The Specific Claims Tribunal, or SCT, is for First Nations to seek dispute resolution related to the fulfilment of historic treaties outside the court system. In a letter to the Chairperson of the SCT, the Aboriginal Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association offers its recommendations on how to make it more efficient and flexible. Below are the most salient ones.

Parents in shared parenting situations need to be treated equally by Canada’s tax laws, the Family Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association writes in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland.

Few people know the challenges of communicating with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada like lawyers whose job is to represent IRCC applicants. In a letter to IRCC, the Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association summarizes feedback provided by its members, “in the hope that they may assist IRCC in evaluating and improving its client communication mechanisms.”

The Immigration Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association sees benefits in having more digital options for applications to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, or IRCC. But it suggests improvements that should be made to the new Temporary Resident to Permanent Resident pathway.

Law societies in Canada establish rules of conduct for members of the legal profession, based on the Federation of Law Societies’ Model Code of Professional Conduct, to ensure they adhere to strict standards of professionalism. The Model Code is updated as needed, to reflect changes in legal practices and ethics.

In family law matters, the interests of the children should always come first. That’s why when Justice Canada asked for suggestions on how to improve public legal education and information, otherwise known as PLEI, the Family Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association limited itself to recommendations related to child support payments.

How permissive should borrowing rules be for registered pension plans? The Pension and Benefits Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association, in a letter to Finance Canada, says it is in favour of a more permissive regime under paragraph 8502(i) of the Income Tax Regulations, or ITR.

A charity’s disbursement quota, or DQ, is the minimum amount of money it must spend on its charitable activities or gifts to qualified donees. This minimum is set to ensure funds collected by charities are used for charitable activities and not accumulated indefinitely. The DQ is calculated as a percentage of a charity’s property value that is not used for charitable activities or administration.

The College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents, or CPATA, regulates patent and trademark agents in Canada. It recently released a consultation paper on a proposal for mandatory liability insurance coverage for patent and trademark agents.

Eradicating organized crime and gang activity in Canada is a noble and worthy goal, but it can’t be done at the expense of procedural fairness in immigration matters, says the Canadian Bar Association’s Immigration Law Section in a letter to the Canada Border Services Agency.