Canadian Lawyer

July/August 2020

The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers

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www.canadianlawyermag.com 7 the measurement of cell characteristics. The deal began March 19, four days after the working-from-home order came down at Oslers. Longo got an email from Dr. Gabe Kalmar, entrepreneur in residence at E@UBC, the University of British Columbia's incubator for technology-based ventures. Kalmar connected Longo with Ryan Brinkman, a UBC professor and CEO of Cytapex Bioinformatics, which is affili- ated with E@UBC. The three then jumped on a Zoom call to discuss the acquisition offer from Insightful and their private equity sponsor, Insightful Ventures. "Unlike in normal times, I would have set up an in-person meeting — shake the hands, get relationships building that way," says Longo. "There was really no time and opportunity for that in a COVID world. And so, we got to know each other by Zoom, by email, phone calls and so on. A couple days later, they received the draft of the letter of intent. From there, we began the negotia- tions of the letters of intent, in parallel to due diligence, all through virtual means." In executing the deal remotely, there had to be a "heightened level of organization," from closing checklists, planning calls with Insightful's counsel and combing through documents in a virtual data room, Longo says. Upon closing, the parties used DocuSign and another software that compiles all closing documents, he says, adding that "it really does prove that you can do everything in a fully virtual mode." Understanding the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Q&A Fast Fact: Former director general for Treaties and Aboriginal Government West at what was then the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs Anita Boscariol Associate counsel WATSON GOEPEL LLP What is UNDRIP? It's an international instrument setting out the rights of Indigenous people. It sets out, according to the UNDRIP document itself, what the rights are that constitute the minimum standard for the survival, dignity and well-being of the Indigenous peoples of the world. It's not a document that falls within the definition of customary international law. And nor is it an international treaty. And for that reason, if a country that signs on to the declaration wants it to have any kind of force of law within its country, then it has to pass its own legislation incorporating it into domestic law. B.C. is the only jurisdiction [in Canada] that has actually adopted the UNDRIP into domestic legislation. What is the status of the adoption of UNDRIP in Canada? As of 2016, Canada has signed on to the declaration without any reservation. But the declaration took a long time to come into being. Work at the UN started in 1982. And it wasn't adopted by the UN until 2007. When it was adopted by the UN, there were 143 countries in favour, 11 countries abstained from adopting the declaration, 34 were absent and, of most note, four countries in the United Nations voted against adoption of the UN Declaration. And those four countries were Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. In 2010, all four opposed countries reversed their position, endorsed the declaration but with reservations. Canada worried that adopting some of what was in the declaration was contrary to existing Canadian law. It took from 2010 to 2016 and a change in the federal government, where Canada then decided we can live with the UN Declaration as is and we adopted without reservation. Alpha Adroit Forensic Engineering and Expert Opinion Alpha Adroit Engineering Ltd. • Expert Witness • Expert Opinion • Failure Investigation • Forensic Geotechnical Engineering • Remedial Geotechnical Engineering • Forensic Civil Engineering Construction For: • Litigation • Arbitration • Insurance claims • Failure Investigation and Repair www.alphaadroit.ca Toll-Free (Canada only): 1-844-423-7648 Edmonton: 780-708-4110 Calgary: 403-918-4110 Red Deer: 403-918-4115 Vancouver: 778-322-4110 Saskatoon: 306-881-4115 Fort McMurray: 780-607-4114

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