What can you expect from articling with Iler Campbell?

May 4th, 2018 by Iler Campbell

In short: to do meaningful work for organizations making a difference in their community, while being mentored by a passionate team of practitioners.

As the only student in a small general service firm, you’ll get a taste of all our practice areas, including charity & non‑profit law, commercial law, real estate, human rights, landlord and tenant law, employment law, construction, corporate governance & structuring, estate law and civil litigation.

You’ll be exposed to all the firm’s major client groups, including housing co‑operatives, affordable housing developers, non‑profit organizations in a variety of industries, and progressive for‑profit organizations.

Continue reading “What can you expect from articling with Iler Campbell?”

Cannabis Legalization: What Social Housing Providers Need to Know

April 27th, 2018 by Iler Campbell

Celia Chandler recently participated in a webinar titled “Cannabis Legalization: What Social Housing Providers Need to Know.” A video of the webinar is now up on Housing Services Corporation’s Sustainable Housing Asset Resource Exchange (SHARE) website.  Celia is joined on the webinar by Brian Laur, Housing Services Corporation’s Director of Insurance Services.

Watch the webinar and download the presentation here.
Continue reading “Cannabis Legalization: What Social Housing Providers Need to Know”

Medical cannabis benefits denied: How statutory insurance plans can avoid paying workers’ compensation benefits

April 26th, 2018 by Michael Hackl

As we move toward the legalization of recreational cannabis, I thought it would be interesting to look at a recent case dealing with medical cannabis and the efforts of one person to get assistance from his province’s workers’ compensation board to contribute to the cost of the medical cannabis prescribed to him.

The case of Skinner v. Nova Scotia (Workers’ Compensation Appeals Tribunal) provides insight into how the use of medical cannabis is sometimes still perceived as an unconventional treatment despite having been legal in Canada for almost two decades, and also how administrative law gives statutory insurance schemes ways to avoid providing benefits to individuals seeking coverage for medically prescribed treatment. Continue reading “Medical cannabis benefits denied: How statutory insurance plans can avoid paying workers’ compensation benefits”

Iler Campbell spring event roundup

April 12th, 2018 by Iler Campbell

Iler Campbell lawyers have a busy spring conference season. Here’s a roundup of where you can find us leading workshops.

Celia is presenting on Cannabis in housing at the Institute of Housing Management Annual Conference on April 13th and then flying to Winnipeg to speak on the same topic for the CHF Canada 2018 Manitoba Spring Education Event on April 14th. She’ll be co‑leading a free webinar on the topic with Brian Laur, Director of Insurance Services for Housing Services Corporation on April 18 as part of HSC’s webinar series.

Michael will be speaking at AdvantAge Ontario’s Annual General Meeting and Convention on April 18 on the topic of addressing senior resident’s behavior issues.

Celia will be part of a panel on residential landlord-tenant dispute resolution at the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association’s Congress on Housing and Homelessness in Ottawa on April 26th.  We will also be participating in the tradeshow on April 25th.

Shelina and Claudia are presenting at CHFT’s Spring Member Education Event on Saturday April 28th. Shelina is co‑presenting a workshop on social media with Sophie Taylor of PHCH and Shelina and Claudia are presenting on legal cannabis and co‑ops.

On May 11 Celia will be in Sudbury speaking about human rights in housing for CHF Ontario.

Celia will be at CHFC’s AGM in Victoria, BC. She’ll be presenting June 7th on smoking and cannabis in co-ops on and on human rights in co‑ops.

Case Study: Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Extends its Membership Beyond Ontario

April 5th, 2018 by Michael Hackl

As your organization or business looks to grow or expand, all manner of new issues arise that you will need to address to ensure that the organization complies with its legal, regulatory and governance requirements.  Getting good advice and assistance at the outset of your efforts to expand can help to avoid issues later on.

We recently helped Gay Lea Foods, Ontario’s largest dairy co-operative, open its membership to dairy farmers in Manitoba. The proposition of opening an Ontario co‑operative’s membership rolls to those outside of the province presented some legal challenges that we were able to help Gay Lea overcome.

Continue reading “Case Study: Gay Lea Foods Co-operative Extends its Membership Beyond Ontario”

Impact investing: What are charities able to do?

April 3rd, 2018 by Ted Hyland

This article was first published on rabble.ca

Are charities legally permitted to make impact investments with their funds? Yes, but, getting to “yes” is not straightforward, and depends on the circumstances.

Impact investing is the use (mainly, but not exclusively) of money to simultaneously realize a financial return and a public or social good. A 2016 survey published by the Responsible Investment Association in Canada reports that in 2015 more than $9.2 billion in assets under management were identified by the survey respondents as being impact investments. A 2017 report by the Global Impact Investing Network  reveals US$114 billion in impact investments worldwide in 2016. These investments are in sectors ranging from housing and energy to microfinance, education, and arts and culture. The investment instruments include debt (e.g., loans, bonds), equity (both private and public shareholdings or units in partnerships), and real assets (in other words, tangible assets such as real estate or commodities, rather than financial capital).

Increasingly, charities are looking at using their funds and other resources to contribute to positive social, economic, cultural and environmental change (“social impact”), as well as to obtain a financial return. But does the law permit them to do so? Continue reading “Impact investing: What are charities able to do?”