Recent Legislative Summaries from Library of Parliament

The Library of Parliament has recently published a number of new and revised summaries of legislation.

These include:

• Legislative Summary of Bill C-7: An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying)
• Legislative Summary of Bill C-12: An Act respecting transparency and accountability in Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050
• Legislative Summary of Bill C-15: An Act respecting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

All legislative summaries can be found on the Library of Parliament website.

It is possible to follow the progress of  bills through the Canadian Parliament on the LEGISinfo website. There you can find the different versions of a bill, debates, committee hearings, and coming into force information.

Free Access to Oxford History of International Law Collection Until End of July

Oxford University Press is offering free access to its History of International Law Collection until July 31, 2021:

"Explore our collection of free content on the history and development of international law, sourced from across our academic books and online reference works. Covering classical antiquity to the twenty-first century, this selection covers both useful introductions and in-depth commentary on a variety of topics in the field."

There is content from the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, the series The History and Theory of International Law, and "Regional Perspectives".

Law Library of Congress Report on Children's Online Privacy and Data Protection

The Law Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. has published a comparative law report on Children's Online Privacy and Data Protection:

"This report surveys how selected countries from the European Union (EU), namely France, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK) and the laws of the European Union (EU) itself, provide privacy rights for children online."

"The EU introduced the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2016. As a regulation, the GDPR is directly applicable in all Member States, but most Member States have introduced legislation to ensure consistency and compliance with the GDPR in their domestic laws. The GDPR also contains clauses that permit derogation in certain areas to allow Member States to incorporate elements of the GDPR into their national law 'as far as necessary for coherence and making it comprehensible.' While the UK is no longer a Member State of the EU, it incorporated all EU law as it stood on December 31, 2020, into a new body of domestic law known as 'retained EU legislation'."

"The EU’s GDPR regulates the processing of personal data and establishes several principles that those processing personal data must comply with: lawfulness, fairness, transparency; limitation of purpose; data minimization; accuracy and keeping data up to date; storage limitation; and integrity and confidentiality. Article 6 provides the circumstances under which data processing is lawful; the most common circumstance is where consent has been provided by the data subject (...)" 

"The EU’s GDPR provides that consent from a parent or legal guardian must be provided to enable companies to process personal data for children under 16 years of age, and this age is used in Germany and Romania. The GDPR allows countries to provide lower ages of consent. France and Greece require the consent of a legal guardian for children under 15 years of age; Spain considers minors to be under 14 years of age; and Denmark, Portugal, Sweden and the UK set this age for consent at 13 years of age. The EU’s GDPR requires that information provided to children about the processing of their personal data must be presented in clear and simple terms that are easily understood."

The Law Library of Congress is the world’s largest law library, with a collection of over 2 and a half million volumes from all ages of history and virtually every jurisdiction in the world.

Over the years, it has published dozens of comparative law reports which are a treasure trove for legal research on a huge variety of issues. 

 

American Library Association Releases Revised Core Competences of Librarianship

The American Library Association (ALA) released a discussion draft of newly revised ALA Core Competencies.

The document describes the basic competencies expected of library professionals within the first several years after graduation. The ALA is the body that accredits university library and information studies programs in North America.

As the document explains:

"The ALA Core Competences (ALACCs) reflect basic knowledge gained through LIS education, job on-boarding, and ongoing professional development early in a library career. It is essential that library professionals working throughout their careers in school, academic, public, special, and governmental libraries be life-long learners to acquire specialized and advanced knowledge beyond those specified in this Core Competences document."

"Throughout the ALACCs, there are words and phrases that we wish to clarify in this front-matter. We chose to use the phrase 'library professionals' to be inclusive of anyone working in a position that requires an LIS degree in a library or information environment. This phrasing reflects the fact that these competences are in many ways specific to libraries, but can also be reflective of the work done by archivists, data scientists, information specialists, library/archival technicians, and others."

"This is the first iteration of the ALACCs which intentionally incorporates the concepts of social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion both throughout the competences and in a separate competence. Social justice in the library context includes the knowledge and skills necessary for library professionals to create and support library collections, services, personnel, facilities, and programs that foster equitable access to and participation of all people to use the library and its resources. Embedding social justice throughout the competences demonstrates that it is not a siloed activity, while having a separate social justice competence also recognizes that it contains unique attributes over and above the other competences."

There is more information about the consultation process on the ALA website. 

Various Canadian associations have elaborated their own professional competencies guidelines, among them:

• Competencies for Librarians in Canadian Research Libraries (Canadian Association of Research Libraries)
• Professional Development Pathways and Implementing CALL/ACBD Professional Development Pathways (Canadian Association of Law Libraries)

Background on Supreme Court of Canada Nominee Mahmud Jamal

Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the nomination of the Honourable Mahmud Jamal to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Mr. Jamal, who currently sits on the Court of Appeal of Ontario, was nominated to replace Justice Rosalie Abella who will retire in July.

The website of the Office of the Commissioner for Federal Judicial Affairs Canada has information about the appointment process as well as a link to the questionnaire that the Honourable Mahmud Jamal filled out as a candidate. 

The questionnaire has information about his education and career, his major cases as a litigator, his contributions as a legal educator, presentations he has made, awards, his areas of legal expertise, and a bibliography.

Earlier today, he answered questions from members of the House of Commons justice committee and the Senate legal affairs committee. The hearings were broadcast live on CPAC and can be seen on YouTube.

Canadian Bar Association Truth and Reconciliation Toolkit for Law Firms

The Canadian Bar Association has launched a  Truth and Reconciliation Toolkit to help law firms become more inclusive for Indigenous lawyers and employees and Indigenous perspectives on the law.

The toolkit has sections on:

• Leadership and Governance
• Learning, Celebrating and Supporting Indigenous Communities
• Talent Management and Students
• Law and Legal Traditions

Canadian Library Association Statements on Bodies Found at Kamloops Indian Residential School

The website Librarianship.ca has put together a list of statements by Canadian library, archives, and museum associations following the finding of the remains of 215 children who were students of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in British Columbia.

One of the statements is from the Canadian Federation of Library Associations of which the Canadian Association of Law Libraries is a member:

"Given the recent confirmation of the presence of unmarked burials on the grounds of the Kamloops Indian Residential School, we empathize with the ongoing trauma of past and present experiences. As the identities of these children is now a matter of investigation, uncovering of records and identities with regards to this facility and the many others that operated throughout Canada, where other unmarked graves still lie, we will continue to mourn the loss of lives never lived."

"Libraries and librarians have a responsibility in educating about the truth to foster reconciliation. The CFLA-FCAB Truth and Reconciliation Report and Recommendations is an initial step in that direction. Fulfilling the Recommendations puts us further along the path of reconciliation."

"This is a time for librarians, library associations, and organizations that have endorsed the CFLA-FCAB Report, to review and take stock of your organization’s actions in relation to the recommendations as outlined in the report. This is a time for these organizations to consider how they may continue to advance their work with respect to fulfilling the Recommendations."

June 2021 Issue of In Session E-Bulletin of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries

The June 2021 issue of In Session is available online. 

It is the monthly e-newsletter of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL) and contains news from CALL committees and special interest groups, member updates and events.

This issue includes:

• the first message from CALL's newly elected President Kim Nayyer
• the winner of the 2021 Hugh Lawford Award for Excellence in Legal Publishing 
• information about the 2021 annual conference that took place in late May - early June
• and more

Annotated Accessible Canada Act Made Available on CanLII

The Annotated Accessible Canada Act created by the Faculty of Law at the University of Windsor had been added to the ever growing collection of legal commentary available on the website of the Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII).

As the authors explain:

"This is a reprinted and annotated version of the Accessible Canada Act put together by the Law Disability & Social Change Project for educational and informational purposes only. The information provided in this document does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice."

"While we have provided examples of possible litigation throughout this annotated statute, the examples are based on our opinions only. The Accessible Canada Act (ACA) has been in effect only since 2019 and it is necessary to wait for it to be interpreted and applied in order to have actual cases from which to draw guiding legal principles."

"More generally, the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors, and, in particular, do not represent the views or the positions of the Department of Justice Canada, or those of the Government of Canada."

Library Journal's Movers and Shakers 2021

Library Journal recently released its 2021 list of Library Movers and Shakers.

It is an annual snapshot of the transformative work being done by those in libraries of all types and sizes and across the field:

"Over the years, Movers have come from the ranks of both degreed librarians and non-degreed library workers, as well as volunteers and vendors, and have come from academic, public, school, and special libraries settings—occasionally even outside of traditional libraries altogether."

"This year’s class of Movers has had little choice but to embrace change and run with it. And they’ve certainly risen to the challenge. Their stories and so many more offer actionable examples to replicate and adapt across a range of library environments and communities (...)"

"This year’s Movers are doing their groundbreaking work in the middle of a pandemic, at a time when providing basic, much-needed services often felt like—and was—an exceptional achievement. In recognizing those who were able to go above and beyond this year, we want also to hold space for those who overcame illness, grief, fear, financial losses, and more to deliver core library services in new, safer ways. The point of naming Movers & Shakers in the middle of a crisis is not to say that everyone can or should be expected to deliver exceptional results despite these circumstances. Rather, it is that learning from those who were able to do so can make their advances that much more achievable for the next person."

Winners were chosen in the following categories:

• Change agents
• Innovators
• Advocates
• Educators
• Digital developers
• Community builders

The publication provides a map of all the Movers and Shakers from 2002 to today. Over the years, quite a few Canadians have been added to the list.