Law Times

Page 16 November 13, 2017 • Law Times www.lawtimesnews.com NEW OBA SECTION The Ontario Bar Association is launching an elder law sec- tion. The section will handle elder abuse, age discrimination, old-age planning, housing, men- tal capacity and consent, care facility regulation, guardianship and health-care decision-making and all other issues affecting se- nior citizens. Elder section chairman Ste- ven Benmor says his group will also focus on informing the pub- lic and legal professionals about the specific legal issues faced by seniors in order for everyone to identify when their rights are being violated. "I realized there's this mammoth population, with very unique needs, who weren't being serviced by any particular section of the OBA, but more importantly, they weren't being serviced as an area of law," he says. The number of Ontarians over 65 is expected to double to 4.6 mil- lion people before 2041, making up 25 per cent of the population ac- cording to a 2016 census. "If the legislation is provincial, and if the largest number of seniors in Canada reside in Ontario, it just seemed fairly obvious that there should be an elder law section at the Ontario Bar Association," Ben- mor says. TLA AWARDS The Toronto Lawyers Asso- ciation has announced its 2018 award recipients. The Hons- berger Award will go to Ian M. Hull of Hull and Hull LLP, while John I. Laskin of the Ontario Court of Appeal will receive the Award of Dis- tinction, according to a TLA press release. Hull has supported the Law- yers Feed the Hungry Pro- gram, is chairman of the Law Society Foundation's board of directors and a regular guest lecturer for other law associations. Hull and Laskin will receive their awards at the 18 th an- nual TLA Awards reception on March 8, 2018 at the King Ed- ward Hotel. LAWYER AND BAKER EXTRAORDINAIRE One doesn't usually think of "lawyer" and "baker" as shared skillsets, but Toronto lawyer Corey Shefman is proving that otherwise. Shefman is an associate at Olthuis Kleer Townshend LLP who is putting his ama- teur baking skills to the test as a contestant on the new CBC television program The Great Canadian Baking Show, which premiered Nov. 1. "I mostly applied because I thought it would just be a fun story to tell. I never thought I would actually be picked as one of the top 10 amateur home bak- ers in Canada," he says, explain- ing that contestants had to be put through an application and audition process. The show is Canada's answer to the popular British version, The Great British Bake Off, and was filmed this past summer. 33 % NO, I DO NOT AGREE YES, I AGREE 67 % LAW TIMES POLL Law Times reported there is a growing trend of young adults living in the family home, lead- ing to a demand for child sup- port that f lows past childhood into adulthood. Readers were asked if this a trend they had observed. About 67 per cent said yes, young adults are requiring more support than ever to attain in- dependence, and this has legal implications. However, another 33 per cent said this is not some- thing they had observed. LT u Bizarre Briefs By Viola James u The InsIde story Steven Benmor is the chairman of the Ontario Bar Association's new elder law section. IMAGINE THE LATE FEES DUBLIN — The oldest public library in Ireland has had a book returned after it was stolen al- most 180 years ago, reports the Irish Sun. Librarians at Marsh's Library in Dublin City expressed their delight after the long-lost tome found its way back home. A copy of the Book of Common Prayer dating from the 17th cen- tury was returned after someone first pinched it from the library's reading room in 1840. Published in 1666, the early Church of Eng- land prayer book is believed to be one of only two left in Ireland and is valued at €750. According to library keeper Jason McElligott, it was discovered in Monkstown last week by Rev. Roy Byrne who noticed the library's stamp while he was examining some of the books col- lecting dust at the local parish rectory. According to Marsh's Library, this is just the ninth time any of the 1,185 books removed from the building over the last 133 years has been found. There is currently an exhibition running at the library highlighting the prices of some of its missing items, should they ever turned up. A 17 th -century book by the Waterford-born scientist Robert Boyle was stolen from the li- brary in 1767. A copy of the 1670 book, The Sceptical Chymist, sold for €492,000 ($726,735) at a London auction in 2015. UNTIMELY END FOR PADDLES WELLINGTON — Paddles, the New Zealand prime minister's ginger cat, may have had six toes and a wide social media following, but she has run out of lives, reports Reuters. Jacinda Ardern, the charismatic new leader of New Zealand, announced the death of the Prime Moggy on Nov. 8 after Paddles was hit by a car the previous evening, prompting an out- pouring of grief on social media. Paddles' rise to social media fame matched her 37-year-old owner's meteoric ascent to the prime ministership after only taking over as leader of her Labour Party in August. A "First Cat of NZ" Twitter account was set up by an anonymous user last month, featuring regular tweets about the photogenic cat's fa- mous "mummy" Ardern and quickly attracted 11,000 followers. People from around the world posted messages such as "rest in peace" and "gone too soon" with the hashtag #paddles. "To anyone who has ever lost a pet, you'll know how sad we feel. Paddles was much loved, and not just by us. Thanks for everyone's thoughts," Ardern wrote on Facebook. Ardern's rise to power has generated intense interest in her personal life and drew compari- sons with other youthful trailblazers such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and France's Emmanuel Macron. COCKATOOS COST CABLE COMPANY SYDNEY — Australia's government-built $46-billion broadband network, already un- der attack from underwhelmed customers, has found a new and formidable enemy — cocka- toos are chewing through cables across the country, reports Reuters. The company estimates the bill could rise sharply as more damage is uncovered and more cables are rolled out in the national telecommu- nications infrastructure project, which is not due to be completed until around 2021. "It would have to be an acquired taste, be- cause it's not their usual style," Gisela Kaplan, a professor in animal behaviour at the University of New England, told Reuters. "Cockatoos usually go for wood, or strip the bark off trees. They don't usually go for cables," she said. The broadband network itself has come under fire for poor service and slow speeds, with customer complaints spiking near- ly 160 per cent this year, according to govern- ment figures released last month. NBN Co is installing protective casing it says will protect the wires from birds in the fu- ture. LT "We hope this case will resolve several legal issues involving recently developed varieties of genetically modified medical marijuana." Understand © 2017 Stewart. All rights reserved. See policies for full terms and conditions. Working closely with our legal clients has given us insight into your processes, your needs and the challenges you face in your practice. It's this understanding that led us to work with TELUS to offer the Assyst Real Estate application, which enables you to exchange data with lenders securely, seamlessly and accurately. Interested? Request a demo. Call (888) 667-5151 or visit stewart.ca. Untitled-2 1 2017-11-07 8:55 AM

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