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Remedies in Canadian Parental Alienation Cases: Turning to Tort Law for Support
Get PDFThis thesis provides an avenue to remedy some of the harms associated with parental alienation for rejected parents – an issue that is inadequately addressed by Canadian family law cases. One of the major functions of the legal system is to allow injured parties the opportunity to seek recourse. This thesis questions whether the prevailing approach to parental alienation is capable of providing justice to rejected parents. Family law centres on the best interests of children, a vulnerable group whose needs should be prioritized and protected. Parental alienation disputes destroy meaningful relationships between children and capable parents, but family law focuses on the best interests of children to the exclusion of all other interests, including a rejected parent’s interest in justice. This thesis questions whether, given the harm done to rejected parents, that exclusion can be justified in cases of parental alienation
Safety in Numbers or Lost in the Crowd? Litigation of Mass Claims and Access to Justice in Ontario
Get PDFOntario’s Class Proceedings Act is 30 years old. In the past three decades, it has inspired similar legislation across Canada and around the world, and its capacity for bringing about social change has been widely acknowledged. But, like all things that mature, some cracks are beginning to show. The certification test under section 5 of the CPA has been made more restrictive by recent legislative amendments. In addition, class action practitioners are starting to recognize that the CPA can be a blunt instrument and that some mass claims are better litigated outside of that context. While smaller claims may find safety in numbers in a class action, larger claims that require more individualized treatment may get lost in the crowd. Outside of the CPA, however, there is minimal guidance in this area, and this can lead to uncertainty and delay.
This article proposes a set of informal guidelines for the litigation of mass claims in Ontario, informed by multidistrict litigation in the US and group litigation in England & Wales, as well as the theory and history of mass claims typology. This guidance will reduce uncertainty and delay by facilitating agreement between parties on procedural steps, and provide much-needed direction for a growing phenomenon
Tsilhqot’in Nation and Interjurisdictional Immunity: When Are Judicial Decisions Involving Indigenous Claims Retroactive?
No full textReverting to Traditional Views of Gender During Times of Relative Deprivation: An Experimental Study in Nepal
No full textDo individuals\u27 perceptions of their relative economic status affect their attitudes regarding gender roles in patriarchal societies? What role does hearing messages designed to increase support for women\u27s empowerment play in moderating these effects? Leveraging an original survey experiment in Nepal, we find that a prime conferring feelings of relative deprivation causes women to revert to traditional views of gender in economic decision-making; they become less supportive of women having equal control over household income, sharing household chores with men, and working outside the home. Women\u27s empowerment messaging does not attenuate these effects. Priming men to feel relatively deprived causes declines in gender- equitable economic and political views, but women\u27s empowerment messaging nullifies these effects. The results suggest that among populations feeling relatively deprived, regressive gender norms may take hold. However, light-touch efforts to spur support for women\u27s empowerment may counter some reversion to traditional views of gender
Canadian QDMTT Challenges
Get PDFNobody believes that Canada is a tax haven. The fact remains that the effective tax rate of certain entities could be less than 15%. If nothing is done, Pillar Two could therefore apply and taxes that naturally accrue to Canada could end up in foreign hands. We must therefore find a solution and the most obvious is that of adopting a qualified domestic minimum top up tax. Other solutions are possible, but they seem less attractive. A QDMTT still presents some challenges. These challenges include sharing with the provinces, determining the priority to be given to certain foreign taxes relating to Canadian income (i.e., whether those foreign taxes take priority over the QDMTT or vice versa), estimating certain foreign taxes
A Pattern of Violence: How the Law Classifies Crimes and What It Means for Justice by David Alan Sklansky
Get PDFWhat is violence? What may appear in its face to be a simple question does not have a simple answer, especially when we are searching for it within our legal systems. The answer is not clear, and yet it has wide-reaching and potentially life-changing implications. Professor and former Assistant United States Attorney David Alan Sklansky does not seek to answer this question, but rather suggests that there is no definition of violence “that will allow the category of violence to do the work that we have asked it to do.”3 In A Pattern of Violence, Sklansky instead turns to the answers of others—of politicians, judges, and US legislators, now and throughout the country’s history. Violence is often defined in order to serve a particular purpose; it is not neutral. A Pattern of Violence reveals how the US legal system’s inconsistent and sometimes contradictory views of violence inform the legal treatment of violent crime
Stuck in Neutral? Reforming Corporate Purpose and Fiduciary Duties
Get PDFAfter decades of corporate leadership based on shareholder wealth maximization, momentum is now gathering behind a shift towards the recognition of stakeholder interests. However, from voluntary actions by business to changes in soft and hard law, the steps taken thus far have been insufficient to result in meaningful changes. Instead, we are stuck in neutral. A more decisive push is needed to ensure that business contributes to tackling the most pressing societal issues of our times in a substantial and timely manner. The Canadian corporate landscape, although beginning to shift away from shareholder primacy, is still not settled and in many ways has stagnated since the Supreme Court’s decisions in People’s and BCE. The CBCA’s new section 122(1.1) codifies that case law and therefore cannot be expected to provide a new impetus. Drawing from the experience in the United Kingdom, which previously introduced legislation similar to the Canadian reforms, we suggest that more than minor tweaks to corporate law are necessary to achieve meaningful and timely change. Working along with regulation in other areas of the law, corporate law can help transform corporate acts away from a solitary focus on shareholder wealth maximization if it offers mandatory and tailored mandates that guide corporations to prescribed outcomes. We propose therefore legislative changes to re-define corporate purpose more broadly and implement a mandatory system of balancing of shareholder and stakeholder interests by corporate leadership, with an emphasis on protection and advancement of human rights and environmental considerations
International report explores community legal services for better access to justice
No full textYork U legal expert co-authored report analyzing research from three African countries and Canada, highlights benefit of grassroots support in addressing global justice crisis
TORONTO, April 20, 2023 — Community legal clinics, paralegal services, social workers and others assisting those who cannot easily access legal help, are a few ways of narrowing the gap in accessing justice that’s prevalent across the globe, says York University legal expert Professor Trevor Farrow, co-author of a new international report released today.
The report, Exploring Community-Based Services, Costs and Benefits for People-Centered Justice, is a review of recent studies conducted by researchers in Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Canada, to understand how effective grassroots support systems are in alleviating, if not eliminating, barriers to justice.
The research is part of Community-Based Justice Research (CBJR) project, funded by Canada’s International Development Research Centre. The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ), based at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, played a lead role in co-ordinating the project.
According to Farrow, associate dean of research at Osgoode, the inaccessibility of legal services is a common issue, be it in Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Canada, or rest of the world. In fact, the United Nations has identified access to justice as a global crisis that – through its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – requires collective efforts and shared solutions, continues Farrow.
According to earlier research from the CFCJ, approximately 50 per cent of adult Canadians will experience a legal problem in any given three-year period. “Like the rest of the world, there is an access-to-justice crisis in Canada,” notes Farrow, who also serves as chair of the CFCJ. “Law and legal issues are everywhere, but very few people can afford legal help.”
Grassroots-level support can help change this situation for the better, says CFCJ Senior Research Fellow Ab Currie, who also co-authored the report.
“Getting access to trained social workers at drop-in shelters, support workers at community centres, paralegals, religious advisors and many others who work and interact with people where and when they most need help, are primary goals and benefits of community-based justice,” explains Farrow. “The core idea is to find ways to get legal services and law-related help to people in the places that they live and work, and to identify – and ideally avoid – legal problems or to help address them before they get worse.”
“Generally, there’s a benefit to having these services in the community and the recent research indicates that the cost-benefit analysis is positive for these community justice services,” he adds. “There are also non-financial benefits of trust, access and awareness when it comes to supporting local help for local communities.”
South African researcher Busiwana Winne Martins, of the Centre for Community Justice, agrees. “Because support workers are close to the community, they understand their problems and socio-economic conditions,” she says. “They share the same geographic space and culture and can negotiate plural legal systems and determine how to straddle the formal law and traditional African customary law.”
“People who work in the grassroots justice structures, especially community-based paralegals, are able to translate difficult legal and bureaucratic language into frames that local people can understand and help them to resolve their justice issues, she adds.
Farrow agrees that managing problems within a community and with the help of community members, is often simpler, quicker and allows for community values and interests to be present in the process. “Community justice initiatives can provide exciting opportunities for innovative and inclusive problem-solving that allows for important justice options and strategies,” he notes.
To help solve the access-to-justice crisis, Farrow concludes, “community-based justice provides significant and exciting opportunities for meaningful assistance – in addition to numerous other options and processes, including strong legal institutions.”
With the addition of access-to-justice to the United Nations SDGs, calling on all nations to work toward equal access by 2030 is a significant move and driver for action, according to the report.
About York University
York University is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. York’s fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario’s Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. York’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.
About Osgoode Hall Law School
Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, founded in Toronto in 1889, is among the oldest, largest and most distinguished law schools in Canada, with a diverse and accomplished alumni community of more than 18,000 worldwide.
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