PACE Society – Clicklaw Blog

2019 Bi-Monthly Update Series: January/February

March 6, 2019 Clicklaw Editor New on Clicklaw

To keep you informed, here are some highlights of changes and updates made to Clicklaw in January and February:

Multi-lingual Phone Line for Employment Standards
by BC Employment Standards Branch

This multi-lingual phone line for the Employment Standards Branch offers real-time information about employment rights in more than 130 languages. Employment information will be available for both workers looking to understand their rights and employers wanting to understand their legal obligations. Translators will stay with the caller on the phone to help them get to the information they need. This service is available as a trial to March 31, 2019.

Disability Alliance BC

Income Assistance Application Process for People with Disabilities – Revised edition. This help sheet is for people with disabilities who want to apply for disability benefits from MSDSI. We describe steps you take before you get the persons with disabilities designation application. This help sheet is part of a series on BC disability benefits.
Transition from PWD Benefits to Old Age Benefits – This new Help Sheet explains the transition from provincial disability benefits (PWD) to Old Age Benefits.

Legal Services Society

Living Together or Living Apart – explains the basics of BC family law. Revised & reissued in January 2019.
Sponsorship Breakdown – explains what happens when a sponsorship breaks down, and how to apply for welfare. Now also available in Arabic & Farsi.

People’s Law School

Dial-A-Law is now a service of People’s Law School. It features free information on the law in British Columbia in over 130 topic areas. The information is reviewed by lawyers and updated regularly. Dial-A-Law was previously operated by the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch. A few of the scripts are:

Tenant Survival Guide
by Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre (TRAC)

New, revised edition. Available on Clicklaw Wikibooks. Compared to a PDF, the Wikibook is easier to read on screen, fully searchable, and hyperlinked to key forms and resources. It can also be downloaded as an EPUB – a popular e-book standard – and read on an e-reader, tablet or mobile device. This plain-language guide offers tenants a basic understanding of residential tenancy law in BC. It is designed to educate readers on their rights and responsibilities, and help prevent or resolve any problems they may encounter during their tenancy.

Legal Clinic for Sex Workers
by PACE Society

In partnership with the Law Students’ Legal Advice Program and Law Students for Decriminalization & Harm Reduction, we provide free legal advice and representation for sex workers who cannot afford a lawyer. This is a drop-in pilot project currently operating every second Wednesday from January 16th – March 13th 2019 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm.

Pension Division Review Project
by British Columbia Law Institute

This project will make recommendations to reform the law of pension division on spousal breakdown under part 6 of the Family Law Act. Pensions are a complex type of property to divide fairly between spouses, so the law applying to pension division must be regularly reviewed and kept up to date. This project also allows BCLI to build on past work involving pension division.

Health Care Consent, Aging and Dementia: Mapping Law and Practice in BC
by Canadian Centre for Elder Law

The Canadian Centre for Elder Law (“CCEL”), in collaboration with the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia (“The Society”), is embarking on a project which examines the law, policy and practice of consent to health care in the context of aging and dementia. This 16-month project funded by the Law Foundation of British Columbia will involve extensive comparative legal research on informed consent and interrelated areas of the law, as well as community and key stakeholder consultation. The work will be informed by an expert interdisciplinary advisory committee and will culminate in a report identifying areas for law and practice reform and at least one plain language educational resource on health care consent rights.

2018 CEDAW Report Card
by West Coast LEAF

West Coast LEAF’s 10th annual CEDAW Report Card grades BC on nine issues impacting women’s human rights, including child protection, a new section this year. The Report Card assesses BC’s record in 2018 in relation to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Stay informed:

2018 Bi-Monthly Update Series: May/June

July 4, 2018 Clicklaw Editor New on Clicklaw, The broader context

To keep you informed, here are some highlights of changes and updates made to Clicklaw in May and June:

The Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch (CBA BC)

Many Dial-A-Law scripts have been recently reviewed. For a complete list of these resources, see their listings here (sorted by “last reviewed date”). Some of them are:

Working with Your Legal Aid Lawyer
by Legal Services Society

Now available in French. This fact sheet outlines client and lawyer roles and responsibilities, so each knows what to expect from the legal aid contract.

Gender Self-Determination Project
by PACE Society

A program designed to help trans* folks get proper ID. We work one-on-one with anyone who identifies as trans, two-spirit, non-binary, or otherwise gender-diverse to apply to change their name and/or gender marker and acquire updated IDs. We are able to cover any costs that we cannot get waived by the organizations themselves.

Environmental Legal Aid
by West Coast Environmental Law

West Coast Environmental Law offers free legal advice to help community groups, First Nations and individuals understand their environmental rights. We also offer funding support through our Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund (EDRF), which connects British Columbians with a network of private environmental lawyers around the province willing to work at a legal aid rate.

SFU Centre for Education, Law and Society

The following lesson ideas and educational resources for teachers and students have been reviewed or updated to reflect the new BC curriculum:

Employment Standards Act Reform Project
by British Columbia Law Institute (BCLI)

BCLI has issued a consultation paper on BC’s Employment Standards Act to seek public comment on tentative recommendations for reforming the Act. Responses are requested by 31 August 2018.

Environmental Law Centre, University of Victoria

The Northwest Burke Vision: Principles and Recommendations
This report prepared for the Coquitlam River Watershed Roundtable contains recommendations to ensure that proposed residential development in Coquitlam, British Columbia, will be ecologically sustainable and support a healthy watershed.
Request for an Examination of Canada’s Failure to Protect Endangered Pacific Salmon and Anadromous Trout Species Under the Species at Risk Act
Request that the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development and the Auditor General examine Canada’s failure to protect endangered Pacific salmon and anadromous trout species under the Species at Risk Act.

Submissions on Human Trafficking to Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights
by Pivot Legal Society

Consensual, adult sex work and human trafficking are distinct. Canada’s laws and policies will only be effective if they recognize the difference between these two concepts.

Cannabis in Canada
by the Government of Canada

Information on what you need to know and what the law means for you. Topics include cannabis and the border, cannabis impairment, and how the laws and regulations will impact your business.

Guidance Document – Competitive Advantage: Compliance with PIPA and the GDPR
by Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for BC (OIPC)

Effective May 25, 2018, some organizations subject to PIPA must also comply with the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This guidance helps organizations in BC determine whether they are subject to the GDPR and explains how to comply with both PIPA and the GDPR.

Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

The Internet of Things
An introduction to privacy issues with a focus on the retail and home environments.
Guidelines for Obtaining Meaningful Consent
This document sets out practical & actionable guidance regarding what organizations should do to ensure that they obtain meaningful consent. It contains information about the guiding principles for obtaining consent, determining the appropriate form of consent, and the legal requirements.

New & Updated Common Questions

Common Questions help narrow down the resources people should start with. Do you get asked the same questions over and over again by your clients? Send your suggestions to editor[@]clicklaw.bc.ca