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UPFRONT 12 www.canadianlawyermag.com NEWS BRIEFS Federal government to address workplace sexual harassment On Aug. 8, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti announced $2.3 million in funding for two organizations that are working to address sexual harassment in Canadian workplaces. The work of Clinique juridique Juripop and of the Groupe d'aide et d'information sur le harcèlement sexuel au travail de la province de Québec Inc. will improve access to justice for individuals who experience sexual harassment in their workplace. New framework for Med-Arb to be launched in November The ADR Institute of Canada has drafted a framework for mediation-arbitration processes and is creating a designation for Med-Arb practitioners, the first in Canada and believed to be the first in the world, says ADRIC's vice president, Elton Simoes. "The mystery here is why [Med-Arb] has not been institutionalized before, why we haven't focused on creating a framework earlier," says Simoes. "It's a great application, a cutting-edge process, and Canada has the potential to lead in that field." New disclosure requirements effective 2020 for CBCA companies As of Jan. 1, 2020, new diversity disclosure requirements for public companies incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act will be in effect for their annual shareholder meetings. Changes to the CBCA are "piggybacking off of the requirements already in Form 58- 101F1 that the Canadian Securities Administrators introduced a number of years back," says Matthew Merkley, co-head of Blake Cassels and Graydon LLP's corporate governance group in Toronto, which set out disclosure reporting requirements for women on boards of directors and in senior management positions. Strict edibles guidelines could bog down nascent industry Although cannabis edibles, extracts, lotions, balms and oils will be legal on Oct. 17, producers will have to work around strict guidelines. If edible cannabis is being produced, packaged, labelled or stored on site, regular food for retail sale cannot be manufactured there unless the cannabis and non- cannabis products are maintained in different buildings, for example; nor can cannabis-infused beverages contain alcohol, be marketed under alcohol brands or be likened to alcoholic products in advertising. Court martial panels Q&A Years in military prosecutions: 11 years over three different postings Career highlight: Appearing before the Supreme Court of Canada on several occasions, Bruce W. MacGregor (Col.) Director, Military Prosecutions NATIONAL DEFENCE CANADA On July 26, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that military members charged with civilian offences do not have the right to be tried by a jury if they have been tried in military courts. The appeals in R. v. Stillman concerned whether Master Cpl. Clarence Stillman and other current and former members of the military forces who had been charged with offences under civilian law had their constitutional rights infringed because they were denied jury trials. In 2017, the Court Martial Appeal Court rejected their challenge; in a 5-2 decision, the SCC agreed the military exception under the Charter's s. 11(f) applies. Canadian Lawyer asked Colonel Bruce MacGregor, director of Military Prosecutions for National Defence Canada and counsel to the Crown in the case, about the decision and its significance. Were your objectives met in this case? Yes. It's actually an extremely thorough decision; they go through the history of the military justice system, and it's a great explanation of how we got here, the dynamic nature of the military justice system and how it evolved from one that was purely disciplinary to one with procedural fairness built in. It reconfirmed my positive view of the military justice system based on almost 30 years of legal practice as both a civilian and military lawyer. With respect to the [military] panel, the majority goes into some detail. There are sound reasons for why the military system has opted for panels [over civilian trials]: Members tried by members fosters morale in the military. What these panel members bring in are experience and [working in] the environment within which the Code of Service Discipline takes place. It goes further than what other Supreme Court decisions have said about the court martial panel. What were the key aspects of the court's decision in this case? The decision takes away any doubt the military system can't deal with matters in the same way as the civilian justice system. The Stillman case is a watershed case. Our system is not perfect, and the Supreme Court says so. . . . We have a long way to go in dealing with issues of sexual assault, but the court does recognize that the military justice system has evolved very positively since then [i.e., the release of the Deschamps report on sexual misconduct within the military in 2015]. OTTAWA UPDATE