Saskatchewan Essential Services Legislation Deemed Unconstitutional A Saskatchewan Court of Queen’s Bench justice recently struck down a controversial piece of legislation that denied public sector workers the right to strike. The legislation was deemed unconstitutional for infringing on public sector workers’ rights to freedom of association, guaranteed by section 2(d) of the Charter of Rights [...]

Labour arbitration affords an economical, accelerated and informal mechanism to maintain peaceful industrial relations and address the economic needs of an enterprise. Arbitrators adjudicate disputes by interpreting the language of the collective agreement, hearing evidence, and determining the obligations of the employer and the union. When arbitration decisions are challenged, the legal approach taken by [...]

In April, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) handed down its latest pronouncement on the relationship between the Charter’s guarantee to freedom of association and the collective bargaining process in Ontario (AG) v. Fraser (Fraser). In Fraser, a majority of the Court determined that Ontario’s Agricultural Employees’ Protection Act (AEPA) is consistent with the Charter’s s. 2(d) guarantee [...]

In April, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) handed down its latest pronouncement on the relationship between the Charter’s guarantee to freedom of association and the collective bargaining process in Ontario (AG) v. Fraser (Fraser). In Fraser, a majority of the Court determined that Ontario’s Agricultural Employees’ Protection Act (AEPA) is consistent with the Charter’s s. 2(d) guarantee [...]

In April the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) handed down its latest pronouncement on the relationship between the Charter’s guarantee to freedom of association and the collective bargaining process in Ontario (AG) v Fraser (Fraser). In Fraser, a majority of the Court determined that Ontario’s Agricultural Employees’ Protection Act (AEPA) is consistent with the Charter’s s. 2(d) guarantee [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) has released its decision in NIL/TU,O Child and Family Services Society v. B.C. Government and Service Employees’ Union, 2010 SCC 45 (“NIL/TU,O”). TheCourt.ca had first brought the B.C. Court of Appeal case to light nearly two years ago here. In its judgment, released November 4, the SCC re-visited the test for [...]

In 1992, a striking gold miner in the Northwest Territories (NWT) planted a bomb which killed nine replacement workers. The ensuing judicial saga, in which the widows of the murdered men sought compensation in tort from the security company guarding the mine, the union, and the territorial government branch responsible for mine safety, ultimately came [...]

The arduous judicial process for the families of victims of one of Canada’s worst mining disasters has finally ended. Last Thursday, the Supreme Court released reasons in Fullowka v. Pinkerton’s of Canada Ltd., 2010 SCC 5, concluding six years of civil litigation stemming from the fatal 1992 explosion at the Giant Mine near Yellowknife. The [...]

TheCourt.ca is very pleased to reproduce the decisions of the Women’s Court of Canada. In 2004, this group of feminist/equality Charter activists, lawyers, and academics, decided to do something about what they saw as the sorry state of equality jurisprudence under s. 15. Their solution – rewrite the key decisions of the Supreme Court of [...]

On December 17, the Supreme Court of Canada heard Fraser v. Ontario (Attorney General), 2008 ONCA 760 (“Fraser“), which tests the constitutional right to collective bargaining under the Charter‘s s. 2(d) freedom of association in the case of farm workers. Coming off of a recent Labour and Employment Law exam and having an affirmed interest [...]