The National Access to Justice Week is taking place from October 24 to 28.
The Law Society of Manitoba has partnered with the Manitoba Bar Association and the University of Manitoba for the third annual National Access to Justice Week and will offer four free virtual events open to the public. See here for more info or view all the events on our Calendar.
The University of Manitoba Faculty of Law along with the Law Society has also created an Access to Justice blog. “The site will highlight developments related to access to justice from across Canada, with an emphasis on those relevant to Manitoba. Assistant Professor Gerard Kennedy has initiated the blog in collaboration with Natasha Brown, Access to Justice Coordinator at the Law Society of Manitoba. This joint initiative of Kennedy and Brown will host posts on at least a weekly basis authored by themselves and law students, along with occasional posts from other law professors and access to justice stakeholder organizations within Manitoba.” Click here to view the most recent posts.
If you wish to learn more about Access to Justice, the Manitoba Bar Association has a useful list of Agencies that help provide services and information on equal access to justice.
This October we are excited to see the return of our pilot program, The Law Library Hub.
First offered in February 2020, the Hub was a drop-in program to provide legal information and assistance to members of the public who were struggling with dealing with the courts. Since then, the program changed as pandemic restrictions affected in-person meetings. Currently the Hub will be operating on an alternating schedule of in-person and virtual appointments.
Under the supervision of a practising lawyer, law students will be available to provide assistance in the Great Library at the Winnipeg Courthouse on Wednesday mornings between 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Appointments can be booked using the form available here.
Bill 45 The Budget Implementation and Tax Statutes Amendment Act, 2022 – “This Bill implements various tax and other measures announced in the 2022 Manitoba Budget. Additional amendments implement and support the summary budget and make various amendments to tax legislation.”
Bill 46 The Highway Traffic Amendment Act – “This Bill amends The Highway Traffic Act to give peace officers specific authority to close highways due to road conditions, visibility and other emergency situations. The amendments also give traffic authorities the specific authority to close roads for emergencies and road work. Driving on a closed highway is made an offence.”
Bill 241 The Drivers and Vehicles Amendment Act (Licence Plates for MMIWG2S Awareness) – ” permits an organization to apply to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to make a licence plate available that includes the abbreviation “MMIWG2S”, meaning missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit people. The plate must also bear a graphic depicting a red hand or a red dress.”
Bill 211 The Manitoba Hydro Amendment Act (Referendum Before Privatization of Subsidiary) – amends The Manitoba Hydro Act. Currently, the government may introduce a bill to privatize Manitoba Hydro only after a referendum has been held in which the majority of voters have approved the privatization. The amendment clarifies that the referendum requirement also applies to the privatization of any subsidiary of Manitoba Hydro.
Bill 244 The Protecting Youth in Sports Act – A sports organization or association that receives government funding, a school division or an independent school must ensure that every coach: completes training in the prevention of sexual abuse, harassment, abuse and bullying in sport before commencing coaching youths; and undertakes not to host a young athlete in the coach’s home without prior permission of the athlete’s parent and, in the case of a student participating in an extra-curricular athletic activity, the principal of the student’s school.
“Where counsel to an accused in a criminal case is moving to withdraw as counsel, the motion to withdraw is returnable before the pre-trial conference judge (and is not returnable on the Criminal Motions and Bails List).
To obtain a date before the pre-trial conference judge, counsel may contact the trial coordinator by email. This approach permits the pre-trial conference judge (who has background regarding the case) to canvass with counsel and the accused how to mitigate the effect a potential withdrawal by counsel may have on the previously scheduled trial which is otherwise required to promptly proceed forward absent exceptional circumstances. To similarly minimize the impact of a withdrawal by counsel (either on the trial or the accused’s desire to be represented by available counsel at trial), a motion to withdraw as counsel should be brought as soon as possible. In those situations where a motion to withdraw is filed within days of the scheduled trial date, it may be that the motion is heard by the trial judge.”
“Further to the Notice issued on June 9, 2022 concerning the return to in-person proceedings effective September 6, 2022, the Masters have had some time to consider the issue of attendance of children aged 12 and over at the Masters’ Child Protection Dockets.”
“… [G]iven the very specific legislative requirement pursuant to section 33(2) of The Child and Family Services Act, C.C.S.M. c. C80, impacted children aged 12 and over need to be served, and brought to court to address their rights. This return to pre-pandemic practice will be effective immediately.”
The full notice regarding this update can be found here.
The Manitoba Law Library would like to acknowledge with gratitude that we are situated on Treaty One Territory, the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe, Cree and Dakota peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.
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