Supreme Court of Canada Releases 2024 Year in Review

The Supreme Court of Canada has released its annual report 2024 Year in Review.

The report covers the Court's activities over the past year, including information about decisions and statistics.

From the message of the Chief Justice of Canada, Richard Wagner:

"In our democracy, legitimacy depends on public trust in the judicial system, and confidence is built and maintained when these principles are upheld. That is why I am committed to ensuring a judicial system that is open and transparent, accessible to the public and free from outside influence."

"In 2025, the Supreme Court of Canada is commemorating its 150th anniversary. This important milestone gives us an opportunity to reflect on our past and future. It is also a chance to remind Canadians of the Court’s role in our justice system and our democracy. We have many engaging anniversary initiatives planned throughout the year aimed at members of the judicial, legal and academic communities, the media, and most importantly, the general public. These activities will promote greater awareness of the Court’s role and function, while further strengthening public confidence in the Court and our justice system."

"In an era where misinformation and disinformation are so pervasive, judges and courts must do everything they can to explain who they are and what they do. Trust in our institutions depends on it."

"To that end, it is my pleasure to present the Supreme Court of Canada’s 7th annual Year in Review. In my view, reporting back on our work is essential, because our decisions have a significant impact on the lives of citizens. I trust that you will find value reading about our work and decisions, and the various ways we are nurturing broader understanding of our Court’s role in the Canadian justice system."

Most Recent Issue of the Canadian Law Library Review

The most recent issue of the Canadian Law Library Review (CLLR) is available online.

The CLLR is the official journal of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). It is an open access publication.

Check out the feature article "Unmasking Identities: A Diversity Survey of CALL/ACBD" (starts p. 10):

"To better understand the membership of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries / L’Association  canadienne des bibliothèques de droit (CALL/ACBD), the Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization Committee (DIDC) conducted a diversity survey. This survey provides representative data on membership location and citizenship, education, employment, age, gender and sexual orientation, language, race and ethnicity, religious symbols, ability and accommodations, and caregiving needs.  Through quantitative and qualitative survey data analysis, this survey report includes a discussion of law librarianship employment trends, the future of the profession in relation to worker age and career status, the ability and accommodation needs of members, and comparisons to other major diversity surveys that situate law librarianship within the larger profession of librarianship in Canada."

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Webinar on Copyright and Controlled Digital Lending

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is hosting a webinar on Copyright and Controlled Digital Lending on April 4, 2025 at 1PM EST:

"The dream of shared library collections - whether print or digital - has long been seen as a solution to many of the issues that bedevil libraries of all stripes, including managing costs, limited space, conservation and preservation of print collections. Practical and legal considerations have historically been seen as barriers to shared print or controlled digital lending (CDL) programs. However, recent years have seen growth in the area of shared collections with the birth of a new national level shared print network, North/Nord and experimentation with CDL during COVID-related lockdown. Economic and political uncertainty have given an added sense of urgency to the need to ensure that collections are preserved and accessible."

Speakers include Stephen Spong, Western University; Katya Pereyaslavska, COPPUL and North/Nord; and a representative of HathiTrust.

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Draft Conference Program Available

The draft program of the 2025 annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries is now available.

The conference takes place in late May in Calgary, Alberta

Canadian Association of Law Libraries Webinar on Tribunals for Access to Justice in Canada

The Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) is hosting a webinar on April 2, 2005 from 12 to 1PM EST on Tribunals for Access to Justice in Canada: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:

"Canada’s tribunals resolve many of the most important and frequently-arising legal disputes, within specialized spheres of jurisdiction assigned by statutes.  Their potential to outperform courts in delivering speedy and accessible justice has long been recognized, and in many cases that potential is realized.  However, some Canadian tribunals today (especially Ontario’s high-volume tribunals) are afflicted by politicization, delay, and endemic miscarriages of procedural and substantive justice.  This discussion will explore tribunals’ promise as a path toward more accessible justice, as well as the pitfalls on this road."

"In this session, Professor Noel Semple will update CALL/ACBD members on recent research and observations about the significant delays facing litigants at a number of Ontario Tribunals. The session will raise awareness of the importance of tribunals in our justice system, the impacts on litigants, policy and political influences leading to this situation, and the implications on access to justice."

The speaker is Noel Semple, Associate Professor, University of Windsor Faculty of Law.

Report of the @Risk North 3 Digital Preservation Summit

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL), along with other partner organizations, hosted a summit on Canadian digital preservation at the Library and Archives Canada location in Gatineau, Québec on November 21-22, 2024.

The full report of the event is now available:

"The @Risk North 3 summit (Gatineau, November 2024), organized by the CARL Digital Preservation Working Group (DPWG) and partners, addressed current challenges in the digital preservation arena through presentations by key stakeholders, guided discussions and lightning talks. Areas under discussion included broad themes such as education and training, people strategy, funding and resource allocation, and more focused ones like web archiving, research data, benchmarking, and tools and technologies."

"Across the summit, participants emphasized the need for continued and deepened collaboration between institutions, organizations and practitioners for the purposes of advocacy, knowledge-sharing and skills development. Identifying sustainable solutions, shared infrastructure among them, addressing growing storage requirements and budgetary constraints was a priority. The community could benefit from establishing and sharing best practices, methodologies and workflows around key activities such as benchmarking, and greater mechanisms to facilitate access to resources. Varied and more extensive training, both formal and informal and at all career stages, would benefit individual practitioners and organizations."

"Moving forward, a follow-up webinar to share findings, the creation of a community of practice, and planning for future iterations of the @Risk North summit would continue the momentum and encourage the relationship-building the summit fostered."

Canadian Association of Research Libraries Launches Assessment Community of Practice

The Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) recently created a Canadian Assessment Community of Practice (CoP) and is inviting people interested in joining to register by March 17:

"The purpose of this community of practice is to engage library workers based in CARL and non-CARL research libraries, who have a strong interest or functional responsibilities in assessment, an provide a forum to discuss issues, initiatives, challenges and opportunities for collaboration."

"The CoP planning group will support the planning of quarterly community calls and other forms of community engagement for the CoP."

Australian Law Reform Commission Report on Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recently published its report Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence.

From the press release:

"[The Commission] concluded that the justice system is currently failing to meet the twin goals of access to justice and accountability. The justice system is not supporting those who have experienced sexual violence to seek justice, nor holding those who use sexual violence to account (...)"

"In at least some Australian jurisdictions, between 75-85% of reports to police do not proceed to charge, and even fewer reports proceed to court. Once in court, many people report experiencing the justice system as retraumatising."

"The ALRC’s report shines a spotlight on under-engagement with the justice system as the primary issue that needs to be addressed. If people who have experienced sexual violence do not feel sufficiently safe, informed and supported to access and utilise the justice system, the justice system’s critical role in responding to and preventing sexual violence cannot be realised."

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.