Civil and criminal section delegates received policy reports, voted on proposals
The Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) shared that it held its 107th annual meeting in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Aug. 10–14, attended by around 76 participants, including its delegates invited by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments.
The ULCC delegates included government lawyers, private practitioners, prosecutors, judiciary members, law professors, and representatives from the Law Commission of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the Barreau du Québec, and the country’s law reform organizations and other legal organizations.
The president and executive director of the United States Uniform Law Commission (ULC) also participated in the annual meeting, according to the ULCC’s press release.
A government-supported organization established in 1918, the ULCC aims to modernize and harmonize federal, provincial, and territorial legislation, weigh criminal law reform proposals, and recommend that governments implement uniform acts and other proposed law reforms.
The ULCC consists of a Civil Section and a Criminal Section. At this year’s meeting, the sections held a joint session to receive the Joint Working Group on the Treatment of Animals in Canadian Law’s status report and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee’s report of the results of a demographic survey held after last year’s meeting.
Both sections also attended the Earl Fruchtman Memorial Seminar, a panel presentation highlighting the necessity for gender-based violence reforms.
Civil Section
At the annual meeting, the ULCC’s Civil Section accepted policy reports on nine projects: defamation law, hybrid charitable organizations, cash payments, intestate succession, nondisclosure agreements, class actions, joint ventures, and foreign judgment enforcement.
The ULC also provided updates on its projects.
Criminal Section
According to the ULCC’s press release, during the meeting, the Criminal Section:
- debated and voted on proposals to reform Canada’s criminal law by amending the Criminal Code, 1985, and associated statutes
- addressed 29 resolutions on certain criminal justice issues, such as adding firearms offences to the list of primary designated offences for taking DNA samples, adjusting the probation order revocation regime, and victim impact statements
- adopted a resolution recommending that the federal justice department add an offence for for smuggling contraband into prisons
- received the final report of the working group on the operation of ss. 278.1–278.4 of the Criminal Code
- got progress reports from three working groups on publication restrictions, s. 672.26 of the Criminal Code regarding juries and fitness hearings, and statutory exemptions to mandatory minimum imprisonment penalties
