CABA is proud to announce the appointment of an Advisory Board comprised of a cross-section of representatives from the cross-border legal and business communities. The Advisory Board will act as a valuable consultative resource for the organization as it moves forward with current and future programs. The full list of Advisory Board members is available here.
After triggering the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement on May 16, 2017, the United States initiated a public consultation process through its Trade Representative seeking input on the direction, focus, and content of the NAFTA negotiations. As part of that process, the U.S. Trade Representative invited interested persons to submit comments and/or oral testimony at a public hearing on matters relevant to the modernization of NAFTA. On June 12, CABA provided written notification of its intention to testify at the public consultation hearing and a summary of its intended testimony. Consistent with its mission, CABA is focusing its submissions on the ways in which the NAFTA renegotiations offer an opportunity to stimulate and reduce barriers to bilateral trade by harmonizing cross-border legal regimes and facilitating cross-border legal practice. Read CABA’s full letter to the U.S. Trade Representative here.
The CABA executive is pleased to announce that it has appointed Joanna Langille to the position of Director of Academic Outreach. Joanna Langille is a Fellow with the Institute for International Justice at NYU School of Law and a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Her scholarship focuses on private international law and international trade law. She has worked as a consultant on crossborder trade law disputes, and was a summer associate at a major US law firm in Washington, DC. Joanna is licensed to practice in New York and Ontario. After completing her JD at NYU School of Law, she clerked for the Ontario Court of Appeal. Her prior degrees are from the University of Oxford (MPhil International Relations) and the University of Toronto.
CABA is pleased to announce that Matthew Summers, a third year law student at the University of Alberta, has won CABA’s Cross-Border Student Essay Contest for 2016 with his essay, The Unfinished Reform of the Corruption of Public Officials Act ― The Need for American-Style Non-Criminal Enforcement in Canada.
As the winner for 2016, Matthew will receive a monetary prize of USD $500 from the sponsoring law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP.
Congratulations Matthew!
On December 9, 2016, CABA filed its intervener submissions with the Supreme Court of Canada in Gillian Frank et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, a constitutional challenge of provisions in the Canada Elections Act that prevent Canadian citizens who have resided outside of Canada for more than five years from voting in Canadian elections. CABA’s position in the appeal is that the challenged restriction violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms by depriving nonresidents of a core democratic right guaranteed to “every citizen of Canada.” In its intervener submissions, CABA emphasizes that the voting rights of citizens are not optional, and do not expire or wither away with time. The government’s creation of a hierarchy of rights-holders based on alleged differences in the legal burdens they face as Canadians undermines Canadian citizenship and ignores the globalized world in which Canadians live.
The Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument in the case for February 16, 2017. On December 5, 2016, the Attorney General of Canada filed a motion for adjournment on the grounds that a bill aimed at removing the challenged restriction is currently before Parliament and will render the appeal moot. If the Supreme Court agrees, it will leave intact a decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal that upheld the restriction as a matter of legislative policy falling within the discretion of Parliament.
Read CABA’s full submissions here.
Additional case information can be accessed on the Supreme Court of Canada docket: http://www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier/info/dock-regi-eng.aspx?cas=36645
Ivo Entchev has co-authored an article for the Globe and Mail about technology companies’ responsibility to police the global Internet to enforce the laws of any one country.
The CABA executive is pleased to announce that it has appointed Kristin Ali to the position of Canada Representative. Kristin is a lawyer at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Toronto. She practices commercial litigation with a focus on technology-related disputes. Kristin is also a member of the adjunct faculty of Osgoode Hall Law School, where she teaches an upper-year seminar on contract remedies. Kristin previously practiced in Boston for several years at a leading international law firm. Kristin is licensed to practice in Ontario and Massachusetts, and has common law and civil law degrees from McGill University’s Faculty of Law. After law school, she clerked for the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Kristin will work with the executive to oversee CABA’s operations in Canada.
