Canadian Lawyer

UPFRONT 8 www.canadianlawyermag.com OTTAWA UPDATE NEWS BRIEFS Correctional Investigator report decries 'Indigenization' of prisons A government report described the worsening "Indigenization" of the country's correctional system, with Indigenous inmates comprising more than 30 per cent of the prison population, up from 25 per cent four years ago. Statistics hint at "disturbing and entrenched imbalances," Correctional Investigator of Canada Ivan Zinger said in a Jan. 21 news release. He attributed these trends to a number of systemic issues, noting that Indigenous people are more likely to be assigned to maximum security institutions and to solitary confinement units and generally wait longer to be granted parole. Canada helps families of Iran crash victims The federal government has given $218,029 to Pro Bono Ontario to assist families of the Canadian citizens and permanent residents who died in the crash of Ukrainian International Airlines flight PS752. Families may access the contact information for the free legal services through an online portal. Funding will be available over two years between 2019 and 2021, the Department of Justice Canada announced in a news release. Family members can receive summary legal advice, legal drafting assistance and referrals from an assigned triage lawyer via a national toll-free hotline. Canadian Judicial Council revises its ethical principles The Canadian Judicial Council's draft Ethical Principles for Judges — the first major revision of the principles since they were published in 1998 — will be finalized this year once the CJC committee charged with reviewing them has made its recommendations to the Council. The six new or evolving themes of the revised Ethical Principles for Judges will be: social media; self-represented litigants; case management; professional development; public engagement; and post-judicial return to practice. The amended version could be finalized as early as this spring or in the fall at the latest. Privacy breaches may Y\Ôe\[le[\i Competition Act Privacy of personal information, currently protected by federal and provincial privacy legislation, may soon be subject to additional safeguards under the federal Competition Act. As Bennett Jones LLP wrote in a recent bulletin, a senior official from the Competition Bureau announced at a conference in January that the Bureau plans to impose administrative monetary penalties against organizations making "false or misleading statements about the type of data they collect, why they collect it, and how they will use, maintain and erase it." Canada to pass supply-chain anti-slavery legislation As shareholders and stakeholders alike pay more attention to corporate Environmental, Social and Governance — or ESG — matters, Canada is expected to soon join other Western nations in tabling and even passing legislation on modern-day slavery in supply chains. Last April, the All-Party Parliamentary Group to End Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, launched in April 2018, announced the completion of the draft Transparency In Supply Chains Act. Other Western jurisdictions have already passed legislation requiring companies to confirm that they have found not forced labour, child labour or human trafficking in their vendor supply chains. CUSMA spotlights trade secret protection Government proposes new Criminal Code provision, and sources say federal statute is on the horizon CANADA WILL FACE more pressure to legislate protection for trade secrets once it ratifies its new trade deal with the U.S. and Mexico, say IP lawyers. Unlike the U.S., which has the Uniform Trade Secret Act, Canada lacks a federal

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