The National Self-Represented Litigants Project launches a Legal Coaching Project

In January 2017, the National Self-Represented Litigants Project (NSRLP) launched a new legal coaching project. NSRLP Research Fellow Nikki Gershbain will lead the initiative, which was made possible by a fellowship from the Law Foundation of Ontario. With this project, the NSRLP will continue to build on their 2013 National Study, which highlighted the lack of availability of unbundled legal services in Canada. The project intends to develop a training program for the legal profession, Read more…

LCO Releases Final Report on Legal Capacity, Decision-making and Guardianship

On March 8, 2017, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) released its final report on Legal Capacity, Decision-making and Guardianship (PDF). The project, which began at the end of 2012, is the LCO’s largest research and consultation initiative to date. For four years, the LCO heard from close to 800 individuals and organizations through interviews, focus groups, questionnaires and written submissions. LCO Board Chair Bruce Elman calls the final report “the most comprehensive analysis of Read more…

Transfer of strata corporation’s lawsuit from small claims to supreme court must be authorized by three-quarter vote

According to section 171 of the Strata Property Act, before a strata corporation commences a lawsuit in BC Supreme Court, “the suit must be authorized by a resolution passed by a 3/4 vote at an annual or special general meeting.” In contrast, this authorization by resolution passed by a 3/4 vote isn’t needed “for a proceeding under the Small Claims Act against an owner or other person to collect money owing to the strata corporation, including money Read more…

BC Human Rights Tribunal allows second-hand smoking complaint to proceed against strata corporation

Second-hand smoke continues to be a problem for strata corporations and strata-lot owners. The latest case gave the BC Human Rights Tribunal an opportunity to apply the guidance formulated as part of the tribunal’s 2016 decision in Leary v Strata Plan VR1001, 2016 BCHRT 139. Talbot v Strata Plan LMS 1351 and another, 2017 BCHRT 59, involved a complaint of discrimination in the area of accommodation, service, or facility on the basis of physical disability, contrary Read more…

We are not all the same: new report of the Older Women’s Dialogue Project released today

  Today we celebrate International Women’s Day. This year’s theme is Be Bold for Change. CCEL’s latest report We Are Not All the Same: Key Law, Policy and Practice Strategies for Improving the Lives of Older Women in the Lower Mainland, addresses the bold question: what about the older women in communities? What wisdom can older women share about how our communities must change if their quality of life truly matters? While everyone acknowledges that Read more…