Patent Considerations in View of the Nearshoring Trends to the Americas
No Password Required: Education Lead at Semgrep and Former Czar for Canada’s Election Security
4 Key Takeaways | Major U.S. Supreme Court Trademark & Copyright Decisions
Hidden Traffic : New Human Trafficking and Child Labor Regulation in Canada with Sean Stephenson
[Podcast] Catching Up on Canadian Environmental Regulation
[Podcast] USMCA in Review, with C.J. Mahoney, Former Deputy U.S. Trade Representative
Episode 4 - USMCA and the trade relationship between the U.S.A, Mexico, & China
Five Questions, Five Answers: Electric Mobility Canada on Its Promises for a Cleaner Economy
Five Questions, Five Answers: The Voice of Canadian Automotive Parts Manufacturers
The Great Green North: A Discussion on Canada’s Environmental Regulations
Blakes Continuity Podcast: Cutting Through the Weeds: A Look at Environmental Issues Impacting Businesses
Balado continuité – Environnement : nouveautés du régime d’autorisation québécois
Blakes Continuity Podcast: What to Expect When Insolvency Crosses the Border
Infrastructure and Indigenous Engagement
A Way Forward: Energy Industry Ready to Fuel Canada's Recovery
Blakes Continuity Podcast: The Moving Landscape of Foreign Investments
Blakes Continuity Podcast: COVID-19: The Regulatory Impact on Pensions
Employment and Labour in the Time of COVID-19
Nota Bene Episode 70: Examining the USMCA: Is it Simply a Rebranded NAFTA? with Scott Maberry
This Week in FCPA-Episode 96, 2018 - the Opening Day edition
In Croke v. VuPoint System Ltd., 2024 ONCA 354, the Court of Appeal for Ontario (OCA) upheld the Superior Court of Justice – Ontario (SCJ)’s summary judgment decision that an employee’s refusal to comply with their employer’s...more
The Ontario Court of Appeal recently held that an employee’s failure to meet COVID-19 vaccination requirements imposed by a third party amounted to frustration of the employment contract. As a result, there was no obligation...more
In the case of Van Hee v Glenmore Inn Holdings Ltd., 2023 ABCJ 244 (Van Hee), Justice L.L. Burt of the Alberta Court of Justice (the Court) held that an employer was justified in unilaterally placing an employee on an unpaid...more
In Van Hee v Glenmore Inn Holdings Ltd., 2023 ABCJ 244 (Glenmore), the Alberta Court of Justice found that an employer’s mandatory vaccination policy was a reasonable, justified and lawful response to the extraordinary...more
An arbitrator recently issued the first award in Ontario to address and uphold the reasonableness of a hospital vaccination policy that provides for the termination of employment for non-compliance. In Lakeridge Health and...more
The British Columbia Supreme Court recently sided with an employer in its first civil case determining whether employees may be placed on unpaid leave for failing to comply with a mandatory vaccination policy. The court’s...more
The Court of King's Bench of Alberta recently applied the long-standing principle that labour arbitrators have exclusive jurisdiction to adjudicate disputes arising under a collective agreement, even in the context of an...more
With the decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in Parmar v Tribe Management Inc. 2022 BCSC 1675 (“Parmar”), Canada has its first judicial decision considering whether placing a non-union employee on unpaid leave of...more
Although arbitrators in Canada have considered whether an employer in a unionized workplace can place an employee on unpaid leave for failing to comply with its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, the British Columbia...more
In Regional Municipality of York v Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 905 (Long Term Care Unit), 2022 CanLII 78173, Arbitrator Stephen Raymond decided that a mandatory vaccination policy (Policy) requiring employees in...more
On April 27, 2022, in Canada Post Corporation v. Canadian Union of Postal Workers (Canada Post), Arbitrator Thomas Joliffe, Q.C. dismissed a union grievance disputing that the unilateral imposition of a mandatory vaccination...more
*Disclaimer: Given the speed at which new laws, regulations, and policies have been implemented to control the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that the responses below will be impacted.* Has vaccination been made mandatory...more
Since late fall 2021, we have seen a steady flow of arbitration awards emerge in Ontario and British Columbia that consider issues relating to mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies in the unionized workplace. In this...more
In BC Hydro and Power Authority and IBEW, Local 258, Re, 2022 CarswellBC 837, Arbitrator Gabriel Somjen decided that the mandatory vaccination policy of BC Hydro, British Columbia’s primary electricity supplier, was...more
On April 4, 2022, in Fraser Health Authority v British Columbia General Employees’ Union, 2022 CanLII 25560, Arbitrator Koml Kandola of the British Columbia Labour Relations Board dismissed the union’s grievance respecting...more
On April 4, 2022, in Extendicare Lynde Creek Retirement Residence and United Food & Commercial Workers Canada, Local 175, Arbitrator Stephen Raymond upheld a retirement home’s mandatory vaccination policy as a reasonable...more
With the recent rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, the interim Québec National Director of Public Health announced on April 5, 2022 that the wearing of masks in public places indoors (scheduled to be eliminated...more
In The Toronto District School Board and CUPE, Local 4400 (Re: PR734 COVID-19 Vaccine Procedure) (TDSB and CUPE), Arbitrator William Kaplan upheld the Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) mandatory COVID-19 vaccination...more
In Unifor Local 973 v Coca-Cola Canada Bottling Limited, 2022 CanLII 20322, Arbitrator Mark Wright made another contribution to the “weight of authority” in Ontario labour arbitration awards pertaining to mandatory COVID-19...more
Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health announced on March 9, 2022 the Province's plan for lifting the majority of the remaining COVID-19 related public health and workplace safety measures. This announcements comes just a...more
On March 9, 2022, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. Kieran Moore, announced that the province’s mask mandate will end in most settings on March 21, 2022, along with remaining regulatory requirements for...more
In Chartwell Housing REIT v. Healthcare, Office and Professional Employees Union, Local 2220, 2022CanLII 6832 (ON LA) (Chartwell), Arbitrator Gail Misra considered a provision in a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy that...more
Since we last wrote on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination policies, another vaccination policy was upheld at arbitration, this time, requiring employees to receive a third “booster” shot against COVID-19. ...more
In Power Workers’ Union v Elexicon Energy Inc., 2022 CanLII 7228 (ON LA) (Elexicon Energy), a union challenged the reasonableness of an electricity distribution company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy (Policy). ...more
Canada’s Constitution makes it such that the presumptive and preeminent jurisdiction in matters of employment, labour relations writ large, privacy and health and safety at work is provincial, not federal. This is in marked...more