Vexatious in Alberta: A Victory for Self-Reps

Jumping Off the Ivory Tower with Prof JulieMac

This week Julie talks to lawyers Colin Feasby (Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP) and Brynne Harding (Bennett Jones), who jointly represented NSRLP pro bono in our recent intervention in Jonsson v Lymer at the Alberta Court of Appeal. This was a landmark case for self-reps, addressing the issue of vexatiousness, and just how careful courts should be when deciding to designate a litigant “vexatious” and restrict their future court access. Those designated as “vexatious” litigants are almost always self-represented litigants, and Julie, Colin, and Brynne discuss the unique situation in Alberta, where the vague and extremely broad doctrine of “inherent jurisdiction” has increasingly been used to designate SRLs as “vexatious” over the last few years, and to place multiple restrictions on them. The Lymer decision has poured (a lot of) cold water on this approach to “vexatiousness”, and Colin and Brynne discuss with Julie what this means for Alberta, and the rest of Canada. In other news: NSRLP continues to update our COVID-19 resources, and we have recently added a new page on wills and powers of attorney; we’re looking for access to justice all-stars who are doing great work during the pandemic – nominations can be sent to @[email protected]; we have two new blogs up, looking at the future of the legal system post-COVID, from both Julie and BC Chief Justice Robert Bauman; the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General announced that it will be shifting some of its traditional investments toward innovation and new technology; Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada Richard Wagner and federal Justice Minister David Lametti have created an Action Committee on court operations in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and finally, NSRLP is asking you to spread the word (and give if you can!) about our vital fundraising campaign, #Justice4All. For related links and more on this episode visit our website: https://representingyourselfcanada.com/vexatious-in-alberta-a-victory-for-self-reps/ Jumping Off the Ivory Tower is produced and hosted by Julie Macfarlane and Dayna Cornwall; production and editing by Braunte Petric; Other News produced and hosted by Ali Tejani; promotion by Moya McAlister and Ali Tejani.