We’re thrilled to announce that Rangefindr, a resource for Criminal Sentencing, is now available for use remotely at your own office! Researching sentencing quantums can be frustrating and time-consuming, but this tool can point you to relevant case law within minutes. While we haven’t had direct access to this tool at the CCLA before, I’ve been getting some of our library colleagues to run searches on it for me for years, so I’m very excited we can offer it to all Ontario lawyers now! This access was made possible through LiRN (Legal Information and Resource Network).

How to Get Remote Access

Rangefindr is available both here at the library and remotely through your LSO resource portal. To get your login credentials, email greatlibrary@lso.ca with your name and Law Society number. NOTE: rangefindr.ca and HeinOnline use the same username and password, so if you are already able to access HeinOnline, please skip this step.

Once you have your login and password, click here to login to rangefindr.ca.

Training

Learn more about the tool that helps lawyers and judges find criminal sentencing ranges in minutes instead of hours! We have three upcoming training sessions as well as some resources:

Online Training Sessions (Zoom):

• September 18, 11:00 am – 11:30 am (Passcode: 024331)
• September 24, 11:00 am – 11:30 am (Passcode: 145758)
• September 24, 7:00 pm – 7:30 pm (Passcode: 212196)

Short explainer about how to use RangeFindr (2:14 min)

Getting Started With rangefindr.ca Guide (pdf)

Acknowledgements

This pilot project will run from September 1, 2024 to December 31, 2025 through the Innovation and Equity of Access to Legal Information project funded by The Law Foundation of Ontario, and we thank the Law Foundation for this opportunity.

LiRN would also like to extend its thanks to the Great Library for their assistance in making remote access possible for lawyers, articling students, and paralegals as well as courthouse library staff.

 

Nothing excites librarians quite like citation guides! While many people are familiar with the products available through the major publishers, our colleagues across the country have been busy working on an open access guide that will be free and accessible for all. We’re so pleased to announce that the Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL) is now freely available on CanLII.

This guide is a continually-evolving publication, and there is an email included below for any feedback. Stay tuned as well, as there will be training sessions for this guide offered this fall!

You can read the full press release below.

The Canadian Open Access Legal (COAL) Citation Guide/Guide canadien de la référence juridique en accès libre (RJAL), which began with the desire for an open-access legal citation guide in Canada, is now available: https://canlii.ca/t/7nc6q

Over the course of two years, law librarians from across Canada worked together to create the COAL-RJAL Guide. The English version of the Guide is now freely available and hosted on CanLII (2024 CanLIIDocs 830), and the French version is in progress. The Guide is intended to be used throughout the legal field and incorporates feedback contributed by reviewers from Canadian courts, law firms, law journals, law societies, and law schools.

COAL-RJAL is freely available on CanLII, allowing anyone requiring a Canadian legal citation guide to access it online without financial barriers. This Guide will reduce the financial burden on law students, new lawyers, and sole practitioners and will also support self-represented litigants, libraries, and other organizations with an access to justice mission.

The Editorial Board of COAL-RJAL is a national, bilingual, and bijural group, committed to continuity of the Guide and continuous knowledge building. Regular Guide updates will centre the needs of the legal community by incorporating user feedback and responding to emerging developments, while maintaining long-term consistency.

The legal community’s support and expertise is the foundation for COAL-RJAL’s success. Explore the Guide on CanLII for writing, editing, or teaching, and give us your feedback. The Guide will be enriched by contributions from a diverse group of people sharing their knowledge. Connect with the Editorial Board at coal.rjal@ubc.ca for feedback, volunteer inquiries, and more.

Find below recently published Ottawa decisions, available for free through CanLII.org.

Family Matters

Barta v. Barta (2021 ONSC 6265)
spousal support — income — imputed — child support — temporary
Justice T. Engelking

Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa v. K.D. (2021 ONSC 6092)
child — parents — genuine issue requiring — summary — affidavits
Justice J. Audet

Civil Matters

Abboud et al. v. Bouwer et al. (2021 ONSC 6188)
oppression — directors — pleading — shares — corporation
Justice C. MacLeod

Thomson v. Benjamin (2021 ONSC 6096)
costs — motion — cross-examinations — indemnity — adjournment
Justice R. Ryan Bell

McGuire v. Dejong and Coldwell Banker (2021 ONSC 6044)
real estate — commissions — registration — transactions — trade
Associate Justice A. Kaufman

Criminal Matters

R. v. Gill (2021 ONSC 6328)
metal weightlifting bar — knives — home — murder — gloves
Justice A. London-Weinstein

Divisional Court Decisions of Local Interest

Merivale-Gilmour Manor Ltd. v. Municipal Property Assessment Corporation Region No. 3 et al (2021 ONSC 6240)
higher assessment — reason to doubt the correctness — withdraw — motion for leave — property
Justice K. Muszynski

Pinon v. City of Ottawa (2021 ONSC 6172)
class proceeding — preferable — bus — certification — class members
Justices D. Aston, K. Swinton, and J. McCarthy

Keen CanLII users may have noticed a few new features in the last month or two, and if you’re legal research nerds like us, were probably quite excited! For all the details on these upgrades and how to make use of them, check out the CanLII Blog. In short, here are two of the updates we think you’ll like:

• “Unfavorable mentions”: This is a big one! A yellow jalapeño will now appear when there is an unfavourable mention in a citing decision.  This complements the blue jalapeño of relevancy.
• “Heatmaps” in legislation: Our reference librarian Brenda absolutely loves this one. Heatmaps are a tool used to visually indicate which parts of a document have been cited more frequently. CanLII rolled out this feature for decisions earlier this year, and it’s now available on legislation.

As we always say with CanLII, the best way to learn how to use these new features is to just do it! Head on over to CanLII’s blog for all the details on how these features work, and then jump in on CanLII. Want a quick link to both of these? Check out Canada v. Vavilov and look for the yellow pepper! For the legislative heatmap, take a look at the right side of the screen on the Construction Act. Remember, the darker the blue, the more heavily cited that section is.