A new means of enforcing compliance with Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation or “CASL” will come into force July 1, 2017, making it a good time for organizations to revisit CASL compliance and address any compliance problems…
Industry: Education
Ontario Announces Additional Funding to Reduce Class Sizes and to Support Students at Risk
The Ontario government has announced that nine central agreements have been reached between trustees’ associations and education workers’ unions and teachers’ federations. These agreements will be in force from September 1, 2017 to August 31, 2019. The government has also announced additional funding for the following: to hire approximately 875 teachers and 1600 education workers…
Federal Government Introduces Bill to Legalize Cannabis
On April 13, 2017, the federal government introduced Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act. If passed, Bill C-45 will, among other things: permit persons age 18 and over to possess up to 30 grams of dried or fresh cannabis permit the government to authorize the possession, production, distribution, sale, importation and exportation of cannabis where authorized…
Federal Budget Implementation Legislation Introduced
On April 11, 2017, the federal government introduced Bill C-44, the Budget Implementation Act, 2017, No. 1, omnibus legislation that would enact various measures outlined in its 2017 Budget. The accompanying Department of Finance Backgrounder indicates that Bill C-44 would, among other things, amend the Employment Insurance Act to: allow parents to choose to receive Employment…
CAPSLE Conference 2017
Panel Discussion called “Human Rights in Education: Successes and Challenges” Co-Presenting a session called “Skills and Pills: An educator’s guide to navigating the intersection between student mental health accommodation, privacy law and pedagogies for student success”
New Private Member Bill Proposes “Card Check” Unionization, First Contract Arbitration Model for Ontario
On April 4, 2017, the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Ontario introduced private member legislation that would amend the Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act) to bring “card check” union certification back to Ontario for the first time since 1995, and to implement a new first contract arbitration process. It is important to note that private…
Bill 92, School Boards Collective Bargaining Amendment Act, 2017, Receives Royal Assent
On March 27, 2017, Bill 92, School Boards Collective Bargaining Amendment Act, 2017, received Royal Assent. The Bill amends the School Boards Collective Bargaining Act, 2014 and reforms the collective bargaining framework in the education sector. Amendments include, among other things, making central bargaining a mandatory component of collective bargaining and permitting an employer bargaining…
Leaves of Absence, Procedural Matters and More
In this latest edition of our School Board Update, we are bringing you summaries of three recent cases which will be of interest. They deal with abuse of process at arbitration, entitlement of part-time and custodial employees to miscellaneous leaves, and the balancing of religious freedom with other statutory requirements…
2017 Federal Budget Released
On March 22, 2017, the federal government tabled its 2017 Budget, Building A Strong Middle Class (#Budget2017)…
Counsel to a university board at arbitration involving the intersection of board governance rules and academic freedom.
Counsel to a university board at arbitration involving the intersection of board governance rules and academic freedom.