•21-year judicial career: 9 years on the BC Court of Appeal, 12 years as a Supreme Court Judge.
•Presided over all manner of cases including criminal, civil and family claims.
•27 years as a leading litigator, has appeared in all courts of British Columbia and the Supreme Court of Canada.
•Effective and respected decision-maker.
Immediately available to assist with arbitration, mediation, and other forms of dispute resolution with an emphasis on commercial and insurance disputes.
Richard Goepel, K.C. 604.642.5651 | rgoepel@watsongoepel.com
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Jasdeep Gill-Kahlon, President
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Nicholas Cooper, President
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BRITISH COLUMBIA BRANCH
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Patricia Blair
President
Connor Bildfell
First Vice President
Sarah Klinger
Second Vice President
Dan Moseley
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Cherolyn Knapp
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Representative
Martin Bühler
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Dimple Kainth
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Laurel D. Hogg
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PORT ALBERNI
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Marie Louise Ahrens, President
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Coral D. Atchison
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Jamie Lalonde
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Phil Dwyer
Menaka Giri
Benjamin D. Kingstone
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Emily Beggs
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Connor Bildfell
Erica Chow
Joseph G. Cuenca
Rupinder Gosal
Jennifer Khor
Tina Parbhakar
Sonali Sharma
Leena (Ronak) Yousefi
Brian Yuen
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J. Berry Hykin
Cherolyn Knapp
Anwar Mujtabah
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Grace Cleveland
Rebecca L. Darnell
Manpreet K. Mand
Natasha S. Nair
Gurjit Kaur Tiwana
YALE
Laurel D. Hogg
Nika Pidskalny
Aachal N. Soll
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Cecilia Barnes, President
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VOL. 83 PART 6 NOVEMBER 2025
Entre Nous .
On the Front Cover: Patricia Blair
By Melanie Duggan and Jay Ruzesky
“You Can’t Hide Behind Your Finger”: Liability for Autonomous Systems in Canadian Tort Law
By Mary Ppasiou
Artificial Authority: Emerging Trends in AI Hallucination Cases
By Thomas Rodgers
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action: Where Are We Ten Years Later?
By Chief Justice Leonard Marchand
It Caught My Eye: The Red Lily Vineyard By David Roberts, K.C.
A Sojourn to Paisley By Kenneth Wm. Thornicroft
Take Me to the River: A Lawyer Goes Off the Grid in the Canadian North – Part I By Allison Render
The Wine Column
News from BC Law Institute
Announcing the 2026
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Classified
ON THE FRONT COVER
Patricia Blair is the new president of CBABC. Read how this classically trained pianist rose through the ranks of the legal profession via Seattle grunge starting on page 819.
Rebecca
To learn more, visit our website at www.nineac.com.
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ENTRE NOUS
We have been carefully trying, on these pages, not to say too much about the woeful state of affairs south of the border.
Of course, the events there are important, not simply for Americans but also for those beyond U.S. borders on whom the moral, mental and economic consequences of the chaos are being inflicted. Until now, there was no particular reason to repeat in the Advocate the related news and commentary by which we are all besieged.
Why now? Well, not to be too modest about it, we may have stumbled across a couple of potential explanations for why this is all occurring. On those points we can, perhaps, make a meaningful contribution to this discussion. As many of us are craving some means by which to understand what we are seeing, we felt duty-bound to share our conclusions.
We appreciate that in ordinary circumstances, what we have come up with might seem far-fetched. However, these are no ordinary times. The problems we are seeing are of cosmic proportions. In acknowledging that, we are foreshadowing the content of our first theory.
So yes, readers, the first theory we offer you is that aliens have landed.
We were slow to pick up on the clues, but on reflection, those clues have been there for some time. To what other than extraterrestrial forces could be attributed our persistent computer issues, albeit not simply with computers of U.S. manufacture? What else besides an alien force field could explain how our inboxes lose emails, computers keep turning off when seemingly under power, screens go black during online meetings, external monitors are not recognized, and computers cannot coax printers into printing? The issues spread to U.S. brand software. Programs lagged, then stalled, then had to re-start, then still malfunctioned. Partly, at first, to fill our time waiting for our computers to work, we were sucked into the black hole … of scrolling through social media on our phones.
On the streets around us there was an upswing in alien-themed logos. One American-sounding tourist walking ahead of us pulling luggage had a “galactic snack”-emblazoned T-shirt. A vehicle rumbled by bearing advertising about a space-travel-centred Science World exhibit. A tractor trailer branded as “Galactica Logistics” came into view. Then a Tesla Cybertruck lumbered by. There can be no explanation for its existence other than the fact aliens have bestowed on Elon Musk some rejected model of intergalactic transport vehicle.
Monumentally wealthy Americans seem to keep funding (or having their companies fund) the construction and launch of rockets, some of which explode and some of which can take the domestic kind of star (e.g., William Shatner or Katy Perry) into space. The world’s sometime richest man named a child X Æ A-12. Our IT departments seem to be code-naming employees in a manner akin to R2-D2. One recent encounter with IT led to the promise that L3 would soon be dispatched.
For weeks the television and internet have been filled with scenes of masked U.S. agents running after supposedly illegal immigrants, even those who were of the most upstanding character and often who were in the course of seeking legal status. Some of them had legal status. It seemed mystifying that the U.S. government failed to appreciate these individuals’ value. Was this all a ruse, in case the word “alien” was occasionally heard to slip, to distract from the fact that aliens of another kind—the outer-space kind—were in their midst?
These aliens of the outer-space variety seem to be an unfriendly bunch. This is not E.T. They are the kind who propel forward the plots of the scarier sorts of science fiction novels and movies. Apart from messing with law firm electronics (toying with our ability to work when they are at leisure), they appear to be sucking out the souls of the higher-powered humans with whom they interact. Those humans seem principally so far to be the U.S. politicians and other officials who could be stopping the Disaster-in-Chief—the greatest ally of aliens seeking to destroy the planet—but who have instead assumed the pallid and glazed torpor of people who no longer have wills of their own.
We are not, by the way, seeking to dehumanize (by suggesting they are outer-space aliens or their new proxies) those individuals who genuinely hold opinions other than our own. Rather, we are referring to those persons at whose core is simply a void or cavity that allows them to be subjugated to the will of their alien conquerors.
The aliens-have-landed theory seemed to be holding well until we saw the festivities laid on at Windsor Castle for the U.S. delegation in September
2025. Boorish visitors had been thrust into tuxedos or evening gowns, often to be sat in close proximity to others who had previously seemed more refined, at a long table groaning with tableware and flowers and food.
Suddenly everything seemed all too startlingly part of human history, even if we might have placed the scene several centuries ago rather than in 2025. We can only hope for their sake that no one tries to marry off an eligible member of the royal family to a Trump.
Rather than being the stuff of science fiction, this seemed to be the stuff of the cautionary parables and fables of Aesop or La Fontaine or Hans Christian Andersen, warning of the dangers of very human traits—of welcoming the greedy and avaricious into the fold, and of praising the emperor’s new clothes. What we are seeing is from the days of fiefdoms, of placing chains across rivers or holding to ransom those who wish to pass, and of demanding obsequious displays of loyalty from those who wish to flourish.
So, we have an alternative theory to offer up: some peculiar time travel has occurred. We call it peculiar, over and above what any time travel would be, because only some of the players have travelled. The ones who have managed it, and in so doing, have lost all modern sensibilities, are unfortunately those in charge of the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government.
Not all Americans have stepped into the time machine. Those who have been left in 2025 include the judges who decide cases in ways unfavourable to the president despite enormous pressure, the prosecutors who resign rather than try cases which they have concluded do not hold probable cause, those other prosecutors who are still seeking to convict powerful accused or who were terminated for their roles in this endeavour, and the civil litigators scrambling into action to challenge or defend against unconstitutional measures.
The time travel has made those U.S. colleagues of ours somewhat of an anachronism. Members of the executive and certain members of the legislative branch seem to be functioning in a historical era in which life was nasty, brutish and short, and in which no one could control the king. The judges and lawyers of today are, instead, used to a particular kind of social contract and set of institutions that postdate the era to which certain elites have travelled.
As lawyers we expect to fight within conventional parameters in courtrooms or other hearing rooms, mediate with other parties, or negotiate a commercial transaction. Suddenly our U.S. colleagues, in particular, seem to have been thrust into a historical drama set in a period that predates the laws and systems in which those of us today are comfortable practising. The work
of our U.S. colleagues assumes at times even more heroic proportions in this situation. They are not only seeking to achieve results in a particular case that are in accordance with law, but to resist being swept back to a time when they, or at least the work they are used to doing, may have been unknown.
It remains to be seen how many more people may be pulled into the time machine that has transported certain U.S. elites into a different era. However, if as a broader society we are, including in Canada, consigned to go medieval, there is one consolation.
One person who was found historically in royal courts was the court jester. We are not suggesting that we pine for there being someone with a floppy hat and strange grin leering at us. However, apart from jesters being tasked with entertainment, they played a constructive other role: being able to communicate positions without—at least in theory—getting in trouble for doing so. A jester could break bad news to the king, or express positions with which the audience might not already agree. The jester was a kind of designated devil’s advocate.
In some ways a jester could be useful not just for communicating with leaders who otherwise seem prone to resist facts, but also as an intermediary in day-to-day life. In the courtroom, one hopes most participants recognize the positions we take are not necessarily our own. Outside the courtroom, it is very difficult even for articulate lawyers to express their views freely. The easy comeback to anything the listener does not wish to hear increasingly seems to be to dismiss the speaker as prejudiced—truly a damaging label—rather than to respond on the substance. Most of us understandably cringe at the thought of attracting this label simply by speaking out on subjects we think deserve to be aired, so we do not. Perhaps having someone in a designated role of putting forward an opposing view and testing out the otherwise-prevailing one could be useful until people get used again to hearing opposition without castigating the messenger.
You have, in turn, heard us out on our theories on what may have been happening. Again, we realize those theories may in ordinary circumstances be far-fetched. But no, it is not the stress—these are extraordinary times. And after all, have you been able to come up with better explanations? If you have, as always, please do not hesitate to write in to tell us about them.
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ON THE FRONT COVER
PATRICIA BLAIR
By Melanie Duggan and Jay Ruzesky
Afew hours after Patricia Blair’s election to the ladder of CBABC at the Provincial Council meeting in May 2024, she was dancing in the aisles at Rogers Arena. She is a long-time fan of Pearl Jam, and the Seattle band was in Vancouver for one night as part of a tour. The band’s music has been a constant for her through good times and bad since its debut in 1990, so she was first in line when close-tohome tickets went on sale. For her, dancing to Eddie Vedder’s baritone growl was exactly the right way to celebrate. Music has always been important to her and she has eclectic tastes. She was drawn to the emerging form of Seattle grunge while studying as a classically trained pianist. Patricia passed her Grade 10 piano at the Victoria Conservatory of Music, and teaching music was her primary occupation for the first decades of her adult life. “I was involved in music my whole life and was teaching piano when I was 14,” she says. “I taught in Ontario and then in Victoria and the Cowichan Valley. I retired from piano when I started law school at 37.”
She “felt pretty adult early on,” and says, “it was just the way my family was and the way I was, and I wanted to be grown-up fast. I graduated when I was 17 instead of 18. I skipped grade 12” (at that time there was still grade 13 in Ontario) “and I wanted to get going.” As her awareness of the world broadened, she describes becoming “very interested in journalism and in justice in a way because I saw journalists as truth-speakers and truth-finders. They had that responsibility to bring the truth to light and hold people accountable and change things for the public because they were exposing things like corporate greed.” She enrolled in Carleton University’s journalism program but soon realized a career in journalism was not the path for
her. She left school and pursued other interests, including tree planting in the interior of British Columbia and organic farming.
In her thirties, Patricia was a single mother living in the Cowichan Valley and was part of a “moms group” with other mothers of young children. Urged on by her friends, she took night classes at Malaspina University-College and graduated with a degree in anthropology in 2008. Her undergraduate focus helped her understand that there are a multitude of ways to be and ways to think about being human. Each of us is different and approaches our world in our own way, and we are informed by culture, biology, geography, food, language and a variety of other things in our connections to the world around us. “That helps me quite a lot in working with clients and being open and interested in their story. I’m usually talking to them at a very difficult time of their life,” she says. “Clients are feeling things intensely or responding strongly so it helps me understand that it isn’t just this moment—what’s going on right now for my client—there’s a story around them and the more I can try to understand, the more I can assist. I won’t ask them to do something that they are just not going to be able to do.”
By the time she graduated with her B.A. degree, Patricia already hoped to continue to law school at UVic. She could commute there from home. Part of her inspiration to study law was her strong sense of community and especially the group of mothers she was close to. Some of her friends and their children had gone through negative experiences when their relationships broke down. For Patricia, it was “pretty straightforward, and I didn’t understand why they weren’t having an easier experience or a better experience getting an agreement or resolution.” Finding a lawyer and affording a lawyer were not easy tasks. None of the moms were professionals at that time. “Family law seemed like it was an area where I could help the most people. More people experience family law than any other area of law— relationships do break down.” Patricia says she is a helper and that she wants to make things better, not worse, “and that is part of being a family lawyer as well. We have the obligation to try to resolve things whenever possible without litigation or engaging the adversarial process.”
She graduated from UVic Law in 2011 and was called to the bar in British Columbia in 2012. After ten years of practising family law in the Cowichan Valley, she found herself wearing crampons on her boots, carrying an iceaxe and advancing up the “Roman Wall” on Mt. Baker’s Easton Glacier, and then summiting the 10,781 ft. volcano. She was not climbing, as George Mallory said, “because it was there,” but because being in the wilderness provides her with balance in her life. Going back to school with a young child
and managing the commute, classes, then articles, and beginning her career were a lot to be doing in her forties. She wanted to do really well in a field where work has the capacity to spread and take over every moment of the day, so she realized that staying healthy was the best way to be able to work long-term. In 2018 her child left to go to university, and one of her anchors and balances was not there anymore. She had become interested in Mt. Baker and decided that she and her husband would sign up for a guided climb on the mountain for her 50th birthday in 2020. The climb was delayed until August 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mountain in her sights at the moment is the job of president of CBABC. She says, “this is my mountain this year. I’ve been training. I might stumble but I know that there are quite a lot of people who will help me succeed.” One of the most important things Patricia understands clearly is that sole practitioners and small firms outside of the major centres in British Columbia are on the front lines of the access to justice crisis. She hopes to speak with as many of these lawyers as possible to share how CBABC can support them. The work lawyers do is difficult and complicated, and a sense of isolation can make it harder.
Another important thing she sees on the horizon is the independence of the profession with the constitutional challenge to the Legal Professions Act being heard this fall. “The independence of lawyers and of the judiciary is something that is not necessarily easily understood by the public, but in our day and age, it might be a little easier to explain because all you have to do is look south of our border and you can see what happens when that independence isn’t respected. I want to make sure that we at CBABC are advocating for our members, and our members can help the public better understand these concepts.”
Another of her central themes is access to justice and she wants to see that access increase across demographics, geographical locations and areas of law. Patricia would like to see legal aid expanded and to see barriers to qualifying removed or reduced. Patricia says, “I talk a lot about how much it matters for people to have good legal representation. The representation shouldn’t depend on how much you can afford.”
The firm that offered Patricia Blair articles and then hired her as an associate had a branch office in the Cowichan Valley. She worked her way up to become a partner with the hope of growing that office, but in the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, the firm decided to close the Cowichan Valley office effective at the end of that year. Faced with a crossroads, she left and went out on her own. “I opened my office in January 2021, and it was kind of a crazy time, but one of the benefits was that there
was a lot of office space available.” Patricia notes: “Being a lawyer in my community has always been a priority for me. I didn’t want to be a Victoria lawyer or a Nanaimo lawyer or a Vancouver lawyer. I wanted to be a lawyer here in the Cowichan Valley. When I opened my office, I had the opportunity to think about what I want a firm to be. I’ve been fortunate in being able to try to create a place that is about service. Being a lawyer and providing legal services is a service for helping people. I am trying to infuse those values into River Valley Law and I’ve had amazing people join me and want to participate in those values. We’ve grown our firm and now also have an office in Abbotsford where my law partner grew up. We’re very much about serving the community.”
For Patricia, CBABC is the most valuable resource there is for sole practitioners and small firms who practise outside of major centres. It provides connection to colleagues around the province and across the country in every practice area. It provides training and professional development in every area of practice. And it provides a community that is always there and always available. If you are the only practitioner in your area there is always someone to reach out to for support or encouragement or with questions. She believes being a member of CBABC means that you are a better lawyer and more able to serve your community and the justice system.
What else will her new role as president bring? Patricia says, “When it comes to next steps, I am lucky to have good colleagues and friends to collaborate with. I draw on others and depend on their encouragement and their ideas. That can make success sweeter and failures easier to navigate.”
This past June, she climbed another mountain: Glacier Peak in the Cascade wilderness. There was a moment during the descent of Glacier Peak when Patricia lost her footing. She was afraid to take another step because she thought her foot might give way and send her down the side of the mountain, possibly taking one or more of her companions with her. One of the guides was close by and simply reached down and pulled her up by the handle of her backpack and then she was safe to continue. When it comes to the year ahead, she says that if there is a spot where she is not quite sure how to get up she is pretty sure someone will be there to reach out a hand.
“YOU CAN’T HIDE BEHIND YOUR FINGER”: LIABILITY FOR AUTONOMOUS SYSTEMS IN CANADIAN TORT LAW*
By Mary Ppasiou
“[The defendant] argues it cannot be held liable for information provided by… a chatbot… In effect, [the defendant] suggests the chatbot is a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions. This is a remarkable submission.”1
Arguments like these are becoming increasingly common in civil litigation as the use of autonomous systems infiltrates daily living. However, these arguments are nothing more than a desperate attempt by defendants to avoid liability for damage caused by autonomous systems used under their authority. Attempts of this kind are bound to fail if one considers the basic structure of corrective justice and other well-established principles of Canadian tort law.
There are many examples of systems that operate with varying levels of autonomy, including chatbots, image generators, self-driving cars and selfdiagnostic medical devices. Most of them are powered by artificial intelligence (“AI”), which enables them to exhibit adaptiveness after deployment, and generate outputs, such as predictions, content or recommendations, from certain inputs they receive.2 For simplicity, I refer to these systems as “AI systems”.
The crucial question that arises from the use of AI systems is whether it gives rise to any duties of care in Canadian tort law. In other words, who is liable for damage caused by an AI system and to whom? While AI systems do not have duties (since they are not persons in the eyes of the law), the persons who distribute or use them do. Canadian tort law is well equipped to address novel situations where the plaintiff suffered damage from the wrongful use of AI by the defendant. This is yet another situation that can
* This article was the winning entry in this year’s Paisley Irregular essay contest.
be addressed by the wisdom of Donoghue v. Stevenson, 3 which is the foundation of the modern law of negligence in Canada.
ESTABLISHING THAT AI IS NOT A PERSON
AI systems cannot be considered persons in the eyes of the law because they are fundamentally incompatible with the structure of corrective justice. Corrective justice, as articulated by Aristotle and developed by Ernest Weinrib, is a normative framework of private law that seeks to remedy the injustice caused when the defendant wrongfully infringes on the rights of the plaintiff.4 The injustice/interaction between the parties is conceptually bipolar in the sense that the defendant is the doer of harm and the plaintiff is the sufferer of that harm.5 The remedy aims to re-establish the equilibrium by subtracting the defendant’s gain and compensating the plaintiff’s loss.
This framework presupposes that each party is capable of acting voluntarily or intentionally. In Kantian legal philosophy, which underpins Weinrib’s account of corrective justice, legal liability is rooted in “the free purposiveness of self-determining activity” or, in other words, the interaction between two agents who act through rational will to express their freedom.6
AI systems, as of today, lack this self-conscious purposiveness and rationality. They are not sentient. They do not possess the freedom that gives rise to rights and obligations in law. As such, they are not the bearers of rights and duties under a corrective justice framework. They are merely instruments through which humans act.
The British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal has recently taken a similar approach in Moffatt v. Air Canada 7 Following the death of his grandmother, Moffatt booked a flight with Air Canada. Before booking, Moffatt used a chatbot on Air Canada’s website that suggested he could apply for bereavement fares retroactively. When Moffatt applied for a partial refund, Air Canada refused to pay retroactively. Moffatt brought an application for the difference in the price of the regular and bereavement fare. Air Canada argued inter alia that it cannot be liable for the information provided by the chatbot on the basis that “the chatbot is a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions”.8
The tribunal rejected this argument on the basis that Air Canada remained responsible for all the information on its website. 9 As a service provider, Air Canada owed a duty to provide accurate and not misleading information to consumers using its website. 10 The chatbot, which was part of Air Canada’s website, provided inaccurate information on which Moffatt relied to his detriment by booking the ticket. 11 Hence Air Canada
was held liable for negligent misrepresentation and Moffatt was entitled to damages.
Although the issue has not yet been addressed by Canadian courts, the decision in Moffatt v. Air Canada is an important omen that judges will not allow defendants to escape their duties in tort by “pointing their finger” to AI systems.
The view that AI systems are not legal persons is further supported by developments in other areas. For example, it was recently explained in Ko v. Li12 that lawyers have a duty to provide accurate information to the court and they may be held in contempt of court if they present factums with fake legal citations. It appears from the decision that lawyers cannot blame AI for generating misleading submissions. Other courts have also held that lawyers,13 or self-represented parties,14 may be personally liable for costs incurred by the other party in spending time trying to find non-existent cases in AI-generated submissions.
Another area of law in which AI systems are not considered persons is intellectual property. Although the term “author” is not defined under the Copyright Act, 15 the Federal Court of Appeal held that “it undoubtedly refers to a natural person” since copyright subsists for “the life of the author, the remainder of the calendar year in which the author dies, and a period of fifty years following the end of that year”.16 Therefore, a corporation which is “capable of only metaphorical life and death” cannot be presumed to be the “author” of the copyright.17 Similarly, the United Kingdom Supreme Court held that DABUS, an autonomous machine powered by AI, is not an “inventor” for the purposes of the Patents Act 1977 because “[i]t is not a person, let alone a natural person”.18 The court concluded that, in the absence of a person who is believed to be the inventor, there is not any proper basis for deriving a right to be granted the patents.19
DUTIES OF CARE
Given that AI systems are not persons with liability of their own, who is liable for their actions? Since AI systems are merely an instrument through which a person acts, the person behind the system should bear the consequences of its actions in tort. There are several persons who may have AIrelated duties.
Developers
If AI systems are viewed as products, their developer may be liable for damage caused by a defect in their design. In some jurisdictions, manufacturers are strictly liable for damage caused by defective products,20 meaning that they may be liable regardless of whether they were negligent.
The situation is different in Canada. Strict liability has not been extended to product liability cases.21 In Donoghue v. Stevenson, it was held that the consumer’s pleadings disclosed a cause of action in negligence against the manufacturer for failing to discover the decomposed snail in the ginger-beer bottle by intermediate inspection. Although the dispute was settled before trial, the following excerpt from the decision of Lord Atkin, which encapsulates the meaning of the “neighbour principle” applicable in all negligence cases, summarizes the duty of the manufacturer in product liability cases:
[A] manufacturer of products, which he sells in such a form as to show that he intends them to reach the ultimate consumer in the form which they left him with no reasonable possibility of intermediate examination, and with the knowledge that the absence of reasonable care in the preparation or putting up of the products will result in an injury to the consumer’s life or property, owes a duty to the consumer to take that reasonable care.24
Other courts have confirmed that a manufacturer has a duty to create products that are reasonably safe for their intended purpose.25 The manufacturer is in breach if there is a defect in the design of the product that creates a risk of foreseeable harm to the user and the manufacturer knew or ought to have known about it at the time of manufacture or afterward but failed to address it.26
The developers of AI systems are also bound by this duty. Whether the product is autonomous or not, the principle of Donoghue v. Stevenson applies. Developers must exercise reasonable care to ensure that their product does not cause reasonably foreseeable harm to their “neighbours”. “Neighbours”, in the words of Lord Atkin, are “persons who are so closely and directly affected by [the defect] that [the manufacturer] ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected”.27 In this context, they include users or any other person whose rights were wrongfully infringed by the AI system, such as a patient using an autonomous medical screening tool, a consumer who relies on information provided by a chatbot on a website, or a pedestrian who is struck by an automated vehicle. If it is shown that the system malfunctioned and that the developer could have reasonably foreseen the risk of damage but failed to address it, then the developer may be in breach just like the manufacturer in Donoghue v. Stevenson could have been in breach.
Another relevant duty is that manufacturers must warn consumers of dangers inherent in the use of the product that the manufacturer knew or ought to have known.28 The developers of AI systems are not expected to act differently. They must warn users about potential dangers and instruct them on how to use or not to use the system. For example, the developer of
an automated car may be required to warn the driver that its automated features do not operate properly in a snowstorm and that the driver should take control in such circumstances.
However, the duty to warn users does not arise where the product is intended to be used only under the supervision of a professional and the manufacturer gave adequate warning to the professional.29 The professional is then required to exercise their skill, judgment and reason in using the product. This is known as the “learned intermediary” rule.30 For example, a manufacturer was discharged from the duty to warn consumers about the potential dangers of prescription drugs because they had adequately warned the prescribing physicians.31 This may also be the case for autonomous medical devices; the manufacturer may be required to mention the potential risks to the physicians who will supervise the device, rather than the patients. However, a manufacturer would still be required to provide warning directly to patients who are expected to use the device themselves.
Deployers
Deployers are persons who use AI systems for professional purposes, such as to enhance customer service, organize internal data or optimize business practices.32 They are distinct from developers in that they did not create the system, nor do they market it as their own product. However, deployers authorize the use of AI systems within their enterprise and thus they may be liable for damage resulting from the system’s wrongful use. In Moffatt v. Air Canada, for example, Air Canada was presumably the deployer of the chatbot. Physicians who use autonomous medical screening or diagnostic devices may also be deployers; if a patient suffers damage due to the physician’s failure to supervise the device or double-check its results, the physician may be liable for medical malpractice. 33 In short, if the deployer integrates an AI system within their enterprise and has control over its outputs, then they may be liable for the wrongful infringement on the plaintiff’s rights.
Users
Apart from developers and deployers, the persons who use AI systems for personal purposes may be liable in negligence. Take, for example, the drivers of automated vehicles.34 Drivers generally owe a duty of care to pedestrians,35 other drivers36 and the other passengers in the vehicle;37 they must comply with traffic rules and exercise reasonable caution in the operation of the vehicle to avoid foreseeable injuries. Drivers of automated vehicles are not excused from this duty. They are expected to always remain at the driver’s seat and monitor the operation of the vehicle, even when its
automated features are engaged.38 Thus, if an automated vehicle strikes a pedestrian or another vehicle, and it is shown that the driver failed to exercise reasonable care to avoid the accident, they may be liable for the damage, either in full or in part.
Users may also be liable for intentional infliction of harm. If the defendant uses AI to create an image or video of the plaintiff (a “deepfake”) without their consent, they may have committed a privacy tort, such as appropriation of a person’s name or likeness, public disclosure of private facts or publicity that places the plaintiff in a false light.39 Additionally, if the defendant uses AI to invade the plaintiff’s private affairs without lawful justification, the defendant may have committed the tort of “intrusion upon seclusion”.40 Finally, if the defendant uses AI in a manner that causes mental injury to the plaintiff, including major phobia, depression or anxiety (e.g., where the defendant uses AI to scam, stalk or threaten the plaintiff), the defendant may be liable for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress.41
Employers
Finally, employers may be vicariously liable for damage that resulted from the wrongful use of AI by an employee.42 So if an employee committed a tort while using AI, either negligently or intentionally, the plaintiff may be able to recover from the employer.43
CONCLUSION
It follows that the use of AI systems gives rise to various duties of care, all based on the foundational “neighbour principle” enunciated by Lord Atkin in Donoghue v. Stevenson. In summary there may be situations where (1) developers owe a duty to consumers to create a system that is safe for its intended purpose and a duty to warn consumers or learned intermediaries about potential dangers (product liability), (2) deployers owe a duty to users to supervise the system and the information it produces (negligent misrepresentation or medical malpractice), and (3) users owe a duty to everyone whose rights have been infringed by the wrongful use of the system (negligence or intentional tort). These defendants should not be discharged from their duties simply because the system was acting autonomously; they remain responsible for its actions since it was used under their authority.
There is therefore no reason to invent an entirely new legal framework to address the wrongful use of AI, such as a strict liability regime or new torts. Existing tort law, and particularly the law of negligence, is sufficiently robust to justify liability in these circumstances.
ENDNOTES
1. Moffatt v Air Canada, 2024 BCCRT 149 at para 27 [Moffatt].
2. See the terminology in Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 laying down harmonized rules on artificial intelligence and amending Regulations (EC) No 300/2008, (EU) No 167/2013, (EU) No 168/ 2013, (EU) 2018/858, (EU) 2018/1139 and (EU) 2019/2144 and Directives 2014/90/EU, (EU) 2016/797 and (EU) 2020/1828 [Artificial Intelligence Act], art 3(1).
3. [1932] AC 562 (HL).
4. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, V 4 (Martin Ostwald, trans, 1962); Ernest J Weinrib, “Corrective Justice” in Ernest J Weinrib, The Idea of Private Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) 56.
5. Weinrib, “Corrective Justice”, supra note 4 at 65–66.
6. Ernest J Weinrib, “Kantian Right” in Ernest J Weinrib, The Idea of Private Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995) 84.
7. Moffatt, supra note 1.
8. Ibid at para 27.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid at para 26.
11. Ibid at para 29.
12. 2025 ONSC 2766. A lawyer used generative AI, like ChatGPT, to prepare a factum and the factum contained fake legal citations or, in the words of the court, “AI hallucinations” (ibid at paras 14, 28). The court noted that the lawyer may have committed a breach of her professional duty not to mislead the court and ordered the lawyer to show cause why she should not be held in contempt of court in a separate proceeding (ibid at para 30; see also ibid at paras 22, 31–32), but ultimately dismissed the proceeding in Ko v Li, 2025 ONSC 2965 at para 74 on condition that the lawyer take Continuing Professional Development courses and not bill the client for the research, factum writing and attendance at the motion.
13. Zhang v Chen, 2024 BCSC 285 at para 39.
14. Simpson v Hung Long Enterprises Inc, 2025 BCCRT 525 at paras 26, 30.
15. RSC 1985, c C-42.
16. PS Knight Co Ltd v Canadian Standards Association, 2018 FCA 222 at para 147 [PS Knight] [emphasis in the original]. See also Setana Sport Ltd v 2049630 Ontario Inc (Verde Minho Tapas & Lounge), 2007 FC 899 at para 4; ITP SA v CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC, 2025 FC 684 at para 37.
17. PS Knight, supra note 16 at paras 147–49 (although it certainly could be the “publisher or owner” of the copyright under the same statute). The same approach was recently taken in the American case of Thaler v Perlmutter, Case No 1:22-cv-01564 (DDC 8/18/23) at 9–11 in relation to the term “author” under the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 USC §§ 101 et seq.
18. Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks, [2023] UKSC 49 at para 73.
19. Ibid at para 79 [emphasis added].
20. See e.g. Directive (EU) 2024/2853 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2024 on liability for defective products and repealing Council Directive 85/374/EEC [Product Liability Directive]. The Product Liability Directive governs liability for defective products, including defective AI systems (ibid, recital 13). It provides that Member States must ensure that the following “economic operators” are liable for damage caused by defective products: (1) the manufacturer of the defective product or component, (2) where the manufacturer is established outside the EU, the importer of the defective product or component or the authorized representative of the manufacturer, and (3) where there is no importer or authorized representative established within the EU, the fulfilment service provider (ibid, art 8(1)). For additional harmonized rules on the distribution and use of AI systems in the EU, see Artificial Intelligence Act, supra note 2. There is a similar strict liability regime in the United Kingdom, where manufacturers and distributors may be liable for damage caused by defective products under the Consumer Protection Act, UK 1987, c 43. However, it remains unclear whether this statute applies to products composed of pure information, such as computer software that is not embedded as a component in a physical product (e.g. software programs used in medical screening or diagnosis). See Helen Smith & Kit Fotheringham, “Exploring remedies for defective artificial intelligence aids in clinical decision-making in post-Brexit England and Wales” (2022) 22:1 Medical Law International 33 at 36–37.
21. Strict liability has been applied in limited areas, such as the tort of conversion (Teva Canada Ltd v TD Canada Trust, 2017 SCC 51 at para 3), defamation (Grant v Torstar Corp, 2009 SCC 61 at para 28), and non-natural use of land that results in an escape of a harmful substance (Rylands v Fletcher (1868), LR 3 HL 330; Smith v Inco Limited, 2011 ONCA 628 at para 78).
22. See Phillips v Ford Motor Co of Canada Ltd (1971), 2 OR 637 (ONCA) at 653 (Schroeder JA); Buchan v Ortho Pharmaceutical (Canada) Ltd (1986), 54 OR (2d) 92 (ONCA) [Buchan]; St Isidore Co-op Limited v AG Growth International Inc, 2020 ABCA 447 at para 22 [St Isidore]; Tabrizi v Whallon Machine Inc (1996), 29 CCLT (2d) 176 (BCSC); Baker v Suzuki Motor Co, [1993] 143 AR 1 (ABQB) at para 77.
23. Donoghue v Stevenson, supra note 3 at 580.
24. Ibid at 599.
25. See St Isidore, supra note 22 at paras 19–20 citing Nicholson v John Deere Ltd (1986), 58 OR (2d) 53 (ONSC), aff’d (1986), 57 DLR (4th) 639 (ONCA); Daishowa-Marubeni International Ltd v Toshiba International Corp, 2010 ABQB 627 at para 38;
Kuiper v Cook (Canada) Inc, 2018 ONSC 6487 at paras 109–23.
26. St Isidore, supra note 22 at para 23; Burr v Tecumseh Products of Canada Limited, 2023 ONCA 135 at para 56.
27. Donoghue v Stevenson, supra note 3 at 580–81.
28. Buchan, supra note 22; Lambert v Lastoplex Chemicals Co Ltd, [1972] SCR 569 at 574–75. This duty not only requires manufacturers to warn consumers about the dangers known at the time of sale, but also about dangers that were discovered after the product was sold and delivered (Hollis v Dow Corning Corp, [1995] 4 SCR 634 at para 20 [Hollis]).
29. Buchan, supra note 22 citing Murphy v St Catharines General Hospital, [1964] 1 OR 239 (ONSC) and Holmes v Ashford, [1950] 2 All ER 76 at 80 (CA).
30. See Hollis, supra note 28; Jean Torrens, “Informed Consent and the Learned Intermediary Rule in Canada” (1994) 58:2 Sask L Rev 399.
31. Buchan, supra note 22.
32. This is the terminology used in the Artificial Intelligence Act, supra note 2, art 3.
33. See Ediger v Johnston, 2013 SCC 18; Benhaim v St Germain, 2016 SCC 48.
34. Practically speaking, the insurer will cover the damage. The owners of automated vehicles in Canada are required to obtain insurance that provides coverage for damage to persons or property (see e.g. Pilot Project: Automated Vehicles, O Reg 306/15, s 2.2; Pilot Project: Automated Vehicles, O Reg 517/18, s 2.2). The insurer may then pursue a product liability claim, by way of subrogation, against the manufacturer or developer. However, the driver of the automated vehicle may also be liable in negligence. See also Automated and Electric Vehicles Act, UK 2018, c 18, s 2, which provides that the insurer is liable for the damage caused by an automated vehicle, and if the vehicle was not insured at the time of the accident, its owner is liable for the damage.
35. Stanley v National Fruit Co Ltd, [1931] SCR 60.
36. Baldwin v Bell, [1933] SCR 1.
37. Galaske v O’Donnell, [1994] 1 SCR 670.
38. See Pilot Project: Automated Vehicles, O Reg 306/15. See also Automated Vehicles Act, UK 2024, c 10, s 47(3).
39. See Krouse v Chrysler Canada Ltd (1974), 1 OR (2d) 225 (ONCA); Wiseau Studio LLC v Harper, 2020 ONSC 2504 at para 211; John C Goldberg & Benjamin C Zipursky, “A Tort for the Digital Age: False Light Invasion of Privacy Reconsidered” (2024) 73 DePaul L Rev 461. See generally William L Prosser, “Privacy” (1960) 48 Cal L Rev 383 at 389.
40. See Situmorang v Google LLC, 2024 BCCA 9 at para 32; Jones v Tsige, 2012 ONCA 32.
41. McLean v McLean, 2019 SKCA 15 at para 81; Ahluwalia v Ahluwalia, 2023 ONCA 476 at para 69. It is not necessary to establish, based on expert evidence, that the plaintiff suffered a recognized psychiatric injury (Saadati v Moorhead, 2017 SCC 28).
42. In Canada, employers or principals may be held vicariously liable for wrongs committed by their employees or agents, even for unauthorized, intentional wrongs like sexual assault. See Bazley v Curry, [1999] 2 SCR 534 [Bazley]; Jacobi v Griffiths, [1999] 2 SCR 570. For a discussion on the development of vicarious liability in Canada, see Jason Neyers & Jerred Kiss, “Vicarious Liability: The Revolution in Canada” in Paula Giliker, ed, Vicarious Liability in the Common Law World (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2022) 19.
43. In determining whether an employer should be vicariously liable, the courts must ask whether there was a “significant connection” between the risk created by the employer’s enterprise and the wrong that occurred (Bazley, supra note 42 at para 41; see also ibid at paras 42–43). If an employer failed to train or warn its employees about the correct use of AI or, depending on the nature of the relationship, the employer failed to supervise the use of AI within the enterprise, it may be possible to argue that the employer enhanced the risk of damage and thus vicarious liability is justified.
ARTIFICIAL AUTHORITY: EMERGING TRENDS IN AI HALLUCINATION CASES
By Thomas Rodgers
Artificial intelligence (“AI”) has entered the litigation mainstream, and its use is growing. Generative AI tools1 like ChatGPT, Lexis+ AI and Westlaw AI-Assisted Research now routinely assist lawyers with tasks ranging from legal research and document review to drafting court materials. When used carefully, generative AI tools offer significant gains in efficiency over traditional methods. But when relied on uncritically, they create new risks—especially when unvetted AI-generated content finds its way into evidence or submissions. One of the most pressing concerns is what is known as a “hallucination”: a confident but fabricated citation, fact or assertion.
A 2025 report from Thomson Reuters revealed that the percentage of American legal organizations incorporating generative AI into their work has nearly doubled, from fourteen per cent in 2024 to twenty-six per cent in 2025. A 2025 peer-reviewed study published in Nature found that large language models2 hallucinated at rates as high as eighty-two per cent, even with refined prompting methods.3 In the legal context, a 2024 study by Stanford researchers found that hallucinations appeared in seventeen to thirtythree per cent of queries on Lexis+ AI and Westlaw AI-Assisted Research, generative AI tools marketed as being purpose-built for legal research.4
In several high-profile cases across Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, courts have addressed the new phenomenon of counsel relying on AI-generated, hallucinated authorities in filed materials. The judicial response, and the emerging jurisprudence, are largely cohesive: courts have exercised restraint in their rulings to date, but have emphasized the seriousness of the issue, signaled openness to harsher future sanctions and called for greater regulatory oversight. The consequences so far have included personal cost awards, forfeiture of legal fees, contempt proceedings, struck pleadings, public admonishment and referrals to regulators.
AI has a place in litigation, and it is here to stay. When brought into the courtroom—where credibility is a cornerstone—its outputs must be tested in advance like any other evidence: thoroughly and without shortcuts. What follows is a discussion of the key Canadian, U.S. and U.K. authorities.
THE CANADIAN LANDSCAPE
Zhang v. Chen, 2024 BCSC 285
Zhang is Canada’s first reported decision confronting the submission of hallucinated case law. The lawyer relied on ChatGPT to conduct research and cited two non-existent cases in a notice of application. The lawyer also failed to alert opposing counsel when the error was first discovered. While the British Columbia Supreme Court declined to impose special costs, finding there was no intention to deceive, Justice Masuhara nonetheless described the conduct as “alarming” and emphasized the broader institutional risk, stating:
Citing fake cases in court filings and other materials handed up to the court is an abuse of process and is tantamount to making a false statement to the court. Unchecked, it can lead to a miscarriage of justice.5
The lawyer was held personally liable for costs under Rule 14-1(33)—a rule to be exercised sparingly and with restraint—both as a sanction and to compensate the opposing party for the additional effort and expense incurred. Justice Masuhara closed with a warning: … generative AI is still no substitute for the professional expertise that the justice system requires of lawyers. Competence in the selection and use of any technology tools, including those powered by AI, is critical. The integrity of the justice system requires no less.6
Ko v. Li, 2025 ONSC 2965
Ko marks the second Canadian decision to address a lawyer’s misuse of generative AI. After relying on ChatGPT without verifying its output, the lawyer cited hallucinated cases in a factum. In the underlying decision, Justice Myers reminded counsel of a lawyer’s duties to faithfully represent the law to the court; not fabricate precedents and miscite cases for propositions they do not support; use technology, conduct legal research and prepare documents competently; supervise staff; ensure human review of materials prepared by generative AI; and most fundamentally, not mislead the court.7
The lawyer’s conduct prompted the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to issue a show cause order, requiring her to explain why she should not be cited for contempt. Justice Myers subsequently took judicial notice of the lawyer’s notoriety following widespread publication of the matter and with-
drew the show cause order, finding that the proceeding itself had already fulfilled the objectives of a contempt hearing: maintaining the dignity of the court and the fairness of the civil justice system, promoting honourable behaviour by counsel before the court, denouncing serious misconduct, deterring similar future misconduct, and rehabilitation.8
Justice Myers clarified that if the matter had proceeded to a show cause hearing, the court’s concern would be with misrepresentation, specifying that counsel may not misstate or misrepresent the law to the court whether by way of AI hallucinations or by any other means; meanwhile, addressing lack of technological competency would rest with the Law Society.9 Other issues would have involved the lawyer’s factum failing to comply with Rule 4.06.1(2.1),10 a special rule designed to address the new phenomenon of AI hallucinations, and the potential application of Rules 57.07(1)(a) and (b),11 which set out consequences for a lawyer causing unreasonable costs to be incurred by their client.12
The court was clear that the use of AI was not improper in itself. The problem lay in unquestioning reliance on AI-generated outputs. In Justice Myers’ words: “It is difficult to imagine any case in which a barrister ought to sign, serve, and file with a court a submission of law without first satisfying himself or herself that the authorities relied upon exist and support the arguments made”.13 Nevertheless, Justice Myers found that the lawyer’s expressions of accountability and regret, coupled with the withdrawal of the offending factum, purged any potential contempt of court.14 Justice Myers further concluded: “… the publicity surrounding this case has served both to publicly denounce inappropriate conduct and as general deterrence to the bar and others who might rely on AI for legal submissions”.15 The lawyer was ultimately ordered to make her expressions of regret and accountability public, complete continuing education courses and refrain from billing her client for the work (despite prevailing on the underlying motion).
Lloyd’s Register Canada Ltd v. Choi, 2025 FC 1233
In Lloyd’s , Canada’s most recent AI misuse case, the Federal Court addressed a self-represented litigant’s use of a hallucinated case in a motion record. The litigant denied that the citation was AI-generated but admitted to using generative AI tools in preparing his submissions. He also failed to follow the Federal Court’s AI Practice Direction,16 which requires parties to inform the court and one another if any materials filed for the purpose of litigation include AI-generated content and necessitates a “human in the loop”: verification of any AI-created content.
Justice Fothergill described the undeclared use of AI in the preparation of court materials as a “serious matter”, particularly when it leads to the
citation of hallucinated cases.17 He ordered the motion record struck, calling the removal “… necessary to preserve the integrity of the Court’s processes and the administration of justice” and describing this as a “very modest sanction”.18 While the opposing party did not seek solicitor-client costs, Justice Fothergill commented that such an award may have been warranted.
THE U.S. AND U.K. EXPERIENCE
Mata v. Avianca, Inc., 678 F.Supp.3d 443 (S.D.N.Y. 2023)
Mata is an early AI misuse case that made national headlines in the United States, including in The New York Times. 19 Attorneys produced material which had been generated by ChatGPT before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The court ordered the cases to be produced, and rather than locate the cases, the attorneys prompted ChatGPT to summarize the hallucinated cases.
Judge Castel imposed sanctions sua sponte—akin to the court’s inherent power of contempt—which requires a finding of subjective bad faith. The threshold was met based on the lawyers’ and the law firm’s violation of Rule 11, which authorizes a court to sanction an attorney for misrepresenting facts or making frivolous legal arguments, and also stipulates a law firm’s joint responsibility for such violations. The court concluded that a penalty of $5,000, jointly and severally imposed against the lawyers and the law firm, was sufficient but not more than necessary to advance the goals of specific and general deterrence. In reaching this decision, Judge Castel weighed the significant publicity generated by the misconduct, as well as the attorneys’ sincere embarrassment and remorse.
Benjamin v. Costco Wholesale Corporation, 779 F.Supp.3d 341
(E.D.N.Y. 2025)
In Benjamin, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York thoroughly canvassed the problem of AI hallucinations in American courts to date. Judge Dunst observed that across the country, courts have imposed a panoply of monetary sanctions against attorneys who submitted fake cases, ranging from $1,500 to $15,000. In some cases, courts also referred attorneys to the appropriate regulatory body for disciplinary proceedings. Here, the attorney submitted five hallucinated cases without verifying their authenticity. Judge Dunst described the conduct as “undoubtedly grossly negligent”.20 Despite remedial measures involving an apology and an undertaking to complete continuing legal education courses, Judge Dunst found it clear that the court must still exercise its discretion to impose sanctions. As in Mata, Judge Dunst imposed sanctions sua sponte, having found that the threshold for subjective bad faith was met based on
the attorney swearing to the truth of her submissions without having any knowledge of the accuracy of the AI-generated cases.
Judge Dunst explained that while the one-off nature of the incident and the attorney’s remorse did not absolve her of responsibility, they were mitigating factors. A $1,000 sanction was imposed against the attorney, with Judge Dunst remarking that the sanction was lower than in many other similar cases, partly due to the attorney’s candour and sincere regret. The attorney’s conduct was distinguished from other cases where counsel had doubled down, including by using AI to fabricate copies of hallucinated cases after a show cause order had been issued.
Al-Haroun v. Qatar National Bank and Ayinde v. London Borough of Haringey, [2025] EWHC 1383
Al-Haroun and Ayinde are AI misuse cases referred to the High Court and listed together under the court’s Hamid jurisdiction. 21 The High Court acknowledged that generative AI is likely to have a continuing and important role in the conduct of future litigation, while also emphasizing serious implications for the administration of justice and public confidence in the justice system if AI is misused. To avoid such consequences: “… practical and effective measures must now be taken by those within the legal profession with individual leadership responsibilities (such as heads of chambers and managing partners) and by those with the responsibility for regulating the provision of legal services”.22 Those measures must ensure that lawyers utilizing generative AI understand their professional and ethical obligations and duties to the court.
The High Court noted that where a lawyer’s duties are not complied with, the court’s powers include referral to the police for a criminal investigation, contempt of court, referral to the regulator, strike out and cost sanctions and admonishment (although admonishment alone was not considered to be a sufficient response).23 When a court is determining a response to a lawyer’s misuse of AI, relevant factors are likely to include:
a)the importance of setting and enforcing proper standards;
b)the circumstances in which false material came to be put before the court;
c)whether an immediate, full and truthful explanation is given to the court and to other parties to the case;
d)the steps taken to mitigate the damage, if any;
e)the time and expense incurred by other parties to the case, and the resources used by the court in addressing the matter;
f)the impact on the underlying litigation; and g)the overriding objective of dealing with cases justly and at proportionate cost.24
In Ayinde, a junior barrister cited five hallucinated cases in a judicial review claim and the opposing party applied for wasted costs. At the lower court hearing, Judge Ritchie ordered the barrister and the law firm to each pay £2,000 to the opposing party and referred them to the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. In the High Court, it was found that the threshold for initiating contempt proceedings was met, but it was not appropriate to proceed on the grounds that: (a) there were factual issues not fit for determination in summary proceedings for contempt; (b) the potential failings on the part of those overseeing the barrister could not be addressed in contempt proceedings; (c) public criticism and referral to the regulator had already occurred; (d) the barrister was extremely junior; and (e) the overarching concern was to ensure lawyers have a clear understanding of the consequences of using unverified AI-generated legal research.25 The High Court emphasized that it was not setting precedent by deciding to not initiate contempt proceedings, and further noted: “Lawyers who do not comply with their professional obligations in this respect risk severe sanction”.26
In Al-Haroun, a solicitor relied on his client’s legal research and cited 45 cases in filed materials, 18 of which did not exist. In the lower court, Judge Dias described the conduct as “… a matter of the utmost seriousness”.27 In the High Court, the lawyer and the law firm’s conduct was characterized as a “… lamentable failure to comply with the basic requirement to check the accuracy that is put before the court”.28 However, as the solicitor did not realize the true position, the threshold for initiating contempt proceedings was not met.
In the cases of Ayinde and Al-Haroun , the High Court referred the lawyers to the regulator and imposed no further sanctions. In closing, the High Court called for greater regulatory oversight:
We have set out some of the guidance that has been promulgated by the regulatory bodies. These Hamid cases show that promulgating such guidance on its own is insufficient to address the misuse of artificial intelligence. More needs to be done to ensure that the guidance is followed and lawyers comply with their duties to the court. A copy of this judgment will be sent to the Bar Council and the Law Society, and to the Council of the Inns of Court. We invite them to consider as a matter of urgency what further steps they should now take in the light of this judgment.7
COMMENTARY
“There had to be someone who was going to be the first lawyer to file AI hallucination”, observed Justice Myers in Ko 30 That moment has passed. With
Zhang, Ko and Lloyd’s, Canadian courts have now encountered the issue repeatedly. Canadian judges’ rulings, though restrained, have come with stern warnings regarding the gravity of the misconduct and the possibility of harsher consequences for future offenders. So far, counsel have been spared from more severe sanctions through accountability, remediation and widespread attention. But these mitigating factors will lose their force, especially as publicity surrounding AI misuse cases fades and the corresponding deterrent effect disappears. In the absence of public denunciation, and with misuse likely to rise alongside broader AI adoption, courts may respond with escalating deterrent measures: contempt findings, elevated costs awards, referrals to the Law Society and sanctions extending to law firms.
This prediction is supported by the broader international response. While courts in the United States and the United Kingdom have similarly resisted the urge to punish early AI misuse too severely, they have imposed a wider range of sanctions, and their decisions signal an acute concern that AI negligence threatens the integrity of the justice system. Unlike in Canada, courts in the United States have issued significant monetary sanctions, made findings of subjective bad faith and referred offending attorneys to the regulators. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the High Court expressly warned that its decision not to initiate contempt proceedings was not a precedent, and also set out a list of factors for courts to consider when responding to AI misuse. The subtext is clear: the next lawyer to rely on hallucinated authorities may well become the cautionary example of the severe sanctions foreshadowed by the courts.
Outside the courtroom, the regulatory framework is developing in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom:
•Ontario has amended its Rules of Civil Procedure to add Rule 4.06.1(2.1), which requires lawyers to certify that all cited authorities are authentic. The Federal Court has issued a practice direction requiring parties to disclose whether any portion of their filed materials was generated using AI and to verify its outputs. British Columbia has not yet adopted a comparable rule or direction, though the Law Society and the Lawyers Indemnity Fund have issued early-stage guidance.31
•In numerous jurisdictions throughout the United States, judges have issued standing orders requiring attorneys to certify either that no portion of the filing utilized generative AI, or that any AI-generated content was verified for authenticity.32
•In the United Kingdom, the High Court has called on the Bar Council, Law Society and Inns of Court for broader institutional reform and to
take proactive steps to ensure that legal professionals are fit to practise in an AI-enabled environment.
As tools like ChatGPT, Lexis+ AI and Westlaw AI-Assisted Research become a fixture in legal practice, one principle will continue to govern: generative AI does not diminish a lawyer’s professional responsibilities. The duty of competence includes understanding the capabilities and limitations of generative AI. The duty of candour requires lawyers to be transparent with the court and opposing parties when AI has been used. These standards have not changed; they are old rules applied to new tools. When rigorously upheld, they offer a safeguard against the types of misuse that have already triggered professional consequences— consequences likely to sharpen as adoption grows and the risk of broader AI negligence increases.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
As generative AI becomes part of everyday legal work, these are the core lessons lawyers should keep in mind:
• Sanctions for relying on hallucinated cases have been imposed. In Canada, sanctions have included a personal cost award, forfeiture of legal fees, a show cause order to establish no contempt and the striking of materials. Further sanctions such as proceeding with a contempt hearing, higher monetary penalties and Law Society referrals are possible.
• Mitigating factors like contrition and publicity may not protect future offenders. Ethical and professional expectations have been established, publicity for AI negligence will diminish, and harsher outcomes for future offenders are likely in order to achieve broader deterrence.
• Law firms are not immune from sanctions. In the United States and the United Kingdom, law firms were held jointly responsible for their lawyers’ AI negligence, though this has not yet occurred in Canada.
• AI can enhance legal practice, but not replace legal judgment. Every AI-generated output must be independently verified before use in court filings or submissions; law firms are well-advised to have AI policies in place requiring, at a minimum, that there must be a human in the loop
• The regulatory framework is taking shape. Ontario and the Federal Court now require lawyers to certify the authenticity of authorities and disclose AI use; given the direction of international counterparts, including the United States’ standing orders and the U.K. judiciary’s call for further regulation, more comprehensive and standardized rules are likely to follow in Canada.
• Professional obligations remain unchanged. The duties of competence and candour, along with other professional and ethical standards, apply fully to the use of generative AI.
Generative AI, when grounded in professional judgment, drives sharper thinking, faster work and the continued evolution of the practice of law. But as the case law and emerging rules make clear, that evolution comes with obligations: transparency, verification and oversight. Lawyers who embrace the technology must also embrace the responsibility that comes with it.
ENDNOTES
1. Generative AI tools are a type of artificial intelligence that is capable of generating new content, such as images or text, in response to a submitted prompt by learning from a large reference database of examples. Large language models (“LLMs”) are one form of generative AI.
2. LLMs are a form of generative AI involving a computer program that uses very large collections of language data in order to understand and produce text in a way that is similar to the way humans do. LLMs are a category of generative AI tools, as not all generative AI tools are built using LLMs. Examples include ChaptGPT-5 and Google Gemini.
3. Ji et al, “Survey of Hallucination in Large Language Models” (2025) 7:1 Nature Machine Intelligence 1.
4. Noah Waisberg et al, “Hallucination-Free? Assessing the Reliability of Hallucination Reduction Methods in Legal Large Language Models” (2024), Stanford Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, online: <hai.stanford.edu/news/legal-ai-toolshallucinate- too>.
5. Zhang v Chen, 2024 BCSC 285 at paras 31 and 29.
6. Ibid at para 46.
7. Ko v Li, 2025 ONSC 2965 at paras 15–22.
8. Ibid at paras 9–10.
9. Ibid at paras 20–22.
10. Rule 4.06.1(2.1): “A factum shall include a statement signed by the party’s lawyer, or on the lawyer’s behalf by someone the lawyer has specifically authorized, certifying that the person signing the statement is satisfied as to the authenticity of every authority cited in the factum”.
11. Rule 57.06(1): “Where a lawyer for a party has caused costs to be incurred without reasonable cause or to be wasted by undue delay, negligence or other default, the court may make an order, (a) disallowing costs between the lawyer and client or directing the lawyer to repay to the client money paid on account of costs; (b) directing the lawyer to reimburse the client for any costs that the client has been ordered to pay to any other party; …”.
12. Ko, supra note 7 at paras 28–38.
13. Ibid at para 60.
14. Ibid at para 62.
15. Ibid at para 67.
16. See Federal Court, Notice to the Parties and the Profession, “The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Court Proceedings” (7 May 2024), online: <www.fctcf.ca/Content/assets/pdf/base/FC-Updated-AINotice-EN.pdf>.
17. Lloyd’s Register Canada Ltd v Choi, 2025 FC 1233 at 4.
18. Ibid.
19. See Benjamin Weiser, “Here’s What Happens When Your Lawyer Uses ChatGPT”, The New York Times (27 May 2023), online: <www.nytimes.com/2023/ 05/27/nyregion/avianca-airline-lawsuit-chatgpt. html>.
20. Benjamin v Costco Wholesale Corporation, 779 F.Supp.3d 341 (EDNY 2025) at 7.
21. Hamid jurisdiction relates to the court’s inherent power to regulate its own procedures and to enforce duties that lawyers owe to the court.
22. Al-Haroun v Qatar National Bank and Ayinde v London Borough of Haringey, [2025] EWHC 1383 at para 9.
23. Ibid at paras 25–31.
24. Ibid at para 24.
25. Ibid at paras 68–69.
26. Ibid at para 69.
27. Ibid at para 73.
28. Ibid at para 81.
29. Ibid at para 82.
30. Ko, supra note 7 at para 73.
31. See Law Society of British Columbia, “Guidance on Professional Responsibility and Generative AI” (October 2023), online: <www.lawsociety.bc.ca/ Website/media/Shared/docs/practice/resources/ Professional-responsibility-and-AI.pdf>; Lawyers Indemnity Fund, “Generative AI: What Lawyers Need to Know” (23 November 2023), online: <www.lif.ca/about-us/news/notices-to-lawyers /2023/generative-ai-what-lawyers-need-toknow/>.
32. See Emily Preston, “Which Federal Courts Have AI Judicial Standing Orders”, Bloomberg Law (16 April 2025), online: <news.bloomberglaw.com/bloom berg-law-analysis/which-federal-courts-have-aijudicial-standing-orders>.
TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION CALLS TO ACTION: WHERE ARE WE TEN YEARS LATER?
Excerpts of Chief Justice Leonard Marchand’s Remarks Delivered at the Yukon Bench and Bar Conference September 12, 20251
OVERVIEW
I’ve been invited to speak about a topic that is personally and professionally very important to me—reconciliation—and more specifically about the progress we have all made towards advancing reconciliation since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC”) released its critically important final report ten years ago.
People in Canada understandably have different outlooks on how much progress we have made, and it can be difficult to objectively measure “progress”. So, let me say out loud how I look at things.
For the folks who know me, it won’t come as any big surprise to hear me describe myself as a cup-half-full kind of guy. That description doesn’t mean I only see the good in things, although, let’s be real, I do tend to do that. But, seeing the cup half full doesn’t mean I can’t see the half of the cup that is empty.
Another way I describe myself is “realistic optimist”—meaning I am not optimistic because I see things through rose-coloured glasses; I am optimistic because I have reason to be optimistic. I have seen, and I will give you examples, of the real progress—progress that was unimaginable not so long ago—that can be made when we make a sincere effort to do better. Of course, I also recognize there’s lots more we all can, and should, do on our shared journey toward reconciliation.
So, in our brief time together, let’s revisit why the TRC was created, the work the TRC completed, the framework the TRC provided us to advance reconciliation, the progress we have made and the areas where work, in some cases where a lot of work, remains.
Although the work is far from done, the process undertaken by the TRC, its report and its Calls to Action have been truly transformative.
Part of the TRC’s enduring value is that it attempted to address not only the specific tragedy of the Residential School system but also the underly-
ing misunderstandings, prejudices and barriers that led Survivors to feel disrespected by a justice system even as it purported to deliver justice to them.
That sense of disrespect, alienation and mistrust of institutions is all too familiar to Indigenous people and Peoples. The TRC’s Calls to Action provide a framework for reconciling that divide.
THE TRC REPORT: HISTORY AND LEGACY OF RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS
The starting point, though, has to be spending some time discussing the history and legacy of Residential Schools.
Growing up, I always knew about Residential Schools. What was at one time the largest Residential School in Canada was in my home town of Kamloops. It’s the school my father had to attend for his first year of high school. He had to leave his family and community because the federal Indian Day School on our reserve only went up to grade eight and the provincially funded public high school in nearby Vernon didn’t take “Indians”.
Despite the history of my family and community with Residential Schools, like many other people in Canada, I didn’t begin to learn the real history of Residential Schools until the 1980s when some courageous Survivors came forward with criminal complaints and/or commenced lawsuits.
As a lawyer, I learned a lot more about Residential Schools from my clients, from reviewing many thousands of historical documents and from carefully studying various court decisions. But, even then, I learned a great deal more of the history when the TRC completed its work.
The TRC held a number of national, regional and local events. It received over 6,000 personal statements from Survivors, their families, individuals involved in running the schools, government and church officials, and others. It completed a comprehensive review of available historical documents. Finally, it published a summary report in June 2015 and a final report in December 2015.
The TRC put in all this effort because the Commissioners understood: only the truth sets the foundation for acknowledgement, understanding, empathy and reconciliation. It was therefore critical for their report to establish the truth about the history and legacy of Residential Schools, which is a history, and burden, we all share.
So, what is that history?
Indian Residential Schools have roots that date back to the 1850s but they took off starting in the 1880s. The establishment of Residential Schools breached the terms of many treaties that had promised schools in communities.
Over time, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children attended approximately 140 different Residential Schools. The last schools closed in 1996. Until 1969, Residential Schools were run by Canada in partnership with churches.
The object of Residential Schools was expressly to eliminate Canada’s “Indian problem” by assimilation. Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, put it this way in an address to the House of Commons in 1883: When the school is on the reserve the child lives with its parents, who are savages; he is surrounded by savages, and though he may learn to read and write his habits, and training and mode of thought are Indian. He is simply a savage who can read and write. It has been strongly pressed on myself, as the head of the Department, that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men.2
The TRC Report details the many ways that Residential Schools were marked by deprivation and harsh conditions:
•On children’s arrival, school officials confiscated children’s traditional clothing and sacred objects;
•Children were prohibited from speaking their languages and practising their cultures;
•The schools offered poor living conditions and poor medical care with the consequence that there were high mortality rates;
•The schools offered poor and limited education;
•The schools were often in isolated locations that were hard to staff, where staff had direct and continuing access to vulnerable children and where there was poor oversight;
•I do not want to unfairly take away from the contributions of many good people who were honestly trying to do right, but Residential Schools were attractive places for pedophiles and bullies.
These conditions were a recipe for disaster and resulted in terrible emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse of these extremely vulnerable children.
Over the years, I was humbled to have received many hundreds of very detailed individual accounts of Survivors spanning seven provinces and all three territories. My youngest client was in his 20s and suffered abuse in the 1990s. My oldest client was in his 90s and suffered abuse in the 1920s. Unfortunately, they shared remarkably similar experiences.
The abuse Survivors experienced was indescribably heinous and despicable, especially because it was perpetrated on exceptionally vulnerable chil-
dren by the very people who were supposed to teach, guide, care for and protect them.
Particularly when combined with the undermining of traditional economies, the impact of European diseases, the displacement of Indigenous people from their territories, the exclusion of Indigenous people from the dominant economy, the oversight of Indian agents, the Sixties Scoop and just generally racism in Canadian society, the impact described in the TRC Report is hardly surprising: loss of language and culture, problems with trust, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, violence—to name just a few. Families and whole communities were left behind—and devastated. That harm has been long-lasting and continues to reverberate through subsequent generations.
What a dreadful, painful legacy.
THE TRC CALLS TO ACTION
Yet, the TRC Report did not stop at merely documenting this history. The TRC also established a path for reconciliation through 94 specific and concrete Calls to Action.
These Calls to Action cover a wide variety of areas, including:
•Child welfare
•Education
•Language and culture
•Health
•Justice
•The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples3 (“UNDRIP”)
•Professional development and training for public servants
•Church apologies
•Youth programs
•Museums and archives
•Missing children
•The establishment of a national centre for truth and reconciliation
•Commemoration
•The media
•Sports and recreation
•Business, and
•Newcomers to Canada
On this long list the “Justice” heading has by far the most Calls to Action: 18. By comparison, the next largest categories, education and health, have 7 Calls to Action each.
The law also plays a vital role across many of the other categories, including:
•Calls to adopt and implement UNDRIP;
•Calls for the Canadian government to repudiate legal doctrines, such as the Doctrine of Discovery, understood to be used to justify European sovereignty over Indigenous lands;
•Numerous calls that require the amendment or passage of legislation; and
•Demands for investments in the revitalization of Indigenous law.
The outsized role the law plays in the Calls to Action reflects both that the law was one of the main tools of oppression and the TRC’s recognition of its great promise for advancing reconciliation.
OVERALL ASSESSMENT OF PROGRESS
So how are we doing on implementing the TRC’s Calls to Action?
Before jumping into the justice-specific areas, I thought folks might be interested in getting a bird’s-eye view of things. Luckily, there are a few organizations working to track our progress.
Indigenous Watchdog, for example, is an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to monitoring the reconciliation process.4
According to its online tracker, 14 Calls to Action have been completed and 45 are underway, while progress on 21 of the Calls is currently stalled. Based on their analysis, no progress has been made against the remaining 14 Calls to Action.
Others, like the Yellowhead Institute—another Indigenous-led organization—the CBC’s “Beyond 94” project, and the federal government itself, provide updates on progress using slightly different methodologies.5
The work done by all these organizations is important. Without knowing where we are in the reconciliation process and without insight into what has worked and where challenges remain, we won’t know how to proceed.
Reasonable people may disagree about the pace of progress. Regardless of the particular methodologies, I think it is safe to say all these trackers point to a mixed bag of results. Given the deep roots of the challenges the
TRC’s Calls to Action seek to address, this should not be surprising, even if it can be frustrating.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS
Turning then to some examples of progress, major legislative achievements have begun to lay a foundation for reconciliation in several areas.
The most obvious example is the passage of legislation for the implementation of UNDRIP, in line with Call to Action 43. The federal government, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories have now passed UNDRIP legislation.6
Another legislative achievement is the passage of An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families , 7 which is aimed at addressing the persistent over-representation of Indigenous children in child and family services systems by, in part, empowering Indigenous communities to assume control over those services.
In many ways, these legislative frameworks have put us in uncharted waters. There are, and no doubt will continue to be, challenges in figuring out what implementing this legislation looks like on the ground. But I suppose that was at least part of the point of the TRC—to challenge us to collectively figure out a better, more just way forward.
Real progress has also been made on the various Calls to Action specifically directed toward the justice system.
Perhaps most notably, Call to Action 41 is complete: the federal government appointed the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. The national inquiry submitted its final report in 2019,8 followed by a National Action Plan in 2021.9 Its calls for justice reinforce many of those found in the TRC report.
Steps have also been taken to make sure current and future lawyers have the knowledge and competencies necessary to begin reconciling Canadian and Indigenous communities and legal orders.
Call to Action 27 calls on the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to “ensure that lawyers receive appropriate cultural competency training”, including on five specific subjects:
•the history and legacy of Residential Schools;
•UNDRIP;
•Treaties and Aboriginal rights;
•Indigenous law; and
•Aboriginal–Crown relations.
Call to Action 28 makes a similar demand of law schools.
In response, the Federation of Law Societies has updated the National Requirement, which sets the minimum education standards for bar eligibility in common law jurisdictions. The National Requirement now includes a specific section on truth and reconciliation that covers the subjects I just noted.10 The Federation has also updated the Model Code of Professional Conduct to acknowledge the unique challenges that Indigenous Peoples in Canada face and the responsibility of lawyers to avoid “being willfully blind to actions which constitute discrimination or any form of harassment against Indigenous Peoples.”11
Law societies across the country are also doing their part, with many having fully or partially fulfilled their obligations under Call to Action 27. Similarly, most, if not all, of Canada’s law schools have taken action to fulfil Call to Action 28.12
These steps are important. Educating ourselves and each other about our shared history is the first step toward reconciliation.
Clearly, though, education is not enough.
This is particularly the case when it comes to our criminal justice system. Here, too, some positive steps have been taken.
For example, Call to Action 31 calls on all levels of government to provide stable funding for alternatives to imprisonment for Indigenous offenders.
In response, the federal government has provided a permanent mandate and increased funding for the Indigenous Justice Program. This program funds restorative justice processes rooted in Indigenous customs that offer alternatives to prison.
The federal government has also expanded the Indigenous Courtwork program, which funds programs aimed at helping Indigenous individuals and families navigate the justice system.
Projects funded by these initiatives are ongoing across the country and, importantly, are increasingly Indigenous-led.
THE WORK STILL AHEAD
I mentioned that I am a realistic optimist, and the realist in me recognizes there is still an awful lot of work needed to address the Calls to Action. As noted, a significant number of Calls are incomplete, stalled or not even started.
The TRC’s Calls to eliminate the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the prison system have not been met. By some measures, the situation has actually gotten worse.13 Similarly dispiriting trends can be seen in the disproportionate involvement of Indigenous children in the child protection system.14
These examples and other related Calls to Action reflect recommendations (and concerns) that long predate the TRC’s work.15 Addressing them involves policy decisions and funding choices that I cannot comment on.
But, clearly for as long as these conditions persist, there will be work, perhaps a lot of work, to do.
EXAMPLES OF PROGRESS BEYOND THE TRC
As I’ve said, being a cup half full person doesn’t mean I can’t see the half of the cup that is empty. But I can’t help being optimistic. And I believe I have good reason to be. That is because I’ve seen Canadians—Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike—take steps, big and small, down the path of reconciliation that go beyond the four corners of the TRC’s Calls to Action.
This includes actions taken by courts.
In recognition of judicial independence, the TRC did not issue any direct Calls to the judiciary. Despite this, the judiciary has stepped up.
A growing number of Indigenous sentencing courts have been established across the country.
One of the earliest reported decisions using a “sentencing circle” was decided by Judge Barry Stuart of the Yukon Territorial Court, who later championed the model. The case, R. v. Moses, is worth the read.16
Writing over 30 years ago in 1991, Judge Stuart understood change was needed, and possible. As he put it:
Unless the system is changed, the community will be victimized by the very system charged with the responsibility of protecting it. We must find a way to change. We must find communities, First Nations, professionals and lay people willing to work together to explore ‘truly new ways’. We will; we have no choice. In making the circle work, the Na-cho Ny'ak Dun First Nation took an important first step. Can we follow?17
Since then, jurisdictions across Canada have indeed followed, adapting Indigenous courts to local contexts and expanding them beyond sentencing to include other issue areas such as child protection and youth justice.
I had the privilege of sitting in the Indigenous sentencing court in Kamloops when I was a Provincial Court judge. With the input of the community and elders, we developed healing plans for Indigenous offenders that helped them avoid jail and put their lives back on track for the benefit of themselves, their families, their communities and, really, all of us.
It was an education for me in what is possible if we listen, learn, are open-minded to including Indigenous perspectives and take action—even if, or maybe especially when, that takes some out of their comfort zones.
Courts have also begun incorporating Indigenous practices, ceremonies and symbols into their proceedings.
In the Yukon, for example, eagle feathers are available for affirming/ swearing in witnesses, and First Nations art and cultural symbols have been incorporated into the courthouse building in Whitehorse.18
These changes reflect not only a growing recognition of and respect for Indigenous legal traditions, but also the beginnings of reconciling those traditions with Canada’s own legal order. It’s heartening to see a wide variety of people and organizations taking action.
REFLECTIONS/PROJECTIONS
Let me close by offering some reflections on the importance of the TRC’s work.
Has the TRC solved all the inequities that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada? Of course not.
And, it’s frustrating that, with our enormous human and natural resources, such huge socio-economic gaps still exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people here. But, the fact is that we have so much to do because we have so much to undo. It’s going to take time and sustained effort.
Do the remaining socio-economic gaps mean the work of the TRC has been a failure? Also, of course not.
We simply don’t know where we would be now if we hadn’t made the efforts we have. My educated guess is … things would be worse. Where does this leave us? It leaves us with some work to do!
We have taken many important strides yet there is still a long way to go. But, guess what? Your presence here and your attentiveness, fills me with … optimism.
ENDNOTES
1. I have delivered a version of these remarks in several forums over the past year, most recently at the Yukon Bench and Bar Conference, September 12, 2025. This excerpt of my remarks has been edited for purposes of publication. I extend my thanks to the law clerks and legal counsel who have assisted me with preparing and revising these remarks over the past year, in particular Declan O’Briain.
2. Official report of the debates of the House of Commons of the Dominion of Canada (9 May 1883) at 1107–1108 (Prime Minister Sir John A Macdonald), online: <n2t.net/ark:/69429/m0445h990j4p>.
3. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, UNGA, 2007, UN Doc A/RES/61/ 295, at 4, GA Res 61/295.
4. See the Indigenous Watchdog website at <www. indigenouswatchdog.org>.
5. See the Yellowhead Institute website at <yellow headinstitute.org/> and the CBC’s “Beyond 94”
project website at <www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/ beyond-94>.
6. United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, SC 2021, c 14; Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, SBC 2019, c 44; United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Implementation Act, SNWT 2023, c 36.
7. An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families, SC 2019, c 24.
8. National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (3 June 2019), online: <www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1a1.pdf>.
9. National Family and Survivors Circle, “2021 Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and
2SLGBTQQIA+ People National Action Plan: Ending Violence Against Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People” (3 June 2021), online: <familysurvivorscircle.ca/national-action-plan/>.
10. See ss 2-3 of the Federation of Law Societies National Requirement, online at <flsc.ca/wp-content /uploads/2024/04/NRR-approved-on-March-122024-ENG.pdf>.
11. For more information, see Federation of Law Societies of Canada, Model Code of Professional Conduct (April 2024), online: <flsc.ca/wp-content/up loads/2024/11/2024-Model-Code-of-Professional -Conduct.pdf>.
12. For the latest updates, see Indigenous Watchdog, “Call to Action #28”, online: <www.indigenous watchdog.org/cta/call-to-action-28/>.
13. Anna Mehler Paperny, “Despite Trudeau Promises, More Indigenous People Being Jailed in Canada” (8 March 2025), online: <www.reuters.com/world/
14. Statistics Canada, “Census in Brief: Diverse family characteristics of Aboriginal children aged 0 to 4, 2017”, by Tamara Hudon and Vivian O’Donnell, Catalogue no. 98-200-X (Ottawa: Statistics Canada) (25 October 2017).
15. See e.g. Call to Action 35, which called on the federal government to “eliminate barriers to the creation of additional Aboriginal healing lodges”.
16. R v Moses, 1992 CanLII 12804 (YKTC).
17. Ibid at 385.
18. Government of Yukon, “Yukon First Nations Artwork and Land Acknowledgment Unveiled at Andrew A. Philipsen Law Courts Building” (28 November 2022), online: <yukon.ca/en/news/yukon-firstnations-art work-and-land-acknowledgmentunveiled-andrew-philipsen-law-courts-building>.
ЖЖЖ
IT CAUGHT MY EYE: THE RED LILY VINEYARD
By David Roberts, K.C.
Vintners—that is, people who grow grapes and make wine—like beekeepers and cabinetmakers are gentlefolk; generally speaking, they are civilized, kind and affable. This may be because they work closer to nature than merchant bankers or stockbrokers, only some of whom are tolerable company.
Your average vintners have learned from the very beginning of their careers to be patient. They toil in the vineyards, learning to work with nature, and you cannot hurry nature. Their grapes will ripen in God’s good time. You cannot hurry up this process. It is so also with the treading of the grapes and the fermenting of the wine. Mess about with the exquisite timing of this delicate process and you will find yourself heading into all kinds of trouble and a barrel of sour grapes.
As a matter of history, vintners have been developing this attractive characteristic since the first caveman stumbled upon a wild nest of bees, inundated by a storm that accidentally fermented the honey and created the first crop of mead. Recovering from the world’s first hangover, that caveman slowly developed home-made, or, at least, cave-made, mead. One imagines that this happened in Mesopotamia, the cradle of civilization in a time immemorial, and spread throughout the Middle East to fabled cities such as Nineveh and Thebes, even Troy.
In modern times, vintners must become businesspeople, peddling the product of their labours in the market, to generate an income to keep their vineyards producing and sustain their families.
A short month ago while attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, we took time to visit the Red Lily vineyard in the Applegate Valley, north of Jacksonville. This establishment is set in one of the most enchanting locations in rural Oregon, on the banks of the Applegate river, which holds out the promise of an abundance of trout. Red Lily is, for a rural vineyard, a sizeable enterprise. Two large buildings, each tastefully designed, house the kernel of the works, the fermenting tanks and hundreds of oak barrels, and the office, where visitors are bidden to taste the product of the vineyard and buy some not inexpensive, but highly palatable, wine. Their grapes are all
of Spanish origin, which they discovered to be compatible with the terroir. There were five kinds: a Cava, which is a sparkling Spanish white, a Verdejo, a Rosé, a Tempranillo and a wine called “Red Lily Tempranillo”, which is their most expensive wine at $38.00 U.S. per bottle. But, oh, did it taste like the wine of the Gods.
Of course, we tasted all the products and bought more wine than we could afford. What caught my eye, though, was a little card, issued to us as we arrived. This tastefully devised card contained a description of each of the wines they produced and discreetly disclosed their prices.
Now, I have always been amused by the way those who sell wine describe it. The descriptions are usually found on the bottle labels, though newspapers and magazines often contain wine columns written by journalists who hold themselves out as wine experts and loftily instruct their readers on the qualities of the wines they discuss. I have noticed that these champions of the wine trade rarely discuss wines under $20 a bottle and enlist the most flowery language to describe the wines under discussion.
The Red Lily Vineyard really went to town in its use of overblown verbiage to puff its sales.
The sales card starts with the sparkling Spanish White, the Cava. “Honeyed aromas, vine flowers, herb and buttered bread.” None of this withstands any analysis. “ Honeyed aromas ” means it smells of honey. It didn’t. It smelled of wine. “Herb”. Well, what herb? That could be anything from Oregano to Cayenne pepper. And “buttered bread”? I shook my head.
It got worse. The Stargazer Verdejo, a Spanish white “floods the senses with ripe pear, Lychee fruit, honeysuckle blossom, a playful hint of cardamon spice and a note of lemon drop candy.” Just a note? It is obvious that no wine could produce all these tastes at once.
The next two wines grew increasingly orotund, but it was the last and most expensive wine that had the most exaggerated description bestowed on it. There was no doubt that this was a lovely wine, a 100 per cent Tempranillo, that was chewy and dark red and dried on the palate as a good red should. But did it really “offer up intense scents of crushed black currants, ripe black plums and boysenberries with touches of cigar box, leather and fig jam. Full bodied and explosive, the palate is an exercise in poise, with beautifully balance, weighty tannins and seamless freshness supporting the intense fruit, finishing long and layered”?
Not one clause in this advertising hype stands up to critical analysis. “Crushed black currants, ripe black plums and boysenberries”? All three at once? And not just plums, but ripe as well as black. Now, “cigar box”. I have seen this description of wine before. I doubt anybody has ever tasted a cigar
box. I think the author really meant tobacco. Then we are presented with leather. Well, what sort of leather: pig? cow? elephant? In any case how many oenophiles have regularly, or ever, tasted leather? And then fig jam. Now wouldn’t the blackberries and plums spoil the taste of the fig jam? Not to say what the cigar box and leather would do to it.
The advertisement ends with more trumpeted nonsense. Full bodied, yes, that the reader understands, but explosive? Even a figurative explosion is difficult to imagine. Then “beautifully balanced weighty tannins”. Presumably a bad wine would have unbalanced tannins. And finally, “seamless freshness”. Does freshness have seams, stitched together somehow with watery cotton thread?
The wine ends up “long and layered”. “Long”, I suppose means you can taste the wine long after you have swallowed it. But “layered”? Do all these tastes come in layers? Well, I thought they were all mixed up together in some sort of juicy mélange. But I did eventually find out that “layer” has a technical meaning in the wine trade. It refers to the visual phase of a wine tasting. It determines the amount of colour a wine has once served in a glass. You tilt the glass at forty-five per cent on a white background. You will appreciate different shades of colour, which tell you a great deal about its maturity, the type of grape, the amount of skins used in the fermentation and the concentration of tannins. It sounds so complicated that I believe only a mature vintner would be able to tell much about a wine from its layers.
It may be that all these whimsical descriptions of wines are a code used by oenologists to describe the qualities of a wine: a code only an experienced oenologist would understand, just like a cue-bid in bridge. A bid of two clubs in answer to partner’s one no trump, has nothing to do with your holding in clubs. It is asking partner to disclose a four-card major. This is known as the Stayman Convention
If only the oenologists would explain what convention the “cigar box” is trying to tell us.
“Mirrors of Dusk” by Jane Bronsch, Acrylic on Canvas, 60'' x 40', 2025
Available at Kurbatoff Gallery, 2435 Granville St., Vancouver
Visit the website: kurbatoffgallery.com
A SOJOURN TO PAISLEY
By Kenneth Wm. Thornicroft
The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer’s question, Who is my neighbour? receives a restricted reply. You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour. Who, then, in law is my neighbour? The answer seems to be – persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.
—Lord
Atkin, Donoghue v. Stevenson
DONOGHUE V. STEVENSON
M’Alister (or Donoghue) v. Stevenson1 may be the most celebrated case in English tort law and perhaps in all English common law. Despite its eminence, the decision was for many years a bit of a riddle, likely because it was decided on a point of law, and no trial was ever held. The alleged facts are well known. May Donoghue, a shop assistant, claimed she fell ill2 after consuming a contaminated bottle of ginger beer at the Wellmeadow Café, in Paisley, Scotland. Ms. Donoghue said she discovered, after having already partially consumed the contents of the opaque bottle of ginger beer, that it contained the decomposed remains of a snail. The café was owned by Francis Minghella.3 The ginger beer was manufactured by the defendant David Stevenson, whose bottling works were also in Paisley, less than a mile away from the Wellmeadow Café. May Donoghue filed a claim against the bottler and as previously noted, the case never went to trial. Her claim was apparently settled in December 1934 for £200 (about $34,000 CDN today).
An April 2025 CanLII search reveals that Donoghue v. Stevenson has been cited in nearly 1,300 Canadian decisions (and is the subject of nearly 450 commentaries), including 265 decisions issued in the past decade. The decision is discussed in over 80 articles and letters published in the Advocate
We now know—in large measure due to the efforts of former B.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeal Justice Martin Taylor4 —a great deal more about the central figures in this litigation. The House of Lords referred to May Donoghue as a “shop assistant” and to the person who purchased the fateful bottle of ginger beer simply as her “friend” (Lord Macmillan referred to her friend as “she”—the one and only reference to the mysterious friend’s gender in any of the Law Lords’ five speeches).
Several years after the House of Lords’ decision, Lord Normand (who appeared on behalf of the defendant in the House of Lords) disparaged the entire affair, stating that it was “a hoax thought up by some Scottish attorneys with not enough to do to keep themselves entertained during the Depression in Glasgow.”5 Some have questioned May Donoghue’s very existence—but she certainly did exist,6 and it seems she had a somewhat difficult life.7 At least two British justices, while accepting that Donoghue v. Stevenson was a real case, nonetheless asserted that there had been a trial at which May Donoghue failed to prove there ever was a snail in the bottle.8 Of course, we now know that the case never went to trial and that the defendant’s estate settled for £200 (the original claim was for £500).
THE WELLSPRING FOR ENDLESS LITIGATION
Lord Atkin’s judgment allowing May Donoghue’s claim to proceed rested on a very narrow legal underpinning:
…[where] a manufacturer of products…sells in such a form as to show that he intends them to reach the ultimate consumer in the form in which they left him with no reasonable possibility of intermediate examination, and with the knowledge that the absence of reasonable care in the preparation or putting up of the products will result in an injury to the consumer’s life or property, [the manufacturer] owes a duty to the consumer to take that reasonable care.
[Emphasis added]
Lord Buckmaster (joined by Lord Tomlin) ruled against May Donoghue’s claim principally because the recognition of such a duty would be “little short of outrageous” since bottlers would be “responsible to members of the public for the condition of the contents of every bottle which issues from their works [and would be] called on to meet claims of damages which they could not possibly investigate or answer”.9
Despite Lord Atkin’s narrow ratio decidendi, Lord Macmillan clearly signalled that the scope of potential liability would continue to expand since “the conception of legal responsibility may develop in adaptation to altering social conditions and standards…[and] must adjust and adapt itself to the changing circumstances of life [because] the categories of negligence are never closed.”10 In the ensuing years, Donoghue v. Stevenson became the
foundation for an untold number of claims that arose in circumstances far different from those of the original case.11 And there continues to be a seemingly endless array of cases involving deleterious substances finding their way into consumer products.12
A SOJOURN TO PAISLEY
Donoghue v. Stevenson is as relevant today as it was in 1932. And so, like Justice Taylor and his band of pilgrims who went before me, when I had the opportunity to visit the birthplace of this seminal decision, I felt compelled to do so. In May 2024, my partner (of Irish lineage) and I (a second generation Canadian of Scottish descent) travelled throughout Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland searching out our respective family histories. Our journey took us to Glasgow, Scotland for three nights and since Paisley is a nine-minute train ride away (£4.90 each way), we planned an afternoon sojourn.
The Wellmeadow Café succumbed to the wrecking ball in 1959, but there remains a small commemorative square where the café once stood. The square is about a ten-minute walk from the Paisley Gilmour Street train station to the southwest corner of Wellmeadow Street and Lady Lane. Sadly, and rather like Paisley itself, the square could use a wee measure of TLC. While there is a black stone monument to the case which is in fine shape, the Canadian Bar Association’s commemorative plaque could certainly use some refurbishing. It was a bit sad to see. For my part, I would be pleased to contribute to a fund (it should not take much) to restore the CBA’s plaque to its original and rightful glory.
The town hall in Paisley, Scotland
Paisley’s town square
Photos by Kenneth Wm.
Thornicroft
1. [1932] AC 562 (HL). The decision was a close call— two of the five law lords ruled against May Donoghue’s claim. Indeed, the ten judges who ruled on May Donoghue’s case (including the Scottish courts) evenly split regarding her claim’s legal merit.
2. May Donoghue claimed to have suffered from “shock and severe gastro-enteritis” (ibid at 563). Lord Macmillan stated her predicament was “of a trivial character” but nonetheless “serious enough” (ibid at 605).
3. Francis Minghella (sometimes referred to as “Minchella”) was also a defendant in the action but the claim against him was abandoned before the matter was heard in the Scottish Court of Session. Mr. Minghella closed the business in 1931 and the building was demolished in 1959. “The Wellmeadow café occupied the lower part of a tenement building, probably built at the end of the 18th century, on the corner of Wellmeadow Street and Lady Lane [1 Wellmeadow Street]. In 1928 this was a busy part of Paisley, with trams running past and other shops alongside.” (Scottish Archives for Schools, The People in the Case, online: <www.scottisharchivesforschools.org/snailInTheBottle/thePeopleInTheCase. asp>).
4. Justice Taylor has published at least four separate articles in the Advocate: “A Pilgrimage to Paisley” (1986) 44 Advocate 329; “Legal World’s First Glimpse of the Most Famous Litigant of All Time” (2007) 65 Advocate 635; “Return to Paisley – Begin Again” (2011) 69 Advocate 661; and “The Return of the Pilgrims: A Second Paisley Conference on the Law of Negligence” (2012) 70 Advocate 661. Additionally, Justice Taylor narrated the 1996 documentary film “The Paisley Snail” (<www.youtube.com/ watch?v=ogm1URzhTjA>); the narration closely tracks his “A Pilgrimage to Paisley” article. For the inside story behind the making of the documentary, see David Hay, “Reflections on the Paisley Snail” (2014) 72 Advocate 531.
5. David Roberts, “Letter to the Editor” (written to himself) (1986) 44 Advocate 588. In 2025, at least one Canadian judge seemingly acknowledged that the case might have been a “hoax” (see Leppert v Gillis, 2025 NSSM 1). Of course, we now know it was no hoax.
6. A statue of her appears in a small park opposite the site of the Wellmeadow Café. While I concede that aesthetics are a matter of personal taste, the statue strikes me as a rather unflattering likeness (see <www.alamy.com/1932-world-famous-snail-in-thebottle-case-paisley-scotland-image218517659. html?imageid=39FCF233-6C23-4DD4-A1D1-FF D8AE78813F&p=646976&pn=1&searchId=9ed28 85394e7cfb6b910445e59bb3f6a&searchtype=0>).
The statue was apparently based on the only known photograph of May Donoghue (in which she is holding two of her grandchildren). A copy of the photo-
graph can be found online at: <www.scottishlaw reports.org.uk/resources/donoghue-v-stevenson /the-most-famous-litigant/>). See also “Bench and Bar” (2018) 76 Advocate 949 at 958.
7. May Donoghue brought her claim as a “pauper”, asserting that she was “not worth five pounds in all the world” (see Scottish Council of Law Reporting and Martin R Taylor, “Donoghue v. Stevenson – Mrs. Donoghue’s Journey”, online: <www.scottishlaw reports.org.uk/resources/donoghue-v-stevenson>). Donoghue was her married name—the marriage ended in divorce after twelve years. She was separated from her husband when the events in question occurred. May Donoghue bore four children, but three died in infancy. At age 59, she suffered a fatal heart attack while confined in a mental health institution (for further details, see Taylor, “The Legal World’s First Glimpse…”, supra note 4).
8. See Martin R Taylor, “A Pilgrimage to Paisley”, supra note 4 at 334.
9. Donoghue v Stevenson, supra note 1 at 578 (per Lord Buckmaster), positing the classic “floodgates” argument that often rears its head in tort law (see, for example, Canadian National Railway Co v Norsk Pacific Steamship Co, [1992] 1 SCR 1021; Globalnet Management Solutions Inc v Cornerstone CBS Building Solutions Ltd, 2018 BCCA 303; and Tottrup v Lund, 2000 ABCA 121).
10. Donoghue v Stevenson, supra note 1 at 619 (per Lord Macmillan).
11. Simply by way of example, some recent cases include: Caditz v Vancouver (City), 2024 BCSC 1807 (wrongful removal of trees in a public park allegedly causing psychological harm); McKinsey & Company, Inc United States v British Columbia, 2024 BCCA 277 (claim that defendant designed aggressive marketing campaigns, targeting healthcare practitioners, that misrepresented opioids as safe and not addictive and subject to over-prescription and use); Bevan v Husak, 2024 BCCA 323 (allegation that defendant lied to plaintiff to gain access to plaintiff’s teenaged daughter who was later sexually assaulted); Toronto District School Board v Meta Platforms Inc, 2025 ONSC 1499 (claim against social media platforms for “interfere[nce] with the Board’s mandate to promote student achievement and wellbeing by causing harm to students”); and Dewey v Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Limited, 2025 NLCA 8 (class action by property owners in relation to groundwater flooding).
12. See, for example, Isagenix International LLC v Harris, 2023 BCCA 96 (unsafe over-fortification of vitamins and minerals, contrary to the label information); Palmer v Teva Canada Limited, 2024 ONCA 220 (contaminated prescription medication; claim dismissed); and Farmer v Interbake Foods Limited and Crouse’s Grocery Limited, 1981 CanLII 4855 (maggots and moth larvae in chocolate biscuits).
TAKE ME TO THE RIVER: A LAWYER GOES OFF THE GRID IN THE CANADIAN NORTH
PART I
By Allison Render
When the floatplane disappeared over the ridge, a strange silence fell on the lake. Spruce and alder encroached on clear black waters speckled with raindrops. Above the treetops, pyramid-shaped mountains blocked the horizon. There wasn’t a cabin, road or trail in sight. Deep in the Mackenzie Mountains of northern Canada, we could have been a hundred kilometres from another human being. All our gear—our canoes, our food and our fuel—was strewn on the pebbled beach.
And we’d left the bear spray on the plane.1
When I was preparing for my trip to Nahanni National Park Reserve in the Northwest Territories, I learned there were two sorts of people: those who had never heard of the South Nahanni River, and those who wanted to go there. Allow me to initiate you into the latter group.
The Upper Nahanni, just downriver of Corner Rapids
Photos by Allison Render
The South Nahanni River is older than mountains. The Nahanni flowed before the Mackenzies rose. As the land lifted, the river sliced like a chainsaw through its heart. From Virginia Falls (Náilicho), where the placid upper river turns to a raging torrent, the Nahanni races through winding canyons almost too deep to fathom. Much of the Nahanni escaped the continental ice sheet that scoured Canada during the last ice age. The Nahanni is ancient in a land that is otherwise so young.
The Nahanni is the Canadian Grand Canyon. The northern Niagara. It offers the hot springs of Yellowstone, the mountain vistas of Banff, and the vast wilds of Alaska. All mixed up with legends worthy of the Wild West.
And you can’t drive there.
I came to the Nahanni for a vacation, but also for a kind of pilgrimage. When I was a child, my father would go on annual canoe trips with his medical school classmates. He went to the Nahanni at least once, and for years, a poster of Virginia Falls graced our wall. I would stare at it and wonder what was beyond the frame.
Once, most of Canada was like the Nahanni: roadless, unlogged and untamed. Our founding myths don’t speak of liberty and revolution but of fur traders paddling up raging rivers, Mounties dog sledding through snowy forests, and prospectors struggling over mountain passes. Of strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold. And increasingly, the
The Nahanni pouring through Sluice Box Rapids and over Virginia Falls
people who survived for millennia in this harsh land. The North looms large in our myths. The North is adventure, opportunity, danger and freedom.
But most Canadians today, including me, live safe, comfortable lives in southern cities. Most Canadians will never visit our northern territories. They rarely even think about them. While the Nahanni is one of the most popular northern rivers, only around 1,000 people visit each year.2 Many, like me, do so on a guided trip. I travelled with Black Feather Wilderness Adventures.
THE CHANGING RIVER
Our journey began at Honeymoon Lake, well above the canyons and even above the most common starting points for Nahanni River trips. Only our own strength—and the river’s powerful current—would carry us more than 400 kilometres to our takeout point at the village of Nahanni Butte (pop. 87). Across the park’s 30,000 square kilometres (nearly six times the size of Banff National Park and approximately the size of Belgium), rivers are the only highway.
After loading the canoes, dragging them over a beaver dam, and slipping them down a narrow stream, we nosed into the current and were soon drifting faster than we could paddle. The Upper Nahanni is a frigid, silty-green ribbon racing between cloud-draped peaks. Her untamed waters are constantly changing. As the river erodes her muddy banks, trees lean over as though trying to sip from her waters. When the trees come loose—as they eventually must—they rage downriver until caught on something stronger than the current. Where the driftwood piles up, so do the silt and gravel churned up by the river’s flood. New islands sprout. If an island grows large enough, the river may cut a new channel to avoid it. The old bend behind the island, now cut off, silts up. Though the old-growth forest by the river looks like it has been growing forever, in fact it is always at the river’s mercy.
The Nahanni River pours over Virginia Falls Honeymoon Lake reflects the surrounding mountains
These young gravel islands form the go-to campsites for Nahanni River travellers. Although they rise only a metre or two above the current, although they’re exposed to the winds that howl down the valley, although they have no facilities, they’re flat, dry and (relatively) free of the northern bugs that can bite through clothing. Each evening, soon after unloading the boats, the staccato of burning driftwood would join the river’s long background notes. Seemingly alone in the world, with no electricity or internet and no obligations but cooking and eating, we would gather around the campfire to chat, play games or sing in the endless daylight of the far north.
Our neighbours
Paddling across Glacier Lake towards the Cirque
A typical campsite above the Falls
THE LEGEND
In the old days, prospectors and trappers in the remote north would call civilization, that southern world of bright lights and big cities, “the Outside”. I didn’t understand the phrase until I went there. Unable to travel faster than a canoe, unable to keep up with the news or read anything I hadn’t brought with me, the vastness of the valley became my entire world.
Much has changed since the old days. When R.M. Patterson, author of The Dangerous River, poled, paddled and dragged his canoe up the Nahanni in 1927, he believed that he and Albert Faille were the first white men to enter the canyons in seven years. Patterson shot moose from his bed and returned the following year to build a cabin and trap through the winter.
In the days before satellite phones and helicopters, the Nahanni had a fearsome reputation. Stampeders seeking a route to the Klondike vanished without a trace in her valley. In 1905, the McLeod brothers ventured into the Nahanni country in search of gold. Three years later, a search party found their bodies, without their heads or their gold. Still later, other visitors turned up dead.
Local mythology reinforced the Nahanni legend. The indigenous Dene, who lived in the park before Europeans arrived, tell of the hostile Naha people, who once inhabited these mountains and raided the lowland Dene. Then, just as the Dene prepared to strike back, the Naha vanished without a trace.
The legend may yet live on. Mary, a Dene guardian working for Parks Canada at Virginia Falls, told us the elders of Nahanni Butte didn’t want their young people venturing into the park, in case the spirits of shamans buried along the river would steal them away. Only the need to train their youth on the land—and the reassuring presence of Parks staff—changed the elders’ minds. At least she wouldn’t be alone on the dangerous river.
Danger has left its footprints all over the park map. Deadmen Valley. Headless Creek. Vampire Peaks. Funeral Range. Broken Skull River. Floatplanes and guided tours might have opened the Nahanni to city folk like me, but a trip there is not for the faint of heart. You still need physical fitness, canoeing skills, and a willingness to sleep on the ground for weeks without a shower or flush toilet in sight.
Other names are a challenge. After only two days on the river, we abandoned our canoes at a muddy, buggy campsite to begin a five-day trek to the Cirque of the Unclimbables. Despite the name—or perhaps because of it— the Cirque is a celebrated rock-climbing destination. Climbers seeking to brave its granite spires often bypass the Nahanni River and fly directly into the large turquoise lake below the Cirque.
We, however, had to spend a day thrashing and sawing our way in from the river along a boggy, overgrown and seldom-used trail and then paddling
across Glacier Lake in stashed canoes. Scrawny spruce and tamarack, alder and white birch, lined the lowland trail. Centuries-old layers of sphagnum moss turned the ground into a sponge, while blueberries, crowberries and Labrador tea crowded the undergrowth.
After a night at Glacier Lake, we made the steep, dry, switchbacking ascent into the sky. Halfway up, we left the trees behind and started scrambling across an old rockslide of jumbled boulders.
But all the toil was worth it. As we passed through the gate into the Cirque, I forgot my aching legs and sore hips. Ahead stretched emerald alpine meadows cut through with an icy blue stream. At the far, barren end of the lobe stood a castle of dark granite. Around the castle on three sides ran a narrow, ice-choked moat that separated it from the Cirque’s outer curtain walls. Between us and the castle lay a moraine of ash-grey rubble. It was like standing in the Shire and staring into Mordor.
If the Cirque were in southern Alberta, we would have shared the view with hundreds of day hikers. Instead, we had the lower meadows to our-
selves, while the six rock climbers who camped above us ignored our presence. On our first evening in the Cirque, two creamy white mountain goats climbed through the gate and onto the scree slope at the mountain’s roots. They gave us wary looks but, when we kept our distance, they settled in beneath a boulder for the night. With our tents spread on the springy heather, I think we had the better bedding. Without the river rushing by our campsite, we slept in complete silence.
ENDNOTES
1.Most of the bear spray. Two of our group had flown in separately, leaving us one can for eight people. We also had bear bangers.
2.Source: Parks Canada Attendance Data.
The view from our Cirque campsite
THE WINE COLUMN
By Paul Daykin, K.C., and Bruno De Vita, K.C.*
RIOJA!
Every wine enthusiast has had a few “aha moments” in their life, when they experience a wine that is truly memorable and changes the way they think about wine. For the authors of this column, one such moment was at a tasting of the wines of the esteemed Rioja producer Marqués de Murrieta at which we had the opportunity to taste the 2010 Castillo Ygay, one of Murrieta’s rare Gran Reservas. It knocked our socks off. We were able to procure one case (which we shared) and we bragged about it to our friends even before James Suckling gave it 100 points and the Wine Spectator named it the 2020 Wine of the Year.1
In a wine world dominated by France and Italy, the wines of Spain are often overlooked and underrepresented in our wine stores and restaurants. This is so not because of inferior quality but perhaps because of less effective marketing. So, we thought it would be a good idea to remind readers of the treasures to be found in Spain’s best known wine region, Rioja, and of the “value proposition” that they represent.
Rioja lies in the northwest of Spain. It flanks the River Ebro, which flows southwest and eventually empties into the Mediterranean near the city of Catalunga. It is thought that the name “Rioja” is actually a contraction of “Rio Oja”, the name of one of the seven rivers that flow into the Ebro in this part of Spain. If you try the Viña Alberdi Reserva that we review later in this column, you will see a rendering of the Rio Oja on the label.
Rioja has three wine sub-regions. Rioja Alta, in the northwest, is home to most of Rioja’s top bodegas. Vineyards sit atop soils of a mixture of rich clay and limestone, and the Atlantic Ocean is not far to the west, resulting in
* Paul Daykin, K.C., and Bruno De Vita, K.C., are guest columnists of this space and have been sharing a glass since they were about 11. Bruno is a partner at Alexander Holburn LLP where he has toiled since 1985. Paul, after 32 years with his firm, finally got his name to the top of the masthead at the family law boutique Daykin Walker Kaderly Wahid LLP.
helpful daily temperature variations, with warm days and cool nights. Then, north of the Ebro on the edge of the Basque country, tucked into the foothills of the Sierra de Cantabria, we have the small sub-region of Rioja Alavesa, which is on higher ground, with chalky clay soils, more rainfall and cooler temperatures. There are many fine wines that come from Rioja Alavesa but they are harder to find. Finally, in the east, there is the large sub-region of Rioja Oriental (it recently shed the former name Rioja Baja, which was thought to be unappealing), which is a much warmer, drier area known for its simple table wines.
Rioja is known, of course, for its red wines made from the Tempranillo grape, which is the dominant varietal in the region. But red wines from Rioja may also include Garnacha (called Grenache in France) and Graciano (known as Morrastel in the Languedoc). Rioja’s white wines, which admittedly are poorly represented at B.C. retailers, are made most often from Viura (sometimes called Macabeo) and Malvasia or Garnacha Blanca (known in the Rhône region of France as Grenache Blanc).
Like many other wine regions, Rioja has a classification system for its red wines, depending on the required time before the wine is released:
•“Joven” is, as the name suggests, young wine with no aging requirements.
•“Crianza” must be aged for two years, of which not less than one year must be in barrels.
•“Reserva” refers to wines aged for three years, with at least one year in barrels and at least six months in the bottle.
•“Gran Reserva” denotes wines aged for at least five years, with not less than two years in the barrel and two years in the bottle. These wines are only made in exceptional vintages.
In recent years, Rioja has also introduced sub-categories similar to the “cru” classification in France, allowing the vintner to indicate on the bottle where the grapes come from. Vinos de Zona means that at least eighty-five per cent of the grapes come from the zone indicated on the bottle. These wines will have the words Denominación de Origen Calificada on the label and are easy to find at our wine merchants. Vinos de Municipio requires the wine to be made from grapes from the village on the label. You will see this if the letters “VM” are displayed. Finally, Viñedos Singulares means that the wine was made from the grapes of a single vineyard, harvested manually. These wines only come from the most prestigious crus
The wine industry in Rioja is dominated by a handful of very large wineries—something like 15 bodegas account for about eighty-five per cent of
Rioja’s wine production. In addition to Marqués de Murrieta, look for Rioja wines from Lópes de Heredia, Olivier Rivière, Marqués de Cáceres, Marqués de Riscal, La Rioja Alta, Artadi and Remelluri.
To give you an idea of how important the wine industry is to this part of Spain, one only has to be reminded that it is in the Rioja town of Haro where the annual “Batalla del Vino” takes place. It has its historical origin in a boundary dispute between the cities of Miranda de Ebro and Haro and is an event at which members of the opposing factions spray each other with wine. It takes place on June 29 each year. The combatants, known locally as cuadrillas, meet early in the morning to attend Mass wearing white protective clothing. As soon as the priest has uttered the concluding rite (ironically, with the words “the Mass is ended, go in peace”), they commence the battle, soaking each other with wine. After the clash, they enjoy a meal of sausages, snails and lamb together, served of course with glasses of Rioja.
We recommend that you drink your bottle of Rioja and that you refrain from dousing your friends with it. In our view it represents very good value for your chronically under-valued Canadian dollar. Here are a few bottles you may wish to try.
MUGA RIOJA 2019 RESERVA
$34 at BC Liquor Stores
Muga’s vineyards are in Rioja Alta near the city of Haro. This lovely wine is made from Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. It was aged in oak for 24 months and in the bottle for 12. It has a bright ruby-red colour in the glass and notes of black cherry, pepper and spice on the nose. At the back end, there is a little tobacco and cocoa. This is an elegant, nicely balanced red. We had it with burgers but would have preferred a grilled rib-eye to go with it. If you care about these things, both James Suckling and Robert Parker gave it 94 points.
VIÑA ALBERDI 2019 RESERVA
La Rioja Alta S.A. $37 at BC Liquor Stores
This wine is made from one hundred per cent Tempranillo. It has a deep red hue. It starts with notes of raspberries, leather and a wee whiff of kerosene and ends with black pepper and stewed prunes. This wine reminded us of the syrah-dominated wines of the northern Rhône, but without such pronounced tannins. This would pair well with any pasta with a rich tomato sauce. Less elegant than the Muga, you will like this if you prefer your reds in the fruit-forward style.
BODEGAS BERONIA 2019 RESERVA
$26 at BC Liquor Stores
Beronia is made from a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo. It is deep ruby red in the glass. This is a big, fruit-forward wine which begins with notes of blackberry, plum and licorice followed by raspberry, cocoa and black pepper. It has some well-integrated tannins now but will soften with age. This is not a subtle wine, but you will enjoy it with a hearty beef stew or osso buco.
MONASTERIO DE LAS VIÑAS CARIÑENA GRAN RESERVA 2019
$23 at BC Liquor Stores
We are straying off-topic a bit here, since this wine does not come from Rioja but from Cariñena, which is still on the Ebro but further downstream. It is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Carignan and Cabernet Sauvignon. There is lush, dark fruit on the nose with blackberries and a little hoisin sauce on the palate, with a long satisfying finish. Pair this wine with pepper steak. If you are looking for a new mid-week red at an affordable price, try this wine.
MARQUÉS DE RISCAL RESERVA XR 2019
$59 at Everything Wine
The “XR” on the label of this wine stands for “Extra Reserva”. As the story goes, the winemaker, after having tasted the Reservas from each barrel, uses chalk to mark an “XR” on the barrels that contain wine of superior quality and unique characteristics. This wine is made from a blend of Tempranillo and Graciano and is dark garnet in colour. It greets you with aromas of black cherry and licorice. It spends 25 months in American oak but still displays very ripe and expressive fruit. We enjoyed this with barbecued leg of lamb and our dinner guest that evening hailed the wine as being “very yummy”—an apt description.
MUGA RIOJA BLANCO 2023
$28 at Everything Wine
Rioja is not generally known for its white wine, but this offering from the outstanding producer, Muga, proves that the region is more than capable of producing high quality “Blanco”. This is a wine of finesse with delicate flavours of citrus and stone fruit and a round, slightly creamy texture. Made from seventy per cent Viura blended with Garnacha Blanca and Malvasia, it is beautifully balanced and vibrant—and a pleasant break from the usual
white wine choices, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Gris. When this wine meets food, it tastes even better. You can pair it with shellfish or, as we did, some grilled steelhead trout.
EL PACTO DEL ALTO NAJERILLA RIOJA BLANCO 2022
$56 at Sutton Place Wine Merchant
Here is another white wine from Rioja and this one, frankly, knocked our socks off. Straw yellow in hue with aromas of ripe nectarine, this is a delicious wine that is multi-layered and beautifully balanced. It is a blend of mostly Viura, with Garnacha Blanca and Malvasia added in. It is aged in very large oak vats allowing it to keep its distance from the wood and thus retain its freshness and acidity. The flavours of stone fruit are full and round, reminding us of a Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc. This wine would pair well with seafood paella or a creamy Dungeness crab risotto.
MARQUÉS DE CÁCERES RIOJA ROSADO
$20 at Everything Wine
We remember when this rosé was done in a darker, more Tavel style. There is an unfortunate trend in the wine industry to go with what is popular and presently, when it comes to rosés, it is having them undergo less skin contact so they look more like the ubiquitous, paler wines of Provence. In our opinion, the more extracted rosés from this bodega’s past tasted better than the current day offering. Nevertheless, it is still a very pleasant and refreshing wine with vibrant flavours of strawberry and some interesting spice notes. It is a blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha and comes in at a reasonable price point. We tasted this Rosado in August on the patio, so put this on your list for next summer.
HACIENDA LÓPEZ DE HARO RIOJA 2018 RESERVA
$32 at Everything Wine
A blend of Tempranillo and Graciano, this wine was aged in one- to threeyear-old French oak barrels for 20 months before bottling. It has lovely aromas of ripe raspberries, vibrant flavours of dark red fruit and a round and creamy texture. There are some wines that are best described as being “easy to drink” and this is one of them. Enjoy this wine with some chorizo and patatas bravas or, as we did, a plate of bucatini all’amatriciana.
ENDNOTE
1. We paid about $125 per bottle at the time, which was a stretch. The 2009 vintage is available at the Cambie Street BC Liquor Store for $466.
NEWS FROM BC LAW INSTITUTE
By Karen Campbell*
While much of the law reform work at the BC Law Institute (“BCLI”) results in our reports and publications, there are other ways in which our efforts contribute to modernizing laws. Some examples of these initiatives are our recently launched Mathew Good Memorial Prize essay contest for law students and our attendance at the Uniform Law Conference of Canada (“ULCC”) annual meeting. We discuss both these activities here and share news of two new publications: our updated pension division guide and the release of our study paper on Indigenous-led conflict resolution.
MATHEW GOOD MEMORIAL PRIZE ESSAY CONTEST
In February 2025, with the support of Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia (“CBABC”), we launched the first annual Mathew Good Memorial Prize, an essay contest for law students. The contest will provide an award of $1,000 every year for a B.C. law student essay on law reform and access to justice. The contest closed in May, and in July, Manjot K. Sekhon was announced as the first winner. Her paper, “Balancing the Scales: The Need for Reform of Judicial Guidelines to Balance Support for Self-Represented Litigants and Uphold Public Confidence”, explores how the judicial system can better address the needs of self-represented litigants while upholding public confidence. It explores the challenges faced by judges as decisionmakers, examines the broader impact of self-represented litigants on the legal system, and proposes reforms. Read her essay at <https://www.bcli. org/matgoodprize2025>.
The Mathew Good Memorial Prize is presented by BCLI in memory of Mathew Good, a former BCLI board member and CBABC member. Mat was
*Karen Campbell is the executive director of BCLI.
a brilliant lawyer who practised commercial litigation and class actions with Good Barrister in Vancouver. He was a prolific volunteer in the legal profession and demonstrated a deep commitment to supporting legal education and to advancing access to justice. Beyond excelling in the law, Mat’s proudest achievement was his family—being a husband to Claire Hunter, K.C., and a father to their two children, Zoë and Olin. Mat passed away in 2023, at the age of 37, after being diagnosed with cancer.
ULCC’S 2025 ANNUAL MEETING
The ULCC held its 107th annual meeting in Halifax in August 2025. I attended as a member of the B.C. delegation and took part in the Civil Section and plenary sessions. I also enjoyed playing in the ULCC’s traditional East-West baseball game, where the West won!
The ULCC is the oldest law reform body in Canada. All provincial and territorial governments as well as the federal government participate in and support its work. The ULCC began in 1918 as an initiative of the Canadian Bar Association, which is still integrally involved in its activities. Representatives from the private bar are often included in the official delegations, and practitioners take part throughout the rest of the year in ULCC working groups where uniform legislation is developed. The working groups report their progress through their chairpersons at the annual meeting, and new uniform Acts are approved there. Delegates are chosen by the Attorney General of each jurisdiction, and the venue of the annual meeting rotates among the federal, provincial and territorial capitals.
The ULCC has two sections, civil and criminal. They operate somewhat differently, although the two sections occasionally run joint projects. The Criminal Section provides a federal/provincial/territorial forum for prosecutors, defence counsel, legal academics specializing in criminal law, and criminal justice policy advisers in government to discuss substantive and operational issues in criminal justice and recommend legislative reform. The Criminal Section also has working groups that develop legislative and policy recommendations on specific issues throughout the year.
The Civil Section is concerned with furthering harmonization of provincial and territorial laws by identifying areas where consistent legislation is most needed or desirable, and developing uniform Acts recommended to the jurisdictions for enactment. Its working groups involve private practitioners, lawyers working in government, law reform agency personnel, and legal academics and are increasingly interdisciplinary in membership.
Uniform Acts are drafted by legislative counsel and are annotated with commentaries prepared by the working group explaining the policy under-
lying their provisions. Over its 107-year history, the ULCC has left a deep mark on the statute books of all jurisdictions in Canada.
Uniform legislation was not presented at this year’s annual meeting because none of the current projects were at the final drafting stage. The Civil Section received status reports from eight working groups carrying out projects on non-disclosure agreements, defamation in the digital environment, intestate succession, class actions, joint ventures, hybrid organizations (corporations combining social and business enterprise), the legal definition of charity, and enforcement of foreign judgments.
The Criminal Section considered 29 resolutions on a wide range of matters including revocation of probation orders, victim impact statements, addition of some firearms offences to the list of primary designated offences for taking a DNA sample, and addition of a new offence of bringing contraband into a carceral institution.
A final report was received from a working group on ss. 278.1-278.4 of the Criminal Code, as well as progress reports from three working groups on statutory exemptions to mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, juries and hearings on fitness to stand trial, and restrictions on publication.
The two sections received a status report on a joint project on the treatment of animals in Canadian law that has as its focus provincial search and seizure powers and interprovincial enforcement of orders prohibiting offenders from keeping animals.
The two sections also came together for the Earl Fruchtman Memorial Seminar held at each annual meeting. This year the seminar took the form of a panel presentation organized by the host jurisdiction, Nova Scotia, on the necessity of improving the response of the justice system and society at large to gender-based violence. Delegates were invited to join the Moose Hide Campaign, aimed at eliminating violence against women and children, and which started in British Columbia.
BCLI has a long history of collaboration with the ULCC. Former executive director Arthur Close, Q.C., was at different times the chair of the Civil Section and president of the ULCC. He was also the longest-serving delegate to the ULCC, having attended its annual meetings for over 40 years. Two other former executive directors, Jim Emmerton and Kathleen Cunningham, successively chaired the ULCC working group that produced a modernized Uniform Vital Statistics Act addressing registration and privacy issues arising from assisted reproduction, gender transition, recording of Indigenous names, and other concerns. BCLI provided much of the research that fed into that project. BCLI personnel have taken part in many ULCC working groups, including those that produced the Uniform Trustee Act, the Uniform
Civil Enforcement of Money Judgments Act, the common law version of the Uniform Informal Public Appeals Act, and its successor, the Uniform Benevolent and Community Crowdfunding Act, to name only a few. BCLI intends to continue to contribute to the ULCC’s mission of interjurisdictional law reform and harmonization.
NEW BCLI PUBLICATION PROVIDES UPDATED ANSWERS TO YOUR PENSION DIVISION QUESTIONS
We have just published the fifth edition of BCLI’s Questions and Answers about Pension Division on the Breakdown of a Relationship in British Columbia. The Q+A is the definitive resource for lawyers, pension administrators and others navigating the legal issues that arise when a spousal relationship breaks down and the family property to be divided includes benefits in a pension plan. The fifth edition of the Q+A takes into account recent amendments to part 6 of the Family Law Act and the Division of Pensions Regulation, which have (among other things) significantly changed the rules for annuities, commuted value (transfer and calculation), locked-in retirement accounts and life income funds, transitions and waiving survivor benefits after pension commencement. This update was generously funded in part by lawyers in the pension law field, and we are grateful for this support. You can find it on the BCLI website.
NEW PUBLICATION EXPLORES INDIGENOUS-LED APPROACHES TO CONFLICT RESOLUTION
In July 2025, we released Navigating Shared Waters: A Study Paper on Indigenous-Led Conflict Resolution. This study paper, published through our Reconciling Crown Legal Frameworks Program, looks at the important role that conflict resolution plays within Indigenous legal orders. It explores how Indigenous peoples are using their laws to resolve disputes and the challenges that arise when these systems interact with state laws. It draws on research, legal analysis and conversations with those involved in developing Indigenous-led conflict resolution processes. The publication, which can be accessed on the BCLI website, reflects our ongoing commitment to transformative law reform that aligns with United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
ANNOUNCING THE 2026 ADVOCATE SHORT FICTION COMPETITION
ELIGIBLE CONTRIBUTORS
Any person who is now, or has been, a member of the Law Society of British Columbia (including lawyers, judges and masters) or who is an articled student. Contest judges and the “staff” of the Advocate are ineligible to contribute.
ELIGIBLE FICTION
A fictional work, written in English, to a strict maximum of 2,500 words that deals, if only incidentally, with legal subject matter and that includes at least two place names in British Columbia other than Vancouver or Victoria. The contributor must be the author of the work, which must be entirely original and must not ever have been published or submitted for publication or consideration in a writing competition elsewhere.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS
The close of business on Friday, September 4, 2026. Submissions will not be returned, so authors should maintain copies of their work.
FORMAT FOR SUBMISSIONS
Two double-spaced, typed manuscript copies, each with a separate cover sheet bearing the work’s title together with its author’s name, address, daytime telephone number and a word count. The author’s name should not appear anywhere on or in the manuscript itself, as all submissions will be judged anonymously, strictly on literary merit.
ADDRESS FOR SUBMISSIONS
Advocate Short Fiction Competition
c/o D. Michael Bain, K.C., Editor
The Advocate #1918 – 1030 West Georgia Street Vancouver, B.C. V6E 2Y3
JUDGES
David Roberts, K.C., Anne Giardini, K.C., and Peter Roberts, K.C. The decisions of the judges as to the literary merit of the contributions shall be final.
PRIZES
First prize:$400 gift certificate at a local book store and publication in the Advocate
Second prize:$250 gift certificate at a local book store and possible publication in the Advocate
Third prize:$100 gift certificate at a local restaurant and possible publication in the Advocate
Winning entries will be selected by, at the latest, February 12, 2027. Contest judges may award fewer than three prizes if, in their judgment, they consider it appropriate.
All submissions, including winning entries, will also be considered for possible publication by the Vancouver Bar Association or an independent publisher in a selection of “legal fictions” to be released at a later date.
TRANSFER OF RIGHTS
In consideration of having their fiction reviewed for:
(a) possible selection as winning entries;
(b) possible publication in the Advocate; and
(c) possible inclusion in a selection of submissions to be published in book form;
contributors agree upon submitting their work that the Vancouver Bar Association (publisher of the Advocate), or its licensee, shall have the sole and exclusive right, in Canada and for a period of 15 years, to print, publish and sell their work in such form or forms as the Vancouver Bar Association may in its discretion consider appropriate, such right to revert automatically to all contributors whose works of fiction are not selected as winning entries or for inclusion in the selection of submissions to be published.
Contributors further undertake, if required by the Vancouver Bar Association, to execute both a written assignment in order to confirm the transfer of rights described above to the Vancouver Bar Association and a waiver of the moral rights attached to their work, should their work be selected for publication in the Advocate as a winning entry or for inclusion in a selection of submissions to be published in book form. All proceeds or royalties, if any, from the sales of such a selection will be paid to the benefit of the Vancouver Bar Association, a non-profit organization.
PETER A. ALLARD SCHOOL OF LAW FACULTY NEWS
By Heidi Wudrick*
MEET ALLARD LAW’S EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION TEAM
In September 2024, a new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (“EDI”) Office launched at Allard Law. Supported by a gift from the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the EDI Office works collaboratively with students, faculty and staff to support education, training and initiatives focused on antiracism and building an inclusive environment. Mio Tomisawa (Senior Manager, EDI) and Carlos Nunez (Coordinator, EDI) discussed their new team’s work to foster community and belonging at Allard Law.
How will the Allard Law community benefit from the EDI Office?
Nunez: The Allard community benefits in several ways. We aim to create initiatives that foster belonging and understanding, provide resources and support for students facing systemic challenges, and advocate for policies that promote fairness and inclusion. Throughout the year, we offer workshops and training sessions to equip students—as well as staff and faculty— with tools to challenge biases and foster more inclusive environments. Whether through workshops, events or simply having a safe space to share their experiences, we aim to empower students and help them feel seen and heard.
How does the EDI team support students in feeling a sense of belonging at Allard Law?
Tomisawa: Our team is supporting a number of new initiatives at Allard Law focused on fostering equity and belonging, spanning from efforts to further increase representational diversity in admissions to initiatives that promote inclusion and support students’ academic success.
* Heidi Wudrick is the communications manager at the Peter A. Allard School of Law.
This year, our office helped support a first-year academic success program with the UBC Black Law Students’ Association and Professor Nikos Harris, hosting a range of workshops covering exam preparation, how to review cases and preparing for moots.
The IDEA Leaders program, which launched in August 2024, is another program that welcomes students from diverse backgrounds to join a cohort of emerging leaders in the legal field. Participants take part in a three-day pre-orientation and are offered year-long programming to support the firstyear experience and foster a strong, connected community.
This past year, we also created a centralized repository of EDI resources for students, faculty and staff, offering information and tools related to equity, well-being and building inclusive communities.
What are your team’s current priorities for advancing EDI at Allard Law?
Nunez: Our team’s priorities focus on structural change and community engagement. One of our key goals is to foster a stronger sense of belonging and inclusion for students from equity-deserving groups by creating more consistent and meaningful opportunities for dialogue, feedback and connection.
We also prioritize faculty and staff development. We’re currently planning tailored EDI training sessions that address issues such as gender equity and inclusive pedagogy, designing anti-racist and inclusive curriculum, and creating an inclusive workplace culture. We believe that building capacity across all levels is essential for sustaining cultural and systemic change.
Another major priority is working closely with student affinity groups to ensure that their voices shape our programming and policy development.
Lastly, we’re reviewing internal procedures and practices to identify where inclusion barriers still exist and ensure that equity is embedded in everyday decision-making.
How would you describe your approach to building a more inclusive community?
Tomisawa: Our approach is highly collaborative. Building an inclusive community takes effort from everyone, and we’re making it a priority to work closely with students, faculty and other groups at Allard Law. Since our launch, we’ve hosted a number of listening sessions, where we’ve had candid conversations with students, faculty and staff, which have helped shape our upcoming initiatives and training. EDI work is not always easy, but I really value being able to build relationships with the community to create changes and opportunities. Seeing the enthusiasm for our office and how we can support students has also been exciting.
We also strongly encourage the Allard Law community to get in touch with our team to share ideas for initiatives or events that our office could help collaborate on.
UVIC LAW FACULTY NEWS
By David Murphy*
NEW INDIGENOUS LAW WING OPENS AT UVIC
After almost three years of construction, the University of Victoria Faculty of Law’s new Indigenous Law wing has opened its doors.
Since 1975 UVic Law has pushed the boundaries of legal education. Today, the faculty leads in Indigenous and environmental law, experiential learning and innovative pedagogy while continuing the path set by our founders 50 years ago: to do law differently.
* David Murphy, Communications, is with UVic Law.
Indigenous Law wing at UVic Law – interior
This Coast Salish-inspired 2,440 square metre addition to the Murray and Anne Fraser Building does just that. The wing provides classrooms and spaces appropriate for teaching and learning Indigenous Law in the joint degree program in Canadian Common Law and Indigenous Legal Orders program (“JD/JID”). It also houses purpose-built space for the Environmental Law Centre, the Indigenous Laws Research Unit, the Access to Justice Centre for Excellence and the Business Law Clinic.
“We’re thrilled to see the building come to life,” says Freya Kodar, dean of law. “The space will support our students and community by integrating Indigenous knowledge and traditions, help enrich our programming and pedagogy to create a more inclusive learning experience, and serve as a centre for conversation, research, education and training about Indigenous law.”
The new Indigenous Law wing responds to the 94 Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (“TRC”), particularly Call to Action 50, which recommends “establishment of Indigenous law institutes for the development, use, and understanding of Indigenous law and access to justice in accordance with the unique cultures of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.” This space advances the TRC’s vision, which sees law as living in the historic and contemporary practices of Indigenous peoples and embedded in the stories, languages, customs, constitutions and lifeways of Indigenous communities.
“Indigenous peoples have maintained vital relationships with the places they have inhabited since time immemorial. These places, deeply imbued with meaning and identity, are sources of law and necessary inspiration for legal reasoning,” says Sarah Morales, JD/JID Program Director and Associate Dean Indigenous.
The new wing was purpose-built to welcome, gather, learn, practise and share Indigenous legal knowledge and traditions in a space centring Indigenous voice. Thirteen stories heard from local First Nations during consultation were translated into design elements and narratives that shape all aspects of the space. This process and its design features were recognized in a 2023 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence for the building’s design.
Engagement with local Indigenous communities was based on longstanding relationships that the university and faculty have maintained for many years. Engagement started in 2015 with hereditary and elected leadership, community members and Elders from Xwseps əm/Esquimalt Nation and Songhees Nation, as well as WSÁNEC and Elders who work with UVic’s Office of Indigenous and Academic Community Engagement. The process was designed to advise local Indigenous communities of the project, provide an opportunity for input and show the community members we consulted how their feedback informed the building’s design.
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One story heard during consultation was the Coast Salish importance of honouring the cedar tree and all that it provides. Inside, the second-floor balcony references the practise of peeling bark on a cedar tree, while the proximity of the forest to the windows of the new wing creates an experience of physical immersion in trees and nature—bringing the outside in.
The landscape design and building construction teams used a retain, replace and reuse strategy for both existing and felled trees. The building location was chosen to preserve mature trees, and trees removed from the location are now repurposed as columns inside the new wing. Where trees were removed, replacement trees are being planted, and landscaping is being restored with native plants.
Another principle heard in the consultations was the Water Story. Water is a gift, and the architects incorporated into the structure the importance of rain and how it nourishes life. Integration of stormwater management into the slope of the river-shaped roof allows rainwater to collect in rain gardens that border circulation paths around the building.
The new wing also includes an outdoor learning classroom, honouring the way Indigenous peoples have learned for thousands of years prior to institutional education; a Sky Classroom; an Elders’ Garden; and a circular Small Gathering Space that prioritizes acoustics rather than technology to promote oral storytelling, dialogue and deliberation.
All these design concepts are integrated to encourage students, staff and faculty to find inspiration in the natural environment and Indigenous knowledge. But the new wing not only inspires through stories translated to architecture—it is an essential Indigenous-informed space needed for the next generation of Indigenous thought leaders to effect change.
“This physical structure represents a sanctuary where our laws, which enable us to be peoples, will be safe, and where both Indigenous and nonIndigenous students will learn about those laws, creating the foundation to a multijuridical Canada,” says professor and Law Foundation chair in Indigenous Justice and Governance Val Napoleon.
To that end, the new Indigenous Law wing will host the fifth graduating class of the JD/JID program in 2026. Launched in 2018, the program incorporates two degrees; a Canadian common law degree, and a second degree—a JID (Juris Indigenarum Doctor) in Indigenous Legal Orders—the first of its kind in the world.
Much like the spirit of the consultation process for the new Indigenous Law wing, the JD/JID is involved and immersed in community: for example, working on community-led projects grounded in a particular Indigenous legal order.
So far, field schools have taken place with Cowichan Tribes, Shuswap Nation Tribal Council, Dene communities in the Northwest Territories (Pedzeh Ki First Nation, Łíídlíí Kúé First Nation, and the umbrella organization of both First Nations, Dehcho First Nations), up Island in Kwakiutl and Kwakwaka’wakw territory, and in Rama (Chippewas of Rama First Nation).
The Environmental Law Centre Clinic (“ELC”) follows this same roadmap of community engagement. Under lawyer supervision, ELC students work with the public to understand and respond to environmental law issues. Approximately forty per cent of ELC clients are Indigenous nations, individuals or organizations. This year, for example, the ELC deepened its support for Indigenous-led approaches to watershed governance, Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (“IPCAs”) and other ecological responsibilities.
The Indigenous Laws Research Unit (“ILRU”) further advances community-led self-determination by partnering with Indigenous communities seeking to re-articulate their laws to address challenges they face today.
These experiential research and learning hubs are now all situated in a purpose-built space in the new wing which allows for continual collaboration and growth.
Serving as a unifying symbol that weaves together all these layered themes is the canoe. A story heard from Elder Doug LaFortune in consultation is that the canoe is a welcoming symbol in many nations and cultures who relied on the vessel for their livelihoods.
As a result, the Laughing Bear Canoe, a 22 ft dug-out canoe by Stz’uminus artist John Marston, will be suspended from the ceiling outside the large ceremonial gathering space. Through two-storey windows, it will be visible from UVic’s ring road and framed by a Coast Salish paddle pattern imprinted on the building’s green exterior concrete panels. In this way, the canoe connects community, law school, the physical building and the land and surrounding waters.
Adding this and other art in the new wing is critically important as Indigenous art has recorded Indigenous laws for time immemorial.
The new Indigenous Law wing is embedded with artistic and architectural motifs, rich with stories in Indigenous legal orders. But the best way to understand the building’s story in full is to experience it; come walk the path at the new Indigenous Law building.
UVic Law thanks the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia for its funding in support.
TRU LAW FACULTY NEWS
By Ryan Gauthier*
This update is drafted at the end of August, as Kamloops bakes under the pressure of 38°C days. Meanwhile, TRU Law professors are baking under the pressure of a full class of new students joining TRU Law this year. Although that is probably just the author. Regardless, before focusing on the great things the students will be doing throughout the school year, summer gives us a chance to reflect on one new TRU Law initiative, and the scholarship that the TRU Law professors have produced over the past year.
TRU LAW LAUNCHES PROVINCIAL COURT JUDICIAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM
In January 2026, TRU Law will become the second B.C. law school to have a Provincial Court judicial internship program. The program, modelled after the long-running Peter A. Allard School of Law initiative, will provide third-year students with an opportunity to spend a full semester working alongside Provincial Court judges while earning academic credit towards their law degrees.
Students will receive specialized training from judges covering critical areas of judicial practice, including judicial independence, judgment writing, sentencing principles, Youth Court procedures and child protection matters. This classroom learning will be complemented by practical experience through research projects, preparing legal memoranda, attending trials and other court proceedings, and providing research assistance to support judicial decision-making.
The program includes opportunities for students to accompany judges and court parties to remote registries throughout British Columbia for cir-
* Ryan Gauthier is an associate professor at the TRU Law Faculty of Law. In the summer of 2025, he started running in his local Parkrun. Although, if we are being accurate, it is more of a “Park trundle” for him.
cuit court sittings, offering invaluable exposure to how justice is delivered in rural and Indigenous communities across the province.
The TRU Law program’s first cohort will comprise three students: Elizabeth Carney, Daniel Bunting and Debbie Mistry, who will be placed in the Kamloops, Kelowna and Prince George courthouses, respectively.
We would like to thank the Provincial Court of British Columbia for continuing to expand experiential learning opportunities for law students in British Columbia. In particular, Judge Greg Koturbash, Regional Administrative Judge for the Interior Region, along with Laura DeVries, legal counsel in the Integrated Judicial Services department, have been instrumental in launching this program. Special thanks also to Lisa Martz of the Peter A. Allard School of Law for generously sharing her expertise and experience.
TRU LAW FACULTY SCHOLARSHIP
Assistant Professor Ashley Barnes
Ashley contributed to a major review (hosted by the American Journal of International Law [“AJIL”] and AJIL Unbound) of reparations for violations of international law. Her contribution, titled “Commonalities of Recent Reparations Practice: Reflections on a Wider Legal Sensibility”, explored innovative approaches to remedies in areas ranging from international criminal justice to climate change. She found that these remedies are fundamentally changing expectations for access to justice in international law.
Ashley also released, in the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, her annual review and analysis of case law developments in private international law covering jurisdictional conflicts, recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments, and choice of law issues.
Professor Rob Chambers
Rob published the fifth edition of his book on Australian property law, appropriately titled An Introduction to Property Law in Australia, 5th ed (Law Book Co., 2025). The book provides an updated account of new developments in legislation, case law and academic opinion, and adds a brief introduction to cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens. It covers areas such as company shares, intellectual property, native title (as it is called in Australia), natural resources, and succession on death. It also deals with various sources of property rights from adverse possession to unjust enrichment. It does all of this while maintaining a plain language style.
Rob also published a chapter in a collection of essays in honour of the late Steve Smith, who was the James McGill Professor of Law at McGill University and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. The chapter is titled
“Trusts as Remedies”, and is in the collection Understanding Private Law: Essays in Honour of Stephen A Smith (Hart Publishing, 2025). The chapter examines trusts as remedies and as responses to unjust enrichment in light of Steve’s claim in his book, Rights, Wrongs, and Injustices: The Structure of Remedial Law (Oxford, 2019), that unjust enrichment does not give rise to a duty to make restitution, but merely a liability that will trigger a court to order the defendant to make restitution.
Professor Robert Diab
Robert has been writing about artificial intelligence (“AI”) and topics in constitutional law. In relation to AI, his article “The Evolving Role of AI in Legal Judgment” will appear in Law, Innovation and Technology this winter. Meanwhile, an article titled “Vavilov and Generative AI” is forthcoming in the Alberta Law Review . Robert also recently published “Too Dangerous to Deploy: The Challenge Language Models Pose to Regulating AI in Canada and the EU” in the UBC Law Review.
In the area of constitutional law, Robert wrote a piece titled “What Is Most Bothersome About Section 33: Or What Hasn’t Yet Been Said” in Constitutional Forum and a piece titled “Intrinsic Human Equality: A Critical Overview of Recent and Historical Theory” in the Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics & Public Policy. More recently, Robert has been following new law in search and seizure, with “Bill C-2 Backgrounder: New Search Powers in the Strong Borders Act and Their Charter Compliance” appearing in Criminal Law Quarterly and “A Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Dealings with Police Undercover: The Need for Clarity and Correction” in the Manitoba Law Review
Associate Professor Ryan Gauthier
Ryan published a chapter examining the Hockey Canada governance crisis of 2022. Titled “When ‘Legally Good Enough’ is Not Enough: Non-Disclosure Agreements and the Hockey Canada Governance Crisis”, the chapter examines the governance crisis. The chapter finds that although the Hockey Canada board did not do anything legally incorrect, its governance, and sport governance in Canada more generally, suffered from serious shortcomings. The chapter appears in the Routledge Handbook on Sports Law and Governance
Associate Professor Krish Maharaj
Over the past year, Krish has continued exploring the interplay between contractual good-faith duties, limitation clauses and remedies in Canadian contract law. His forthcoming article, “How Do Limitation Clauses, Damages, and Good Faith Duties Align?”, will appear in the Canadian Bar
Review. The piece examines three key issues: what damages are appropriate for breaches of generally applicable good-faith duties as identified in Bhasin v. Hrynew; the proper measures of loss where contractual discretion must be exercised in good faith; and the interaction between those duties and limitation clauses. The article concludes that damages for breaches of goodfaith duties should be recoverable even in the presence of a valid limitation clause, and provides a principled rationale for such an approach.
Krish also contributed to the 2025 CLEBC Annual Review of Law and Practice , co-authoring Chapter 13 (“Contracts”) with Professor Bruce MacDougall. In that chapter, they analyze and highlight the significance of several recent decisions from the Supreme Court of Canada and British Columbia courts. Notable cases discussed include Scott v. Golden Oaks Enterprises Inc., 2024 SCC 32, which addresses illegality in contract; Earthco Soil Mixtures Inc. v. Pine Valley Enterprises Inc., 2024 SCC 20, which examines contractual interpretation and sale of goods legislation; and Re Alderbridge Way GP Ltd., 2024 BCSC 1433, which considers standstill agreements, the duty of honest performance, and the duty to exercise contractual discretion in good faith.
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“Winchel Sea I” by Magdalena Johnson, Acrylic on Canvas, 36'' x 36'', 2025
Available at Kurbatoff Gallery, 2435 Granville St., Vancouver
Visit the website: kurbatoffgallery.com
THE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S PAGE
By the Honourable Niki Sharma, K.C.*
GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: IMPLICATIONS FOR THE JUSTICE SYSTEM
British Columbia continues to grapple with the pervasive and deeply entrenched issue of gender-based violence, particularly sexual and intimate partner violence. Despite ongoing reforms, the justice system remains inaccessible and, at times, retraumatizing for many survivors. The legal community must confront the reality that systemic barriers persist, undermining the principles of fairness, equity and access to justice.
Data from Statistics Canada reveals that British Columbia has the highest reported rates of sexual assault in Canada, with thirty-seven per cent of women and eleven per cent of men indicating they have experienced sexual assault since the age of 15. Yet only five per cent of women report these incidents to police. Indigenous women are disproportionately affected, with sixty-three per cent reporting experiences of physical or sexual assault. Between 2014 and 2022, intimate partner sexual assault rose by one hundred sixty-three per cent, and women in remote communities face violence at more than four times the rate of those in accessible regions.
Survivors often choose not to report due to fear of being dismissed, retraumatized or not believed. These systemic failures have prompted widespread concern from survivors, advocates and community leaders.
These figures underscore the urgent need for a justice system that is trauma-informed, survivor-centred and responsive to the unique challenges posed by gender-based violence. Legal professionals, policymakers and institutions must recognize that these are not exceptional cases—they are systemic issues requiring coordinated and sustained legal reform. The gov-
* The Honourable Niki Sharma, K.C., is British Columbia’s Attorney General and Deputy Premier.
ernment acknowledges the seriousness of this crisis and is committed to treating it with the sustained attention it deserves.
THE STANTON REPORT: A LEGAL SYSTEM REVIEW
In response to these concerns, I commissioned Dr. Kim Stanton to conduct a comprehensive review of the criminal justice system’s response to sexual and intimate partner violence. Her findings, published in the Stanton Report,1 provide a critical legal analysis of systemic shortcomings and offer a roadmap for reform.
The report affirms longstanding concerns raised by survivors and frontline advocates: gender-based violence is chronically underreported and often met with procedural and evidentiary barriers that impede access to justice. Dr. Stanton’s recommendations include:
•updating strategic provincial policies, including the Violence Against Women in Relationships (“VAWIR”) policy, and a sexual assault policy;
•limiting the use of myths and stereotypes in judicial proceedings;
•enhancing testimonial supports for survivors; and
•improving access to protective orders through clearer, more navigable legal processes.
To operationalize these recommendations, the province is establishing a cross-ministry committee of assistant deputy ministers tasked with reviewing the report and identifying actionable reforms.
Additionally, the province is collaborating with federal counterparts to strengthen bail and sentencing provisions and address longstanding gaps in national protections against intimate partner violence. These efforts reflect a growing recognition that legal responses must be coordinated across jurisdictions and informed by survivor experiences.
LEGISLATIVE AND POLICY REFORMS UNDERWAY
While the Stanton Report highlights the need for a coordinated approach across the justice system, British Columbia has already begun implementing changes. One initiative is the multi-phase, multi-year Family Law Act Modernization Project, which predates the Stanton review but complements many of its findings. Work is already underway to develop reforms to the Family Law Act based on extensive consultation.2 These reforms aim, among other changes, to better protect people from intimate partner and family violence and ensure survivors have access to a justice system that truly works for them. Key proposed amendments include:
•updating the statutory definition of family violence;
•expanding eligibility for protection orders;
•extending the default duration of protection orders; and
•reducing procedural burdens on survivors seeking subsequent orders.
The cross-ministry committee has started work on redesigning the provincial policy (formerly VAWIR) to better reflect the current best practices and understanding of these issues.
These reforms are intended to enhance the responsiveness of both the family and criminal justice systems to instances of intimate partner violence. Through these efforts, the province is working to build a more inclusive, trauma-informed legal framework that supports people in vulnerable situations. This represents a coordinated effort to build a justice system that is more accessible, equitable and attuned to the realities of gender-based violence.
NEXT STEPS
The Ministry of Attorney General is currently reviewing Dr. Stanton’s recommendations to determine which reforms can be implemented immediately and which require longer-term legislative or structural changes. Priority will be given to measures that reduce harm in the legal process and improve system-wide coordination.
The cross-ministry committee will continue to guide implementation, and collaboration with federal partners will support harmonization of legal protections across jurisdictions. These reforms signal a pivotal moment for the legal community in British Columbia—one that demands thoughtful engagement, professional accountability and a shared commitment to justice for survivors. I look forward to providing additional information and updates in the coming months as we work to improve our legal process and improve system-wide coordination.
Survivors in British Columbia deserve a justice system that listens to, believes and supports them. Through coordinated efforts, legislative reform and survivor-centred policy, the province is taking meaningful steps to build a safer, more equitable future for all British Columbians.
ENDNOTES
1. Kim Stanton, Independent Systemic Review: The British Columbia Legal System’s Treatment of Intimate Partner Violence and Sexual Violence, Final Report (June 2025), online: <www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/ law-crime-and-justice/about-bc-justice-system/ justice-reform-initiatives/systemic-review/dr_kim _stantons_june_2025_final_report_-_independent_ systemic_review__the_british_columbia_legal_ systems_treatment_of_intimate_partner_violence_and _sexual_violence.pdf>.
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2. Ministry of the Attorney General, Phase 2: Care of and Time with Children and Protection from Family Violence Policy Intentions Paper, Family Law Act Modernization Project (August 2025), online: <engage.gov.bc.ca/app/uploads/sites/121/2025/ 08/FLA-Policy-Intentions-Paper.pdf>.
COURT NOTICES AND DIRECTIONS
By the Honourable Suzanne Anton, Q.C.*
The Provincial Court of British Columbia Notice Court Operations During FIFA World Cup 2026
Effective Date: 7 July 2025
Notice 35
BACKGROUND
The Provincial Court of British Columbia has been advised that many peace officers/police officers will be deployed for public safety, traffic control and crowd management during the FIFA World Cup 2026. This will limit the police’s ability to participate in criminal and traffic proceedings. It may also impact the BC Sheriff Service’s ability to support court operations, including transporting accused persons in custody to court. In addition, it is anticipated that travel in some areas of Vancouver will be significantly impacted, in particular travel to the downtown core may be severely restricted, which will affect the ability of Court personnel and participants in Court proceedings to travel to some Court locations.
The most significant impacts are expected from June 12 to July 8, 2026 (the “FIFA period”), which encompasses the matches that will be held in Vancouver. While Vancouver is only hosting 7 games, we have been advised that FIFA World Cup 2026 related activities and security measures will be continuous throughout this period of time.
While the Court will remain open during the FIFA World Cup 2026, there will be scheduling adjustments during the FIFA period at some court locations.
NOTICE
Impacted Court Locations
At this time, we do not know the extent to which policing agencies will be required to support FIFA events, but we anticipate Court scheduling adjustments during the FIFA period at these Provincial Court locations in the Vancouver and Fraser Regions:
•Abbotsford
•Chilliwack
•New Westminster
•North Vancouver
•Pemberton
•Port Coquitlam
•Richmond
•Sechelt
•Surrey
•Vancouver Criminal Court (222 Main Street)
•Vancouver Civil Court (800 Hornby Street)
As continued contact between accused and the court is a key part of the Downtown Community Court (DCC) model, it is anticipated that DCC will continue to operate in the normal course to the extent possible.
The current plan is that other court locations not listed above will operate in the normal course.
Scheduling Adjustments in Impacted Court Locations
Below are the scheduling adjustments anticipated in the impacted court locations listed above. Please be aware that the Court’s ability to proceed as outlined below may change as we receive further information about measures adopted because of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
1.Criminal
Proceedings
There may be increased criminal trials in the months prior to FIFA provided there are available courtrooms, staff, counsel and other court participants.
Criminal trial dates currently scheduled during the FIFA period will generally need to be rescheduled. Judicial Case Managers will contact affected parties.
The Court anticipates that it will continue to conduct the following virtual hearings during the FIFA period where possible:
•Bail
•Pre-trial proceedings
•Dispositions and decisions
•Proceedings such as voir dires that do not require police attendance
Bail courtrooms in the Fraser and Vancouver Regions that are hybrid (listed in CRIM 05) will use virtual bail by default during the FIFA period.
2.Traffic Trials
Police officers usually conduct the prosecution in traffic trials. The court is assessing the police capacity to conduct prosecutions and anticipates significant reductions in traffic trials during the FIFA period in all of the impacted court locations.
3.Civil and Family Trials
The Court anticipates scheduling family and small claims proceedings provided there are available courtrooms, staff and counsel. During the FIFA period, the focus will be on hearing cases, including trials, which can proceed virtually.
Simplified trials will not be scheduled at the Richmond and Vancouver Civil Court locations during the FIFA period.
4.Urgent matters and emergency hearings
The Court will continue to be available for urgent matters and emergency hearings during the FIFA period, and where possible, will rely on virtual methods of attendance for all impacted parties.
Updated Information
Updates will be communicated on the Court’s website as the Court receives further information.
History of Practice Direction
• Original Notice dated July 7, 2025.
Melissa Gillespie Chief Judge Provincial Court of British Columbia
The Provincial Court of British Columbia Notice
Witness and Interpreter Oath or Affirmation
Effective Date: 30 July 2025
Notice 36
PURPOSE
The purpose of this Notice is to describe the process when a witness or interpreter wishes to swear an oath or make an affirmation using a religious or cultural item other than the Bible.
NOTICE
1.Before a witness for a party is called to give evidence, they will be required to swear an oath or affirm that the evidence they give is the truth.
2.The party calling the witness or the counsel for the party must find out in advance of the court proceeding whether the witness wishes to swear or affirm, and should inform the court of the witness’ preference.
3.A witness may swear or affirm on a religious or cultural item provided that the witness, the party calling the witness, or their counsel, make the arrangements in advance for the appropriate item to be available, and to inform the clerk and the Court of the procedure to be used.
4.Before an interpreter may provide interpretation, they must swear an oath or affirm that they will truly and correctly interpret the evidence and proceedings in court to the best of their skills and ability.
5.An interpreter may swear or affirm on a religious or cultural item provided that the interpreter makes the arrangements in advance for the appropriate item to be available, and informs the clerk and the Court of the procedure to be used.
6.In the event that:
a)a concern is raised by a party that the religious or cultural item a witness or interpreter intends to use is not compatible with the dignity and decorum of a court proceeding, or
b)a court clerk or sheriff is of the belief that the religious or cultural item presents a safety concern for the Court, court staff or public,
the party, court clerk or sheriff will notify the presiding judge or judicial justice and seek direction. History of Notice Original notice: July 30, 2025
History of Notice
• Original Notice dated July 30, 2025.
Melissa Gillespie Chief Judge Provincial Court of British Columbia
Supreme Court of British Columbia Court Operations – 2026 FIFA World Cup
The Court has been advised to expect very significant impacts for its operations during the period of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The important priorities of public safety and traffic and crowd management during the event will draw heavily on police resources in the Lower Mainland and potentially elsewhere in the province. For similar reasons, the BC Sheriff Service may have difficulty providing its usual level of support for court operations, including for the transport to court of accused persons in custody, for jury management, and for courthouse security. Downtown Vancouver and other areas of the Lower Mainland may see heavy traffic congestion. Hotel rooms may be difficult to secure for deliberating juries or for out-of-town witnesses. The full extent of the impacts is uncertain and will remain so for some time. We do know that the effects on the police and sheriff resources required to participate in or support the court’s operations will be substantial, particularly in respect of criminal trials and jury trials.
The Court is committed to ensuring that the Court maintains sufficient capacity to handle urgent matters and emergency hearings during the events and to protecting the safety and security of court participants, court proceedings and courthouses. Although the Court is concerned to continue its operations as fully as possible during the events, it also recognizes that some reduction is unavoidable.
This Notice sets out the adjustments seen at this time to be necessary for the period of June 12, 2026 to July 8, 2026 (the “FIFA period”) at the Van-
couver Law Courts, the New Westminster Law Courts, the Abbotsford Law Courts and the Chilliwack Law Courts. The Court understands and regrets the inconvenience these measures may cause to parties, counsel and the public.
Further updates will be provided, and potentially further adjustments made, as additional information becomes available.
All criminal jury trials and all judge alone criminal proceedings scheduled to begin or continue during the FIFA period will need to be rescheduled. If a judge has already been assigned to your criminal proceeding, please complete and submit a Request to Appear to schedule a case management conference with the assigned judge to discuss how the case will be rescheduled. If a judge has not yet been assigned to your criminal proceeding, please file a requisition to schedule a fix-date appearance to reschedule the proceeding. For cases with no assigned judge for which the rescheduling may require special consideration, please submit a Request to Appear to schedule a case management conference before the Associate Chief Justice to discuss how the case will be rescheduled.
No criminal jury selections will take place during the FIFA period.
2.Civil Jury Trials
No civil jury trials will be able to proceed during the FIFA period.
A party who filed a jury notice for a civil trial may convert the proceeding to a non-jury trial and retain the currently scheduled trial dates. Please note, however, that it may become necessary for the Court to reduce the number of non-jury civil trials as the FIFA period gets closer.
The Court will provide further directions by July 31, 2025 about the process for rescheduling a civil jury trial that is currently scheduled during the FIFA period.
3.Chambers Applications
The Court will continue to schedule chambers applications during the FIFA period; however, please be aware that the ability of the Court to proceed with chambers may also be impacted by measures adopted with respect to public safety, traffic management and crowd management.
Ron A. Skolrood Chief Justice
Supreme Court of British Columbia
Criminal Practice Direction Notice of Applications to Challenge Potential Jurors for Cause
Effective Date: 6 October 2025
Number: CPD - 11
APPLICATION OF THIS PRACTICE DIRECTION
1.This Criminal Practice Direction sets out the procedure for applications to challenge for cause each potential juror under s. 638(1)(b) of the Criminal Code on the basis that they are not impartial.
DIRECTION
2.This Practice Direction replaces Rule 2(7) of the Criminal Rules of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, SI/97-140, which is hereby repealed. The related Notice dated July 29, 1999, no longer applies.
3.A notice of application for leave to challenge for cause each potential juror on the basis that they are not impartial must be filed and delivered to any other parties at least 60 days before the date set for the jury selection, unless the Court otherwise directs. This reflects the time the sheriffs require to assemble a sufficiently large jury panel.
4.The notice of application must specify the grounds for the challenge in accordance with s. 639(1) of the Criminal Code, and the proposed question(s) to be put by the Court to each potential juror. Counsel are encouraged to consult in advance to try to reach agreement on the proposed question(s), and to limit the number of proposed questions to what is essential to identifying the lack of impartiality in question.
5.Any evidence in support of the application must be in the form of an affidavit filed with the notice of application unless a different timeline is agreed to by the respondent or directed by the court.
Heather J. Holmes Associate Chief Justice
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My friend and law school classmate Bob Metzger was a good man. His many, many friends are the better for having known him. We all miss him.
Bob was born in Port Arthur, now Thunder Bay, and completed high school there in 1959. After high school he worked for a bank and saved money to further his education. He attended Ryerson Institute (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and graduated in 1963 in business administration. After graduating he spent five years with Hudson’s Bay Company in merchandising and personnel. He then studied psychology at Simon Fraser University.
In addition to a series of jobs and careers before and during law school, he practised law, then served as a Provincial Court judge, the Associate Chief Judge, then Chief Judge of the Provincial Court, and a justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
Law school began in 1970. Grant Burnyeat, K.C., a classmate and colleague at the Supreme Court, wrote about Bob in the Advocate on the occasion of his appointment as Chief Judge.1 He records that in law school Bob had many part-time jobs: lecturing in public speaking in the Faculty of Commerce, serving as the moot court registrar, marking exams, doing research assistance duties and bartending at Cecil Green Park. These were in addition to his summer jobs at the Office of the Public Trustee and as a prison guard.
Bob articled at Lawrence and Shaw in Vancouver, then left for points north. He practised in Prince George with Wilson King, in Prince Rupert with his classmate Dave Smyth and then in Victoria. He was with Clay and
Company, then practised with Trudi Brown, K.C. His law practice was in the areas of family, youth, Superintendent of Child Welfare, corporate/commercial, civil litigation and criminal work both as defence counsel and on behalf of the Crown. His legal work took him to Vancouver, Victoria, Prince George, Masset, Queen Charlotte City, Terrace, Smithers, Williams Lake and Quesnel.
Then on April 10, 1980, at the age of 39, he was appointed to the Provincial Court. He sat in Comox, Duncan and Victoria. He served as administrative judge and in 1989 became Associate Chief Judge.
The Provincial Court was in a period of transition. The then-Chief Judge Bill Diebolt had introduced mediation to the court’s civil jurisdiction. Bob on his own initiative enrolled in mediation training at Harvard. He enthusiastically embraced this change.
Bob did an exemplary job as Chief Judge, which he became in 1995. He took mediation seriously. Under his leadership, new Family Court Rules were created, requiring mediation in all child custody and access cases. Similarly new Child Protection Rules were adopted, addressing disputes between parents with difficulties and social workers. Dennis Schmidt, the Associate Chief Judge at the time, noted at Bob’s memorial service that this made an enormous difference in cases where state intervention had taken place.
Bob next tackled the backlog of criminal trial lists. He assembled a group of experienced defence counsel, prosecutors and judges. They met for weeks and the result was the creation of the first Criminal Case Management Rules in Canada.
Judges are like the rest of society. Many are resistant to change. Bob introduced a large number of reforms while he was Chief Judge of the Provincial Court. He succeeded because of his leadership qualities and interpersonal skills.
Bob made a point of telephoning each of the 120 Provincial Court judges on their birthday and having a chat. He kept up this practice long after he left the court.
Bob made himself accessible to the media. He undertook training in media relations and developed relationships with members of the press. He was open to questioning about general court processes and hot topics. The court benefitted from a better informed media.
As chair of the Judicial Council of British Columbia, he made recommendations for 42 appointments. He worked hard to ensure that the appointments reflected gender equality and the multicultural reality of British Columbia.
On June 29, 2000, Bob became a justice of the Supreme Court and sat in Kelowna. I was appointed three years later. Not long after I had a long civil trial in Kelowna. Bob was a great mentor to me. He was full of common sense. He never took himself or his position too seriously. He set a very good example for a new judge.
In 2011, Ryerson honoured him with the conferral of an honourary doctorate of laws. Bob was thrilled. But in his self-deprecating way he told his friend Dennis Schmidt that he had sent them a change of address. When they saw he was a Supreme Court judge, they conferred the honorary doctorate “because it would look good on their resume”.
He later sat in Victoria, where there is always plenty of room for common sense. He retired from the Supreme Court for medical reasons in 2013.
Bob and I tried to develop our golf game. These efforts included attending a five-day workshop in Palm Springs. Let’s just say that neither of us achieved the measure of success that Bob achieved as Chief Judge of the Provincial Court or as a justice of the Supreme Court.
Bob is survived by his wife Dr. Susan Phillips, his son Will, his daughter Kat, and two granddaughters. He is also survived by his brother Jim.
The Honourable Stephen Kelleher, K.C.
ENDNOTE
1. “On the Front Cover: Chief Judge Robert Metzger” (1995) 53 Advocate 509.
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Leon Getz, K.C.
Leon Getz died peacefully at home on the morning of October 10, 2024. He was 88 years old.
Those who knew him are already thinking he would have preferred to edit this Nos Disparus or any in memoriam article or obituary himself, removing any superlatives or superfluity. Despite his prodigious intellect, Leon was humble, understated and often shy. He disliked the spotlight, though it often found him during an estimable legal career spanning nearly 60 years.
Leon was born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1936. He and his older brother, Sholem, credited rigorous dinner table conversation with develop-
ing their inquisitive and analytical minds. Although Leon’s father was a merchant, Leon often described him as a frustrated lawyer who subtly pushed both of his sons to study law.
Well, perhaps the push was not so subtle. Leon used to the tell the story that, when he and Sholem were teenagers, their father subscribed to the South African Law Reports and the South African Law Journal, both of which he used to read religiously. Then, according to the brothers, he would “provoke” them at the dinner table with whatever he had uncovered.
Inevitably, Leon graduated in 1958 with an LL.B. from the University of Cape Town. He went on to complete a master of laws at the London School of Economics in 1961 and a second LL.M. at Harvard in 1962.
From Harvard, Leon was hired into the law faculty at the University of British Columbia. He used to tell an incredible story about his journey to Vancouver, which even he sometimes thought he must have invented in his mind, it was so unlikely.
In August 1962, Leon decided he would drive from the East Coast of the United States to Vancouver, to take up his new position at UBC. As he recounted, each day of the drive he would start off very early in the morning, to avoid the sweltering summer heat. Mid-afternoon, he would find a place to stay for the night, preferring motels offering air conditioning.
One afternoon, somewhere in Illinois, he stopped at a small motel which advertised an air-conditioned bar, to go along with the air-conditioned rooms. After checking in, he made his way to the bar for a Coke, chatting with the bartender, when a fellow came in and asked if he could join them at the bar.
The man asked Leon where he was going, and Leon told him, “Vancouver.” “That’s odd,” the chap said, “I’ve just come from Vancouver. What are you going to do in Vancouver?” “I’ve just gotten a job at the university,” Leon responded. The man said, “I’ve just come from a job at the university. What are you going to do?” “I’m going to teach law,” Leon explained. “That’s extraordinary,” the man uttered, “because that’s what I did.” It turned out the fellow traveller was John Flackett, the law professor from England whom Leon was hired to replace on faculty.
Then Flackett said something Leon would never forget. Leon told Flackett he’d never been to the West Coast and asked what sort of place it was. Flackett said, “If I hear anybody talk about those f***ing mountains and trees again, I shall scream.”
Surrounded by those f***ing mountains and trees, Leon developed a reputation at UBC as a smart, engaging lecturer who cared for the success of his students, many of whom were not much younger than he was.
In 1966, while on a visit to Cape Town to visit his parents, he met Leila, who was to become his wife within the next few weeks, and together they returned to Vancouver. The telegram from the law faculty read out at their wedding said “Getz goes. Getz gets. Good God Getz!”
In 1973, Leon left UBC for the University of Toronto. A year later, no doubt pining for the mountains and trees, he was appointed chair of the B.C. Law Reform Commission and returned to Vancouver. He went on to chair the Corporate & Financial Services Commission, a precursor to the B.C. Securities Commission, where his reputation as a fair and fearless adjudicator with exceptional reasoning, communication and writing skills blossomed.
In 1979, Leon embarked on a career in private practice, beginning with Freeman & Company, where he articled and was called to the bar in 1980.
Leon became an in-demand corporate and securities lawyer, respected by clients and colleagues. He took great pride in being a lawyer, in embodying the principles set out in the Law Society’s Canons of Legal Ethics—probity, integrity, honesty and dignity.
Leon worked as an arbitrator, an adjudicator and a bencher of the Law Society, eventually becoming a life bencher. In 1991, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel. In 1992, he, Howard Karby, Dana Prince and Drew Wells started their own firm, Getz Karby, which eventually became Getz Prince Wells LLP.
Dana Prince recounts that during his articles at Freeman & Company, Dana sometimes used to sit in Leon’s office to observe—to watch and listen to him work—gaining insight into how to talk to clients, other lawyers, regulators, colleagues, even one’s spouse when they phoned: what to say, how to say it, and, importantly, what not to say or do. That included, according to Dana, not to answer the phone using only one’s surname. “Getz here” was classic Leon, and impossible to imitate, let alone incorporate into another person’s repertoire, so Dana advises that no one else should answer like that.
One thing Dana learned that a good lawyer could say is when they did not know the answer. He was initially surprised when he heard Leon tell clients that he did not know the answers to their questions. But Leon never shot from the hip or feigned knowledge he did not possess. He would just say, “I don’t know the answer to your question, but I will look it up and get back to you.” Dana reports that is a line he has borrowed many times during his legal career.
Many young lawyers tell stories of going for lunch with Leon in town. Lunch was often significantly delayed because the walk to get there was invariably interrupted by one or more lawyers or judges, all of whom wanted to say hello and have a meaningful engagement with him. For sev-
eral years during the ’80s and early ’90s, it was not an exaggeration to say that Leon had probably taught half of the members of the Vancouver bar.
Leon was known as a gifted writer and speaker. But he was an equally good listener. These skills helped Leon become an exceptional lawyer, arbitrator, panel chair and adjudicator. They also made him an exceptional friend, partner and mentor.
It was with great pride, in 2010, that Leon received the Peter S. Hyndman Mentorship Award from the Vancouver Bar Association, in recognition of his decades-long commitment to helping others uphold the values of his cherished ancient, honourable and learned profession. In his speech accepting the award, Leon told a story of the late Senator Farris, who took a Mediterranean cruise to recoup his energy after a difficult argument in the Supreme Court of Canada. Some weeks into the cruise, Farris received a cable from one of his juniors which read, “Justice triumphed,” to which the Senator replied, “Appeal at once.” Leon recounted that he thought of this story when he was notified that he was the recipient of the award because his first reaction was: “That must be a mistake. Why me?”
Of course, it was no mistake, and that mentorship was evident in many aspects of Leon’s professional and personal life. He was warm and lively and genuinely interested in other people and their exploits. Yet he rarely talked about himself. His curiosity and inquisitiveness were among his most essential qualities.
His entire family, and no doubt many of his students, shared the same experience after asking him a question about some academic or political matter, or issue in the news. His eyes would light up and he instantly went into Socratic, professor mode. And, of course, he would never just answer the question. Instead, his response was always to question the questioner— if so, why? If not, why not? This was intensely irritating, no doubt, to his wife and children, as well as to lecture halls full of law students. But Leon was a believer in the adage about teach a man to fish versus give a man a fish. His aim was never to answer the question. Rather, as he demonstrated through much of his life, whether as parent, professor or practitioner, he wanted to equip people to answer their own questions by engaging fully in the intellectual investigation on their own. This was the essence of his approach and his mentorship. And it has left a lasting impression on so many.
His children recount that one area where he was not afraid to weigh in was on writing. Many a time, as students, they made the fatal error of asking him to look at an essay, only to have him come back with half the thing crossed out, leading to the inevitable lecture about why use ten words when you could use two. Leon Getz was a word-count killer. He hated pretentious-
ness and indulgence. This, of course, was easy for him to say. Leon had a way with words—an economy and simplicity of style, but also a directness, clarity and ability to turn a phrase to get across just the right meaning.
Dana Prince remembered Leon this way:
Leon was an extraordinarily accomplished professor, lawyer, and arbitrator. He was the finest lawyer I’ve known—thoughtful, principled, and unfailingly modest about his many accomplishments. He had a brilliant legal mind and was a gifted writer, with a rare ability to bring clarity and insight to even the most complex issues. As an academic, he shaped generations of legal thinkers; as a law reformer, he helped modernize and improve the law; and as an arbitrator, he earned the respect of all who appeared before him for his fairness, insight, and precision. Leon approached every role with integrity and quiet dedication. His service to the profession as a Bencher reflected his deep commitment to the public good. Above all, Leon was a generous colleague and a trusted friend— someone whose wisdom and kindness left a lasting mark on all of us who had the good fortune to work with him.
Nothing gave Leon greater pride than the exploits of his family. There was no bigger backer of Leila or of the Vancouver Recital Society, which she founded with his legal, financial and moral support in 1980, to bring young classical musicians to Vancouver. He revelled in the accomplishments of his children and their families.
He also, oddly, enjoyed professional wrestling.
Leon’s intelligence, rectitude, wit and wry sense of humour will always fondly be remembered and cherished by those who knew him.
Daniel Getz
Thomas Barnett Marsh, K.C.
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Tom Marsh, after a long and fulfilling life, passed away in 2025 at the age of 90 years. Although he suffered from mobility issues during his last few years, he managed to overcome those obstacles. To the end, with the help of his niece Marnie, he continued to live in the West Vancouver house he built on the property where he grew up. As a bachelor, in many ways his family were his colleagues at the Department of Justice. After his retirement, he kept in touch, engaging in lengthy debates about the law, history and politics.
Tom was born in 1934 in Calgary, Alberta. His parents, Thomas and Ruth, emigrated from Devon, England, initially to New Brunswick. They later moved to Calgary, where Tom and his sister Glenda were born.
In 1946 the family moved to British Columbia, settling down in West Vancouver. Tom attended West Vancouver High School and later went to the University of British Columbia, obtaining a B.A. degree in history. During his undergraduate years, while Tom was serving as a cadet, the commanding officer of the squadron, law professor Ray Herbert, handed out applications and information about law school. Tom and his good friend Gary Griffiths applied and started law school in 1960, graduating in 1963; the two good friends attended the 50th reunion of their 1994 call to the B.C. bar.
Prior to and during his UBC studies, Tom worked as a freight checker and purser up north with two river cargo transportation companies. He initially worked on the M.V. Fort Hearne, the last wooden cargo ship of the Hudson’s Bay Company. It carried cargo from Fort McMurray to Fort Smith along a water route. Tom spent two years locating that ship’s auxiliary wheel, which he ultimately placed in his home. It was his pride and joy.
Tom also travelled on the M.V. Stuart Lake, a river tug which had three wooden barges for all kinds of cargo. It was known as the “Banana boat” as it carried fresh fruit to the north.
The northern trips began at Fort Nelson, British Columbia and went down the Nelson and Liard Rivers to join the MacKenzie River north of Great Slave Lake. Tom left the river on these trips at Tuktoyaktuk to work at the Northern Transportation Company’s base there.
The northern work and the natural beauty of the area left a lasting impression on Tom. He even wrote an article about his northern travels and the water transportation routes called “A Voyage in Time”, published in History, the official magazine of Canada’s National History Society.
Tom had a long and varied career at the Department of Justice. This was at first for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development as a legal advisor, starting in May 1968, until they merged with the Department of Justice in May 1970. He transferred to the Vancouver regional office in 1976.
In 1977 he was appointed the director of the Vancouver Property and Commercial law section, supervising numerous lawyers until 1981.
He then became the special legal advisor for complex commercial transactions and property law issues. Given that in 1982 Canada’s constitution was patriated and s. 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 recognized and affirmed existing Aboriginal rights, including land title rights, this became a critical part of Tom’s responsibilities.
Ann Doyle, a lawyer who worked with Tom, describes him as having a legendary capacity for understanding complex property issues and the extent of government power and authority. She remembers Tom as a person with a big heart, but one who was also courageous and prepared to give advice even when he knew it would not be well received.
Tom’s handwriting was notoriously difficult to read; he wrote with a fountain pen and his sentences and opinions were lengthy, often unbroken by paragraphs. Ann remembers one occasion on which Tom presented his assistant with a very long handwritten opinion, pages taped together, rolled up like an ancient scroll and tied with a bow.
Tom worked intensively with a team of lawyers on one of his greatest legal contributions to property law in the government of Canada: the drafting and eventual enactment of the Federal Real Property Act, now called the Federal Real Property and Federal Immovables Act, S.C. 1991, c. 50. That statute was the most complete reform of federal real property law in a century.
Prior to that reform, Canada’s real property dealings had been hamstrung by antiquated legislation and needless regulations. Obtaining a Crown grant of land could easily take six months and require an order in council. The reform simplified the way Canada, the largest landholder in the country, leases, sells and manages real property. Tom was instrumental in creating a desk book on the new legislation. It includes advice and a set of modern conveyancing documents for the implementation of the legislation.
Tom was the last repository of the account of how the regional offices came into being. In 1960 the Glassco Commission was established to report
on how to better organize the federal government. One of its recommendations was for the creation of regional Department of Justice offices across cities in Canada, where criminal and civil litigation warranted it.
The Minister of Justice, Guy Favreau, only adopted the recommendation after a fierce debate before him. The associate deputy minister, Don Maxwell argued strenuously against it, while a senior lawyer, Don Christie, argued in support of the recommendation. The senior lawyer won the day and the rest is history.
Although Tom was naturally shy, when it came to the law he held strong opinions and was fearless. Ian Binnie, later a Supreme Court of Canada judge, was one of those deputy ministers who received Tom’s advice and recalls Tom fondly. He has said that “nothing surpassed raising glasses of upmarket scotch in Tom’s office at the end of a long day discussing and developing legal arguments. After hours we would spend endless time debating Tom’s many esoteric points of law mixed with ice cubes in the shape of elephants.”
Tom might well have had serious misgivings about the recent decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in the Cowichan Tribes litigation. He would have had grave difficulty accepting that a fee simple interest in land is inferior to an Aboriginal title in land. In his opinion, both interests in land would be on an even par and neither interest could trump the other. The result would undoubtedly be to require the Crown to pay the First Nation compensation and the fee simple interests would in effect be protected from expropriation. Tom saw private rights like fee simple land interest being upheld through the application of provincial law, such as the Land Title Act. Despite the uphill battle Tom faced, he could not let go of his opinions in this area. Mind you, given the admonition of the Supreme Court of Canada in Haida that these types of disputes should be resolved through negotiation and not litigation, perhaps Tom’s position in an indirect way might be vindicated.
One of Tom’s happiest moments was his appointment as Queen’s Counsel on December 31, 1986. To understand why Tom was so ecstatic about his appointment one only need reference his pantheon of heroes. They were, in the following order, Queen Elizabeth II, Winston Churchill and Bretwalda. Although Bretwalda came in third, it is important to note that Tom named his sailing boat, turned into rowboat, and his house after that namesake. Bretwalda was an Anglo-Saxon king, who laid the foundation for the English to become a dominant maritime power warding off the Danes.
It would be remiss if we did not mention Tom’s best friend, John Facini. John first met Tom more than three decades ago when he built Tom his
dream home on his parent’s lot in Dundarave, where Tom grew up. What Tom later learned is that John was not only a contractor but, like Tom, a UBC graduate in history. For years, John regularly drove from Burnaby to West Vancouver every Friday evening to visit Tom and enjoy engaging conversations. As well, John attended on a regular basis to run errands, undertake repairs and do general maintenance for Tom. Tom could not have had a better friend. Harry Wruck, K.C., a longtime friend and colleague, with different politics from Tom, still had the pleasure of fascinating discussions about the law and politics with the two history buffs.
Tom’s sister Glenda passed away in 2013. Tom is survived by her children: his niece Marnie Fontaine, his nephew Michael Ford and his partner Anne, their children Hannah and Hayden, Hannah’s daughter Lucy, and his nephew Steven Ford and his partner Leslie.
Tom left behind a handwritten poem about Department of Justice lawyers. It reads:
All the world’s a stage, And all the Lawyers in it merely players, First the Tax men, Whose place in all things hath priority; And then the Prosecutors: learned in Crimes and testimonies, vile herbs and stupors, Suffering outrageous pleas and circumventions, Next Civil Litigation, Within whose realm lie sunken ships, Claims and causes salvaged, Or lost within a lawsuit’s tides and eddies, And last lies property’s domaine, Wherein blooms the sweet rosemary, And scripts being signed and sealed, Await delivery’s hour, From all this – hence, and enter now, On careless and lean – pensioned slipperdom.
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NEW JUDGES
By R.C. Tino Bella
The Honourable Justice Julia E. Lawn
On March 7, 2025 Julia Elspeth Lawn became the 427th justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia. After telling her partners at Nathanson Schachter and Thompson LLP, and a whirlwind office clear-out, she zipped home to make dinner and finalize arrangements for one child’s birthday, while checking that another child’s frog costume was ready for a ballet performance in Chilliwack the next day. This provides a glimpse into the complex life balance of our newest justice.
Julia was born in Brockville, Ontario, at the nearest hospital to Prescott, her hometown of roughly 3,500 souls. Prescott is historically important: the place of the Fort Wellington National Historic Site, where Julia worked several summers giving tours in French and English, while dressed as a soldier’s wife from 1846. One of her fellow interpreters was the future Honourable Laurie Lacelle of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and somewhere there is a picture of the two of them, in white cotton caps and long, pleated dresses with petticoats.
Julia’s parents instilled in Julia and her sisters, Andrea and Kerrie, a profound sense of public service: their father and mother, who met in teachers’ college, each served as mayor of the town for multiple terms after careers in public education.
Julia caused some familial consternation when she blazed her own path, declining to be a fourth-generation graduate of Queen’s University. She opted instead for Trinity College at the University of Toronto. At Trinity, she thrived academically and socially. This included an acting award for playing a deranged therapist whose tagline was a repeatedly screamed expletive. More importantly, it was at Trinity College that she
met Justice David Crerar: they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this year.
Following their graduation in 1991, the future Justices Lawn and Crerar joined the flood of Canadian arts graduates teaching English overseas. Japan in the early 1990s was in a cultural froth, with almost everyone studying English. Both found that teaching provided a useful training ground for a legal career as organization, clarity and creativity were critical.
After Japan, the couple spent six months in France, working on their French and eating colossal amounts of baguettes and cheese. Julia’s vastly superior language skills proved critical when this daily diet shut down her partner’s powers of digestion.
During the semester break, they also travelled to the Czech Republic, where David proposed to Julia on the Charles Bridge in Prague. She said “yes”.
In 1994, they thus entered the University of Toronto Law School as a soon-to-be old married couple. At law school, Julia was grateful for the opportunity to study under great scholars including Stephen Waddams, who was her small group professor. Julia thrived, graduating on the dean’s list and arguing as first appellant in the Grand Moot.
Earlier trips to Vancouver, Victoria and Tofino and the warm welcome she received from David’s parents Maureen and (the late) Tony Crerar, helped David persuade Julia to make British Columbia their home. The summer before starting law school, she worked the quintessential British Columbia job, as a White Spot waitress. In her first law school summer, she worked as a legal researcher at the British Columbia Treaty Commission, with Chief Commissioner Alec Robertson and a future Court of Appeal justice, Commissioner Barbara Fisher.
After graduating in 1997, Julia clerked for six judges of the court on which she now sits. She was particularly grateful for the mentorship she received from her principal, Justice Alex Henderson, recently retired from the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands. She also served as the first clerk to Justice Elizabeth Bennett, then newly appointed to the Supreme Court, who set an inspiring example of balancing work with a busy family life with young children.
After clerking, Julia returned to the litigation department of Davis & Co., where she had articled. In 1999, she received an irresistible offer: to join the litigation boutique of Nathanson Schachter and Thompson, where her colleagues soon became her friends. Julia took particular pride in mentoring young women in the profession, particularly the talented young female barristers who joined the firm.
Not only did Julia provide the barristers at the firm with the deep research they required, she also ran the firm in her spare time, fitting her research work into an endless list of administration issues and management. She was unfailingly gracious and warm with everyone at NST, including the staff, no matter the pressures of her practice and responsibilities. It should come as no surprise to her if her management skills are put to good use by the court.
Julia also managed to find time to write and update the chapters on malicious prosecution and false imprisonment in Government Liability: Law and Practice, edited by now Justice Horsman of the Court of Appeal and Justice Morley of the Supreme Court. In addition, she has authored or co-authored papers on injunctions, contractual good faith and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She also enjoyed her time serving as a director on the boards of the British Columbia Law Institute, with its variety of important law reform projects, as well as the Mulgrave Independent School Society.
Julia also finds time to keep active. She runs regularly on the North Shore trails and roadways, and you will no doubt see her running between North Vancouver and Smithe Street before or after her workday. Her husband keeps a photograph beside his desk of her proud marathon finish.
Julia’s four children are at the centre of her life. Each of them follows the beat of their own drum from engineering to health sciences to acting to their youngest who is starting his grade nine year at the National Ballet School of Canada in Toronto, although he threatens to become a lawyer. Not surprisingly, their home is a very lively place with all four children sharing in their parents’ ability to see the whimsy and absurdity in life, even in difficult times.
Julia is also resourceful. Justice Crerar, while on a jungle trail run during a vacation, texted Julia to ask her if golden orb spider bites were venomous. Julia found the requisite information and, without disclosing all of the details, it is obvious that this adventure ended well.
Julia’s first months on the bench have been eased because she can call Justice Crerar at any time with queries about obscure applications or points of judicial procedure. He is gratified that she finally takes some of his advice. There are, however, some complications for the judicial duo. One of her first hearings involved a matter that her husband had ruled on several years previously: counsel made an unknowingly awkward reference to “the reasons earlier issued by your Brother Crerar”.
Julia has the broad range of qualities that will help make her an excellent member of the court and allow her to fulfill her commitment to serve the people of British Columbia. We can all look forward to this.
The Honourable Judge Christopher Balison
IN SERVICE OF JUSTICE AND COMMUNITY
When Christopher Balison took his oath as a judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia on May 1, 2025, it marked the formal start of a new chapter in an already extraordinary career. For those who know him, whether from the courtroom or the ballpark, it was a natural evolution. For nearly two decades, Chris has proven to be an inspirational force in the legal community and in the world of baseball. His journey to the bench is not only a story of legal merit, but also of community service, leadership and quiet mentorship.
Born and raised in Kamloops, Chris has deep roots in the community he serves. His family’s connections to the region stretch back decades, with ties to both the city and the surrounding forestry industry. The family homestead at Heffley Lake and a commemorative tribute at Mill Bay speak to the longstanding contributions of the Balison family to the area.
After high school, Chris studied at what was then the University College of the Cariboo before making his way east to attend Memorial University of Newfoundland. There he met Deanna, who would become his wife and lifelong partner.
Before law school, Chris began his career in public service as a management consultant, working with the Ministry of Education, Interior Health and the Auditor General of Canada. In each role he was tasked with evaluating whether public institutions were truly meeting their commitments. Whether briefing senior officials on Indigenous education, measuring population health outcomes, or working on the high-profile audit of the federal Firearms Registry, he came to see that accountability and fairness must underpin all public institutions.
These early experiences shaped his decision to pursue law. For Chris, the courtroom offered another way to serve the public interest, to ensure that institutions lived up to their responsibilities, and to continue a family legacy of service rooted in the city he has always called home. In 2003, he enrolled at the University of New Brunswick Faculty of Law, graduating in 2006. Upon completing his degree, he returned to Kamloops to article with Gillespie & Co. and was called to the bar in 2007.
One year later, Chris accepted a position as Crown counsel with the British Columbia Prosecution Service. Over time, he not only honed his
skills as a prosecutor but also emerged as a key figure within the service. He was known among colleagues for his legal acumen and his leadership style: steady, principled and people-focused.
Chris has not let anyone define his legal career by his high-profile prosecutions or the most complex cases that captured headlines. Instead, his work was distinguished by steadiness, consistency and a focus on the dayto-day matters that make up the vast majority of the criminal justice system. He valued the importance of fairness in even the most routine files, recognizing that every case mattered deeply to the people involved. His colleagues came to rely on him not as someone chasing notoriety, but as someone who could be trusted to handle every matter, large or small, with diligence and integrity.
In 2019, he was appointed Administrative Crown Counsel in Kamloops. In this role he managed one of the busiest Crown offices in the Interior and mentored younger counsel, many of whom credit him with guiding them through their first trials and professional challenges. He was known for keeping his door open and for making time to listen, even on the busiest days.
In December 2021, Chris was appointed Deputy Regional Crown Counsel. This appointment gave him oversight of multiple offices and staff spread across a wide geographic area. It also placed him at the centre of several key branch initiatives. Chris co-chaired the Administrative Crown Counsel Community of Practice, where he contributed to leadership development by delivering lectures on the topics of mental health and peoplecentred leadership. His emphasis on wellness and support was not an abstract ideal but a practical recognition that prosecutors work under immense pressure and that supporting them is essential to the integrity of the justice system.
By the time of his judicial appointment, Chris had become an established leader within the B.C. Prosecution Service. His influence was not limited to his own office or region. He contributed to the branch’s work on the implementation of virtual bail, Crown policy and procedures, technology, wellness and performance management. His leadership was characterized by steadiness, humility and a focus on service. Colleagues across the province recognized him as an effective prosecutor and someone who quietly and consistently strengthened the institution to which he devoted his career.
News of Chris’s appointment stirred mixed emotions throughout the entire region. Though no surprise, his colleagues expressed joy, pride and excitement for his well-deserved appointment, balanced by a deep sense of loss for the B.C. Prosecution Service. There is no doubt that the B.C. Prose-
cution Service’s loss is the judiciary’s gain. As a prosecutor, Chris earned a reputation for dedication, fairness and leadership—qualities that positioned him well for his elevation to the bench.
Outside the courtroom, Chris is known for his devotion to amateur sport, particularly baseball. In 2014, he became the president of Kamloops Minor Baseball, stepping into a volunteer leadership role that he would hold for years. Under his guidance, the organization experienced dramatic growth, doubling registration numbers and growing a volunteer network of over 150 coaches.
More than just boosting numbers, Chris helped reimagine what youth baseball could look like in the region. He worked to ensure that the organization was inclusive and welcoming, creating opportunities for children who might otherwise be left on the margins of sport. During his tenure, Kamloops Minor Baseball launched its first Girls Baseball program, providing a pathway for female athletes, and re-established the Challenger Baseball program, which created opportunities for athletes with cognitive and physical disabilities to participate fully in the game. Both initiatives have flourished and remain fixtures in the community.
When he retired as president, the organization created the Chris Balison Service Award, given annually to long-time dedicated volunteers who go above and beyond in supporting youth and the association. The award stands as a tribute to his belief that youth sport thrives when volunteers give generously of their time and energy.
Chris joined the board of Baseball BC in 2017 and became its president in 2020. His term coincided with a growing national conversation around Safe Sport, the movement to ensure that all youth sport environments are free from abuse, discrimination and misconduct. He played a central role in developing the association’s Safe Sport framework, embedding player safety, equity and accountability in baseball governance across the province.
In January 2022, Chris was elected president of Baseball Canada, becoming the 12th individual to hold that role in the organization’s history. The following year, he was named Kamloops Sports Person of the Year, a community honour that underscored both the scale of his contributions and the spirit in which he carried them out.
Chris is also a devoted husband and father, and family has always been at the centre of his life. He and his wife Deanna have been married for 23 years. Those close to Chris often remark that Deanna is “his rock from the Rock”, a description he is quick to embrace. Quiet and humble by nature, he lights up when speaking about Deanna and the impact she has had on
his life. The two have excelled in their respective careers while raising their three teenage children, each of whom has distinguished themselves in academics and athletics.
Recently, photography has become one of Chris’s favourite outlets. He is often seen behind the lens in gyms and at the fields, capturing moments for families who might otherwise have no record of their children’s accomplishments. His photos are shared widely in the community and are valued as keepsakes by many.
As Chris settles into his judicial duties, it is likely that much of his dayto-day work will happen quietly behind courtroom doors, in chambers or within the legal reasoning of rulings. But his broader influence will continue to ripple outward. His arrival deepens the bench’s local ties, with a voice attuned to both justice and the needs of the community he has long served. As Chris begins this next chapter, Kamloops, and indeed British Columbia, can take pride in knowing that the bench has gained not just a judge, but a builder, a mentor and a steadfast servant of the public good.
Available at Kurbatoff Gallery, 2435 Granville St., Vancouver
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“Light on Ocean’s Edge” by Jane Bronsch, Acrylic on Canvas, 36'' x 60'', 2025
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“Blueprints” by Crystal Rassi, Oil on Canvas, 48'' x 48'', 2025
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NEW JUDICIAL JUSTICE
By R.C. Tino Bella
Patrick Doyle Angly
On April 28, 2025, Patrick Doyle Angly, surrounded by family and friends, was sworn in as a judicial justice of the Provincial Court of British Columbia.
During his 43 years as a lawyer, Patrick practised almost exclusively in the area of criminal defence and was involved in a number of notable cases. In the fine tradition of the criminal defence bar, at personal sacrifice but essential to the rule of law and democracy, Patrick often took on the defence of individuals of unsavoury character accused of serious crimes. He did so with skill, determination and high ethical standards. Throughout his career, Patrick was held in high esteem by other counsel.
Patrick has roots all over Europe and British Columbia. He is of Irish, Scottish, French and German descent. He was born in Prince George after his mother arrived there by train from an isolated forest ranger station where his father was employed. Fortunately, the train arrived on time! From there, the family, which included his two sisters, resided first in Quesnel and then the Okanagan.
Patrick attended high school at Summerland Secondary before pursuing higher education at UBC. He obtained a bachelor of arts degree and decided on a career in law. He obtained his LL.B. in 1982 and articled with Orris Laliberté Burns. Thereafter, for a number of years, he practised with Angly Wilson & Buck, which was followed by a stint on his own, and then a sentence of 20 years of office sharing with Solomon Law Corp. At the time of his appointment, Patrick was back on his own working out of 808 Nelson Street.
In the first year of law school, Patrick joined the Shotokan Karate Club with a judge of the Provincial Court. That judge writes:
Pat and I regularly trade physical kicks and blows, but I hasten to add, not in the courtroom and we are still friends! It all started from our law school days, now close to fifty years ago, when we both enrolled at the Canada Shotokan Karate Club at UBC, and we have practiced together ever since. Over these many years, I can say with confidence that Pat can be relied on to “deliver the goods”, so to speak, and is a wonderful addition to our bench. I am thrilled to have him as a colleague.
Patrick is the proud father of five children (hers, mine and ours) and has one grandson, Avery, whom he cannot help but talk about to anyone who will listen. Patrick often took his children on camping holidays, passing on wilderness skills and a love of nature that he learned from his father. His son Mark reflects:
When we were kids, we always went camping once or twice a year. I think Dad felt it his responsibility to teach us some life lessons by way of woodcraft, and he certainly taught us a lot: how to light and cook over a fire, which berries were safe to eat (and more importantly, to NOT eat anything we didn’t surely recognize), how to dry the tents out after the trip to avoid mildew. In a windstorm once, he sat in our tent to keep it from blowing away, literally and figuratively, a sturdy presence amongst the chaos. He made a plan and stuck with it, weather and forgotten kitchen supplies be damned, even when the plan was just to find a quiet spot by the lake and sit for the whole afternoon.
I think what he tried to teach most of all wasn’t any particular skill but rather a way of living, of navigating the world. Years of martial arts have further illustrated these qualities; in Karate there’s the concept of “going in”, committing to an action without fear or doubt, and he always embodied that mentality in his practice, and in all the other things I’ve seen him do. He wasn’t afraid to have me drive his fancy new TRD 4Runner down a narrow, scratchy tree-lined path, because it’s made for off-roading.
If you ever have a chance to grab a coffee with Patrick, be sure to ask him about his family history. You might learn about his grandfather who was in the British army stationed in the Khyber Pass (then part of India) and later became a postmaster in Vancouver, his mother who as a nurse treated burn victims in London during the Blitz, and his father who attended rangers school in Victoria.
Patrick’s knowledge, experience, humility and sense of humour make him uniquely qualified for the challenges of the work ahead of him as a judicial justice. There is no doubt that he will carry out that work with dedication and fairness and be a great addition to the court.
“Ta-Da!” by Kathy Traefer, Acrylic on Canvas, 48'' x 48'', 2025
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NEW BOOKS AND MEDIA
By R.C. Tino Bella*
The Handbook of Knots by Des Pawson (Gardners, Essex, UK, 2004) 176 pages.
Reviewed
by David
Roberts, K.C.
It is many years since I owned a boat and I have not gone fishing in a decade. So, I really had no need of a book called Handbook of Knots. The only knots I tie these days are my shoelaces and, on formal occasions, my necktie.
I noticed an advertisement for this book and told my wife I would like it as a birthday present. She had been asking me what I wanted for my birthday and this seemed not only inexpensive, but intriguing.
The Handbook duly arrived, delivered by Amazon in 48 hours. A slim volume, at 175 nine-by-five-inch pages. I sat down to read it, thinking to skip through it quickly, to see what it had to offer. Two hours later, my wife, Gill, called me to dinner. I was only half-way through the book.
The Handbook is written by one Des Pawson. The back cover discloses that for 25 years, Pawson has run a rope-working business. I am not sure what such an industry encompasses, but the blurb goes on to say that he teaches knots at exhibitions, boat shows, galleries and museums and has been featured in all the publications you would expect that deal with boats and, surprisingly, also The Financial Times. He has appeared on radio and television. In passing one wonders how one demonstrates how to tie knots on the radio. No doubt the BBC has accomplished this feat with its accustomed ingenuity.
The book is not limited to teaching how to tie knots. There is an opening chapter on the construction of rope. There appear to be only two basic constructions of rope: braided and laid (three strand) rope. This is followed by a chapter on rope materials. There are all the ropes made from natural
materials, that include coir (made from coconut fibres), cotton, sisal, manila and hemp. Each has different qualities, advantages and disadvantages, and, therefore, different uses.
Then there are the synthetic ropes, which include polypropylene, polyester, nylon and a number of other synthetic materials, each with different qualities, used for different purposes, all of which Pawson neatly lists on one page. For instance, nylon rope is favoured by climbers, and three strand monofilament is the rope of choice for fishermen. We are told about the qualities of these ropes, the breaking load, their stretching qualities, if they float, durability, spliceability, knot holding ability and, of course, main uses.
There is a chapter on rope maintenance. Like anything else, if you do not look after them properly they will deteriorate and let you down when you most need them. There follows a chapter on storing rope, which includes the coiling and uncoiling of it. This chapter shows you how to coil rope in a way that provides a loop by which to hang it up neatly.
The chapter on terms and equipment explains the technical terms for the parts of a rope that is knotted. We have the standing end and the working end. Then the bight, the short curve, the loop, the crossing turn, the bend and the hitch. Finally there is the term for rope that is fixed to an object or another rope—namely, a round turn.
Equipment includes the marlinspike, which is a slim pointed metal cone, used to separate strands of rope. Then we have the Swedish fid, with its hollow blade, used for threading strands of splice, and the handy netting needle, a tool for carrying a quantity of line when making a net.
A useful chapter explains the basic techniques for tying knots. They are used in the world’s most simple knot, the overhand knot, as well as the most complicated, the Turk’s head, a decorative knot, usually tied around a pole, but can be flattened to make a small mat.
Then come the chapters on the actual tying of knots. First, the stopper knots, used to bind the end of a rope to stop it fraying, to stop a rope slipping through a hole, or to provide a handhold. They can also add weight to part of a rope that is going to be thrown and to mark a place in a rope. Remember Mark Twain? A rope is used to measure the depth of water: “by the mark, twain”. Such a rope would have an overhand knot at each six foot length of the rope. A fathom is six feet. The overhand knot is the simplest of all knots. More complicated are figure of eight knots and the monkey’s fist, the most suitable knot to add weight to a rope that is to be thrown. The double overhand knot is just two overhand knots. Two turns instead of one. It makes for a more bulky knot and was used in times past in the Royal Navy to tie a cat-o’ nine tails—the infamous rope used to flog sailors. Hence its name, The Blood Knot. To make the discipline more effective, sailors in the
Royal Navy were forced to tie up their own cat-o’ nine tails in the run up to the flogging.
The chapter on binding knots lists the types of knot used to secure a length of rope passed round an object, tying up parcels or bundles of logs. Binding knots include the clove hitch and the surgeon’s knot, used to tie off the ends of blood vessels, and the aforementioned Turk’s head.
Bends. Now bends are used to tie two ropes together, usually of equal size. There is a description of how to tie monofilament nylon fishing line to a fishing hook, though this subject is also dealt with in the chapter on Hitches. Any one of three knots can be used to tie your fly to its leader. One is the method of snelling a hook, but also the Palomar knot and the clinch knot—every angler’s favourite knot—which can be tied quickly and is not as complicated as the others. The illustration of snelling a hook, though it ends up with a neat and tidy knot, looks too bulky to my mind and it must also look that way to the trout you are bent on catching for lunch.
Since I have jumped to hitches, let me explain what hitches are about. They are knots used to tie a rope to an object—a pole, a ring, a bollard and even another rope. Some hitches are designed to be untied quickly, with a brief tug on one end. An example is the highwayman’s hitch, which can be tied quickly and untied with a quick pull. It is the favourite knot used to tie up horses. In every western you have ever watched you will have seen the cowboys hitch their horses to the rail outside the tavern. And the reason they can all untie their horses so quickly is because they used the highwayman’s hitch. Everyone knows about the half hitch, which is the basis for most hitches, including the fisherman’s bend and the Italian hitch, used by climbers for rappelling. Also in this chapter is the charmingly named sheepshank. This knot is designed to shorten a rope before use. It can also be used to relieve strain on a worn part, positioning the damaged part of the rope in the middle of the knot.
It would be interesting discover the derivation of the name of this knot. Des Pawson does explain how some knots got their names. For instance, the Prusik knot was named after its inventor, Dr. Carl Prusik, who invented it for use by climbers who use a series of such knots as handholds or footholds, if they need to climb up the rope. However, there exist so many knots with odd names, that it would have been interesting to learn their derivation; the Bachmann knot, for instance, sounds as if it is named after its inventor. Since it is designed so that it can be moved easily along a main rope attached to a carabiner, it is obviously a knot climbers would use. So, Herr Bachmann must have been a mountaineer. Similarly, the Klemheist knot is designed to move along a rope, but, unlike the Bachmann knot, without the assistance of a carabiner.
The last chapter on knots is about loops. A looped rope may be dropped over an object to fix the rope in place. It may be tied around the waist or the wrist, or threaded through a ring. Loops can be used to tie two ropes together, particularly if the ropes are not of the same size. So, the angler who needs to tie his line to his leader will use some kind of loop. The most simple and best known loop is the bowline, of which Pawson tells us of several varieties, each used for a different purpose.
Surprisingly, Pawson does not deal with the hangman’s knot, the complicated and rather fancy loop used to place the rope around the convict’s neck before the trap is released that will plunge the victims to their death by hanging. Perhaps, since the abolition of the death penalty, Pawson thought, it unnecessary to teach his readers to tie a hangman’s knot. Oddly, as well, he does not depict the various loops used in the construction of lassoes and lariats—those picturesque ropes used by cowboys the world over to haul in cattle.
Pawson deals with braids and sennits. A braid is made up of a number of strands of rope interwoven in a simple repetitive pattern. Strands woven in complex patterns are known as sennits. These create a stronger length of rope as well as being decorative.
Then we come to splices and whippings, used to join together two lengths of rope of equal diameter, to make a loop at the end of a rope, or to bind a rope. Whippings bind the end of a rope to prevent the strands from coming undone (also known as an eye splice). The variety of splices include the right-angle splice, the grommet, the French splice and the sailmaker’s whipping. The palm and needle whipping is used by sailmakers and requires a palm to protect the hand, rather like a thimble. A sail-maker also needs a needle threaded with twine.
Pawson provides an index and a glossary, full of terms straight out of the navies in the days of sail: e.g., brace, marlinspike, cleat, halyard, running rigging, sheet and bight.
This book is a store-cupboard of information. In practice one would not need to know how to tie more than a dozen of the knots dealt with. But anyone who goes camping, enjoys fishing, or is a gardener, will profit much from a quick reading of this book and the learning of a handy number of knots. Technical books do not always provide indices or glossaries, but Pawson comes up proud with both. He may have had an accomplished editor, but I suspect the writing is all his, as well as the singularly attractive way the book is laid out. It is the ideal technical guide.
I must also add that Pawson’s syntax is flawless. He writes in a way that cannot be misunderstood, so that you do not have to read a passage twice to learn how to tie a knot.
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LEGAL ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEA
By D. Michael Bain, K.C.*
Robin Cook was a British Labour Party politician first elected as a Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central in 1974 at the age of 28. He later switched to the Livingston constituency in 1983 and remained in Parliament until his death in 2005 at the age of 59. Cook was Foreign Secretary from 1997 until 2001 when he became Leader of the House of Commons, a position he held until 2003.
During his time as Foreign Secretary, Britain was engaged in military interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, and during the same period Cook achieved an agreement between the United Kingdom and Iran that normalized diplomatic relations and ended the Iranian death threat against Salman Rushdie. As Leader of the House of Commons, Cook engaged in significant efforts to reform the House of Lords and attempted to persuade his ministerial colleagues to distance themselves from the U.S. foreign policy of George W. Bush who was seeking “regime change” in Iraq after the terrorist attacked of 9/11 (even though the terrorists were known to be mostly Saudi Arabian).
In March 2003, both the U.S. and British governments were engaged in trying to persuade the U.N. Security Council to pass a second resolution concerning the disarmament of Iraq. In November 2002, UN Security Council Resolution 1441 had brought weapons inspectors back to Iraq and imposed certain disarmament requirements on Iraq. With the failure of Iraq to have complied “immediately” and “unconditionally” with its obligations, President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair sought a second resolution to authorize military intervention in Iraq.
The head of the United Nations Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, Hans Blix, had reported accelerated cooperation from Iraq,
* D. Michael Bain, K.C., is the editor of the Advocate
but not full compliance. He advised that it would “not take years, nor weeks, but months” to verify whether Iraq had complied with its disarmament obligations. Despite the opposition of several allies (notably Germany, Belgium, France and Canada), Bush and Blair pressed ahead on the idea of military action on the basis that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (it later turned out that Iraq did not, in fact, have such weapons).
In the face of this march to what he viewed as an unlawful war, Cook resigned from Cabinet. His reasons for doing so were delivered in a speech made from the back benches that resulted in an unprecedented standing ovation from several of his fellow MPs. The speech was described by a journalist, Andrew Marr, as “without doubt one of the most effective, brilliant resignation speeches in modern British politics”.
For some of us who remember watching it at the time (the internet was still in its infancy and YouTube was not a “thing” back then, so it was not as easy to find the entire speech as it is today), the speech made a lot of sense. Many of us were not satisfied with the efforts made to date to establish that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or that it posed an imminent threat. Hindsight might be 20/20, but what Cook said at the time seemed pretty 20/20 too and, of course, he turned out to be right. Weapons of mass destruction were never found.
In May 2022, former President George W. Bush made a perhaps telling gaffe when he misspoke at a speech in Dallas criticizing “the decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean, of Ukraine.” At the time of writing, Russia is now buzzing its drones around Poland and the world is on edge with what is going on in the Middle East.
Cook’s speech from 22 years ago is still a great read and it provides an interesting lens through which to think about the current hotspots for international tensions in 2025. It is reproduced below. There is no need to stand when you finish reading it, although you may want to applaud.
This is the first time for 20 years that I have addressed the House from the back benches. I must confess that I had forgotten how much better the view is from here.
None of those 20 years were more enjoyable or more rewarding than the past two, in which I have had the immense privilege of serving this House as Leader of the House, which were made all the more enjoyable, Mr Speaker, by the opportunity of working closely with you.
I have chosen to address the House first on why I cannot support a war without international agreement or domestic support. The present Prime Minister is the most successful leader of the Labour party in my lifetime. I hope that he will continue to be the leader of our party, and I hope that he will continue to be successful. I have no sympathy with, and I will give no comfort to, those who want to use this crisis to displace him.
I applaud the heroic efforts that the prime minister has made in trying to secure a second resolution. I do not think that anybody could have done better than the foreign secretary in working to get support for a second resolution within the Security Council. But the very intensity of those attempts underlines how important it was to succeed.
Now that those attempts have failed, we cannot pretend that getting a second resolution was of no importance. France has been at the receiving end of bucket loads of commentary in recent days. It is not France alone that wants more time for inspections. Germany wants more time for inspections; Russia wants more time for inspections; indeed, at no time have we signed up even the minimum necessary to carry a second resolution. We delude ourselves if we think that the degree of international hostility is all the result of President Chirac.
The reality is that Britain is being asked to embark on a war without agreement in any of the international bodies of which we are a leading partner - not NATO, not the European Union and, now, not the Security Council. To end up in such diplomatic weakness is a serious reverse.
Only a year ago, we and the United States were part of a coalition against terrorism that was wider and more diverse than I would ever have imagined possible. History will be astonished at the diplomatic miscalculations that led so quickly to the disintegration of that powerful coalition.
The US can afford to go it alone, but Britain is not a superpower. Our interests are best protected not by unilateral action but by multilateral agreement and a world order governed by rules. Yet tonight the international partnerships most important to us are weakened: the European Union is divided; the Security Council is in stalemate. Those are heavy casualties of a war in which a shot has yet to be fired.
I have heard some parallels between military action in these circumstances and the military action that we took in Kosovo. There was no doubt about the multilateral support that we had for the action that we took in Kosovo. It was supported by NATO; it was supported by the European Union; it was supported by every single one of the seven neighbours in the region. France and Germany were our active allies.
It is precisely because we have none of that support in this case that it was all the more important to get agreement in the Security Council as the last hope of demonstrating international agreement. The legal basis for our action in Kosovo was the need to respond to an urgent and compelling humanitarian crisis. Our difficulty in getting support this time is that neither the international community nor the British public is persuaded that there is an urgent and compelling reason for this military action in Iraq.
The threshold for war should always be high.
None of us can predict the death toll of civilians from the forthcoming bombardment of Iraq, but the US warning of a bombing campaign that will “shock and awe” makes it likely that casualties will be numbered at least in the thousands.
I am confident that British servicemen and women will acquit themselves with professionalism and with courage. I hope that they all come
back. I hope that Saddam, even now, will quit Baghdad and avert war, but it is false to argue that only those who support war support our troops. It is entirely legitimate to support our troops while seeking an alternative to the conflict that will put those troops at risk.
Nor is it fair to accuse those of us who want longer for inspections of not having an alternative strategy. For four years as foreign secretary I was partly responsible for the western strategy of containment. Over the past decade that strategy destroyed more weapons than in the Gulf war, dismantled Iraq’s nuclear weapons programme and halted Saddam’s medium and long-range missiles programmes. Iraq’s military strength is now less than half its size than at the time of the last Gulf war.
Ironically, it is only because Iraq’s military forces are so weak that we can even contemplate its invasion. Some advocates of conflict claim that Saddam’s forces are so weak, so demoralised and so badly equipped that the war will be over in a few days. We cannot base our military strategy on the assumption that Saddam is weak and at the same time justify preemptive action on the claim that he is a threat.
Iraq probably has no weapons of mass destruction in the commonly understood sense of the term - namely a credible device capable of being delivered against a strategic city target. It probably still has biological toxins and battlefield chemical munitions, but it has had them since the 1980s when US companies sold Saddam anthrax agents and the then British Government approved chemical and munitions factories.
Why is it now so urgent that we should take military action to disarm a military capacity that has been there for 20 years, and which we helped to create? Why is it necessary to resort to war this week, while Saddam’s ambition to complete his weapons programme is blocked by the presence of UN inspectors?
Only a couple of weeks ago, Hans Blix told the Security Council that the key remaining disarmament tasks could be completed within months. I have heard it said that Iraq has had not months but 12 years in which to complete disarmament, and that our patience is exhausted. Yet it is more than 30 years since resolution 242 called on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. We do not express the same impatience with the persistent refusal of Israel to comply.
I welcome the strong personal commitment that the prime minister has given to middle east peace, but Britain’s positive role in the middle east does not redress the strong sense of injustice throughout the Muslim world at what it sees as one rule for the allies of the US and another rule for the rest.
Nor is our credibility helped by the appearance that our partners in Washington are less interested in disarmament than they are in regime change in Iraq. That explains why any evidence that inspections may be showing progress is greeted in Washington not with satisfaction but with consternation: it reduces the case for war.
What has come to trouble me most over past weeks is the suspicion that if the hanging chads in Florida had gone the other way and Al Gore had been elected, we would not now be about to commit British troops.
The longer that I have served in this place, the greater the respect I have for the good sense and collective wisdom of the British people. On Iraq, I believe that the prevailing mood of the British people is sound. They do not doubt that Saddam is a brutal dictator, but they are not persuaded that he is a clear and present danger to Britain. They want inspections to be given a chance, and they suspect that they are being pushed too quickly into conflict by a US Administration with an agenda of its own. Above all, they are uneasy at Britain going out on a limb on a military adventure without a broader international coalition and against the hostility of many of our traditional allies.
From the start of the present crisis, I have insisted, as Leader of the House, on the right of this place to vote on whether Britain should go to war. It has been a favourite theme of commentators that this House no longer occupies a central role in British politics. Nothing could better demonstrate that they are wrong than for this House to stop the commitment of troops in a war that has neither international agreement nor domestic support.
I intend to join those tomorrow night who will vote against military action now. It is for that reason, and for that reason alone, and with a heavy heart, that I resign from the government.
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FROM OUR BACK PAGES
By R.C. Tino Bel
TRIAL SCHEDULING, OVERBOOKING AND ASSORTED OTHER PROBLEMS:
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS AND THEIR DOWNSIDE*
By The Honourable Mr. Justice W.A. Esson Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of British Columbia
On December 17, 1992, I spoke to the Civil Litigation Subsection of the C.B.A. on this topic. As these are matters of concern and sometimes distress to all those engaged in litigation in this court, it may be useful to make these comments available to all. What follows is a slightly amended version of my speaking notes which has been submitted in some haste in the hope of including it in the January issue.
Throughout, I will sometimes use “we” to include the Associate Chief Justice and other judges of the court as well as the court staff, primarily Mr. Messenger and the trial coordinators. We are keenly aware of the widespread dissatisfaction with certain aspects of the present system. But any change will inevitably create other problems. The question must therefore be whether the new problems would be an acceptable price to pay for alleviating the present ones.
* Reprinted from (1993) 51 Advocate 23.
There are no easy answers. The area is not one which lends itself to experimentation. The trial list in most centres is fully booked for a year ahead and the judges rota is set to the end of 1993. Any changes in the system of setting trials would create formidable transitional problems. That is not a reason for no change. It is a reason for not embarking on changes without being sure that they will result in an overall improvement.
The Vancouver trial list in the Supreme Court has long operated on a fixed date system which has now been extended to other centres. The fixed date system is not unique but is one which, compared to others, confers great advantages.
Another longstanding feature of our system can fairly be described as unique. That is the provision in the rules for setting an action for trial after close of pleadings and without requiring a “true” certificate of readiness. Our system contemplates that discovery and other interlocutory proceedings will take place after setting for trial. The rules of most, if not all, other Canadian courts provide for a trial date being given only upon completion of discovery and other interlocutory steps.
There are disadvantages to our system which have led many lawyers and judges to suggest that the true certificate of readiness would be preferable. One is that, because the action is set for trial at such an early stage, it is certain that most of the cases set for trial will be settled, abandoned or adjourned before the date set. Thus the heavy rate of overbooking on our trial list—something of the order of nine or ten to one in Vancouver. A second disadvantage is that it is often difficult, at the time of setting down, to make a reliable estimate of trial length.
But even in a true certificate of readiness system, a significant proportion of trials will settle after being set for trial, that being the point at which the pressure for settlement becomes greatest. In Alberta the ratio of overbooking is about three to one. In some provinces, there is no overbooking even with a fixed date system. As a judge, I would like that because it means that there will be no case to hear on many days. If a court can meet its caseload with such a system, fine. But that could not work in this province. One purpose of overbooking is to ensure that judges will sit 100 per cent of their scheduled sitting time. That is achieved over the period of a year: our judges sit more than 100 per cent.
The principal advantage of our system is that fixing the trial date at an early stage gives less scope for delaying tactics and contributes to keeping the period from commencement of action to trial within reasonable limits. A strong case can be made that the advantages of our system substantially outweigh the disadvantages. I was encouraged in that view a few months
ago by a conversation with one of the few truly qualified experts in matters of this kind. Professor Ernest C. Friesen who is now at the California Western University School of Law in San Diego but has had a long history as a practitioner and court administrator. He is the guru of caseflow management theory. In chatting with him after listening to him expound on that subject, I said that I expected that he would think our system to be a poor one. His response was to the effect that he is quite familiar with it and thinks it the best in Canada for the simple reason that the early setting for trial creates a deadline and thus the pressure which leads to early resolution by settlement or otherwise. To that extent, our system incorporates the basic principle of caseflow management theory which is, in essence, that as soon as an action is started, the court takes control of the pace by requiring the parties to meet all time limits unless an exemption is permitted on application. I do not intend here to extensively discuss this matter but the bar should be aware that this is a hot topic. Caseflow management is the basis upon which time standards can be enforced. We will hear much more on that subject in the near future. The general principle of time standards has, within the last year, been formally endorsed by the Canadian Bar Association and the Canadian Judicial Council. The general topic is discussed in c. 9 of Court Reform in Canada, the report of the C.B.A. task force chaired by Seaton, J.A. which was issued in August 1991.
I return to a discussion of our situation and certain matters of history which need to be understood in order to understand how and why that system has evolved. The system is often referred to as the “one-year rule”. The problems in the working of the system which cause the greatest concern are the method of booking trials, and “bumping” of trials on the day set for trial.
The one-year rule was imposed in the early ’80s. Until then, the system was that a party applying for a trial date would be given whatever dates were open—“open” being defined by the judgment or instinct of the trial coordinator as to the number of cases that could be booked for any particular period with reasonable assurance that those still waiting to be tried at that time would be able to proceed on the day. That number was the “cap”. There was always a substantial degree of overbooking and some bumping. The time from setting down to trial gradually increased through the ’60s and ’70s but, before 1980, it was usually possible to get a trial date less than a year away. That situation changed drastically in the early ’80s as the time went past two years and was heading for three. It was at that stage that the oneyear rule was initiated by Chief Justice McEachern after discussion with the Canadian Bar Association and other representatives of the bar. The basic rule was that a case could be set for trial in, say, January of year I for trial
on a date in January of year II. It was recognized that, in the beginning at least, this would mean that more cases would be ready for trial in January of year II than there would be judges available to hear them. The bumped cases were assured of priority on the new trial date so that all cases could get to trial in no more than two years from setting down.
As time went on and as the bump rate remained high, trial co-ordinators returned to imposing a “cap” on the number of cases which could be set down for a given period. That change in procedure brought in the telephone system of booking on a designated day in each month. That, in turn, resulted in some applicants for a trial date not being accommodated and having to try again on the next designated date.
Even with capping, some bumping continued but, until the spring of this year, the trend over several years was improving. In recent months, it has deteriorated. There has been an increase in the number of trials which have gone beyond the estimated length; this means that fewer judges are available to hear scheduled trials since some are continuing to hear trials which have taken longer than estimated. There has been increased pressure to get on with criminal trials particularly outside Vancouver. Many of these involve serious charges and lengthy trials. The result is a further reduction in the number of judges available to hear civil trials.
Until recently, the smaller centres have been relatively immune from the phenomenon of “bumping” and have been able to set trials only a few months ahead, rather than the one year which has long prevailed in Vancouver. However, demand on the court to hear criminal matters has resulted in the number of judges scheduled to sit in those places often proving inadequate. With the level of bumping already high at Vancouver, we could not justify taking more judges from the Vancouver pool.
Much effort has gone on within the court in trying to find a way to alleviate the problems in the booking procedure. Early this year, an experiment in taking written rather than telephone requests for trial dates was initiated in Victoria. It was not a success. After a survey of the bar, the telephone system was re-instituted. At Vancouver, modifications are being made to the telephone booking system to permit calls to be dealt with in a more orderly and expeditious manner. This should be in place by March and should greatly reduce the length of time spent in getting through on the telephone. It will not alter the fact that there may be no available date when you get through.
We have also increased efforts to resolve cases before trial. There has been some increase in pre-trial conferences, mini-trials and settlement conferences and, of course, the summary trial procedure under Rule 18A has
become a significant part of our work. Most conferences are heard in the morning or afternoon before or after a full day of sitting or during reserve weeks. Any further increase in provision of these services must be at the cost of time spent sitting on trials. The 18A procedure has achieved some success in disposing of relatively simple actions, such as wrongful dismissal and debt, but it is doubtful whether the procedure has truly been a boon in more complex proceedings: many attempts to find the short way home have ultimately resulted in taking a longer way around. It is worth noting that 18A proceedings, by their nature, put great pressure on the judge who, in a relatively short hearing, receives voluminous evidence in the form of affidavits as well as extensive arguments. In many cases, the judge must reserve decision and spend more time in absorbing and analyzing this material than was occupied by the hearing.
Many lawyers have made suggestions for modifications in the system of scheduling trials. We have considered all of them and have thought of others. Some relatively minor changes may improve the situation but the basic question remains: should the one-year system or some variant of it be retained or should we go back to where we were before it was initiated? Were we to return to the original one-year limit system by removing the cap, the result would be that the rate of bumping would go up one year after that change, likely to a quite unacceptable degree. The simplest answer might be to abandon the one-year rule and return to the old system. But inevitably that will result in an increase in the time from setting down to trial with the likely result that we would soon be again facing periods of two years and rising. Particularly having in mind the general pressure to reduce delay in disposition of cases, that is an unpalatable prospect.
A variant of the one-year rule which is being considered is to modify it in stages, starting with long trials. With many such cases, it probably is more realistic to set them for trial 15 or 18 months away because it is often not feasible to complete all discoveries and other interlocutory procedures within one year.
In considering what choice should be made, one should not jump too readily to the conclusion that anything would be better than what we now have. Delay in disposing of cases is a matter of public concern. The purpose of the one-year rule was to reduce the delay in disposing of cases. There can be little doubt that it has made a contribution in that direction. Its abolition would almost certainly increase the average overall length of proceedings.
One obvious answer would, of course, be to increase the authorized strength of the court but it does not lie with the court to bring about such a change. Without arguing here the case for additional positions, I will com-
ment on the widespread impression that the size of the court has increased to a staggering degree. When I left law school in 1957, there were 11 judges on the Supreme Court, now there are 100. But the court has not increased ninefold. Sixteen of the present complement are supernumerary so, in round figures, the present strength might be taken as roughly equivalent to 90 non-supernumerary judges. Bearing in mind that the present court was formed by merger with the County Courts, the equivalent number in 1957 was about 25, so the increase is of an order of less than four. In the same time, the strength of the bar has gone up from about 1,100 to about 7,600. The volume and complexity of litigation has increased (literally) immeasurably. It seems fair to say that the increase in number of judges has been less drastic than the increase in any other aspect of the legal system.
The purpose of this note is to provide some information to the profession which may clarify some aspects of the issue and provide a basis for consideration of alternative courses. In speaking to the subsection, I ended by suggesting that it would be most useful if a way could be found to provide us with the members’ views in some consensual form with an indication of how many are in favour of one view or another. Those who wish to express individual views are free to write to me through Mr. Messenger but an expression of group views would likely be of more assistance.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND LAW: A PRIMER AND OVERVIEW*
By Andrzej Kowalski†
A. Introduction
The field of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) and law is a relatively new hybrid discipline, which emerged as a field of research only in the last decade. The origins of the field of AI itself may be traced back to a conference of interested researchers at Dartmouth College in the U.S.A. in 1956 where the term “artificial intelligence” was proposed by one of the principal researchers, John McCarthy. Since that time, people from many disciplines
* Reprinted from (1993) 51 Advocate 579.
† Computer and litigation consultant, Lawson Lundell, Lawson & McIntosh.
including computer science, mathematics, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and, more recently, law have been attracted to the field of AI, contributing to its interdisciplinary nature.
AI is primarily concerned with replicating the decision-making processes of the human brain. Some of the earliest AI research focused on game-playing programs such as chess, backgammon and checkers. As well as providing discrete and challenging paradigms, researchers probably enjoyed playing these games. The earlier days of AI research focused on large-scale problem solving whereby general purpose theorems or algorithms might be applied to a wide variety of problems. However, this approach did not prove to be as effective as developing specific applications to solve smaller and more manageable problems. Thus expert systems emerged as computer programs that are able to solve problems in specific areas at the level of expertise of human experts.
During the last decade, researchers interested in AI have turned their attentions to law and found a potentially fruitful discipline for AI applications. This is due in no small part to the perception of law as an ostensibly rule-governed discipline which ought to lend itself well to the construction of expert systems and other AI applications. From an applications perspective, research in AI and law has focused on three primary areas: legal expert and tutoring systems, document drafting and assembly systems and text analysis and retrieval systems.
B. Legal Expert and Tutoring Systems
Legal expert systems have been the focus of the majority of AI and law research to date. A legal expert system attempts to solve legal problems in a specific area, or domain, at the level of a lawyer with expertise in the domain. Traditionally, an expert system is constructed by a knowledge engineer who debriefs a domain expert and builds the various components of the expert system. These components are usually constructed with the aid of an expert system shell. This is simply expert system development software, much in the same way that one would use a word processor to write an article. With the advent of more sophisticated shells that insulate the user from some of the more demanding aspects of computer programming and the general increase in computer literacy among lawyers, it is becoming more common for a lawyer to assume the role of both expert and knowledge engineer.
An ideal domain for a legal expert system project is narrow enough so that the task does not assume gargantuan proportions while of sufficient complexity to present a challenge. Thus a domain such as the law of negligence is clearly inappropriate. At the University of British Columbia Faculty
of Law extremely sophisticated legal expert systems have been built in the domains of nervous shock and malicious prosecution.
Legal expert systems typically lead the user through a series of questions in an attempt to satisfy a goal such as establishing the existence of a cause of action or a valid defence. In most systems the answer given by the user to a question asked by the system dynamically determines the subsequent questions asked of the user. This method of goal-based inference is known as backward chaining and is the most common form of inference used in legal expert systems. Many of the earlier expert systems adopted a rulebased backward chaining approach. In the rule-based model a matrix of rules determines the questions asked and the advice given by the system. A more recent methodology is case-based reasoning whereby a database of cases or other legal materials determines the outcome of the consultation without the system resorting to specific legal rules. Whatever the methodology employed by the system, its primary goal is to render legal advice and substantiate that advice by reference to appropriate legal authorities, usually cases and statutes.
It is apparent that the process of modelling legal reasoning with computers gives rise to a fundamental question, namely, what is the nature of legal reasoning? It is normally not expected that a lawyer be able to explain the theory of legal reasoning underlying a legal opinion or judgment. Whilst perhaps somewhat unfair, it is certainly expected that the developers of a legal expert system should do so. A number of researchers have grappled with this question in the context of AI and law. In particular, Professor Joseph C. Smith at the UBC Faculty of Law has been pre-eminent in this area. Theories about legal reasoning and judicial decision-making range far and wide from theories of sheer anarchy and chaos to absolutely predictable rule-governed activity. This points to a fundamental difficulty in the field of AI and law; if lawyers and jurisprudentialists are unable to agree upon the nature of legal reasoning, how may the process be modelled with a computer? It is thus apparent that the building of a legal expert system is not only an exercise in computer programming but also a venture into jurisprudence.
A recent development in the field of legal expert systems has been the adaptation of their underlying design methodologies for legal tutoring applications. Whereas a legal expert system focuses its output on advice and supporting authority, a legal tutoring system is designed to instruct and test law students' knowledge of a particular legal domain. This is a natural extension of legal expert systems and has already made its way into the curriculum of a number of law schools.
C. Document Drafting and Assembly Systems
Legal expert systems have been the focus of the majority of AI and law research to date. To accurately model a complex legal domain with a computer presents a formidable challenge and the results are usually readily verifiable by comparison to previously-decided cases. This may go some way to explain why document drafting and assembly systems have received relatively little attention from the AI and law community to date. Paradoxically, perhaps not surprisingly some might say, it is in this area that law firms and commercial software vendors have made the most headway in terms of taking computer systems in law firms beyond the core functions of accounting and word processing. The writing and production of documents is a primary function of legal practice. Document drafting and assembly systems are essentially designed to automate the production of commonly used legal documents tailored for particular parties and transactions.
There is now a large number of commercial document drafting and assembly packages on the market with very little, if any, standardization of methodologies. It is this area that would benefit greatly from some further research which might lead to the development of some de facto standards. It is, however, worthy to note an oft-proven adage: “If it works, it isn't AI.” Further, it has been suggested that the term “AI” lacks precise meaning; for how does software change its status from an AI application to mainstream? Perhaps this occurs when the software actually operates correctly! A more appropriate term might be “IA”, for intelligent application.
Document drafting and assembly systems generally fall into two categories. The first category consists of systems that do not have higher-level intelligence built into the document production process. These systems do not alter substantive sections of a document in response to user input. They are mainly used to produce multiple sets of documents, the text of which does not change materially other than for details such as personal names, descriptions of properties and the like. These systems have found much popularity in areas of legal practice such as conveyancing where the form of documents does not vary greatly from transaction to transaction. They are often connected to databases which the store the specific information for each document production.
The second category consists of systems which make decisions about the content of substantive sections of documents by analyzing information provided by the user. Quite often this information is provided in the questionand-answer fashion of legal expert systems. These systems make decisions about what clauses should form part of a document and can make adjustments to the text for gender and grammar. Thus intelligent document draft-
ing and assembly systems are conceptually similar in some respects to legal expert systems. They operate in narrow and well-defined domains. They dynamically adapt their responses and substantive output to information provided by the user. Intelligent document drafting and assembly systems lend themselves well to areas of law where technical drafting is often required such as trusts, leases and wills.
Document assembly and drafting systems may be viewed as the next generation of legal software development after the word processor. These systems have been installed in many law firms already, and their use will no doubt grow exponentially over the next few years.
D. Text Analysis and Retrieval Systems
It is in this area that some of the most interesting AI and law research is happening. Most, if not all, Canadian lawyers have some familiarity with the legal text database Quicklaw and its American counterparts, Lexis and Westlaw.
These databases all share a common underlying query methodology, boolean searching. At the most basic level, queries are constructed using the operators AND, OR and NOT. Boolean searching has been criticized for the necessity for absolute precision in the formulation of the query and for its inability to retrieve conceptually as well as literally. Thus to use an example from a Westlaw advertisement in the January, 1993 ABA Journal, a typical Westlaw boolean query might be constructed:
(government or military) w/50 warn*** w/50 (soldier or sailor or service member or service-man or serviceman) w/50 radiation
This convoluted syntax is followed by an example of Westlaw’s newlyreleased natural language user interface where the same query, according to the advertisement, might be formulated:
What is the government’s obligation to warn military personnel of the dangers of past exposure to radiation?
The cutting-edge of research in this field involves advanced language processing, linguistic theory and conceptual text retrieval. The UBC Faculty of Law is also a leader in this field of research. Their FLEXICON software, developed under the auspices of the FLAIR (Faculty of Law Artificial Intelligence Research) Project, is a sophisticated text analysis and retrieval pack-
age. FLEXICON parses (processes) the text of cases and breaks it down into four constitutive components: facts, concepts, cases and legislation. FLEXICON then creates electronic headnotes summarizing the contents of the cases. The user may search the headnotes or the full text of the cases for facts, concepts, cases and legislation. Electronic thesauri enable searching of related concepts.
E. The Future
Document assembly and drafting systems are establishing a significant presence in the legal marketplace. Westlaw has just released the first commercial example of postboolean conceptual text retrieval software. Thus on these two fronts significant future activity may be expected. Interestingly, legal expert systems, the area on which most AI and law research has focused, has seen relatively little commercial development. One reason for this may be that legal expert systems attempt to replicate the very heart of legal practice, the giving of opinions and advice. Document drafting and assembly and text retrieval, although important, remain peripheral to this primary function. It is therefore to be expected that the development of legal expert systems will proceed slowly. It is, however, interesting to speculate how legal expert systems might make their way into legal practice. Many legal texts and loose leaf services are now available in electronic form. Updates and revisions are often made simply by dispatching disks to subscribers. Perhaps expert systems in various legal domains will also be packaged with these electronic texts. The user would have not only the benefits of computeraided text retrieval and referencing, but also legal expertise.
FURTHER READING
Ashley, Kevin D. & Aleven, Vincent, “Toward an Intelligent Tutoring System for Teaching Law Students to Argue with Cases”, Proceedings of the Conference, The Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Law, 25th-28th June, 1991, Oxford, England, The Association for Computing Machinery, New York.
Gelbart, D. & Smith J.C., “Beyond Boolean Search: FLEXICON, A Legal Text-Based Intelligent System”, Proceedings of the Conference, The Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Law, p. 225.
Gregor, S.D., Rigney, H.M., & Smith J.D., The Applicability of a Knowledge-Based System to Legal Education, (1991) 23 The Australian Computer Journal 17.
Kowalski, Andrzej, “Case-Based Reasoning & the Deep Structure Approach to Knowledge Representation”, Proceedings of the Conference, The Third International Conference on Artificial Intelligence & Law, p. 21.
McCarty, L.T., “Artificial Intelligence and Law: How to Get There from Here”, Ratio Juris Vol 3 No 2 (1990) p. 189.
Moles, Robert N., “Logic Programming - An Assessment of Its Potential for Artificial Applications In Law” (1991) 2 Journal of Law and Information Science, p. 137.
Parsaye, Kamran & Chignell, Mark, Expert Systems for Experts, 1988, John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Smith, J.C. & Deedman, C., “The Application of Expert Systems Technology to Case-Based Reasoning”, Proceedings of the First International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Law, (Boston), Association for Computing Machinery, New York, 1987, p. 84.
BENCH AND BAR
World Violin Day is coming up on December 13. Leaping over some of the four seasons, World Fiddle Day then occurs on the third Saturday of each May. For those who cannot wait that long to celebrate this musical instrument, we set Bench and Bar to the strains of violin music, below.
Stewart L. Muglich moves from Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang to join Lindsay Kenney. Bahar Hafizi moves from BH Legal to join DuMoulin Black. Also new to DuMoulin Black is Aadam Tejpar, who was previously with Segev LLP. Liyan Wu moves from Lawson Lundell to join Hamilton Duncan. Mat D. Brechtel and Kevin R. Bushell leave Seastone IP to join Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt’s Vancouver office. Also moving to Osler is Katy E. Allen, who leaves Lawson Lundell to do so. Thomas Moggan leaves Norton Rose to join Forooghian + Company. Ali A. Al-Samak joins Hamilton Duncan from The Law Office of Adam Soliman. Janice J. Fujikawa also joins Hamilton Duncan following articles at Owen Bird. Nicole E. Fredrickson starts with River Valley Law after completing her articles at Jones Emery.
Christine Dimitrov moves from Dentons to join MLT Aikins. Mihai Tomos also joins MLT Aikins having been with Cassels Brock & Blackwell. Samantha D. Russell moves to Solus Trust from Legacy Tax + Trust Lawyers. E. David Crossin, K.C., takes on a post at DJA Counsel following his retirement from the B.C. Supreme Court. Miny Atwal becomes legal counsel at Clio after four years with Lawson Lundell. Lauren Cook returns to Teck Resources as in-house counsel after a year at Elk Valley Resources.
Lawyers who have moved their practices should e-mail details of their past and present circumstances to Peter Roberts, K.C., at <benchandbar@the-advocate.ca> to ensure an appearance in “Bench and Bar”. Note that we do not report changes in lawyers’ status within their firms (from associate to partner, for example) other than in cases where persons formerly articled have been hired as associates.
Michael McDonald moves to Overholt Law from an in-house position with the Government of B.C. Leaving the Virgin Law Group, Mark Virgin is now with Preszler Injury Lawyers. Stephen M. Hedley moves from Lawson Lundell to become senior legal counsel at BDC.
Wikipedia explains that “[t]he earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (for example, the Greek lyre). Two-stringed, bowed instruments, played upright and strung and bowed with horsehair, may have originated in the nomadic equestrian cultures of Central Asia.”
Yehudi Menuhin wrote in his autobiography: “A great violin is alive; its very shape embodies its maker’s intentions, and its wood stores the history, or the soul, of its successive owners. I never play without feeling that I have released or, alas, violated spirits.” Although originally from New York, he was made a life peer, as Baron Menuhin, in 1993.
On September 5, 2025, Justice Amy Peck was appointed as an associate judge to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.
“This Court’s overriding concern is what is best for the child. What the parties want plays second fiddle to that paramount consideration”: Ma v. Lu, 2012 ONSC 1441.
The world’s largest fiddle (or Big Fiddle) is found on the waterfront in Sydney, Nova Scotia and is, with its bow, 20 metres high.
Wikipedia notes that “Cape Breton fiddling” is “a regional violin style which falls within the Celtic music idiom”.
The new 2025/26 CBABC executives are Patricia Blair, President; Connor Bildfell, 1st Vice President; and Sarah Klinger, 2nd Vice President. The new board members are Dan Moseley, Finance & Audit Committee Chair; Martin W. Bühler, ALF Representative; Cherolyn Knapp, EDI Representative; Anwar Mujtabah, Young Lawyers Representative; and Rebecca L. Darnell, Laurel D. Hogg, Dimple Kainth and Randy W. Robinson, Directors at Large.
The Ontario Racing Commission urged, “Somehow the partners must find a means to collaborate as to the best approach to ensure the long-term viability of the industry. To do otherwise is to imitate Nero who fiddled while Rome burned”: Re Woodbine Entertainment Group, 2007 CanLII 86996.
Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737) was an Italian maker of string instruments, predominantly violins, from Cremona. Cremona is a city and commune in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, in the Po Valley. Stradivarius created over 1,000 instruments of which 400 violins are known to exist today. They are popular among thieves. In 2014 a $5 million 300-year-old Stradivarius violin was stolen from Frank Almond, concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Almond was tasered as he approached his car after a rehearsal. Luckily the stolen violin was recovered within a few days and the thief was sentenced to seven years in prison.
It took more than 35 years to locate another Stradivarius stolen in May 1980 after a concert at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It surfaced at a hotel in Manhattan in June 2015 where it was being presented for appraisal from someone who had received it from a former spouse. The heirs of the musician it was stolen from were then reunited with the instrument.
“It is trite law that specific performance is generally not available for breach of contract save for contracts involving real property or for the sale of goods that are rarities like a Stradivarius. Even in the context of contracts for the sale of land, there has been a paradigm shift…”: Cosolo v. Geo. A. Kelson Limited, 2017 ONSC 4150.
Allan Seckel, K.C., was appointed to the Order of British Columbia in recognition of his leadership and impact across law, government and community, helping to shape a more just and inclusive British Columbia.
Wikipedia describes the kamancheh as “an Iranian bowed string instrument used in Persian, Azerbaijani, Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Turkmen, and Uzbek music with slight variations in the structure of the instrument.” It is “related to the rebab which is the historical ancestor of the kamancheh and the bowed Byzantine lyra. The strings are played with a variable-tension bow.”
Joseph Bologne (1745–1799), Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was born in the French colony of Guadeloupe to a white plantation owner and Creole slave. Educated in France from the age of seven, he was known for his fencing prowess but also as a violinist and composer. He served as a soldier during the French Revolution and was imprisoned for at least eleven months for his aristocratic connections.
Roddy M. MacKenzie was the recipient this year of the King Charles III Coronation Medal in recognition for the publishing of his book Bomber Command: Churchill’s Greatest Triumph. The book chronicles the devastating effectiveness of Bomber Command during the Second World War and the vital role it played in the defeat of the Third Reich. One out of every four Canadians in uniform killed in that war died in Bomber Command.
The Lauterbach Stradivarius violin was looted by Nazis from the National Museum in Warsaw, Poland during World War II. In September 1948 the instrument was found by a U.S. Army officer in the home of a former SS member, Theodor Blank, in Heinrichsthal, Germany; however, while it was recorded as having been returned to Poland, the current whereabouts of the instrument are unknown and Poland denies having received it back.
Another Stradivarius violin, the Mendelssohn Stradivarius (1709), was stored in a safe at the Deutsche Bank in Berlin in 1945 and either remains missing or (as reported in July 2025) is currently named “Stella” and is played by Japanese virtuoso Eijin Nimura. Nimura purchased the instrument in 2005 from an auction house. Its origins can be traced back to 1995 when it was sold in Paris by an unnamed Russian violinist. Many experts have concluded that Stella is really Mendelssohn.
Wikipedia describes a violin concerto as “a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period…”
The Four Seasons consists of four violin concerti by Antonio Vivaldi, an Italian composer and talented violinist. The street “musician” who used to “play” along to a recording of The Four Seasons during the summer months on his viola has mercifully not appeared on the corner of Alberni and Burrard Street for a couple of years. The only thing to be missed about him is the poor Golden Retriever who used to sit patiently enduring every awful performance. Perhaps the dog was deaf.
Winston Sayson, K.C., M.G.C., was appointed to the senate of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University for a two-year term ending on August 31, 2027.
“If A, knowing that B loves violin music, plays the violin outside B’s window, a court will not force B to compensate A for the service thus rendered unless they had a contract”: In the Matter of Grabill Corporation, 983 F.2d 773 (7th Cir. 1993). [If B loves violin music and A plays a viola badly and constantly
out of tune for several years outside of B’s window, might A have to compensate B for loss of enjoyment of life? – Ed.]
Brian A. Yuen, Katelyn Crabtree and Karen Tse, K.C., were all recently appointed to the board of CLEBC.
Fiddleheads, so named because they resemble a violin’s scroll (curled ornamentation on its end), are fronds of certain ferns and eaten as vegetables.
There is but a single geographic feature officially named after the violin in British Columbia. Violin Lake sits south of Trail, a few kilometres from the U.S. border, and was once a water source for the City of Trail. Why it is called Violin Lake is unknown though if you squint really hard it is sort of shaped like one. More colloquially, there is a Second Fiddle Mountain located southeast of Bella Coola near the Borealis Glacier. It was named in 1964 by unknown mountaineers and continued the music/musician naming theme in the area. Second Fiddle sits between Musician Mountain and Maestro Peak.
Winston Sayson, K.C., M.G.C., was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal on March 19, 2025, for significant contributions to Canada.
Bobby Balbir Singh Sangha and Paul Stephen Todd were appointed as vice chairs of the Labour Relations Board for terms of four years.
“The Board’s hearing schedule cannot repeatedly play second fiddle to the responding parties’ business schedule”: Lyons v. Team Environmental Services Inc., 2002 CanLII 26325 (ON LRB).
Adam M. Shee and Kent A. Ashby were both reappointed to the Employment and Assistance Appeal Tribunal for terms ending October 31, 2029.
The Daily Mail reported in 2018 that “[a] leading viola player who says his hearing was irreparably damaged by loud music during rehearsals has started a landmark case against the Royal Opera House”, claiming that “he was exposed to unacceptable noise levels in the pit at the Covent Garden venue in 2012” and became unwell after “sitting in front of an 18-strong brass section during orchestral rehearsals for a performance of Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle.” The defence countered this in part by stating that while “[t]he operas of Richard Wagner often provoke strong emotions….[,] it is unprecedented for it to be alleged that they cause actual injury to its par-
ticipants.” The trial judge nonetheless found the Royal Opera House to be liable and the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal.
The website of instrument maker Yamaha explains: “Nobody knows for sure where and when the first viola was created. However, it is known for a fact that the instrument was in use in northern Italy around the same time as its cousin, the violin (i.e. the first half of the 16th century).”
Jonathon L.J. Braun, who normally works at the Migrant Workers Centre BC Society, took time away from work to compete in the 11th season of The Amazing Race Canada. Teaming up with his best friend Jesse Harink, the pair took home the top prize and finished in first place after competing across five provinces, 24 cities and one territory and covering 19,000 kilometres during the show’s ten legs.
In Smith v. Hutson, 262 Ala. 352, 78 So. 2d 923 (1955), the Supreme Court of Alabama addressed the meaning of the word “or”, stating: “Our decision must turn on the meaning and effect of the word ‘or’ .... Numerous decisions from the courts of this country have dealt with this word….From them we find that it has three common usages: (1) as a disjunctive, (2) as a conjunctive, (3) as an introductory or connective word to an appositive, e.g., ‘a fiddle or violin.’”
Chief Justice Roberts wrote for the majority of the U.S. Supreme Court in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023) that “[w]e have time and again forcefully rejected the notion that government actors may intentionally allocate preference to those ‘who may have little in common with one another but the color of their skin.’…. The entire point of the Equal Protection Clause is that treating someone differently because of their skin color is not like treating them differently because they are from a city or from a suburb, or because they play the violin poorly or well.”
Peter D. Shrimpton received the King Charles III Coronation Medal on September 5, 2025 for his pro bono legal work, in particular with the Access Pro Bono Society of B.C.’s Summary Advice Program.
The erhu is a two-string bowed instrument from China, sometimes referred to as the “Chinese violin”, although it is played vertically balanced on the leg rather than held horizontally under the chin.
The Honourable James Donald Bahen, K.C., and Tamara M. Levy, K.C., were both appointed as members of the British Columbia Review Board for two-year terms.
B. William (Bill) Sundhu was reappointed as a director of the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia for a term ending December 31, 2028.
In State v. Baxter, No. 93,024 (2005), the Court of Appeals of the State of Kansas considered sentencing for the theft of van carrying an aluminum scaffold used for installing advertisements on billboards. The judge below included in a restitution order the full replacement cost for the scaffold, rather than its current market value, noting by attempted analogy that “[a] musician may have an old violin. That doesn’t mean that it’s not worth to that musician what it was years ago”. The appellate court was skeptical of the lower court’s analysis and noted that the “old violin” analogy was “incomplete. True, a high quality old violin is often worth more than its original purchase price. One of the world’s most famous, the ‘Soil’ Stradivarius built by Antonio Stradivari in 1714 and now owned and played by Itzhak Perlman, is worth millions of dollars today. Though it is unique, its value, nevertheless, is based on the market. If there is a market for old Stradivarius violins, we doubt that there is no market for used scaffolds. Or, at least, there was no evidence to that effect.”
Richard W. Grounds was reappointed as a member of the Skilled Trades BC Appeal Board and is designated chair for a three-year term.
A luthier is someone who makes or repairs stringed instruments (though not harps or pianos).
Violinist Isaac Stern reportedly favoured a violin made by Cremonese luthier Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù.
Wilder & Davis, luthiers, state: “According to archives and legends, an Indian king, Ravana of Ceylon, invented the first instrument with bowed strings: the ravanhatta (several possible spellings). Equipped with two gut strings tuned in fifths, a bridge, a small sound box made of half a coconut and a bow curved like a bow[, i]t is considered to be the oldest ancestor of the violin.”
David L. Thomas was recently appointed as a member of the West Vancouver Police Board.
The “Hausa Violin” is one of various African bowed string instruments.
Wikipedia explains that Niccolò Paganini was “the most celebrated violin virtuoso of his time” (1782-1840) and “one of the pillars of modern violin technique”. He was also a composer and his works inspired variations including Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Clare Jennings, K.C., was appointed as the British Columbia representative to the CBA board.
“To federal prosecutors of white collar crime, the mail fraud statute is our Stradivarius, our Colt 45, our Louisville Slugger, our Cuisinart—and our true love. We may flirt with RICO, show off with 10b-5, and call the conspiracy law ‘darling,’ but we always come home to the virtues of 18 U.S.C. § 1341, with its simplicity, adaptability, and comfortable familiarity”: United States of America v. Pisani, 773 F.2d 397 (2d Cir. 1985), citing Rakoff, “The Federal Mail Fraud Statute” (Part 1), 18 Duq.L.Rev. 771, 771 (1980) (footnotes omitted).
Denese C. Espeut-Post was appointed as chair of the Mental Health Review Board for a term ending October 1, 2029.
“The court stated that Husband ‘was playing the system like a Stradivarius.’”: C.H.L. v. W.D.L., 214 A.3d 1272, 1275–76 (Pa. Super. 2019).
In 1961 an 18 year-old aspiring musician bought his first bass guitar—a violin-shaped Höfner 500/1 bass—in Hamburg, Germany. He used it on some of the first (1962) and last (1969) recordings he made with a little quartet. The violin bass was stolen in 1972 from the back of a van parked in Notting Hill. However, in 2024 a 21-year-old aspiring actor found it in his family’s attic and managed to reunite it with its original owner 52 years after it was stolen. Described as “the most important bass in history”, it is now the subject of an upcoming documentary The Beatle and the Bass Guitar.
There seem to be many musical theatre fans among U.S. judges, with the musical Fiddler on the Roof being one of their favourites. Among various examples of its invocation in case law are the following:
•The United States District Court of the Eastern District of Wisconsin started its reasons for judgment on an action for the payment of a fee for “matching up” two corporations, allegedly resulting in a merger, by invoking Fiddler on the Roof: “Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match, Find me a find, Catch me a catch. Match-
maker, matchmaker, look through your book and make me a perfect match”: Schaller v. Litton Industries, Inc ., 307 F. Supp. 126 (1969).
•In finding that compulsory joinder principles did not apply to a matter, the Pennsylvania Superior Court noted: “This case brings to mind a familiar quote from one of the great works of American theater, Fiddler on the Roof —‘A bird may love a fish but where would they build a home together?’”: Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Atkinson, No. 1562 EDA 2016 (2021).
•The Civil Court of the City of New York, Richmond County, noted in Egon J. Salmon, Inc. v Tamarin, 2006 NY Slip Op 26443, 14 Misc 3d 338: “How is it possible to have two sections of the New York City Civil Court Act with the same number? As Teyve says in ‘Fiddler on the Roof’—‘I don’t know? It’s a tradition.’ To date the court has identified at least 18 duplicately numbered statutes. Perhaps the character from ‘Catch-22’ who sees everything twice is working in the Legislature.”
•Going all out in its Fiddler on the Roof dissertation, in Smash Technology, LLC v. Smash Solutions, LLC, No. 2:2019cv00105 (2020), the United States District Court for the District of Utah referred to that musical when criticizing the practice of making boilerplate objections to discovery requests:
The opening scene in the musical Fiddler on the Roof has a silhouetted figure playing a violin on a rooftop during which the protagonist, Tevye, directs a lengthy aside to the audience. In this aside, Tevye states that everyone in his small village of Anatevka is “a fiddler on the roof” because each person “is trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck.” After acknowledging the difficulty and danger of such a precarious situation, Tevye anticipates what the audience is thinking and asks, “And how do we keep our balance?” He then answers that question in one word: “Tradition!”
In many ways, civil litigators live in Anatevka. With ominous warnings in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure such as “any ground not stated in an objection is waived,” civil discovery litigation is difficult and, like fiddling on a roof, can even feel dangerous. In this environment, civil litigators do their best to scratch out a living without breaking their necks. Given the precarious nature of civil discovery practice, many attorneys— like the Anatevkans— rely on “tradition” for stability. Some of these civil discovery traditions include: (1) a page or two of “general objections” wherein the responding civil litigator objects “to the extent that” any of the interrogatories, docu-
ment requests, or requests for admission violate some rule; (2) objecting in every discovery response that the request was vague, ambiguous, overbroad, and unduly burdensome, among many other things; but (3) providing a response “without waiving and subject to” all of the foregoing objections. The party that receives these tradition-laden responses is then left to wonder whether these objections had any actual consequence regarding whether documents were withheld or other responses were left incomplete. Although incredibly inefficient, the civil litigator who provides this traditional “response” feels secure because he/she cannot fall off the metaphorical roof after having played “any and all” available objections….
However, the court found this traditional approach was not appropriate and did not work. It remarked:
…the continued tradition of these boilerplate objections waives the objections while violating the rules. Instead of making the objecting attorney more surefooted on the pitched roof of civil litigation, this tradition places the objecting attorney in greater danger. Accordingly, for the benefit of the requestor, objector, and the court, this tradition must be broken here.
Wikipedia describes Métis fiddling as “the style that the Métis of Canada and Métis in the northern United States have developed to play the violin, solo and in folk ensembles. It is marked by the percussive use of the bow and percussive accompaniment (such as spoon percussion).”
A portion of the Smithsonian website—although no doubt on the verge of being converted to a sales outlet for faux gold-plated violins in honour of President Trump—that for now provides general information on violin authentication and appraisals implores readers not to send their instruments to that institution. It notes that “[v]iolins by famous makers such as Stradivari, Guarneri, Maggini, Amati, or Stainer had numerous followers and imitators. Often a disciple placed a facsimile label in his violin to acknowledge or honor the master whose model had inspired his work.” Correspondingly (with the emphasis in the original), “[t]he presence of a label with a famous maker name or date has no bearing on whether the instrument is genuine. Thousands upon thousands of violins were made in the 19th century as inexpensive copies of the products of great masters of the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, the purchaser knew he was buying an inexpensive violin and accepted the label as a reference to its derivation. Catalogs from the period show that these instruments were advertised for less than $10. As people rediscover these instruments today, the knowledge of where they came from is lost, and the labels can be misleading.”
Amati Law is a law firm in Jersey (one of the Channel Islands). Its website notes:
Our values at Amati Law draw on the tradition of the master craftsman and the Italian word meaning ‘loved’ or ‘cherished one’. The Amati family were a renowned maker of violins teaching Stradivarius and other masters.
Their violins created between 1578 to 1740 are still played today by the finest virtuoso players because of their superb quality, crafted through Amati’s technical brilliance and innovation
Amati Law’s lawyers combine legal excellence with an ethic of integrity and authenticity, always putting the client first. Progressive and innovative, we draw on the strength of many years practice honing our craft.
Whether you require simple and cost-effective legal help or bespoke craftsmanship Amati Law would love to partner with you in your success. And finally, smile with you as we succeed together
We have some talented musicians in our midst. Among lawyers whose violin playing features on their website bios are George F. Kondor, K.C., at Oyen Wiggs (who “plays violin with the West Coast Symphony and has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra”) and Susan Justice at YLaw.
Lawrence S. Viola, of Viola Law Firm P.C., has been listed among the “Super Lawyers List for Northern California, 2009-2025”.
Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer whose ancestors included lawyers and pastors. He also set an English folksong, “The Lawyer” (about a young woman refusing a lawyer’s offer to take her to London town and provide her with a silken gown), to the strains of a violin.
The Lowering the Bar website includes the following attention-grabbing entry from 2018: “Lawyer Dispute Escalates From Picture of Cat Playing Violin to Gunfire”. A dispute between two former co-counsel escalated, leading to the arrest of a Portland lawyer for allegedly firing shots into his foe’s law office, fortunately without injury to anyone. This was the culmination of a series of events that included the target criticizing the later alleged shooter’s work, leading the alleged shooter to respond with an email attaching a picture of a cat playing a violin. The author of the post notes:
I have to say that, without knowing the content of the first two messages, things seem to have been escalated to a surprising degree by the cat-playing-a-violin email. I assume this was meant to indicate a marked lack of concern about [the target’s] complaints, a position sometimes expressed by a gesture known as “playing the world’s tiniest violin.” This generally
doesn’t involve a cat, but the internet is known for adding cats to everything, so that seems like a fair assumption too.
In any event, the much more surprising escalation, of course, is from emails to bullets. It is slightly less surprising here given that [the alleged shooter] is said to be a former Marine Corps sniper (no offense to former snipers in general, I hasten to add) who is already under investigation by the Oregon Bar for allegedly shoving a former client against a wall. Also because … during a … search of the alleged shooter’s home, police reportedly found evidence that he was making meth in his basement.
Also in 2018, the Strad online newsletter reported on a “Manhattan lawsuit over violin run over in parking garage”. The newsletter explained that a lawsuit had been brought over an incident where the plaintiff and her daughter “had parked in the garage and were removing items from the boot of the car, including the violin in its case which was placed on the ground ‘within arm’s reach’. It was not spotted by an employee driving past and was swept under the wheels and destroyed. The violin is reportedly by Degani, a dynasty of Venetian makers the youngest of whom, Giulio, was born in 1875 and emigrated to the US in 1915. The New York Post quoted the owner of the garage saying: ‘We didn’t do anything wrong … If you have something very special, you don’t put it on the floor.’”
Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, initially studied law after his graduation from high school, but then moved to the Helsinki Music Institute (now the Sibelius Academy) to pursue his interest in music. His only violin concerto is the Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47.
Thought du mois:
“I know that the most joy in my life has come to me from my violin.”
Melanie Duggan is a partner at River Valley Law LLP servicing primarily the Fraser Valley where she practices family law and estate litigation. She previously worked in California and later Victoria, B.C.
Chief Justice Leonard Marchand was appointed Chief Justice of British Columbia in December 2023. His judicial career began with his appointment to the Provincial Court of British Columbia in 2013 and his appointment to the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2017. He was translated to the Court of Appeal in 2021 and also presided in Kamloops Cknucwentn First Nations Sentencing Court in Kamloops.
Mary Ppasiou is a Ph.D. student at Western University and a qualified advocate in Cyprus. She specializes in contract law, tort law and private law theory.
Allison Render is an employment and litigation associate at Farris LLP in Vancouver. Outside of work, Allison enjoys exploring the outdoors, writing fantasy fiction and blogging about storytelling and adventure.
David Roberts, K.C., is a retired barrister and former editor of the Advocate
Thomas Rodgers is a commercial litigator at Farris LLP. A transplant from Alberta, Thomas has an academic background in English and philosophy.
Jay Ruzesky is a writer, poet and photographer. He is a professor at Vancouver Island University and is the author of Antarctica: An Amundsen Pilgrimage.
Kenneth Wm. Thornicroft is Professor of Law and Employment Relations with the Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria. He is a member of the B.C. Property Assessment Appeal Board and a tribunal member of the BC Employment Standards Tribunal.
“Magic Door” by James Postill, Oil on Canvas, 40'' x 30'', 2025
Available at Kurbatoff Gallery, 2435 Granville St., Vancouver
