Not all adventures play out on battlefields or in outer space. Some unfold in unsuspecting places, like the law offices of MT+Co. This is one of those stories… Four wanderlust students from different backgrounds arrived at MT+Co. in May 2022, unsure of the adventures and challenges that lay ahead. All they had to lean on… Read more »
+ Read MoreIt’s an exciting time – the Canadian government is making proactive strides toward reducing greenhouse gases and we are here to get you up to speed! Canada’s Greenhouse Gas Offset Credit System is now operational and stands to benefit foresters, farmers, Indigenous communities, and all other people who engage in projects to reduce greenhouse gases…. Read more »
+ Read MoreLast week, the British Columbia Court of Appeal (“BCCA”) heard the appeal of Servatius v. Alberni School District No. 70, 2020 BCSC 15, a provocative Charter case concerning the interplay between religious freedoms and Indigenous cultural safety in public schools. Our litigation group proudly represented the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (“NTC”) in its intervention in the… Read more »
+ Read MoreWhen a trial judge rules that a law is unconstitutional, who is bound by that decision? In R v Sullivan, 2022 SCC 19, the SCC has made it crystal clear: these declarations are ordinary rulings of law, subject to ordinary rules of stare decisis. As a bonus, the Court clarified the Spruce Mills test. The “plainly wrong” standard is,… Read more »
+ Read MoreMore than 150 years after being dispossessed of their lands by incoming settlers, and after almost three decades of legal disputes, T’exelcemc, or Williams Lake First Nation (“WLFN”), has reached a tentative agreement with the federal government to receive $135M in compensation for the losses they suffered as a result of Canada’s failure to protect… Read more »
+ Read MoreLitigation is messy—no one knows this better than Indigenous communities and individuals who have spent countless decades and dollars trying to prove the rights and title they’ve held since time immemorial. And while “[c]ourts are a necessary pillar in the process of reconciliation”,[1] reconciliation is almost always better achieved by what doesn’t happen in the… Read more »
+ Read MoreOn November 28, 2019, through the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (“DRIPA”), British Columbia formally adopted the standards outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (“UNDRIP”). Section 4 of DRIPA mandates British Columbia “prepare and implement an action plan to achieve the objectives of [UNDRIP].” On March 30, 2022, British Columbia announced the DRIPA Action… Read more »
+ Read MoreIn 2016 the Supreme Court of Canada in R v. Jordan established stricter timelines for criminal trials, stating that “Canadians … rightly expect a system that can deliver quality justice in a reasonably efficient and timely manner.” The decision improved delays in the criminal justice system, but corresponding changes in the civil system have yet to be… Read more »
+ Read MoreThe Court of Appeal for Québec has stymied the federal government’s efforts to respond to the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in the child and youth protection system. On February 10, 2022, the Court held that key sections of the federal government’s Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (the “Act”) were… Read more »
+ Read MoreCase in Brief: Teal Cedar Products Ltd v Rainforest Flying Squad, 2022 BCCA 26 The injunction against protestors at Fairy Creek has been extended until September 2022. In a unanimous decision made January 26th, the BC Court of Appeal (“BCCA”) overturned the BC Supreme Court’s (“BCSC”) refusal to extend an interlocutory civil injunction that protected… Read more »
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