International Call for Six-Month Pause in Giant AI Experiments Shows Importance and Timeliness of BCLI’s AI and Civil Liability Project

BCLI has had an active project on artificial intelligence (“AI”) and civil liability underway since late 2021.  Together with an interdisciplinary expert committee, we have been developing law reform recommendations on how the law of tort needs to be adapted to deal with cases where AI causes harm to persons and property. Two news items in the headlines this week demonstrate the timeliness and relevance of our Artificial Intelligence and Civil Liability Project. On 29 Read more…

BCLI welcomes pension division reforms

The BC Law Institute is pleased to note the introduction of Bill 17 in the legislative assembly. This bill amends part 6 of the Family Law Act, implementing BCLI’s recommendations to reform pension division for separating spouses. When it is enacted, the bill’s amendments will provide a host of improvements to BC’s comprehensive legislation on pension division. These improvements include clarifying and modernizing the law on locked-in retirement accounts and life income funds; private annuities; Read more…

Donor anonymity on the agenda for the January 2023 parentage committee meeting

BCLI’s Parentage Law Reform Project Committee recently considered donor anonymity. BC doesn’t have provisions on information about donors in its parentage legislation under part 3 of the Family Law Act. But access to information about donors is an issue that has risen in prominence as more and more children are born from assisted reproduction. The committee decided that donor anonymity was sufficiently connected to parentage as to merit high-level consideration in this project. The federal Read more…

Thank You for Celebrating 25 Years of BCLI

Late last year, the BCLI celebrated its 25th Anniversary. To mark the occasion, we hosted an appreciation event for the many people – our friends, supporters, volunteers, and collaborators – who are part of our community. We are grateful to all who were able to attend and are delighted to share with you a photo gallery of our evening.   The celebration began with a protocol welcome from respected Elder Carleen Thomas of the Tsleil-Waututh Read more…

BCLI Releases Updated Guide on Undue Influence

The BC Law Institute (BCLI) has issued an updated and revised version of its widely used and frequently cited Guide on recommended practices for dealing with potential undue influence surrounding wills and other personal planning documents.  The new version, entitled Undue Influence Recognition and Prevention: A Guide for Legal Practitioners, is intended for the era of remote signing and witnessing of wills, powers of attorney, and representation agreements by means of audiovisual technology, and increased Read more…