Keep Current: A review of provincial Section meetings.

by Trisha Jewison

Section News
For enrolled CBA members, more detailed information and available minutes from the Section meetings are online at www.cba.org/BC in Sections under Professional Development.

Real Property-Vancouver Meeting: April 26, 2010 Speaker: Michael Welters Topic: HST in Real Estate Transactions and Matters		Aboriginal Law-Vancouver Meeting: April 21, 2010 Speaker: Thea Schmidt (L-R): Ming Song, Lisa Fong, Michael Ng, Mona Donovan, Allan Donovan & Scott Miller Topic: Tricks and Tips on Researching Aboriginal Law
Aboriginal Law-Vancouver Island Meeting: March 23, 2010 Speaker: Chris Devlin (L-R): Chris Devlin & Kathryn Deo Topic: Status and Membership and the Implications of McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Indian and Northern Affairs), 2009 BCCA 153		Wills and Trusts-Victoria Meeting: March 16, 2010 Speaker: John W. Gailus Topic: Unique Aspects in the Management of Aboriginal Estates

Real Property-Vancouver
On April 26th, Michael Welters, a partner in the tax group at Bull, Housser & Tupper LLP, gave a presentation on the impact of the harmonized sales tax on various types of real estate matters. Although the HST will run under the same set of rules as the GST, the tax rate is different. The New Housing Rebate under the HST also works differently than the current GST regime. Michael navigated the Section through the transitional rules for the HST as they apply to real property, noting that the federal regulations to implement the transitional rules had not yet been released and that only government bulletins, which are not law, provided guidance. Michael also discussed some relevant changes that could affect the law practices of Section members, including the proposed changes to the place of supply rules that could affect the HST rate (e.g., the 12 per cent B.C. rate versus the 13 per cent Ontario rate) that a practitioner must charge a client.

Aboriginal Law-Vancouver
Guest speaker Thea Schmidt presented Tricks and Tips on Researching Aboriginal Law, using the Indian Act as an example. This included tracing the history of a section of the Act; how to locate proposed changes to the Act, such as Bill C-3, the Gender Equality Equity in Indian Registration Act; and find related material such as cases, texts, articles and other commentary. The Section also discussed some of the Courthouse Library’s favourite online and specific looseleafs, textbooks, treaty and commission materials, CLEs, electronic resources like LawSource (Westlaw), CLE Online, Hein Online and CanLii for specific subjects such as treaty rights, harvesting rights, business development and governance.

Of interest was the Consolidation of Indian Legislation found at KM208.I5A111C65, which is a three volume consolidation of Constitutional documents from the United Kingdom from 1761-1930, pre and post confederation statutes from 1845-1975 and pre- and post-confederation provincial and territorial legislation.

Aboriginal Law-Vancouver Island
Chris Devlin is a partner with Devlin Gailus in Victoria, which focuses on Aboriginal and Treaty Law on behalf of First Nations and Tribal Councel. He is the past Chair of the CBABC Aboriginal Law – Vancouver Island and the past Chair and the current Law Reform Liaison of the CBA’s National Aboriginal Law Section (2005-2007). He presented Bill C-3, an Act to promote gender equality in Indian registration by responding to the Court of Appeal for British Columbia decision in McIvor v. Canada (Registrar of Northern and Indian Affairs). Bill C-3 represents the first time in 25 years that Parliament has considered the registration provisions of the Indian Act. After holding several engagement sessions with national and regional Aboriginal organizations, Parliament announced its proposed amendments contained in Bill C-3, the Gender Equality Equity in Indian Registration Act. To read more about Bill C-3 go to page 18.

Wills and Trusts-Victoria
Legislative Liaison Tino Di Bella presented the new Wills Estates and Succession Act (“WESA”). Vancouver colleagues believe there are some areas of concern with drafting in the new Wills Trusts and Estate Act. A study group has been created in Vancouver to address drafting issues and Mr. Di Bella invites any Victoria colleagues to direct comments to him on this front. The Attorney General may introduce amendments to the Act in the spring and the Act will likely not come into force until late 2010, or early 2011.

Guest speaker John Gailus spoke about New Issues in Aboriginal Estate Law, maintaining that the law respecting Aboriginal estates is quite convoluted and nuanced. A practitioner with a typical practice involving non-Indian clients should be aware of a number of potential pitfalls when dealing with Indian estates and wills matters. There are significant differences between provincial laws dealing with wills and estates and the legislation governing Indians ordinarily resident on the reserve.

Report on the CBABC Women Lawyers Forum’s Mentoring Program Linda Robertson, Chair, CBABC Women Lawyers Forum One of the success stories of the CBABC Women Lawyers Forum (WLF), is its very successful mentoring program that over the past seven years has matched more than 600 lawyers in mentoring relationships. This CBABC program is the largest mentoring program in Canada for women lawyers and is one of the most important ways to support women in the law. The program matches women from all over the province and is particularly helpful for women in communities where there are few mentors available. In January 2010, the Law Society made mentoring eligible for CPD credits to recognize its importance in developing lawyer skills. The WLF’s mentoring program runs from January 1 to December 31st each year with calls for applications going out each October to members of the WLF. You must be a member of the WLF to be eligible for the program. The WLF’s Mentoring Committee received an overwhelming number of applications from prospective “mentees” for the 2010 year, and senior women lawyers from around B.C. stepped up to the call for mentors. As a result, the Mentoring Committee matched a record 86 mentor-mentee pairs (“Pairs”) in January. The Mentoring Committee helps to ensure the effectiveness of mentor-mentee relationships by hosting an orientation lunch where Pairs meet for the first time, review and sign the mentoring contract and learn how to qualify and apply for CPD credits with the Law Society. The Mentoring Committee also hosts a workshop aimed at providing practical skills for Pairs in the area of communication and mentoring. The Mentoring Committee follows up with each Pair during the year to ensure that both the mentees and mentors are getting the most out of the program. Finally, the WLF promotes and recognizes excellence in mentoring through the Debra Van Ginkel, QC Mentoring Award that was awarded for the first time in November 2009. Key to the success of the WLF’s mentoring program is the significant volunteer time and commitment of the WLF’s Mentoring Committee. If you would like to get involved with a dynamic group of women lawyers, please contact the Co-Chairs Deborah Taylor (dtaylor@lklaw.ca) or Julie Fisher (jfisher@wgmlaw.com).

This article was published in the June 2010 issue of BarTalk. © 2010 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.