Bernard Duhaime used to chase ghosts, and help find thousands who fell victim to state-sponsored disappearances. Now the human rights law professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal will be monitoring hotspots around the world where there have been gross violations of humans rights and international humanitarian law following the end of conflict or the demise of authoritarian rule.
Spotlight
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Right to data portability in effect in Quebec
Organizations doing business in Quebec face new compliance obligations as the right to data portability came into force at the tail end of September, spelling the end of a one-year leniency period following the entry into force of Quebec’s sweeping overhaul of its privacy regime.
This right, part of an international trend to give individuals more control over their own data, compels business and public bodies to provide individuals computerized personal data they hold on the person in a structured and commonly used technological format. Individuals may also request that their computerized personal information be disclosed to any person or body authorized by law to collect such information.
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Quebec bill grants protections and establishes new obligations to de facto unions
A new proposed Quebec legal framework for common-law couples who become parents after June 2025 will be entrusted with new rights and obligations, and provide some protections granted to married couples, a development viewed by family law experts as a step in the right direction.
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Employers’ obligation to protect psychological well-being of workers expanded by Quebec bill
The Quebec government, in an initiative welcomed by business and labour, is in the final stages of passing legislation that aims to further prevent and fight psychological harassment and sexual violence in the workplace by adding legal presumptions to make it easier to prove an employment injury or illness stemmed from violence at the hands of a co-worker or employer representative.
Bill 42, now before the Quebec National Assembly undergoing a clause-by-clause examination, introduces a definition that encompasses all speech and language of a sexual nature, extends the time limit for filing a claim, broadens the general duties of employers’ obligation to protect the psychological well-being of employers, and introduces harsher penalties for non-compliance. The bill also compels arbitrators who take on grievances dealing with psychological harassment to take mandatory training.
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French-language law faculties grappling with new breed of generative AI tools
A year after the emergence of a new breed of generative artificial intelligence tools were thrust into public consciousness, with the program ChatGPT leading the charge, French-language law faculties in Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick are still grappling over its far-reaching potential impacts on teaching and learning in higher education.
The widespread availability of free and low-cost AI chatbots capable of generating sophisticated, human-like responses culled from heaps of data from open-web content has stirred debate and prompted deliberation within French-language law faculties over a host of issues, ranging from academic integrity or cheating, cognitive bias, privacy and security concerns, intellectual property rights, and the benefits and risks of implementing AI tools in teaching and learning.
Some law faculties, while they have not closed the door on implementing their own internal policies, have however opted to wait for their institution to forge an establishment-wide AI policy. Others such as the Université du Québec à Montréal see no need for a university-wide policy or formal departmental guidelines governing the use of AI, other than the stipulation that students respect academic integrity regulations.
“It’s clear that things are changing fast, which is why we need to work well,” said David Robitaille, vice-dean of studies at the Faculty of Law – Civil Law at the University of Ottawa. “It’s certainly a priority issue for faculties, at least for ours. But we shouldn’t rush into solutions too quickly.”
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Justiciability a major hurdle for climate change lawsuits, assert legal experts
A proposed climate change class action suit by a Montreal environment group against the federal government was denied certification by the Quebec Court of Appeal after it held that it was not justiciable, the latest in a series of climate change litigation cases that have been thwarted by the justiciability doctrine, prompting questions over the successful viability of using broadly framed Charter arguments in climate justice suits in Canada. -
The push to decriminalize magic mushrooms
The drive towards decriminalizing or legalizing psychedelics such as magic mushrooms is gaining momentum. Galvanized by research exploring the medicinal promise of psychedelics as a potential treatment for mental health disorders, patients’ groups and the business and medical community are pushing to make psychedelics more readily legally accessible.
