ICBC rate structure changes will create more fairness in system: lawyer
Scott Stanley, who practises insurance law with Murphy Battista LLP in Vancouver, said the best way to increase safe driving is to create financial incentives to drive safely and, he said, ‘these changes do that.’
Thursday, August 16, 2018 @ 9:20 AM
The B.C. government is moving to change the three-decade-old rate structure at the provincially owned Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC), a move an observer said is consistent with basic insurance principles and one that will no longer reward drivers for bad behaviour. ICBC’s current rate structure is built around insuring the vehicle rather than the driver and allowing discounts to drivers despite the possibility of their having multiple crashes. Provincial Attorney General David Eby said that has resulted in British Columbians with crash-free, clean driving records subsidizing bad drivers. ... [read more]
Canada’s use of DNA and ancestry sites in detainees’ deportation cases problematic, lawyers say
Thursday, August 16, 2018 @ 12:58 PM
Canadian border officials are using “coercion” to get detainees’ DNA and use it to scour “random” ancestry websites for background information that may or may not be accurate, says an immigration lawyer. These comments come following recent reports of a practice by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) that involves obtaining consent from long-term detainees to take a DNA sample and submit it to commercial ancestry sites — ancestry.com and familytree.com, for example — as a way of gleaning information on nationality. ... [read more]
Supreme Court of Canada Chief Justice Wagner picks francophone litigator as new principal advisor 
Wednesday, August 15, 2018 @ 9:32 AM
The Supreme Court of Canada has announced a key personnel change as it prepares for a busy fall session. On Aug. 14, the top court revealed that Vancouver civil litigator Gib van Ert, the executive legal officer (ELO) to the Chief Justice of Canada for the past three years, has been succeeded in that key role by Renée Thériault — the first francophone female ELO and only the third woman to take on the influential behind-the-scenes job as principal advisor to Canada’s top judge. ... [read more]
