Today
Today

Thoughts on affordability

  • January 23, 2024

Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, covers several topics and the Canadian Bar Association offered suggestions and recommendations in a comprehensive submission from the Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade Section, the Competition and Foreign Investment Review Section and the Construction and Infrastructure Law Section. The most salient ones are summarized below.

Perfecting Canada’s post-conviction review process

  • January 23, 2024

The Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Bar Association, in a letter to the House of Commons Justice and Human Rights Committee, offers comments on Bill C-40, Miscarriages of Justice Review Commission Act (David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law).

Advanced MAiD requests

  • January 23, 2024

The End-of-Life Working Group of the Canadian Bar Association has long advocated for the clarification of end-of-life decision-making.

A framework for AI

  • November 28, 2023

Canada is taking part in international negotiations in the Council of Europe for a treaty on artificial intelligence, human rights and the rule of law. The Canadian Bar Association’s Privacy and Access Law Section, the Immigration Law Section and the Ethics and Professional Responsibility Subcommittee, in a comprehensive submission, express support for the proposed approach and offer a useful perspective on the survey questions contained in the government’s consultation document.

Isolation should not constitute cruel and unusual punishment

  • November 28, 2023

The Canadian Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Section and its Committee on Imprisonment and Release wrote to warn that Correctional Service Canada’s proposed policy does not meet international standards surrounding solitary confinement and violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Dealing with ESG risks in pension plan management

  • November 28, 2023

The Canadian Association of Pension Supervisory Authority, or CAPSA, released a draft guideline for risk management earlier this year that reviews and updates several key risk concepts, as well as third-party risks such as cyber risks and risks related to environmental, social and governance risks, or ESG. The latter is the subject of a letter from the CBA’s Pensions and Benefits Law Section.

GAAR and self-help transactions

  • November 28, 2023

Following an earlier submission on proposed amendments to section 245 of the Income Tax Act, the Joint Committee on Taxation of the Canadian Bar Association and Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada sent further comments about the General Anti-Avoidance Rule, or GAAR, and self-help transactions.

Keeping a cool head on bail reform

  • November 28, 2023

Everyone in Canada is presumed innocent until proven guilty, including individuals with prior criminal records, writes the Criminal Justice Section of the Canadian Bar Association in a letter to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs about Bill C-48, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (bail reform). “This presumption applies at every stage of the criminal justice process, including and especially the bail stage.”