Here's a post for those interested in according legal personality to rivers. #ableg #abpoli #cdnpoli

New Post: Submission on Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications

Justice Sheilah Martin heard her last case at the #SCC today. I was so fortunate to have her as a law professor, boss, and finally as a colleague and mentor when I joined the academy. I’m looking forward to reflecting on her legacy as a judge along with others across the country and beyond.

This post examines Justice Leonard’s ACFN decision quashing Sylvestre’s petition for a secession referendum. Meanwhile we wait to hear what the master puppeteer herself will have to say about a secession referendum this evening following yesterday’s SNAFU committee meeting. #abpoli #cdnpoli

Great to see our law dean Laura Spitz @ucalgary.bsky.social on the advisory panel for the #SCC appointment process to replace Justice Sheilah Martin. Some of us knew her as Dean Martin, so this seems like a full circle moment.

Ugh. Of course the UCP is going down this path. Stay in your lane! www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

During grading season it’s customary for the mind to wander. Today’s ramble took me to this perfectly sized Mason jar. It can shake your salad dressing, serve your butterscotch pudding, and hold your jam, thumbtacks, or extra buttons. A more perfect container was never made.

About problems with the diversity in limitations legislation across Canada in exempting claims of gender-based violence from the usual statutory barriers.

While we await the SCC decision in Ahluwalia on the tort of family violence (seriously where is it??) this new post discusses limitations issues in gender-based violence related torts. The recent decision in LeClair v. MacDonald, 2026 NSCA 18, canlii.ca/t/kjdg3, provides some needed clarity.

Reasons to follow. Are you watching, Alberta? 👀 apple.news/AT3BI9yA9SfK...

A very important clarification about the Alberta Electoral Boundaries Commission report. The recommendation to consider increasing the number of seats was not a majority proposal. It was the Chair's.

SCOOP 🧵 A snitch law passed by provincial governments twenty years ago has been retooled by the Alberta government for use against nonprofit agencies it seeks to defund. 1/ drugdatadecoded.ca/alberta-gove...

www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti... Rachel Notley speaks out.

Shaun Fluker predicted this on @ablawg.bsky.social, a must-read on the electoral commission report. A reminder that democratic rights under s 3 of the Charter are not subject to the notwithstanding clause. This is one instance where the UCP cannot try to avoid the courts. ablawg.ca/2026/04/13/t...

In light of this recent news about “library inspectors” in Alberta, I cannot recommend this documentary enough. It’s a story of defiance and courage and a call to action in the face of ideological authoritarianism. Don’t think this can’t happen here, it is already underway: thelibrariansfilm.com

This separatist government. That’s it. That’s the joke.

Sadly this is probably just what the UCP intended. But the Charter is the supreme law and civil disobedience is only unlawful if government restrictions on fundamental freedoms (expression, peaceful assembly) are found to be justified. Teachers have to be able to teach the Charter, right? Right?

Re-upping now that the decision is finally available on CanLII: Alberta Teachers Association v Alberta (Attorney General), 2026 ABKB 190 (CanLII), canlii.ca/t/kjs9f.

My book Courtroom Science and Trans Youth is out TODAY, just in time for Trans Day of Visibility! It’s about how courts treat science and scientific expertise in family law cases involving trans children, and how we need to do better and stop medicalizing and gatekeeping them.

Signed. Hope others will too. ✊ www.womenfortransrights.ca

So true. And in Alberta, this policing has led to young women refusing to confirm their "biological sex" as a precondition to playing sports. Which has led to - guess what? Decreased participation of girls in sport, completely undermining the purported objective of the UCP. #abpoli

Also of note is that the official version of the decision, an unofficial version of which was shared in court on March 13, is not yet available on CanLII in spite of Justice Mah’s efforts to make his reasons accessible in other ways. Unofficial version is linked here.

New post on the ATA's injunction application re: the Alberta government's use of s 33 to send teachers back to work and "ram down their throats" a collective agreement. Justice Mah has a lot to say about the role of courts in a constitutional democracy and the Bill 21 case is influential here.

Shoutout to “creative academics” everywhere. Some members of the SCC and other courts may say this with criticism, but academic writing is a key branch of the constitution’s living tree. As is the work of NGOs who provide critical context for these arguments

What does a progressive future look like to you? Join us for this important community dialogue!

Justice Rowe just commented on the unifying nature of the Charter in terms of Canadian values. Even he seems to be indirectly questioning the argument of AB, SK, ON & QB that they should have more say in judicial appointments to better reflect regional values.

At the SCC today the gov’t interveners are making submissions on the NWS clause. Only the feds, BC & MB support courts’ power to grant declarations of Charter violations while s 33 applies. AB, SK, ON & QB say no, and released this letter on judicial appointments yesterday www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Apparently financially attacking Albertans with severe disabilities is not enough for our UCP government. Their new budget attacks seniors too, taking away dental and eye health coverage, increasing medication co-pays, clawing back employment income greater than minimum wage, etc. #abpol #ableg

Watched Pride vs Prejudice tonight. It’s a compelling take on such an important story in our constitutional history. But it really hits home how the Klein govt intensely debated using the NWS clause after Vriend and decided against. What a contrast to Danielle Smith and the UCP’s wanton use of s33.

It was terrific to chat with Morgan Meade, a student editor at the Dalhousie Law Journal, about my Christie Symposium paper "Legal Responses to Work-Related Intimate Partner Violence in Canada: Troubling Privatization." You can listen to this podcast on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/episode/5xRM...

Blog posts by @nigelb.bsky.social are always worth a read, especially when they involve my favourite river. Nigel concludes that the CRT modernization “disproportionately benefit[s] the US … at the expense of ecosystem values, Canadian priorities, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.”

A thorough examination by colleague [email protected] of recent cases involving provinces that preemptively invoked the Charter's notwithstanding clause, & the interesting legal arguments currently being made to keep our rights and freedoms effective.

In this @ablawg.bsky.social post I discuss litigation in AB, SK & QB that challenges the preemptive use of the notwithstanding clause. I agree with the SKCA’s approach that the Charter was not written in disappearing ink and courts continue to play an important role in declaring Charter violations

And she didn’t restrict herself to the CJ’s reasons. “Anyone in the world who shows up in Canada and makes an asylum claim is entitled to free subsidized daycare if citizens get it too, said all but one judge of the Supreme Court on Friday.” Pedalling xenophobia. The AB premier will no doubt jump on

And the good news is that the SCC majority in Kanyinda undertook an intersectional analysis focused on women refugee claimants. Section 15 Charter wins continue to be reason for celebration given the ongoing uncertainties with the Court’s commitment to equality rights, and with governments’ too.

Please join us on April 10th, 2026 for the 29th Annual Osgoode Constitutional Cases Conference. An exceptional program of speakers will critically engage with the recent caselaw, and the peerless Jeremy Waldron will deliver the annual Laskin Lecture. Registration: www.yorku.ca/osgoode/conc...

Thank goodness for wifi on airplanes. ❤️

A very hard hitting @ablawg.bsky.social post on the new limits on public consultation and the disappearance of previous studies of similar resort proposals from the NRCB website. Shaun Fluker appears to have uncovered something rotten in the state of Alberta…

And another new post from guest author Kent McNeil on issues surrounding recognition of Aboriginal title in Wolastoqey Nations v NB and Canada.

This post went up earlier this week and deals with the arcane but fascinating topic of “received law” in Alberta. Meaning received from the colonizers, and surprisingly, still applicable in some instances. We are lucky to have @ablawreform.bsky.social to delve into such topics.

“The fact that this tragic event in #TumblerRidge immediately inspired calls for restrictions on gender-affirming care and trans rights at large in Canada should raise huge alarm bells for trans people and our allies.”

Horrified at the misinformation and hate that is being spewed right now. Sending love, strength and solidarity to trans folks and their communities. 🏳️‍⚧️

I agree with my colleagues. The ACLRC is an invaluable part of our legal community. Its Executive Director of 30 years, Linda McKay-Panos, built it into a critical resource. Linda died in 2024, and I am heartbroken to see such callous disregard for her legacy and for civil liberties in Alberta.

"Democracy & justice in Alberta are being threatened. Alberta is being abused by its own government much the same way the United States of America is being abused by its current president." Over 180 Lawyers have penned an open letter calling out Smith's attack on the law. #abpoli #ableg #cdnpoli

“If the Government of Alberta is genuinely concerned about access to justice, it should invest in court infrastructure rather than leverage funding to advance demands that are inconsistent with the Constitution.” Canadian Bar Association #AbLeg cba.org/our-impact/s...

And this! The ACLRC is part of our law school. Part of the community. Supports access to justice in numerous ways. And now another target of the UCP’s ideological warfare.

So Smith claims Alberta has “distinct legal traditions” as the basis of her threat to withhold $$ for new judicial appointments without more say. It increasingly feels like the distinct legal tradition here is absence of the rule of law, though that is pretty new. apple.news/AEaOehjN7TtK...

A statement from Alberta’s chief justices: “A properly functioning democracy requires three separate branches of government that exercise their power and authority independently according to the Constitution…” This should go without saying, but they had to say it www.albertacourts.ca/kb/resources...

Absolutely! But failing the UCP doing the right thing (!), it is excellent to see advocacy organizations pushing back at the use of the notwithstanding clause. Groups like Egale and Skipping Stone should not have to expend their scarce resources on this, but we are fortunate that they are.