Court order fills in legislative gap, allows application for name change submitted on behalf of teenaged girl by Director (Child, Family and Community Service Act)

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has relied on its little-used parens patriae (= “parent of the country”) power to fill a gap in the Name Act. The Director, Child, Family and Community Services Act v Registrar General of the Vital Statistics Agency of the Province of British Columbia, 2019 BCSC 1859, involved an application brought on behalf of a child in the continuing care of the director for a change of name: S.M.H. was Read more…

BC Supreme Court rules that ministry of attorney general must disclose information on funding of legal counsel for children to representative for children and youth

In a decision released earlier this week, the Supreme Court of British Columbia has decided that the BC Ministry of Attorney General must disclose certain records relating to the funding of legal counsel for children to the Representative for Children and Youth for British Columbia, providing an interpretation of the reach of the representative’s mandate and powers under the Representative for Children and Youth Act. British Columbia (Representative for Children and Youth) v British Columbia Read more…

Elder Law Case Update at the Canadian Elder Law Conference: Interview with Emily Clough

This post is part of a series highlighting key themes and presenters from the 2019 Elder Law Conference. To see the other posts in the series, click here Introduction We are excited that Emily Clough will be presenting at the 2019 Canadian Elder Law Conference. Emily is a partner at Clark Wilson LLP, chair of the firm’s Elder Law group, and is on the CCEL’s Board of Directors.   In this blog post, we share an interview with Emily on her presentation, Elder Read more…

Inclusive Investing and Financial Literacy

This post can also be found on Inclusion BC’s website. Inclusive Investing  November is Financial Literacy Month and October is Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) Month. Many of the financial institutions, investment regulators, community and other organizations committed to supporting financial literacy are publishing resources, tools, information, and workshops to help people learn more about how to manage and save their money. There are many great resources available. But it can sometimes be difficult or overwhelming to know Read more…

Pension Division Review Project Committee wraps up review of double-dipping, private annuities at October 2019 committee meeting

At its monthly committee meeting, BCLI’s Pension Division Review Project Committee completed its review of two topics that had figured in earlier committee meetings. The first topic involves something that has been informally called double-dipping. This may occur when a spouse receives a share of the other spouse’s pension benefits under family-law legislation and still may be entitled to other benefits or a share of benefits under other legislation. In British Columbia, section 145 of Read more…