Testimony via video link

In a criminal trial, it is possible to have a witness testify via video link. The court in Walkerton recently took some time to consider this issue. The Crown put forward some evidence that an important civilian Crown witness lived out West and that arrangements had been made to have

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Estate mediation spreading across the province through rule changes

Lawsuits are governed, procedurally, by the “rules of civil procedure.” These rules are in large hard bound books, with the accompanying forms in a companion soft cover addition. The reason the books are so large, is that they contain case precedent annotations- but, I digress. There are some special rules governing

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Fixed term employment contracts, a potential employer nightmare

Fixed term employment contracts have become quite popular these days, given the fluidity inherent in the modern labour market. These will often have “termination for just cause” provisions and or damage limitation clauses. Often, however, the courts will find that the impugned worker conduct does not merit a just cause

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A criminal file, first interview

Some of you may wonder what goes on in a first interview in a criminal file. First, many people bring a support person, who is often a parent or spouse. This can cause confidentiality concerns, especially if that support person could become a witness for either the government (Crown) or

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The winding human rights road.

The subject of this column is the very recent Schrenk decision from the British Columbia Court of Appeal. Mr. Shrenk apparently had a head injury some years ago and it made him less likely to bite his tongue- i.e. it made him unpleasantly outspoken. He was a site supervisor for

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