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2024 Annual Meeting Press Release

UNIFORM LAW CONFERENCE OF CANADA
CONFÉRENCE POUR L’HARMONISATION DES LOIS AU CANADA

2024 Annual Meeting Press Release

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ULCC CONCLUDES ITS 106th ANNUAL MEETING

Ottawa, Ontario, August 2024 – The Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC), a government-supported organization that works to modernize and harmonize federal, provincial, and territorial laws and considers proposals to reform criminal laws, held its 106th annual meeting in Ottawa, ON, from August 12 to 16, 2024.

The ULCC is comprised of a Civil Section and a Criminal Section.

This week, the Civil Section approved a Guide for Preparing Uniform Acts and Regulations, to accompany Drafting Conventions that were adopted by the Section last year. It also approved amendments to the Principles for Drafting Uniform Legislation Giving Force of Law to an International Convention.

The Civil Section received progress reports on projects including Non-Disclosure Agreements, Class Actions, Reform of General Partnership Law and Joint Ventures, and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments. Additionally, it received a report from Justice Canada on activities in the field of private international law. Also, the United States Uniform Law Commission (ULC) reported on its projects.

The Criminal Section debated and voted on proposals to reform Canadian criminal law by amending the Criminal Code and related statutes. It considered 28 resolutions on a wide range of criminal justice topics, including the non-consensual distribution of deepfake sexual images and the creation of new investigative measures in the Criminal Code to expand the ability of law enforcement to investigate crime involving cryptocurrency and other digital assets.

Amongst others, the Section adopted a resolution recommending that Justice Canada, in consultation with the provinces and territories, study amending the Criminal Code to more easily allow for the forfeiture and destruction of things, specifically electronic devices, believed to contain child sexual abuse material, where there are no charges and/or conviction in the matter.

The Section received the final report of the Working Group on the “Detention of Things Seized” regime under s. 490 of the Criminal Code. It also received progress reports from four working groups regarding: section 672.26 of the Criminal Code concerning juries and fitness to stand trial, statutory exemptions to mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment, the treatment of animals in the Criminal Code, and the records regime under sections 278.1 – 278.94 of the Criminal Code.

At a joint session of the Civil and Criminal Sections, the delegates received a status report from the Joint Working Group on the Treatment of Animals in Canadian Law, and the Diversity and Inclusion Committee presented the results of a demographic survey of ULCC delegates conducted following the 2023 annual meeting.

Both Sections attended the Earl Fruchtman Memorial Seminar, which was a presentation from Professor Shauna Van Praagh, the President of the Law Commission of Canada (LCC). The Seminar provided attendees with an overview of the ongoing efforts to reestablish the LCC, an independent agency committed to engaging the people of Canada in the ongoing and dynamic evolution of law. The week culminated with a keynote address to delegates by the Honourable Andromache Karakatsanis, Supreme Court Justice, on the topic of access to justice.

Delegates to the ULCC are legal experts invited by the federal, provincial, and territorial governments. This year, they included government lawyers, prosecutors, lawyers in private practice, members of the judiciary, law professors, and representatives from the LCC, the Canadian Bar Association, the Barreau du Québec, and Canadian law reform organizations. Approximately 76 participants were in attendance for this year’s annual meeting, including the Executive Committee Chair of the ULC.

The ULCC was founded in 1918 and over the years has recommended the implementation of numerous uniform acts and other law reform proposals. Those recommendations have often been enacted into law by federal, provincial, and territorial governments.

Media contact:

Pierre Daigneault
Executive Director
pdaigneault@ulcc-chlc.ca
https://ulcc-chlc.ca