MBCA on Privacy vs Child Protection

The Manitoba Court of Appeal recently ruled on the right of a child protection agency to request the personal information associated with a subscriber to an IP address.

Child and Family All Nations Coordinated Response Network (ANCR) was contacted by the Winnipeg Police Service (WPS) in February, 2016 who were in turn, informed by Interpol that a convicted sex offender in the United Kingdom may have had contact with someone they believed to be a child in 2012. ANCR asked Shaw Communications to identify the owner of the IP address. Shaw refused without a court order.

The application was first taken up with a Master, who did not have jurisdiction to hear an application as opposed to a motion, and then it went to a judge, who dismissed it, concluding that she did not have the jurisdiction to make the order either.

This decision is significant for its analysis of the interpretation of a statute.

[18] ANCR brought its application pursuant to the QB Rules for a determination of rights based upon the interpretation of the CFS Act and regulations. Rule 14.05(2)(c)(iv) of the QB Rules allows for the determination of rights that depend on the interpretation of any document referred to in the rule, in this case, a statute. The rule does not create jurisdiction, but provides a means to determine the nature and extent, if any,
of jurisdiction that already exists.

Steel, J.A. dismissed the application based on the documentation and evidence, while noting that the child protection agency did indeed have the jurisdiction to make such a request. Also of significance are Beard, J.A.’s concurring reasons.

ANCR v. Shaw Communications Inc. , 2017 MBCA 92

 

Free Law Project – U.S. Law

With the high cost of subscription caselaw databases, we’re always looking for authoritative free sources. The Free Law Project is a California non-profit public benefit corporation whose mission is to “provide free, public, and permanent access to primary legal materials on the Internet”.  Working with PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) they have collected every free order and opinion available on PACER and published them on an easy-to-use site called CourtListener.

PACER is similar to our Court Registry. It hosts case file documents and docket information for all district, bankruptcy and appellate courts. While it’s not free, it is very reasonably priced. If you’re looking for document information for a U.S. decision, we have an account with PACER and can help you find it.

CourtListener and Google Scholar should be of benefit to those firms who can’t justify subscribing to a U.S. database.

(Hat tip to The Washington Post’s The Volokh Conspiracy column.)

New kid on the block – vLex Canada

Since I’ve been in law libraries, the legal publishing field has gotten smaller and smaller. Now there’s a new contender – vLex Canada .  Shaunna Mireau posted about it on Slaw.ca.

Just in case you haven’t been watching, Maritime Law Book is now Compass and Compass introduced vLex Canada. There are some interesting and useful delighters with vLex Canada Open.

Check it out for yourself.

The Great Library will be closed from December 25, 2024 to January 1, 2025 for the winter holidays. Regular office hours will resume on Thursday, January 2, 2025.