Canada: Trials & Appeals & Compensation

A recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision provides important guidance for commercial lenders, borrowers, and guarantors on what happens when a loan is accelerated following default.

La Cour d'appel de la Colombie-Britannique a déterminé qu'un arbitre a manqué au devoir d'équité procédurale en répartissant les dépens sans permettre aux parties de présenter des observations après les conclusions de fond. La Cour a confirmé qu'un arbitre dont la sentence a été contestée avec succès demeure présumé impartial et peut réexaminer l'affaire.

On May 15, 2026, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia. In doing so, the Court changed the personal injury landscape by recognizing a new tort of intimate partner violence and creating an important pathway to justice for survivors.

On February 27, 2018, a majority of the Federal Court of Appeal overturned the Tax Court of Canada and decided that a new-home purchaser cannot claim the GST/HST New Housing Rebate if a co-signer of the purchase agreement doesn’t satisfy the rebate conditions—even if the co-signer held title as a bare trustee for the purchaser’s benefit.

In June 2026, the federal government introduced Bill C-36, which would effectively replace the existing Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”) with a new Protecting Privacy...

When does protecting the public justify reaching into an employee's private life?

The word “sham” gets used loosely in tax disputes — taxpayers and the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) both throw it around when a transaction looks aggressive or artificial. But in Canadian tax law, sham is a precise legal doctrine with a narrow scope.

Section 160 of the Income Tax Act is one of the Canada Revenue Agency’s most powerful collection tools. It can make the recipient of a property transfer jointly and severally liable for the transferor’s unpaid tax debt where the property moved for less than fair market value to a non-arm’s-length person.

In SS&C Technologies Canada Corp. v. Bank of New York Mellon Corp., 2026 SCC 29, the Supreme Court provided definitive guidance on the doctrine of “spoliation” which is the intentional destruction, alteration, mutilation or concealment of evidence with a view to subverting the truth-finding process during litigation. The court clarified the legal test for spoliation, the inferences that arise when it is made out, and the remedial options available to a court to address destruction of evidence.