CBA Influence - Public Policy and Advocacy

Litigants in criminal matters and parties to divorce both have a right to hearings in either of Canada’s official languages. It’s only fair that people should have the right to declare bankruptcy – or faillite – in the language of their choice as well, says the CBA’s French-Speaking Common Law Members Section.

Truck drivers can keep on trucking across the Canada-U.S. border as a general rule, without issue. But other business travellers, like IT professionals in jobs that didn’t exist when the North America Free Trade Agreement was signed, might have a problem.

The issue of political interference in judicial appointments got an airing this fall after several news outlets in Quebec reported on private departmental emails purporting to show undue politicking in federal appointments.

CBA Immigration Law Section Chair, Mark Holthe, of Holthe Immigration Law in Lethbridge, appeared before the House of Commons Citizenship and Immigration Committee in November to talk about the various impacts of COVID-19 on the immigration system.

Three years after the CBA’s Class Action Task Force completed its protocol on multi-jurisdictional case management, the task force has been reconvened, with Sylvie Rodrigue of Torys at the helm. We asked her some questions about the renewed initiative:

Discussion of the impact COVID-19 has had on children usually centres around online learning, or how to safely fill their need for both physical and social activity.

At its September meeting, the CBA’s COVID-19 task force received an object lesson in the limitations of technology, as about 20 highly educated, newly minted Zoom experts from across the country tried in vain to connect to audio for the meeting.

The CBA’s Commodity Tax, Customs and Trade Section says personal protective equipment should be added to the list of things considered necessary to life – and exempt from GST and HST under the Excise Tax Act.

Proposed amendments to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Model Code of Conduct raise an intriguing and controversial question: Do law societies have an oversight role to play in the private lives of licensed practitioners?

The Black Lives Matter protests of the last few months have raised awareness of myriad inequities faced by Black, Indigenous and People of Colour with respect to their treatment by the police and justice systems. For example, light has been shone again on the fact that BIPOC individuals are far more likely to be stopped and questioned by police.