Association for the rights of household and farm workers

Acting for the plaintiff Association for the rights of household and farm workers in seeking authorization to institute (certification) a class action that would challenge the constitutionality of “closed” work permits issued by the government of Canada, which restrict the ability of migrant workers to change employers and makes them vulnerable to several forms of exploitation, abuse, and human and labour rights violations, and to seek compensation on behalf of these migrants.

Giant Tiger

Acting for Giant Tiger in defence of a class action in Québec for alleged “greenwashing”, or misleading environmental claims, of recyclable bags.

Priceline.com and Kayak.com

Acting for Priceline.com and Kayak.com in defence of a drip pricing class action filed in the Superior Court of Québec.

The Honourable Morris J. Fish - Third Independent Review of the National Defence Act

Acted as counsel to the Honourable Morris J. Fish, former Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and Jurist in Residence at Davies, in the preparation and drafting of his report to the Minister of National Defence on specified provisions of the National Defence Act and their operation. The 400-page report delivered on June 1, 2021 includes 107 wide-ranging recommendations, a majority of which address the military justice system, including the independence of its actors, the handling of sexual misconduct allegations, military policing and police oversight. The remainder of the recommendations relate to military grievances and to the independent review process. Upon tabling of the report in Parliament, the Department of National Defence described the review as "the most comprehensive independent review and far-reaching examination of the military justice system since the reviews led by the former Chief Justice of Canada, Brian Dickson, in the late 1990s".

Gorski Group Ltd.

Acting for Gorski Group Ltd. in its claim against Absolunet Inc. resulting from the parties' contract for the creation of a new e-commerce website.

Les avocats et notaires de l'état québécois (LANEQ)

Successfully acted for Les avocats et notaires de l'État québécois (LANEQ), the professional union representing the vast majority of the lawyers and notaries employed by the Government of Québec in its public service or by other mandataries of the State (Agence du revenu du Québec, Régie de l'énergie, Autorité des marchés financiers and Autorité des marchés publics), in its negotiations with the Government of Québec, including for the reform of its members' collective bargaining plan. The Government of Québec and LANEQ concluded an agreement establishing a joint committee to determine whether the lawyers and notaries of the Québec civil service have a distinctive character. If so, the Government has undertaken to reform their collective bargaining regime. The agreement was qualified as “historic” by both parties.

Montréal Defence Lawyers Association

Represented the Montréal Defence Lawyers Association (AADM) before the Supreme Court of Canada in Attorney General of Quebec, et al. v. 9147-0732 Québec Inc., where the Court had to determine for the first time if the constitutional protection against "cruel and unusual treatment or punishment" applies to corporations and other legal persons.

René Allard, on behalf of retired management personnel of the Government of Québec and their spouses

Acting for class representative René Allard in a class action proceeding regarding constitutional damages against the government of Québec on behalf of retired members of Québec's public and parapublic sectors' management personnel, as well as their spouses, whose retirement pension indexing was unilaterally suspended and retrospectively modified by a statute adopted by the Québec National Assembly. The class action was authorized by the Québec Court of Appeal.

Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires

Acting for the Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires in its constitutional challenge of section 22.6 of the Health Insurance Act.

Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires

Acting for the Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires in a motion for leave to intervene produced in favour of an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Formula E Operations Ltd.

Successfully acted for Formula E Operations Ltd. (FEO) in connection with its claims arising from the City of Montréal's decision to cancel the Montréal ePrix. This includes asserting FEO's claims against the City of Montréal and in the bankruptcy proceedings of Montréal C'est Électrique, a non-profit corporation set up by the City for the purposes of acting as promoter of the Montréal ePrix.

Michelin Group

Acted for the Michelin Group in its acquisition of Camso Inc., one of the global leaders in the design, manufacturing and distribution of off-road tires, wheels, tracks and conveyer belts, for a purchase price of US$1.7 billion. Camso has facilities in more than 25 jurisdictions world-wide.

Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires

Acting for the Association québécoise des pharmaciens propriétaires in a motion for declaratory judgment against the Attorney General of Québec and the Régie de l'assurance maladie du Québec concerning the interpretation of a recent statute adopted by the Québec legislature regarding certain obligations imposed upon all pharmacists in Québec.

Daisye Marcil

Acted for the plaintiffs in a class action involving all Québec parents who were required to pay fees for the purchase of school books or other didactic material even though these fees should have been assumed by the school boards.

Brault & Martineau Inc., Corbeil Électrique Inc. and Sears Canada Inc.

Acting for Brault & Martineau Inc., Corbeil Électrique Inc. and Sears Canada Inc. in defence of various class actions instituted on behalf of consumers alleging that the sale of additional warranties breaches the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act.

Coherence over Deference: Regulations Are Subject to Same Standards of Judicial Review as Other Administrative Decisions

Nov. 15, 2024 - In the companion cases of Auer v Auer (Auer) and TransAlta Generation Partnership v Alberta (TransAlta), the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) unanimously confirmed that regulations and other forms of subordinate legislation (regulations) are subject to the robust...

Authorization of a Class Action concerning the Pension Plan of Management Personnel

Aug. 29, 2024 - On May 13, 2022, the Court of Appeal of Québec authorized a class action against the Government of Québec concerning the indexation of certain pensions of the Pension Plan of Management Personnel. To know more about the class action, or to ascertain whether you are a class member and know your...

Striking the Balance of Power: Supreme Court Confirms Government Has No Absolute Immunity from Charter Damages When Adopting Unconstitutional Legislation

July 26, 2024 - In its recent decision, Canada (Attorney General) v Power (Power), a divided Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) confirmed that a government can incur liability for damages under section 24(1) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter) when Parliament or a...

The Long Arm of Canadian Securities Laws: The Supreme Court of Canada Confirms the Cross-Border Reach of Securities Enforcement

Dec. 13, 2023 - In its recent decision, Sharp v Autorité des marchés financiers, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) upheld the jurisdiction of Québec’s Financial Markets Administrative Tribunal (FMAT)—a specialized provincial securities tribunal—over out-of-province defendants. The majority (7-1) found...

Canada Imposes Forced and Child Labour Reporting Obligations

May 05, 2023 - The House of Commons has adopted Bill S-211, whose short title is Fighting Against Forced Labour and Child Labour in Supply Chains Act (the Bill). The Bill, which was adopted on May 3, 2023, will become law as soon as it receives royal assent and will enter into force on January 1, 2024. ...

Canadian Bar Association, 2021 Constitutional Law Case Law Review 2021, “Case Law Review”; Webinar

Apr. 12, 2022

"Régime contractuel de l’État", coauthor

Apr. 01, 2022 - Droit administratif (JurisClasseur Québec)

Guest Lecturer, Advanced Criminal Law course, McGill University Faculty of Law, "Sexual Misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces"; Montréal

Mar. 21, 2022

Conference of Defence Associations (CDA Institute), Making National Security Safe Online Series, “Modernizing Military Justice”; Webinar

Oct. 12, 2021

The Right Not to Be Subjected to Cruel and Unusual Treatment or Punishment: The Case of Minimum Fines

May 18, 2021 - The Court of Appeal of Québec (CAQ) handed down its decision in Bédard c. Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénales on 4 March 2021 (Bédard).¹ The judgment contains an interesting consideration of section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and...

Co-Chair and Speaker, Canadian Bar Association, 2020 Constitutional Law Case Law Review, “Les revues jurisprudentielles”; Webinar

Mar. 30, 2021

Corporations Cannot Suffer Cruel and Unusual Treatment or Punishment

Nov. 06, 2020 - The Supreme Court of Canada (Supreme Court) yesterday handed down its highly awaited decision in Quebec (Attorney General) v 9147-0732 Québec inc.¹ For the first time, the Court decided that corporations cannot claim the protection of section 12 of the Canadian Charter of...

Can the State Be Held Liable for Neighbourhood Disturbances?

June 17, 2020 - In Maltais c Procureure générale du Québec, 2020 QCCA 715, the Québec Court of Appeal rendered an important decision regarding Crown liability. Its decision clarifies whether the regime of no-fault liability for neighbourhood disturbances applies to the government. It also contains...

New Beacons of Administrative Law: Top Court Reviews the Approach to Judicial Review of Administrative Decisions

Jan. 14, 2020 - The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently rendered its much-awaited decisions in Canada (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) v Vavilov and companion appeals. Upon granting leave to appeal, the SCC had announced that these appeals would “provide an opportunity to consider the nature...

Québec Superior Court Enforces Right to Collective Bargaining of State Employees

Oct. 08, 2019 - The Québec Superior Court (QSC) recently struck down as unconstitutional back-to-work legislation (Bill 127¹) aimed at the Québec government’s advocates and notaries. The decision, released on September 18, 2019, builds on the recent case law of the Supreme Court of Canada which...

Québec Court of Appeal Says Current Civil Jurisdiction of the Court of Québec Is Unconstitutional

Sept. 17, 2019 - A seven-member panel of the Québec Court of Appeal (QCA) recently rendered an important decision regarding the civil and administrative jurisdiction of the Court of Québec (CQ), a provincial court. The decision follows a reference submitted to the QCA by the Québec government in the wake of a...

“Les honoraires en demande en matière d’actions collectives : comment éviter de jouer à l’apprenti-sorcier en vue de moduler le comportement des avocats”, co-author

May 03, 2019 - Recent Developments in Québec, Canada and the United States, Vol. 455 (National Conference on Class Actions)
Read this article (in French).