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Older Adult, Older Person, Senior or Elder?

October 30, 2011

Older Adult, Older Person, Senior, Elderly or Elder: A Few Thoughts on the Language we use to Reference Aging

The English language seems to lack appropriate, positive terminology for referencing aging in a way that recognizes the strength, wisdom and often privilege associated with chronological age. "Elderly" connotes frailty. "Senior" is too limited – in Canada, the word “senior” indicates a person is specifically age 65 of older; the term is generally used in a government context, to reference programs, portfolios, and entitlements associated with...

What is Elder Law? Collaboration and Continuum

October 30, 2011

What is elder law? In some ways the best way to understand the practice is in terms of what it is not.

First, there is no single distinct statute that impacts on older adults; rather, consideration of how the law affects older people and how laws can be changed to become more responsive implicates criminal law, health legislation, adult guardianship and mental capacity law, pensions, tax policy, wills and estates, and many other areas of law. It is impossible to be a leader in elder law without collaborating and consulting with practitioners from diverse areas of law, within Canada...

Abuse of Older Women

November 1, 2011

Abuse of Older Women – Presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women

On October 25, 2011, National Director Krista James made a presentation to the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women, as part of the committee’s study into abuse of older women in Canada. Below is Krista’s 10-minute presentation. The CCEL also provided the committee with a 16-page brief. Click here to download a copy.

Abuse of...

House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women - Abuse of Older Women Study

December 15, 2011

The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women heard from witnesses during the months of October and November 2011. To date, the following witnesses have provided evidence:

Marla Israel, Acting Director General, Centre for Health Promotion, Public Health Agency of Canada
Cathy Bennett, Acting Director, Division of Aging and Seniors, Centre for Health Promotion, Public Health Agency of Canada
Charmaine Spencer, Co-Chair, Canadian Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse
Gloria Gutman, President, International Network for the...

BCLI Project Committee to Study Common-Law Tests of Capacity

December 19, 2011

New two-year project to consider reforms to judge-made rules governing when a person is determined to have the mental capacity to carry out a transaction or enter into a relationship

Mental disability, illness, or impairment does not, in and of itself, leave a person incapable under the law to carry out transactions, enter into relationships, or manage his or her affairs. The law is concerned with the degree of a person's mental disability, illness, or impairment. If it exceeds in a degree a legal threshold then that person will be considered incapable in the...

Opportunity to Comment on a New Society Act

December 22, 2011

Ministry of Finance launches second phase of Society Act review consultation

The Ministry of Finance has issued a discussion paper (PDF) with specific proposals for reform of British Columbia's framework legislation for not-for-profit corporations, the Society Act. The...

CCEL brings ccel test

January 7, 2012

ccel test ccel test

BCLI Releases Recommended Practices Guide for Lawyers and Notaries Concerning Undue Influence Relating to Wills

January 23, 2012

Vancouver, 20 January 2012 — The British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI) has just published Recommended Practices for Wills Practitioners Relating to Potential Undue Influence: A Guide. This guidebook helps lawyers and notaries recognize “red flags” suggesting undue influence when receiving instructions to prepare a will, and in preventing later challenges that could lead to a will being invalidated.

There are checklists, a flowchart...

BCLI Launches Phase One of Strata Property Law Project

March 16, 2012

Vancouver, 16 March 2012 — The British Columbia Law Institute is beginning phase one of a project on strata-property law.

“Strata properties are an important and dynamic part of British Columbia’s real-estate sector,” noted BCLI executive director Jim Emmerton. “With this project, the BCLI intends to begin a process to ensure that the next generation of the Strata Property Act keeps abreast of developments in the field.”

The goal of phase one is to identify, through research and consultation with a select group of strata-property experts, a...

BCLI Publishes Supplementary Report on Proposals for a New Society Act as Response to Ministry Discussion Paper

April 23, 2012

Today the British Columbia Law Institute published its response to the Ministry of Finance’s discussion paper (2011) on reform of the Society Act, in the form of a Supplementary Report on Proposals for a New Society Act. This report is a supplement to the BCLI’s 2008 Report on Proposals for a New Society Act.

The supplementary report sets out the areas of agreement between the BCLI’s 2008 report and the ministry’s proposals in the form of a chart and discusses a series of alternative approaches to selected issues that the ministry should consider pursuing.

The...