The Supreme Court of Canada issued a landmark decision earlier this month that created a new tort of family violence. This means people who have suffered harm due to intimate partner violence will be able to seek damages. The 6-3 decision in Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia was more than a year in the making. What will it mean for victims and legal professionals?

Shelley Hounsell is a family law lawyer and senior counsel at Presse Mason in Halifax. Vanessa Lam provides specialized legal advice and research to other family law practitioners through her firm, Lam Family Law, in Markham, Ontario. Both previously appeared on the podcast in February 2025 to talk about this issue.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

Notes:

2026 SCC 16 (CanLII) | Ahluwalia v. Ahluwalia | CanLII

Verdicts and Voices: The use of AI at the Federal Court, the tort of family violence, and R v. Drybones | Verdicts & Voices

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Since the Supreme Court’s 1999 Gladue decision, sentencing judges in Canada are supposed to consider the “unique systemic or background factors” that bring Indigenous people in contact with the law. The idea is to reduce Indigenous overincarceration and promote alternative sanctions. But how does this work in a place like Nunavut, where the trauma of colonialism affects just about everyone, and scarce infrastructure exists for non-carceral penalties? In cases of gender-based violence, in particular, are Inuit women being sacrificed on “the altar of reconciliation?”

After a career in criminal law as both a prosecutor and defence counsel, Neil Sharkey spent 15 years as a judge, including eight as Nunavut’s Chief Justice. Qajaq Robinson is a Nunavummiuq human rights lawyer and workplace investigator who served as a commissioner on the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. In the inquiry’s final report, Call to Action 5.17 urged a thorough evaluation of Gladue principles as they relate to violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

Notes:

• The Path is the CBA’s Indigenous cultural awareness course. It addresses topics including Gladue principles and alternative justice systems.
• The CBA’s Gladue and Beyond Resource Guide is a free resource designed to accompany the module of The Path that covers Indigenous Peoples and the Criminal Legal System.
• In December 2025, the Supreme Court heard R. v. Cope, which deals with the application of Gladue principles in a case of gender-based violence.

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For two years, much of the BC legal community has been warning that changes to the regulation of lawyers in that province risk making them answerable to the state rather than their clients. Last week, the BC Supreme Court upheld the changes as constitutional, despite noting the government’s “inability, or failure, to justify overturning 150 years of self-regulation.”

Connor Bildfell is First Vice President of the Canadian Bar Association’s BC Branch. He was part of a team from McCarthy Tétrault that argued against the changes on behalf of the CBA. On this episode, he discusses why the BC court’s recognition of the independence of the bar as an unwritten constitutional principle is an important silver lining.

Verdicts & Voices is a legal current affairs podcast presented by the Canadian Bar Association. With her retinue of expert guests, host Alison Crawford keeps listeners up to date on news, views, and stories about the law and the justice system in Canada.

Notes:

• CBA responds to BC Supreme Court decision on Legal Professions Act

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