Government of Canada Consultation on Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence

The government of Canada has released its report on what it heard during consultations on copyright and artificial intelligence that took place between October 12, 2023, and January 15, 2024.

"The consultation sought feedback on three key copyright policy areas related to generative AI technology:

1. the use of copyright-protected works in the training of AI systems, notably for text and data mining (TDM) activities;
2. authorship and ownership rights related to AI-generated content; and
3. questions of liability, notably when AI-generated content infringes copyright."

"While these issues were outlined in the paper, participants in the consultation were also able to raise any other issues they thought important. A number of additional concerns about AI were raised frequently in the consultation. Some of these concerns related to copyright, while others may require consideration outside the copyright framework."

The report summarizes various "observations" that emerged from the consultations as follows:

• Observation 1: Creators oppose the use of their content in AI without consent and compensation
• Observation 2: User groups support clarifications that TDM does not infringe copyright
• Observation 3: Support for greater transparency regarding TDM inputs
• Observation 4: Support for the centrality of human authorship
• Observation 5: No consensus about whether existing legal tests and remedies are adequate
• Observation 6: No consensus about who may be liable for infringing AI-generated content
• Observation 7: Support for greater transparency to facilitate determining liability
• Observation 8: Concerns raised on the use of Indigenous cultural expressions in AI
• Observation 9: Some support for labelling of AI-generated content
• Observation 10: Some concern over the use of performers’ likenesses in deepfakes
• Observation 11: Concerns about negative impacts of AI on job security and unfair competition 

Improved Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal (GALLOP)

GALLOP, the Government and Legislative Libraries Online Publications Portal, was launched a little more than a decade ago by the Association of Parliamentary Libraries in Canada (APLIC).

It is a portal providing access to electronic provincial government publications.

It has moved to a new platform:

"The GALLOP Portal is intended as a one-stop access point to search electronic government documents collected by Legislative libraries in Canada for their jurisdictions."

"Portal scope is based on the collection policies and practices of individual APLIC libraries. Content varies with each jurisdiction. The portal is not comprehensive or exhaustive."

Read the scope notes to see what content has been provided by individual legislative libraries.

New Zealand Law Commission Consultation Paper on Hate Crime

The Law Commission of New Zealand recently published a consultation paper on hate crime.

"This review has its origins in the 15 March 2019 terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain (Muslim places of worship), which claimed the lives of 51 people, leaving 40 people with gunshot injuries. The murder, attempted murder and wounding of these people is a devastating example of a hate crime. It was committed by an individual with extreme right-wing views and lacking in empathy for “those he was able to ‘other’, most particularly Muslim migrants in Western countries”."

"A Royal Commission of Inquiry was established to investigate whether public sector agencies had done all they could to protect the people of Aotearoa New Zealand from terrorist attacks and whether more could be done to prevent attacks in the future (...)"

"In relation to hate crime, the Royal Commission recommended the creation of new hate crime offences. These would impose higher maximum penalties for crimes committed because of an offender’s hostility towards a group of people who have a common characteristic (...)"

"In March 2024, the Minister of Justice asked the Law Commission to review the law relating to hate crime. The Minister asked that we focus our work on whether the law should be changed to create hate crime offences as recommended by the Royal Commission."

The paper also discusses the experience of other jurisdictions, including England and Wales, Scotland and certain states in Australia. 

Deadline Approaching for IFLA PressReader International Marketing Award

For more than 20 years, the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) has been giving out an annual International Library Marketing Award in partnership with sponsor PressReader.

"These awards shine a spotlight on creative strategies and campaigns that promote library services, engage communities, and highlight the vital role libraries play in people’s lives."

"Every year, libraries of all types—academic, public, special, and more—share their most inspiring ideas and initiatives. The awards are a chance to showcase great work, exchange best practices, and demonstrate how smart, thoughtful marketing can make libraries more visible, more impactful, and more valued."

The deadline to apply is February 25, 2025. The top three contenders receive grants to help defray costs of attending IFLA's 2025 annual conference in late August that will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

The list of past winners is available on the IFLA website.

Canadian Bar Association Podcast Interview with Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner

Modern Law: Verdicts and Voices is a monthly podcast produced by the Canadian Bar Association that looks at key legal stories and celebrates the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court of Canada.

The first episode features an interview with the Chief Justice of Canada Richard Wagner.

It also includes a discussion of the Constitution's notwithstanding clause and an exploration of a Prohibition-era case that continues to have an impact on interprovincial trade, Gold Seal Ltd. v. Alberta.

Supreme Court of Canada Calendar of February 2025 Hearings

The Supreme Court of Canada has published its calendar of upcoming appeals that will be heard in  February 2025. 

To find out more about any particular case, click on a case number in parentheses to find docket information, case summaries as well as factums from the parties and any interveners.

Recent Government of Canada Publications from the Weekly Acquisitions List

The Government of Canada's Weekly Acquisitions List is a list of publications by various public bodies and agencies of the federal government that were catalogued in the previous week

Among other documents, the most recent list features:

• Public inquiry into foreign interference in federal electoral processes and democratic institutions : final report (The Honourable Marie-Josée Hogue, Commissioner): "I also note from the evidence that Canada has responded to attempts at foreign interference with measures and mechanisms to  better detect, deter and counter them. I took note of the competence, dedication and experience of the members of Canada’s senior public service and national security and intelligence community who testified before me. These men and women, who work in the shadows and beyond partisan lines, play a crucial role in safeguarding our democratic institutions, and they do it well. That said, the government’s response has been far from perfect: I have observed that the government has sometimes taken too long to act, and that coordination between the various players involved has not always been optimal. Processes by which information had to be passed on to certain decision-makers, including elected officials, have not proved as effective as they should have been.  In addition, the government has proven to be a poor communicator and insufficiently transparent when it comes to foreign interference. The measures implemented over the past two years, along with several statements made on the matter, suggest that the government is now prioritizing the fight against foreign interference. This must continue. (from Volume 1 - Word from the Commissioner)"
• Protecting language rights : overview of the Commissioner's interventions in the courts (2018-2025) (Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages): "Here I am—already at the end of a seven-year mandate as Commissioner of Official Languages, during which great progress has been made in terms of language rights in Canada. As the cases I participated in—either as a party or intervener—throughout my mandate show, I have not hesitated to appear in court to both protect language rights and advance jurisprudence in this area. Unsurprisingly, I have been involved in many cases involving my enabling statute, defending fundamental rights such as access to the courts in the official language of one’s choice, the public’s right to receive services and communications in the official language of their choice, the right to work in the official language of one’s choice in the public service and the vitality of official language minority communities. Like my predecessors, I also took every opportunity to make innovative arguments before the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the right to minority-language education, as is constitutionally protected by section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Lastly, twice before the Supreme Court of Canada, I helped protect access to the courts in the official language of one’s choice under section 530 of the Criminal Code. Reflecting on all these cases, I am finishing out my mandate with cautious optimism about the protection of language rights for individuals and official language communities in Canada. (Raymond Théberge, Commissioner of Official Languages)"
• What We Heard - The Law Commission of Canada in Listen & Learn Mode June to December 2024: "When the LCC officially resumed its operations in June 2023, it immediately began its formal engagement with individuals and organizations who, each in their own ways, embodied aspects of the agency’s raison d’être: living law, pursuing justice, renewing hope. Through roundtables, multilateral discussions, individual meetings, larger conferences, and informal conversations, the LCC sought to develop an understanding of the law reform and justice landscape in Canada and beyond. These engagements bore many fruits: they helped to uncover issues which interlocutors considered pressing or likely to emerge on the horizon; they presented an opportunity to understand interesting initiatives already underway, so as to avoid unintended duplication and to identify potential partnerships; and the roundtables and multilateral discussions served as a site for mutually beneficial exchange, allowing participants to learn about the work and perspectives of others, and to form connections across their endeavours (...) This is the LCC’s third What We Heard report, covering the period from June to December 2024. It sets out the preoccupations, projects, and possibilities that emerged from the LCC’s engagements during that period, including: Listen & Learn roundtables with faculties of law; meetings with Parliamentarians; participation in numerous conferences; discussions with scholars interested in questions of law and justice; focus circles with subject-matter experts; and rich exchanges with members of the judiciary, public policy makers, and community organizations."

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Research Grant Deadline Looming

Members of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) can get up to $5000 in funding to help with the costs of a research project - apply by February 24, 2025!

Questions about the application can be directed to either Dominique Garingan or Beth Galbraith (Co-Chairs of the CALL Committee to Promote Research).

Newest Episode of Arrêt sur le Droit Podcast from Bar Association of Montreal

Arrêt sur le droit is a French-language podcast whose goal is to help people better understand decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada. 

 It is co-produced by the Bar Association of Montreal and CAIJ (the free legal information portal of the Quebec Bar Association) in collaboration with the Supreme Court of Canada.

The most recent episode deals with the case R. v. Bissonnette, a 2022 Supreme Court of Canada criminal law decision that looked into the constitutionality of a specific sub-section of the Criminal Code that allowed for consecutive life sentences. 

The case arose out of the 2017 mass shooting in a mosque in a Quebec City suburb. 6 worshippers were murdered and five seriously injured by the accused.

Arrêt sur le droit is hosted by Michel Désautels who for years was one of the top current affairs hosts of the public broadcaster Société Radio-Canada. 

January 2025 Issue of Governance and Recordkeeping Around the World

The Governance and Recordkeeping Around the World newsletter, published by Library and Archives Canada, highlights issues pertaining to government and recordkeeping practices in the public and private sectors around the world.

The January 2025 issue has just been published. 

It includes:

• news items from Canada and around the world
• announcements of upcoming Canadian and international events (meetings, conferences, seminars)
• project and product news in areas such as digitization, archives, open source, e-government, access to information etc.
• listings of papers and readings (white papers, presentations, reports)

Supreme Court of Canada Launches New Website

The Supreme Court of Canada has redesigned its website.

Content has been streamlined and reorganized to make it easy to navigate and enhance accessibility.

International Federation of Library Associations Report on Library Leadership Programs

The International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) recently published a report on Learning to Lead: A Scan of Global Library Field Practice:

"A major focus for IFLA is ensuring that emerging leaders have opportunities to gain experience and recognition. As a result, IFLA is keen to provide its members with a reference document that outlines the types of leadership programmes available, highlighting their commonalities, differences, and evidence of impacts where possible."

"The Learning to Lead: A Scan of Global Library Field Practice is the first of-its-kind IFLA publication, aiming to provide a representative and comprehensive overview of leadership programmes run by library associations, libraries, museums, archives, and related organisations. It identifies their objectives, methods, and impact data, as well as key features and commonalities. It also aims to support library associations and libraries in their own decision-making about leadership programmes, and enable IFLA to make strategic decisions regarding its future leadership initiatives."

"This report employed a survey methodology as the primary research tool for collecting data for analysis over the period from October to November 2024. The web-based questionnaire was sent to 143 active IFLA Associations and 1129 IFLA volunteers/individuals. To boost the number of programmes surveyed and reviewed, the team also selected leadership programmes from the Arabella Advisors report that was released in January 2015, the total number of programmes reviewed were 66. It is worth mentioning that several criteria were applied in selecting the leadership programmes."

IFLA is an international, non-governmental organization that advances the interests of library and information associations, as well as those of librarians and the communities they serve throughout the world.

Formed in 1927, the Federation has its headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.

 

Pre-Print: A bibliometric analysis of Canadian LIS scholars and practitioners' research contributions

The Arxiv.org website has published a pre-print by a team of Canadian academics that examines the publishing output of  information studies faculty members and academic librarians:

"Canada's research productivity in Library and Information Science (LIS) is significant: studies have found that Canada ranks third globally in terms of output. As the LIS field continues to grow, the pace of output accelerates, and the scope of this work expands. The recently launched Canadian Publications in Library and Information Science Database compiles all Canadian scientific publications, including those authored by faculty members and academic librarians. This database offers the advantage of encompassing articles and librarian publications that may not be typically included in traditional bibliometric surveys, such as those conducted using databases like Web of Science, Scopus, and Library and Information Science Abstracts (LISA). Using this data, this study maps the scholarly contributions of Canadian LIS scholars and academic librarians to the field of LIS and examines whether Canadian LIS research is characterized by silos. This paper examines the similarities and differences in research output, impact, topics, and publication venues between academic librarians and scholars in Canada, as well as the extent to which academics and practitioners engage in research collaborations or reference each other's work. We find that while there is some degree of overlap in research topics and publication venues between LIS academics and academic librarians, the two groups appear to act as distinct research communities with distinct topical foci and publishing habits. The two groups also do not appear to engage with each other strongly, either through collaboration or citing each other's work."

Norton Rose Fulbright LLP Primer on Tariffs

Lawyers from law firm Norton Rose Fulbright LLP have put together a primer on tariffs.

"On November 25th, President-elect Trump pronounced via social media that he plans to impose a 25% tariff on all products imported into the United States from Canada and Mexico, among other countries, as one of his first executive orders on January 20, 2025. This would have a significant impact on the Canadian economy, as the US accounts for about 75% of all Canadian exports. This announcement came after a number of campaign promises by President-elect Trump that he would impose trade measures and tariffs on goods entering the US if he was elected."

"In response to these potential measures, Norton Rose Fulbright has established a US/Canada cross-border trade law task force made up of trade lawyers in its Canadian and US offices to advise on current and future international trade measures adopted in Canada and the US that will have an important impact on our clients’ supply chains and business models."  

"At the time of publication, President-elect Trump has not announced any details on the potential tariffs being imposed on Canada or any other country.  While we wait for details, the cross-border trade law task force provides the following primer on tariffs and how they work based on how tariffs have been imposed by the US and Canada in the past."

The primer covers questions such as:

• What are tariffs?
• Who pays tariffs and who collects them?  
• How are tariffs calculated?  
• Can I avoid tariffs by declaring that their value is $0?  
• What are the current tariffs paid at the US border for Canadian goods?
• President-elect Trump has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian imports: this section of the primer has many, many sub-sections
• What are some other measures President-elect Trump might impose on Canadian goods and services?  
• What else should I keep in mind when importing/exporting goods between Canada and the US?

I certainly plan on reading the whole thing. 

Because we all know the topic is going to come up in conversations over the next months with colleagues, family, friends, random acquaintances at the coffee shop and Costco and the dog park and the skating rink, your letter carrier, your doctor, your pharmacist, the bus driver, the car mechanic, etc.

What Are U.S. Executive Orders?

Newly inaugurated American President Donald Trump yesterday signed dozens of what are known as executive orders which are forms of presidential decisions that do not require approval of the American Congress.

Here are a few sites that explain what executive orders are and how they fit into the American legal system:

• Executive Orders and Presidential Transitions (Congressional Research Service, July 30, 2024): "Since at least the Administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the concept of a President’s first “100 days” has been a touchstone for evaluation of presidential effectiveness and places at least some pressure on incoming Administrations to act quickly on their campaign commitments and other priorities. Executive orders have developed into one of the most expedient tools available to a new President to change federal policies, priorities, and operations, including during that closely watched early window. Concerns about the volume, timing, and content of executive orders, therefore, may be heightened during presidential transitions. In particular, it appears that both incoming and outgoing Administrations may use executive orders to establish preferred policies closer to Inauguration Day than could be accomplished through laws or regulations. When the incoming and outgoing Presidents are members of different political parties, this  perception may be especially strong."
• Executive Orders: An Introduction (Congressional Research Service, March 29, 2021): "Executive orders are written instruments through which a President can issue directives to shape policy. Although the U.S. Constitution does not address executive orders and no statute grants the President the general power to issue them, authority to issue such orders is accepted as an inherent aspect of presidential power, though their legal effect depends on various considerations."
• Executive Orders and Other Presidential Documents: Sources and Explanations (Law Librarians' Society of Washington, D.C., May 2, 2019)

Deadlines Approaching for Awards and Scholarships from Canadian Association of Law Libraries

The deadlines for a number of Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) awards and scholarships are approaching:

• James D. Lang Memorial Scholarship: open to members of CALL who wants to attend a continuing education program, whether it be a workshop, a certificate program, or other similar activity - apply by February 1, 2025
• Diana M. Priestly Memorial Scholarship: awarded to a student who is combining legal and library education  - apply by February 1, 2025
• CALL Research Grant: CALL members can get up to $5000 in funding to help with the costs of a research project - apply by February 24, 2025