Human Rights AI Impact Assessment Backgrounder Released by Law Commission of Ontario

In November 2024, the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) and the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) published an AI human rights impact assessment based specifically on Canadian human rights law. 

This week, the LCO published what it calls a Backgrounder that summarizes the benefits, limitations, and choices in artificial intelligence impact assessments.

"This Backgrounder accompanies the LCO/OHRC HRIA [AI human rights impact assessment]. It can be read as both an introduction to the HRIA and a summary analysis of AI impact assessments generally."

"The LCO/OHRC HRIA is based on extensive research on AI regulation and AI impact assessment tools. The LCO consulted with a wide range of stakeholders and key informants, including government officials, lawyers, technologists, academics, NGOs, and representatives from both large and small private enterprises."

"The Backgrounder summarizes the benefits, limitations, and strategic choices inherent in developing a HRIA. The LCO believes that policymakers and stakeholders will benefit from a comprehensive look at of the choices, opportunities, and challenges in this project."

Law Society of Ontario's Great Library Post About Finding US Textbooks

The Law Society of Ontario's Great Library has published a blog post about Treatise Finders (US Legal Research) with useful information on where to find the top US textbooks in different areas of law:

"For Canadian legal practitioners, the need to research American law arises for a variety of reasons: client problems may involve U.S. business or real estate transactions, cross-border litigation, enforcement of judgments, or child custody and access. Researchers may also be looking for persuasive precedents on legal issues which have not been litigated in Canadian courts (...)"

"A quick way to identify relevant American texts is to use a treatise finder. This handy tool, found on the websites of many large U.S. law school libraries, provides you with short lists of recommended texts in all the main areas of law."

Library Newsletters: Should You Send Yours on the First of the Month?

The website Super Library Marketing has a lot of very useful tips on how to promote library services and products.

The site is run by Angela Hursh who was recognized in 2023 as a Mover and Shaker by Library Journal.

A recent post was entitled Rethinking Your Library Email Strategy: The Surprising Truth About First of the Month Sends!

The post links to a video where Hursh ponders the pros and cons of sending out library newsletters on the first of the month, apparently a common practice.

Tracking Trump Presidential Actions

 

PLLIP, the Private Law Librarians Interest Group of the American Association of Law Libraries, has created a list of resources to help people follow the numerous orders by US President Donald Trump as well as the many lawsuits trying to stop him:

"Private law librarians and information professionals have been busy keeping tabs on AI developments over the past two years.  In our spare time (!), many of us are tracking EOs (Executive Orders) too, so we asked PLLIP members for recommendations of sources they use to monitor new presidential actions as well as any resulting court challenges.  Please note that this is not a comprehensive list—it was compiled based on suggestions that were submitted.  Also, this list includes general trackers, but trackers are available for specific topics if you search the web."

There are US federal government sources, associations, law firms, news sources, and law databases. 

2025 NELLCO Symposium

NELLCO, an international consortium of law libraries with headquarters in Albany, New York, will be holding a virtual symposium Tuesday, April 1, 2025 through Friday, April 4 2025.

There will be sessions on a wide variety of topics such as:

• Rethinking Legal Research: Analysis as the New 'Why' for AI and the NextGen Bar Exam
• Game Nights: Virtual Tools to Throw a Law Library Game Night
• Connecticut Judicial Branch Law Libraries: Open to Everyone
• Endangered Knowledge: The Fight to Preserve Legal Texts
• From Data to Strategy: Managing Social Media for Law Libraries 
• The Human Side of the Law Library in the Age of Technology

There will also be roundtables of interest groups on access services, acquisitions and collection development, inter-library loans, and reference.

Many Canadian law libraries are members of NELLCO.

March/April 2025 Issue of AALL Spectrum

The March/April 2025 issue of AALL Spectrum is now available online.

The issue has a number of feature articles on law library collection development.

It is a publication of the American Association of Law Libraries, one of the sister associations of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries.

Statistics Canada Article on Firearms and Violent Crime

A new article on Firearms and violent crime in Canada, 2023 appeared this week in Juristat, a publication from Statistics Canada.

The article looks at the most recent police-reported data on firearm-related violent crime, including incidents where a firearm was present, as well as the firearm-specific violations of discharging a firearm with intent, using a firearm in the commission of an offence and pointing a firearm.

Among the highlights:

• According to police data, there were 14,416 incidents of firearm-related violent crime in 2023, which includes violent crime where a firearm was present, and the firearm-specific violations of discharging a firearm with intent, using a firearm in the commission of an offence and pointing a firearm. Firearm-related violent crime accounted for 2.6% of all incidents of violent crime.
• There was a decrease (-1.7%) in the rate of firearm-related violent crime, which went from 37.5 incidents per 100,000 population in 2022 to 36.9 in 2023. In contrast, overall violent crime increased 4.0%.
• Despite the decline in 2023, the rate of firearm-related violent crime was 22% higher compared to 2018 and 55% higher compared to 2013, while overall violent crime was 25% higher since 2018 and 30% higher since 2013.
• Compared to 2022, the overall rate of firearm-related violent crime decreased in the provincial urban south (-6.5%) in 2023, largely driven by declines in Toronto, Calgary, Montréal and Vancouver. All other regions had increases, the largest in the provincial rural south (+19%) and the provincial urban north (+13%).
• In 2023, half (49%) of firearm-related violent crime involved the presence of a handgun, followed by a firearm-like weapon or an unknown type of firearm (31%), a rifle or shotgun (15%) and a fully automatic or sawed-off shotgun (4.7%). In the provinces, handguns were most common in urban areas while rifles or shotguns, and firearm-like weapons or unknown types of firearms, were more common in rural areas.
• The large majority (80%) of incidents of firearm-related violent crime were physical assaults, robberies, and the firearm-specific violations of discharging a firearm with intent, using a firearm in the commission of an offence and pointing a firearm.

April 1 Deadline for Canadian Association of Law Libraries Education Reserve Fund

The Education Reserve Fund of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) awards money to  CALL members to further their education in pursuits that do not fit the guidelines of already established scholarships. 

These include such activities as library and/or law courses given outside Canada, study leaves and/or sabbaticals, or other educational activities that do not involve structured courses. 

These activities should be relevant to the applicant's career in law libraries and/or contribute to the development of law libraries or law librarianship.  

Fund applications are due April 1, 2025. 

Criteria for this award are available on the CALL website. 

Applications can be made through the online form.

April 1 Deadline to Nominate Candidates for CALL Awards

The Scholarships and Awards Committee of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) has announced that nominations are now being accepted for four of the association's major awards and prizes.

Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship: For outstanding service to the Association and / or enhancement of the profession of law librarianship in the recent past. This award is generously sponsored by LexisNexis and provides for $3000.00 for the winner plus up to $2000.00 in expenses to attend the CALL Annual Conference. 

Michael Silverstein Prize: For an outstanding contribution by a member of CALL to enhancing understanding, analysis and appreciation of primary law or legal taxonomy. This award is generously sponsored by Thomson Reuters and provides the winner with a monetary award of $1500.00.

Gisèle Laprise Prize: For an outstanding contribution to an understanding and appreciation of the civil and common law systems in Canada. This prize is generously sponsored by Thomson Reuters, and has been enlarged by Gisèle's family. It carries a monetary award of $1500.00.

Nancy McCormack Award: For a CALL member in good standing who is normally in the first ten years of their law library career that has made significant contributions to the Association and have shown excellent potential for continuing service and leadership. This award is generously sponsored by Thomson Reuters, and provides for a monetary award of $2000.00

Nominations are due April 1! 

To make a nomination for any of these awards or prizes, please see the online form. 

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Launches Revamped Law Librarians’ Institute

The following is taken from In Session, the monthly bulletin of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL):

CALL is pleased to announced our revamped Law Librarians’ Institute, a specialized training program designed to help legal information professionals, law students, and other legal researchers build and refine their legal research skills.

Developed by Annette Demers and designed to meet the Competencies of a Legal Researcher in Canada, the program consists of two distinct components: a virtual learning program and an in-person workshop.

The virtual program will begin on March 3, 2025. It features self-paced video lessons, guided exercises, and live virtual discussions. Participants will work through skill-specific modules covering federal and provincial legislation, judicial decisions, secondary legal sources, as well as optional specialized research areas.

Following the virtual portion, participants will attend an in-person workshop on May 24, 2025, as part of CALL’s annual conference.

This hands-on session allows participants to engage in problem-based exercises, collaborate with peers, and apply their newly developed legal research competencies in a structured environment.

Participants who complete all required virtual modules and attend the in-person workshop will receive a Letter of Completion from CALL.

The cost to participate in the virtual portion of the course is included in your CALL membership fee. The cost to complete the in-person workshop at the conference can be found here.

More details, including a course syllabus, can be found on our website, here.

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.