Introduction Yesterday the Supreme Court heard arguments and reserved judgment in Hazel Ruth Withler et al. v. Attorney General of Canada (Court of Appeal decision available here), the first case in over two years to challenge legislation solely on the grounds it breaches the equality guarantee of the Charter. The appeal revolves around a claim that [...]

On January 11th, 2010, the Ontario Court of Appeal released its decision in Hydro One Inc. v. Ontario (Financial Services Commission), 2010 ONCA 6, permitting the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO) to order a partial wind-up of a pension plan affected by the reorganization of a business where a “significant” number of employees have [...]

The Court recently upheld the judgement of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in Nolan v. Kerry (Canada) Inc., 2009 SCC 39. The case involved the treatment of surplus in a pension plan. A usually obscure area of labour and administrative law, pension plans and pensions generally were weekly news during 2008 and 2009, and [...]

The Ontario Court of Appeal’s unanimous decision in Kerry (Canada) v. DCA Employees Pension Committee, 2007 ONCA 416, was welcome news for Canadian employers everywhere. Nevertheless, in light of the SCC’s decision to hear an appeal of the case, Canadian employers held their breath in preparation for possible changes to come. Many theorists had ruminated [...]

One of my constitutional law professors once remarked that the rights-based ethic of my generation is largely informed by the fact of our coming of age in the post-Charter era. Personally, I believe that the Charter, for all of its positives, is a systemically underinclusive document. Nevertheless, as a child of the post-Charter era, I [...]

On January 31st the Supreme Court of Canada granted leave to appeal in Elaine Nolan, et al. v. Kerry (Canada) Inc. et al., a case which asks the SCC to determine the appropriate conduct of employers managing employee pension funds. This case will be watched closely by employee-groups and employers alike; however, it will also [...]

Anytime differential treatment of a group is recognized as morally wrong or a violation of equality rights there arises a difficult issue. In trying to determine how best to compensate persons who have been affected by such treatment, how far back should the courts go to calculate the appropriate compensation or remedy? This is precisely [...]

In 1994, in the case of Schmidt v. Air Products Canada Ltd., (1994), 3 C.C.P.B. 1, [1994] 2 S.C.R. 611 (Schmidt), the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) established a new direction for the law of pensions by holding that a pension trust is a classic trust, “subject to all applicable trust law principles.” Commentators at [...]