Cabinet yesterday refused to release findings of its investigation into a former Muslim Students’ Association activist appointed Canada’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner. Birju Dattani’s appointment was suspended only minutes before it was to take effect following protests from B’nai Brith and others: “Dattani has a history of anti-Semitic commentary.”
Health Minister Mark Holland’s department has quietly researched “suggestions for regulatory measures” on alcohol like restricting glamourous depictions of drinking in the movies, says a federal report. It follows a proposal to mandate cancer warnings on liquor, beer and wine: ‘Suggestions included restricting the depiction of alcohol consumption in movies.’
The RCMP must “enhance public trust” by showing more candour in explaining policing methods, says an internal audit. The Mounties in 2022 were censured by a Commons committee for lack of accountability in using facial recognition technology and spyware: “There has been limited transparency.”
Contractors pretending to be Indigenous to land federal work are “of great concern,” Ethics Commissioner Konrad von Finckenstein yesterday told the Commons public accounts committee. An audit of Indigenous claimants has yet to be disclosed: “It is something that needs to be addressed and dealt with.”
A federal manager named a key figure in the $59.5 million ArriveCan scandal yesterday denied any involvement in sweetheart contracting. “I was just a low level employee,” testified Diane Daly, a $108,000-a year senior administrator with the Department of Public Works: “I did not have the expertise to know what an IT-anything was.”
Immigration Minister Marc Miller’s department has shelved a proposal for click-box citizenship following a public outcry. The department in a briefing note said it accepted Canadians attached profound meaning to publicly swearing allegiance to Canada in person, a legal requirement for new citizens since 1947: “I do not agree with this interpretation where the oath of citizenship is only a formality.”
Canada is “slowly losing our democracy” due to mean tweets and click-bait media, Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld (Ottawa West-Nepean) said yesterday. Her remarks followed criticism of Vandenbeld’s conduct at a July 31 committee hearing: “I believe in my heart that Canadians care.”
A Federal Court ruling allowing federal managers to share Blacklock’s passwords without payment or permission is “riddled with mistakes,” one of Canada’s foremost internet law experts said yesterday. Barry Sookman, senior counsel with McCarthy Tétrault LLP of Toronto, said all internet publishers are left to question if they have legal protection against “Government of Canada subscribers” who overstep property rights.
“It is clear the recent Blacklock’s Reporter case is riddled with mistakes and many of its findings are open to significant doubt,” Sookman wrote in a 15-page commentary. “This is a case that cries out for appellate review.”
“The Blacklock’s Reporter court decision could leave online news services scratching their corporate heads asking whether after this decision they have any legal protection against subscribers, and especially Government of Canada subscribers, disavowing online subscription terms,” said the Critical Commentary Of The Blacklock’s Reporter-Parks Canada Decision.
Sookman, previously an adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, has frequently testified at Commons committee hearings as an expert on property rights. He is author of an eight-volume work on internet law.
Department of Justice lawyers on May 31 won a judgment upholding the sharing of passwords to paywalled media content. The ruling came in a Blacklock’s lawsuit against Parks Canada after the publisher discovered managers ignored repeated warnings and “plainly visible” terms and conditions against password sharing without payment or permission.
Made A “Mistake”
Evidence showed Genevieve Patenaude, a Parks Canada manager, bought a single Blacklock’s password at $148, the rate charged at the time, then emailed it to co-workers “if you ever need to access any Blacklock’s article.” At least nine people are known to have received a free password. Parks Canada had 2,160 employees.
The Federal Court ruled while Patenaude made a “mistake,” Parks Canada had a “legitimate business reason” to read Blackock’s without paying the same fees as other licencees charged up to $11,470 a year. Parks Canada and the Department of Environment at the time budgeted more than $282,000 a year for monitoring other media, records showed.
“In essence the decision found that for the payment of $148 the entire agency received a license to copy and distribute Blacklock’s Reporter articles within the agency to any interested individuals and to other interested departments,” wrote Sookman. Any “application of sound commercial principles would strongly suggest that for a mere $148 the agency did not have a ‘bulk license’ or ‘institutional license’ to copy and distribute Blacklock’s articles,” he added.
The ruling was “flawed,” “inconsistent” and “difficult to follow and untangle,” “riddled with mistakes” and contained “many legal frailties” including a “nonsensical and unreasonable” interpretation of terms, wrote Sookman: “It misconstrued Blacklock’s terms and conditions, came to the conclusion they were binding on Parks Canada but then decided the case as if they were not binding.”
The deadline to file an appeal expires at month’s end. The current ruling if unchallenged would “create precedents which undermine news services,” wrote Sookman.
By Staff 
Employees who choose to use daycare cannot claim discrimination if their schedule is upset by workplace duties, a federal labour board has ruled. Parental decisions on childraising are “a question of choice,” wrote an adjudicator: “It was incredibly stressful.”
Social Development Minister Jenna Sudds’ office yesterday would not substantiate claims its school lunch program will save families $800 a year. Advocates have cautioned a National School Food Program would “need billions” to achieve its targets, not the $200 million a year currently budgeted: ‘There is little to no literature available regarding Canadian school food programs’ costs.’
All Canadians may “speak what they understand to be the truth” without being hectored, says the Ontario Court of Appeal. Judges ruled Christians may litigate against “digital activism” on TikTok aimed at disrupting pro-life prayer vigils: “These issues should go to trial.”
A majority of the workforce in at least one province will be foreign-born by 2041, Statistics Canada forecast yesterday. Currently a third of workers nationwide were born outside the country: “The proportion of foreign-born individuals in the Canadian labour force has risen steadily since 2001.”
A democracy expert who twice represented Canada abroad as an election observer yesterday was censured for cheating at the polls in Québec. David Gilchrist of Montréal was fined $1,250: “Gilchrist has an above-average knowledge of the electoral process.”
A WestJet Airlines passenger denied boarding due to a mask mandate has lost a bid for damages. The Canadian Transportation Agency yesterday said WestJet had no choice though it meant the cancer survivor had to drive 740 kilometres in a rental car to keep a doctor’s appointment: “The Covid-19 pandemic was an extraordinary event.”
Taxpayers were charged top dollar for Québec-made Covid ventilators later junked as scrap metal, Access To Information records show. A contract to buy $231.7 million worth of ventilators at $28,250 apiece was signed after then-Industry Minister Navdeep Bains spoke privately with the company’s CEO: “We are in a position to help.”
