. But that’s about to change.