Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced Thursday that the government will ask voters in a fall referendum whether the province should remain in Canada. The announcement comes after a provincial court quashed a citizen-initiated independence petition over concerns that First Nations were not properly consulted. The scheduled October provincial referendum will ask Albertan voters if they [...]

The International Court of Justice opined Thursday that an international labor treaty protects the right to strike. The advisory opinion provides clarity to the treaty provisions, particularly the scope of the right to association at international law. The controversy centers on the interpretation of articles 2, 3, and 10 of the Freedom of Association and [...]

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has urged states to protect the world LGBTQ+ community, in a statement marking the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia. Türk said discrimination and violence against the LGBTQ+ community remain widespread. More than one in three countries still criminalize consensual same-sex conduct, he said. Last year, [...]

Amnesty International released a report Monday stating that the number of executions globally hit its highest number since 1981. The group condemned use of the death penalty to create a climate of fear, under the pretext of national security and public safety. In the report, Death Sentences and Executions 2025, the group estimated that there [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada recognized intimate partner violence as a new civil wrong on Friday. The majority said it is a “pernicious social ill” that the law must address. Six justices decided to recognize intimate partner violence as a new tort—an act or omission that injures another, constituting a civil wrong that attaches liability. [...]

The Court of King’s Bench of Alberta quashed the province’s separation petition on Wednesday, holding that electoral authorities failed to uphold the duty to consult First Nations before approving the referendum proposal. This is the second time the provincial court has barred the province’s separation petition. Justice Shaina Leonard held that the chief electoral officer [...]

Provincial electoral authorities in Alberta received a petition for independence from Canada on Monday. The verification process for the signatures is currently on hold, pending a decision from the provincial court on the compatibility of the petition with First Nations treaty rights. Elections Alberta affirmed that it received the petition, “A Referendum Relating to Alberta [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada upheld a law on Friday that limits the privilege of parliamentarians in relation to their duties on a statutory committee that oversees the country’s national security and intelligence apparatus. By an 8-1 majority, the court held that Parliament has the authority to define the privileges its members enjoy insofar as [...]

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) struck down Quebec’s legislation that suspended review of an electoral map by an independent commission until after the next general election. In the reasons published Friday, the court held by a 7-2 majority that the legislation violated the right to vote under Section 3 of the Canadian Charter of [...]

The Supreme Court of British Columbia on Wednesday upheld the constitutionality of a new law that establishes a single regulatory body for lawyers, notaries and paralegals. Chief Justice Ronald Skolrood found that the law would not erode the independence of the legal profession. Chief Justice Skolrood affirmed that the independence of the legal profession is [...]