A province-wide four-week curfew instituted by the Quebec government to stem COVID-19 infection rates and to serve as an “electroshock therapy” to deter people who have been flouting public health measures was launched without providing any grounds based on evidence that justifies the breaches of the Canadian and Quebec Charter, according to legal experts.
Quebec
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Legal questions surface around Quebec’s curfew
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Is mandatory COVID-19 vaccination an option for employers in Quebec?
Since the beginning of the pandemic, many have been eagerly awaiting a safe and effective vaccine to allow us to return to normal. With the first doses arriving in Quebec, one question keeps arising: Can employers require employees to get vaccinated before returning to work? -
Committee recommends overhaul of Quebec’s youth protection system
A Quebec commission of inquiry is calling for a sweeping overhaul of the provincial youth protection system, including legislative amendments, to deal with children slipping under the cracks, burnt-out staff leaving in hordes, and underfinancing, all of which should be overseen by a newly appointed provincial director.
In a preliminary report, the Special Commission on the Rights of the Child and Youth Protection found that children’s rights are not always respected, observed regional disparities of youth protection cases before the courts, deplored the overrepresentation of Indigenous and black children in the system, and noted that the interpretation of confidentiality provisions served as a “brake” on collaboration.
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Quebec introduces major reform to crime victims legislation
Barely two weeks after the federal ombudsman for crime victims called on Parliament to overhaul Canada’s victims bill of right, asserting that it has fallen far short of delivering the “real rights it promised,” the Quebec government introduced a bill that will revamp its crime victims legislation to expand the number of people it will cover, making it the most generous in the country. -
Quebec appeal court ruling opens the door for former common-law spouses to claim unjust enrichment
A wealthy businessman was ordered to pay $2.4 million to his former common law-former partner as he left the relationship with a disproportionate share of the wealth accumulated by the parties’ joint efforts, held the Quebec Court of Appeal.
The appeal court decision, the latest in a slow but steady line of rulings that signals a steady evolution in the way Quebec courts are dealing with legal issues stemming from de facto couples, reaffirms that former common law spouses can make claims of unjust enrichment and be granted monetary awards when they are able to prove that the partners were engaged in a joint family venture, according to family law experts.
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Quebec appeal court orders federal AG & RCMP to pay $400,000 in damages to couple
The Attorney General of Canada and two RCMP officers were ordered by the Quebec Court of Appeal to pay $400,000 in punitive damages after they published and disseminated false information about a Laval couple who were wrongly charged in Canada’s first human trafficking case. -
Bill paves the way for Quebec law students to provide legal advice and consultations
The heads of Quebec’s law schools welcomed a new bill that would allow law students working at university legal clinics to give legal advice and consultations under the supervision of lawyers and notaries, a development that would finally put them within reach of what law students in the rest of the country can provide. -
Quebec court applies Jordan ceilings to white collar crime
A Quebec man accused of tax evasion by provincial tax authorities won an “important” legal battle after the Court of Quebec applied the landmark Jordan ruling and ordered a stay of proceedings and charges.The decision affirms that the principles set out by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Jordan, 2016 SCC 27, [2016] 1 applies to white collar crimes, clarifies the notion of “complexity of the case,” underlines that the prosecution must analyze the evidence and develop a “concrete management and trial plan” before laying charges, and it may even prompt Revenu Quebec to review its procedures, according to tax lawyers. The ruling also suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic is not in itself sufficient grounds to justify delay, without examining other factors.
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Legal aid agreement reached with Quebec government
After three years of negotiations, the Quebec government and the provincial bar association reached an agreement to raise legal fees and to establish an independent working group that will conduct an exhaustive review of the tariff structure.The agreement, widely perceived to be a “step in the right direction” by the Quebec legal community, calls for a five per cent retroactive increase in legal aid fees for the period of October 2017 to May 2019, and a 14.7 per cent increase in fees from June 2019 to September 2022.
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Real estate transactions: exclusive use servitudes deemed invalid
Exclusive use clauses remain common in leases but they can no longer be drafted in the form of servitude agreements in transactions, following a decision by the Quebec Court of Appeal.Exclusive use clauses have long been included in leasing agreements, such as those in shopping centres, to define the permitted uses of the leased property and prohibit or limit one tenant from carrying on the same type of business or “principal use” as another tenant. The bottom line is to protect the market within a property and ensure the commercial success of all tenants.
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Software company wins legal battle against publisher
A Montreal software company that was ordered to pay $125,000 in damages to a Quebec publisher for illicit and intentional copyright violations won a legal battle after the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the lower court decision.Tags: copyright -
Gladue may apply to homeless people rules Quebec Court of Appeal
In a decision welcomed by criminal lawyers, the Quebec Court of Appeal seems to have opened the door for the principle of proportionality of sentences to be applied to homeless offenders or members of a marginalized group who are non-Aboriginal.
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Commercial landlord not entitled to rent due to force majeure, rules Quebec court
In one of the first Covid-19 related lawsuits to surface, a Quebec court held that a commercial landlord was not entitled to collect rent from its tenant because a Quebec government decree that suspended non-essential business activities for three months to stem the flow of the Covid-19 pandemic constitutes force majeure.The closely watched case, the only one so far in Quebec that has been decided on the merits, is expected to have important ramifications for landlords and tenants, underlines the importance of carefully drafting force majeure clauses, and highlights the weight the courts will give to the notion of peaceable enjoyment, according to legal observers.
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Failed justice
Errors and omissions by defence counsel, the Crown prosecutor and even the trial judge were not “determinative” after a man who sought to withdraw his guilty plea to sexual assault failed to establish that he sustained subjective prejudice, ruled the Quebec Court of Appeal.The unusual case has spurred at least one criminal lawyer to state that the justice system failed the appellant and his family while another held that the Quebec Court of Appeal issued a fair and reasonable decision that heeded guidance by the Supreme Court of Canada in the 2018 leading decision in R. v. Wong, 2018 SCC 25, [2018] 1 S.C.R. In Wong, the SCC held that guilty pleas must be informed.
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Quebec plans ambitious overhaul of its privacy law
An ambitious proposed overhaul of Quebec’s privacy law would make the provincial privacy watchdog the first Canadian privacy regulator with powers to directly impose administrative monetary penalties organizations for non-compliance.
