Webinar | The (Dis)Connect between Legislative Drafting and Statutory Interpretation: Perspectives from Three Branches of Government
OVERVIEW
Legislative drafting is viewed as a specialized area of law that requires particular education, skills and experience. A legislative drafter’s legal opinion is that the text will have a certain legal effect when the relevant interpretative provisions are considered. To this end, professional legislative drafters follow specific drafting conventions, styles and practices.
However, drafting conventions are not well known by legal professionals outside of the specialized drafting community, nor are they commonly referenced by parties in court or in judicial reasons. This raises questions regarding their value in the statutory interpretation exercise, and what more could be done to increase familiarity with drafting conventions to those outside the professional legislative drafter community.
Further, principles of statutory interpretation have developed with reference to the way that drafters and drafting offices operate; however, contemporary realities may call reliance on some of these principles into question.
In this webinar, professionals from three branches of government discuss the theory and realities of drafting and statutory interpretation, and provide recommendations regarding how they can be better reconciled.
PANELIST AND MODERATOR
Panelists:
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Gabriela Dedelli, Parliamentary Counsel, Legislative Assembly of Ontario Gabriela Dedelli joined the Office of Parliamentary Counsel at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in 2022. She provides advice to senior Assembly staff, including the Speaker, on all matters related to parliamentary and constitutional law, as well as acts as general counsel to the Assembly’s administration. Prior to joining the Assembly, she worked as in-house counsel for a large municipality. Gabriela obtained her HBA from the University of Western Ontario and her J.D. from the University of Ottawa. |
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The Hounourable Justice Gareth Morley, Judge of the Supreme Court of British Columbia in Victoria Justice Gareth Morley has been a judge with the Supreme Court of British Columbia since August 2023. Prior to that, he was a lawyer with the BC Ministry of Attorney General for 24 years, playing a number of roles, including as a litigator, solicitor and (between 2013 and 2016) legislative drafter. He has a B.A. from University of Victoria, an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and an LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School. He has written on a number of legal subjects and is a contributing co-editor of Horsman and Morley, Government Liability: Law and Practice. |
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Christina Wasyliw, Deputy Legislative Counsel & General Counsel, MB Justice Christina Wasyliw joined Manitoba’s Legislative Counsel Office in 2005 and has drafted in a wide variety of areas including consumer protection, regulated health professions, municipal assessment, education, public finance and property law. Christina was the Acting Chief Legislative Counsel for a two-year period before being appointed as Deputy Legislative Counsel in 2019. She is also a General Counsel for Manitoba Justice. |
Moderator
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Jaimie Graham, Legal Counsel, Alberta Utilities Commission Jaimie Graham is a lawyer with the Alberta Utilities Commission. She recently completed her LLM, with a focus on Indigenous laws and legislation. Jaimie is a member of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice’s Legislative Drafting Committee. |
RESOURCE
CONTACT
For further information, please contact the Project Manager of Multidisciplinary Programs, Mary Plagakis:
Tel.: 514-731-2855, extension 4
Email: mary.plagakis@ciaj-icaj.ca
BROADCAST SCHEDULE AND LANGUAGE
In English with simultaneous interpretation
Broadcast time across Canada (Tuesday, November 26, 2024):
PT Noon – 1:30 pm
MT 1:00 – 2:30 pm
CT 2:00 – 3:30 pm
ET 3:00 – 4:30 pm
AT 4:00 – 5:30 pm
NT 4:30 – 6:00 pm
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- Payment in full of the registration fee is due before the Event. Should a registrant have an outstanding balance, a credit card will be requested at the Event before the beginning of the program.
- Inability to attend may result in a registration being transferred to a colleague of the same organization up to 7 days before the Event. The request must be made in writing.
- Cancellation incurs processing fees as follows: $100 for cancellations 30 days or more before the event and 50% of the registration fee for cancellations 7 days or more before the event. No refund will be extended for cancellations made less than 7 days before the event.