Category Archives: Access to Justice

Advance Costs and Trusts: Little Sisters and Okanagan Distinguished

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Case commented on: 1985 Sawridge Trust v Alberta (Public Trustee), 2013 ABCA 226

The Alberta Court of Appeal recently upheld an award of advance costs originally granted in 1985 Sawridge Trust v Alberta (Public Trustee), 2013 ABCA 226. In so doing, the Court of Appeal distinguished British Columbia (Minister of Forests) v Okanagan Indian Band, 2003 SCC 71, [2003] 3 SCR 371 [Okanagan] and Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v Canada (Commissioner of Customs and Revenue), 2007 SCC 2, [2007] 1 SCR 38 [Little Sisters (No.2)] concluding that the strict requirements of Little Sisters and Okanagan did not apply in the unique, non-adversarial circumstances of Sawridge Trust.

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Roundtable on Ontario v Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario

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Cases Considered: Ontario v Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario, 2013 SCC 43

On August 13, 2013, Faculty of Law hosted its last Roundtable discussion of the summer. That discussion focused on the Supreme Court of Canada’s August 1^st decision in Ontario v Criminal Lawyers’ Association of Ontario, 2013 SCC 43 concerning the compensation to be paid to a lawyer appointed to act as a “friend of the court”, known as an amicus curiae. Participants included faculty members, researchers from the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, JD and graduate students, and a post-doc fellow. What participants found most controversial about the decision was not the court’s 5:4 split on the compensation issue, but rather the court’s unanimity on the inappropriateness — and henceforth, presumably, inability — of courts to appoint amicus curiae to act as de facto defence counsel.

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Law Students Provide Legal Information to Flood Victims

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Matter commented on: Flood Relief Legal Information Sessions

In the days following the July flooding of Calgary and other areas of Southern Alberta, the various U of C law student Facebook pages lit up with offers of help for fellow law students. My classmates offered up their spare bedrooms and just like countless other Albertans, they offered up their time and energy. Some helped out their neighbours while others spent days removing mud from Calgary parks so that summer festivals could take place. And perhaps not surprisingly my classmates also harnessed their newly acquired legal skills, which came coupled with a vibrant enthusiasm.

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No (Soup) Practice For You!

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Case considered: Lameman v Alberta, 2012 ABCA 59

Introduction

On March 1, 2012 the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the judgment of Justice Yamauchi dismissing the application of the Beaver Lake Cree Nation to have English lawyers appear on their behalf. In a blog on Justice Yamauchi’s decision, I suggested that the decision was legally sound but raised questions of public policy in relation to whether the practice of law should be so rigorously constrained. Specifically, I questioned whether “there [could] not be a more nuanced or careful approach to the provision of legal services, in which consumer and public interests are protected, but the availability of competent and helpful legal advice is not irrationally restricted.” (Unauthorized Practice and Access to Justice).

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In forma pauperis: A Constitutional Right to Access to Justice

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Case commented on: Toronto Dominion Bank v. Beaton, 2012 ABQB 125

Access to justice is a hot topic: it is the stuff of judicial speeches; test case litigation; law society initiatives; and the list goes on. In Toronto Dominion Bank v Beaton, 2012 ABQB 125, which dealt with the seemingly routine issue of whether the court could order a fee waiver for transcripts for a leave to appeal application, Justice Joanne Veit of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench held that there is a constitutional right to access to justice, but that it was not breached in the circumstances of the case.

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