Summary of Meetings: Legal Research
Number of Meetings Held: 3
November 13, 2025
Registration Count: Remote: 35
Guest Speakers: Mark Mancini
Meeting Title/Topic: Text, Context, Purpose: Unravelling the Mantra
Synopsis: In Canada, the interpretation of statutes is ostensibly governed by the "modern approach," which mandates a view to "text, context, and purpose." However, the practical application of this approach remains a subject of considerable debate. Assistant Professor Mark Mancini analyzes recent cases and outlines two different ways that courts are applying the modern approach.
February 5, 2025
Registration Count: 98
Guest Speaker: Craig Jones, KC
Meeting Title/Topic: The Constitutional Nature of BC Interior First Nations at the Time of Contact
Synopsis: Craig Jones, KC, presents on his ongoing research project on the constitutional nature of the First Nations of the BC interior in the period immediately before, during and after first contact with white explorers and traders, roughly from 1750 to 1850. His research uses original sources in the Hudson’s Bay Archives as well as letters, diaries, memoirs and First Nations oral histories to understand events and personalities that are largely unreported in existing histories of the period. The project examines the internal and inter-national relationships of the Okanagan (Syilx), Shuswap (Secwepemc), Thompson (Nlakapamux) and Lillooet (Statmic), gauging the extent to which they were recognizable nations rather than the scattered nomadic bands portrayed in popular imagination, older historical accounts, and judicial characterizations. He also talks about his ‘motorbike-based’ research methodology.
April 15, 2025
Registration Count: Remote: 144 In-Person: 10
Guest Speaker: Lisa Peters, KC
Meeting Title/Topic: Contracts - Case Law Update for the Commercial Practitioner
Synopsis: Lisa Peters, KC, presents her annual case-law update on decisions relevant to commercial practice. Topics include: exclusion clauses in contracts for the sale of goods, illegal contracts at common law, penalty clauses, relief from forfeiture and unconscionability, survival clauses, forum selection clauses, good faith jurisprudence, privity of contract and arbitration clauses.