News

• Slaw article, By 2035 Society Will Abandon Walking: Encouraging Multi-Modal Legal Research by Hannah Rosborough – “…this post is about the importance of building a solid foundation of legal research skills to inform human decision-making in our increasingly efficient, data-driven, algorithmic, AI embracing world.”
• Law360, Manitoba regulation for prompt construction payments now in effect – “Manitoba’s Public Service Delivery Minister Mintu Sandhu has announced that the province’s prompt payment regulation facilitating “timely flow of construction payments” came into effect earlier this month.”
• Canlii, Law Theses and Dissertations are now available on CanLII – “CanLII is excited to announce the launch of a new Theses and Dissertations category within our legal commentary collection. With the establishment of this set of content, we are aiming to expand access to high-quality, in-depth academic research and provide a dedicated space for long-form scholarly work on Canadian law.
• CTV news, ‘Multiparent’ families, like throuples, to be granted legal rights in Quebec – “A recent court ruling in Quebec has granted multi-parental families in the province the same legal rights as any other unit. A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled on Friday that limiting the legal affiliation of children to one or two parents is unconstitutional.

Feature Question of the Month

This feature presents some of the interesting queries we receive, and highlights how we can direct you towards the appropriate resources.

What exactly do your Research Services involve?

Normally this section highlights interesting research questions, cases, or points of law. But our research services can do more than find obscure cases or topics. Here are some examples of the kinds of questions we can help answer:

• Simple questions: We can help locate cases or citations that are hard to find. If you are having trouble finding a decision on an online database, let us know and we can help track it down. Sometimes the citations have errors, may be unreported, or maybe you don’t have the full information. Even if you only have an idea of what the case was about, and maybe the year or judge, we can help pin that down.
• General topics: Just looking for some information on a topic, or refresher? We can provide you with chapters from texts, sections of commentary, articles, or even leading cases.
• Legislative History: While there are some point-in-time versions of provicinal and federal legislation, they only go back to the early 2000s. If you need to know when a statute was amended, repealed, or what it looked like at a certain time, we can help track that legislation or show you howo to find it yourself.
• Complex questions: Don’t know where to start or hit a wall in your research? Send us your question and we can either help by sending additional information from our resources, or confirm that you’ve found everything there is. It doesn’t hurt to have a second look to make sure nothing was missed.

If you ever need a second set of eyes, or an answer and not sure where to look, send us a quick message at library@lawsociety.mb.ca.

Latest Current Awareness

Journals

Manitoba Law Library subscribes to a number of legal journals in print and digital. See below for the latest issues of popular titles. Members can request copies of articles under fair dealing guidelines by emailing library@lawsociety.mb.ca

Request from the Canadian Bar Association
Federal Courts Bench and Bar Liaison Committee

Dear Friends,

We are writing on behalf of the Federal Courts Bench & Bar Liaison Committee, a committee of the Canadian Bar Association. We provide a forum to raise practice-based issues with the judges and staff of the Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal that are of concern to both the Bar and the Bench.

In the ordinary course, our Committee meets twice yearly and our next meeting is scheduled for May 30, 2025. To make our work as informative and as useful as possible, and to maintain and encourage a robust liaison between the Bar and the Federal Courts, we are asking CBA members who appear before the Federal Courts to provide us with their concerns, comments and feedback on issues of importance to their practice.

See past minutes for types of issues to give you a sense of the issues previously addressed. Please note that while the Committee addresses only practice matters that fall outside the mandate of the Federal Court Rules Committee, we encourage you to bring forward any item of concern. We will redirect any matters that fall within the responsibility of Parliament or the government to the appropriate CBA Section, committee, or the Rules Committee for action.

We would be very grateful to hear from you by May 15, 2025 so that input can be considered in planning our upcoming meeting. Replies can be sent to Julie Terrien or you can contact any of the Committee members directly to raise your concerns.

We thank you in advance for your input.

Federal Courts Bench and Bar Liaison Committee

Court Notices & Practice Directions

Court of Appeal

Notices

• • • • • April 28, 2025 – Filing Electronic Copies of Documents

Court of King’s Bench

Notices

• • • • • April 29, 2025 – Bail Reviews in the Court of King’s Bench

New Library Resources

New Print Titles

The Comprehensive Guide to Legal Research, Writing & Analysis — 4th ed.

The Comprehensive Guide to Legal Research, Writing & Analysis, 4th Edition offers an in-depth, comprehensive, and up-to-date resource to help readers develop the practical competencies required by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. The text provides coverage on provincial, territorial, and federal research tools and processes. It places a keen emphasis on applying research techniques in both academic and professional settings.

The text is designed to help readers build key skills, such as analyzing issues and facts, researching legal statutes and cases from various levels of court, creating and maintaining research plans, developing legal arguments, and transitioning their legal writing skills from classroom to courtroom. The newest edition also features a brand new chapter dedicated to Indigenous legal research, written by the Indigenous Law Research Unit at the University of Victoria.

New Digital Titles

Available on vLex in the member’s portal

Canadian Family Law, 10th ed. By Julien D. Payne

Book Reviews

Review taken from the Canadian Law Library Review, Vol. 50, Issue 1

COVID-19, Law & Regulation: Rights, Freedoms, and Obligations in a Pandemic. By Belinda Bennett, Ian Freckelton & Gabrielle Wolf.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023. vii, 674 p. Includes bibliographic references and index. ISBN 9780192896742 (hardcover) $165.00.

Reviewed By
Marnie Bailey
Manager, Knowledge Services Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP

“COVID-19, Law & Regulation looks at the legal and regulatory challenges and implications of the pandemic with five main themes: the layers of law, the role and scope of law, the understanding of risk, the human rights issues, and the impact on individual obligations…

This is an essential read for anyone interested in the early timeline of COVID-19 and is a detailed examination of much of the pandemic. The book ends in early 2022, just when the Omicron variant was starting to spread, as many countries were providing booster vaccinations and widespread masking was on the decrease. In many countries, including Canada, public health emergency declarations would not be rescinded for another 1–2 years, with the full effects of the pandemic and the responses yet to be discovered. I do think the text deserves to be updated with the knowledge we have gained over the past two years. However, for anyone interested in an overview of the legal issues of the pandemic, this is nonetheless a worthy read.“

Click here for the full review

Events

Upcoming Events

Substantive Law

Civil Litigation

OwniCloud Inc v Shared Health Manitoba, 2025 MBCA 38: At issue is whether it is plain and obvious that the cause of action, as pleaded, is certain to fail. The self-represented claim was dismissed with leave to amend, plaintiff was advised to seek help from counsel. Plaintiff continued to self-represent and the amended claim was struck down without leave to further amend. “it was open to the motion judge to show ‘less tolerance and indulgence for non-compliance by a plaintiff who, through past experience, cannot honestly plead ignorance of the rules’ (Bazan v The Assiniboine South School Division, 2013 MBQB 68 at para 73). […] The appeal is dismissed with costs.”

Jablonski v Director of Psychiatric Services, 2025 MBCA 34: Appeal by Applicant to overturn refusal of the application judge to cancel the appointment of the respondent, the Public Guardian and Trustee (the PGT), as committee of property and personal care over the applicant. Cross appeal by PGT, asking that the consent to medical treatment prohibition be set aside. In-depth discussion of The Mental Health Act, including evidence of capacity. Applicant’s appeal dismissed, Respondent’s cross appeal allowed.

5448124 Manitoba Ltd v Cameron Stephens Financial Corporation, 2025 MBCA 32: Appeal stayed. Stay granted on the basis that the plaintiff is a corporation and, barring exceptional circumstances, a corporation must have a lawyer present to advance submissions before the Court of Appeal (see 7602678 Manitoba Ltd v 6399500 Manitoba Ltd, 2024 MBCA 59)

Criminal Law

R v Harrison, 2025 MBCA 35: Sentence appeal. Accused pled guilty to a firearms charge and requested a CSO, sentencing judge imposed 30 months incarceration. The court found the sentencing judge did not err in the use of R v Nur, 2015 SCC 15 and correctly prioritized denunciation and deterrence (see R v Chief, 2024 MBCA 67). Appeal dismissed.

R v Wiebe, 2025 MBPC 35: Accused seeks to exclude evidence gathered by a camera WPS affixed to a utility pole, claiming it was obtained contrary to s.8 Charter rights. The Court affirmed the analysis in R v Ngo, 2022 ONSC 3700 regarding expectations of privacy and video surveillance by police. Accused failed to establish reasonable expectation of privacy, application dismissed.

R v Hall, 2025 MBPC 34: Accused pled guilty to one count of possession of CSAM but said that he did not remember committing it due to memory loss associated with brain cancer and seizures. Crown requested 2 years incarceration, defense requested 2 years, less a day, CSO. The Court noted the need for exceptional or compelling circumstances to justify a CSO and highlighted R v Dew, 2024 MBCA 55 and R v Pike, 2024 ONCA 608. There is no evidence of any nexus between the accused’s medical condition and his offending. Accused sentenced to three years incarceration and ancillary orders.

R v Yankie, 2025 MBPC 33: Ruling on defence motion to exclude crown evidence, a representative sample of the CSAM the accused was in possession of during the time of arrest, citing prejudice. The Accused pled guilty to one count of possession of CSAM. defence relied in part on R v Wickramasinghe, 2022 ONCJ 331 where the presiding judge declined to view the CSAM and suggested that it was not necessary to do so in situations where the facts are not in dispute. Crown relied in part on R v Hunt, 2002 ABCA 155 to emphasize that the probative value substantially outweighs any prejudicial effect. Bayle, P.J. looked to R v P.M., 2012 ONCA 162 to describe the gate-keeper function judges have where evidence is concerned. Bayle, P.J. did not find that potential for prejudice outweighed probative value, motion denied.

R v AM, 2025 MBPC 32: Accused was found guilty of sexual assault. Aggravating factors include age of the complainant the time of assault (16), that no condom was used during the assault, and the ongoing negative impact on the complainants life. Mitigating factors include a history of mental health issues, being subject to sexual interference as a child, racism, and being assessed as at below average risk to reoffend. Allen, P.J. cited crown submission R v Kambeba, 2023 MBPC 64. Accused sentenced to 3 years incarceration.

R v Vieira, 2025 MBPC 29: Sentence for charges incurred by offenses that took place in Winnipeg as well as charges incurred by offenses in Steinbach that took place while the accused was out on bail from the Winnipeg charges. Accused has a history of criminal convictions and has made few rehabilitative efforts. After factoring time spent in custody, the accused was sentenced to 473 days incarceration, 18 months supervised parole, and restitution to be paid to those affected among other orders.

R v Wiebe, 2025 MBPC 28: Accused pled guilty to 12 offences that resulted from events on three occasions. Allen, P.J. bundled the sentences from each offending event to be served concurrently, while the total sentence from each offending event is to be served consecutively.

R v Abraham, 2025 MBPC 27: When the accused/applicant was being detained for her own safety under the Mental Health Act, she assaulted, caused bodily harm and uttered threats to the RCMP officer who attended the call. Accused/applicant brought a Notice of Motion alleging breaches of her constitutional rights. It was found that the officer was acting in accordance with the Mental Health Act and no Charter Rights were violated. Accused was found to have been of operating mind during the incident, and as such, guilty of the charges.

Family Law

Prysiazniuk v. Prysiazniuk, 2025 MBKB 47: Husband, claims non-compensatory spousal support, both ongoing and retroactive. Husband’s income undetermined. Due to the ages of the parties, any spousal support granted would have terminated at the end of 2025, following Rempel v. Rempel, 2018 MBQB 129. Other issues include that of property and occupation rent, which followed guidance from Elyk v. Elyk, 2021 MBQB 26.

Labour and Employment Law

Brown v General Electric Canada, 2025 MBCA 37: At issue: the judge’s interpretation of non‑standard form contracts (standard of review Sattva Capital Corp v Creston Moly Corp, 2014 SCC 53), a finding of fact based on a credibility assessment of witnesses (FH v McDougall, 2008 SCC 53), and the duty of a wrongfully terminated employee to reasonably mitigate their loss (Globex Foreign Exchange Corporation v Kelcher, 2011 ABCA 240). Appeal dismissed.

Wills, Trusts, and Estates

Yaremchuk, et al. v. Yaremchuk, 2025 MBKB 48: Issues related to handwritten alterations, possibly made by the deceased’s wife in 2020, of the deceased’s will which was executed in 2000. The alterations favour the applicants, who would like the will with alterations to be admitted to probate. S 23 of The Wills Act as considered in George v. Daily, 1997 CanLII 17825 (MB CA) was applied. It was found that the will with alterations reflected the true testamentary intentions of the deceased and was admitted to probate.

Legislation

Federal

Next scheduled sitting will be May 26, 2025

See here for the latest activity.

Provincial

Recent Activity

Current Bills    |    Bill Status

New Regulations