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Feb 09 2026

New Rules Protecting Consumers Coming this Summer

On August 1, 2026, the remaining sections of Bill 4, c. 3, Business Practices and Consumer Protection Amendment Act, 2025, will come into force. The Bill amends the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Act and will include:

  • requiring advance notification, approval from the consumer and the ability to cancel automatic renewal of subscription contracts
  • ensuring consistency in rules around business policies with respect to refunds, returns, exchanges and cancellation
  • providing consumers with protections against one-sided terms that allow businesses to unilaterally amend a contract
  • restricting direct sales contracts for a variety of home appliances and services, including furnaces, water heaters and air conditioners

The amendments will also introduce requirements for contractual disclosure to prevent unfair practices, reduce consumer confusion and promote informed decision-making when entering contracts.

Changes will also be made to the Business Practices and Consumer Protection Regulation, Consumer Contracts Regulation, Debt Collection and Repayment Regulation and Home Inspector Licensing Regulation.

View an early consolidation of these amendments, published by Quickscribe.

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Nov 24 2025

Changes to Legal Liability under the Mental Health Act

Bill 32 proposes to replace section 31 (1) of  the Mental Health Act to give greater clarity with respect to legal liability protection for front-line workers who provide psychiatric treatment to involuntary patients. Section 31 (1) is considered the "deemed consent" provision, which determines that if a patient is detained under the Act, "treatment authorized by the director is deemed to be given with the consent of the patient". The new provision will be relocated to section 16 and states that workers are not liable if they provide care or other services to a patient, including involuntary patients, as authorized by a director, if the care is reasonable and delivered in good faith.

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Oct 09 2025

Upcoming Changes to Mental Health Act

On December 3, the Mental Health Amendment Act, 2022 will come into force, bringing changes to the Mental Health Act that will ensure people involuntarily admitted under the Act understand their legal rights. Under the Act, involuntary patients must be informed of their rights when they are involuntarily admitted, transferred to another designated facility, or when their involuntary status is renewed. The changes will give involuntary patients the choice to meet with a free, independent rights advisor who will provide advice to patients about the circumstances of their detention and options if they disagree with detention decisions.

The legislation further outlines the duties of rights advisors and the responsibilities of directors of designated mental health facilities in facilitating access to the service.

According to the government, rights-advice services will be delivered by a team of independent rights advisors, primarily using videoconferencing and phones.

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Recent Contributions From Our Experts

This section qualifies the application of s. 364(4) insofar as a limitation defence is invoked. In this case, in November 2020, the plaintiff corporation filed a claim against the defendants. The claim was declared a nullity because, at the time of filing, the plaintiff was di...

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Debby Cumberford, Deborah M. Cumberford on BUSINESS CORPORATIONS ACT

The court applied this provision in Re Boisvert Estate, 2026 BCSC 195, allowing the surviving spouse to retain the spousal home, subject to a charge in favour of the deceased's children, but limited the period for which the surviving spouse could retain the home to a further 2...

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Stanley Rule, Sabey Rule LLP on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

In Singh v Singh, 2020 BCCA 21, the Court of Appeal restricts the nature of the "other factors" that may be argued in favour of reapoprtionment. Justice Garson reviews the specific factors identified in section 95(2) and, applying the principles of statutory interpretation, co...

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John-Paul Boyd QC, John-Paul E. Boyd Arbitration Chambers on FAMILY LAW ACT

This section was drawn from section 2.1 of the Arbitration Act, RSBC 1996, c. 55, and is needlessly confusing. On the one hand it seems to say that people can agree to arbitration anything that "may be the subject of a family law dispute in the future," while on the other is s...

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John-Paul Boyd QC, John-Paul E. Boyd Arbitration Chambers on FAMILY LAW ACT

In Vabuolas v. British Columbia (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2025 BCCA 83, the Applicants challenged an order issued by an adjudicator under the Personal Information Protection Act, S.B.C 2003, c. 63 (“PIPA”). The Applicants are members and elders of the Grand Forks...

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Karen Zimmer, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP on PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT

In Sarao v. Fraser Health Authority, 2025 BCCA 267, the Court of Appeal upheld the chambers judge’s order granting the respondent’s application to strike the appellant’s claim for lack of jurisdiction. The essential character of the dispute fell within the scope of the labour ...

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OnPoint Legal Research, Onpoint Legal Research Law Corporation on LABOUR RELATIONS CODE

Li v. Vancouver General Hospital, 2025 BCCA 247: There is no duty of care to a family member in the situation where someone has been involuntarily detained under the Mental Health Act. The certification under the Mental Health Act occurs when a person is a danger to themselves...

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Joel Morris, Harper Grey LLP on MENTAL HEALTH ACT

In Cohen 2023 BCSECCOM 317 an application was made to the BC Securities Commission for orders than notice delivered under an advance notice policy requiring notice with respect to the election of directors be included in a circular and that the shareholder vote be restrained u...

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Teresa Tomchak, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on SECURITIES ACT

Decisions of the court under s. 17 are not limited appeal orders and therefore leave is not required under s. 11 of the Court of Appeal Rules to appeal.

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Melanie Harmer, McMillan LLP on JUDICIAL REVIEW PROCEDURE ACT

The policy considerations underlying section 60 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act, together with the nature of constructive trusts was the subject of some debate in a series of articles published in The Advocate in 2022.

A healthy and respectful canvassing of positi...

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D. Michael Bain, K.C., Hamilton Howell Bain & Gould on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

The term "obsolete" means something that is "no longer practised or used, discarded; [and] out of date". A determination of obsolescence is a consideration of the nature of the charge itself in the circumstances of the use of the relevant property and a determination of whet...

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Peter Roberts, Lawson Lundell LLP on PROPERTY LAW ACT

In Wang v. Li, 2025 BCCA 256, the Court of Appeal dismissed two appeals in related family and civil proceedings concerning the respondent ex-wife, her parents, and the appellant ex-husband and their various assets located in BC and China. With respect to certain of the Chinese...

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OnPoint Legal Research, Onpoint Legal Research Law Corporation on FAMILY LAW ACT

Section 36 of the Property Law Act does not apply to the Crown land owned or controlled by the Provincial government: Fox v British Columbia (Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development), 2022 BCSC 541

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Peter Roberts, Lawson Lundell LLP on PROPERTY LAW ACT

The Court of Appeal quashed a decision of the Tribunal that denied legal representation on the basis that legal counsel could instead provide assistance anonymously and behind the scenes.

The constitutionality of the Civil Resolution Tribunal's limitation on legal representat...

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Melanie Harmer, McMillan LLP on CIVIL RESOLUTION TRIBUNAL ACT

Moon v. International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (Local 891), 2025 BCSC 2238 concerned whether a union’s disclosure of an internal audit report violated British Columbia’s Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”). The audit addressed a senior union steward’s mi...

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Karen Zimmer, Alexander Holburn Beaudin + Lang LLP on PERSONAL INFORMATION PROTECTION ACT

The implications of this section are canvassed by Jennifer Bednard in "Will or Will Not: Practice Implications of Section 58 of the Wills, Estates and Succession Act Part I: What is a Testamentary Document Anyway?" (2020) 78 Advocate 527.

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D. Michael Bain, K.C., Hamilton Howell Bain & Gould on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

The filing of a Notice of Dispute is a "proceeding" for the purpose of this section. After a Notice of Dispute is filed, the court may appoint an administrator pending legal proceedings. In Glendale v. Walker, 2024 BCSC 1947, the disputant successfully brought a petition to ap...

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Stanley Rule, Sabey Rule LLP on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

Oppression claims are subject to the Limitation Act. There is, however, no time bar to the court’s exercise of its jurisdiction to grant a remedy under this section, save for what might arise out of the equitable defence of laches. A laches defence will lie if the defendant c...

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Debby Cumberford, Deborah M. Cumberford on BUSINESS CORPORATIONS ACT

College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia v. Madryga, 2025 BCCA 250: Section 53(1) imposes a general duty to preserve confidentiality “with respect to all matters or things that come to the person’s knowledge while exercising a power or performing a duty under thi...

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Joel Morris, Harper Grey LLP on HEALTH PROFESSIONS ACT

This provision is mandatory and there is no discretion to order payment to be made to someone other than the PGT. See 2019 BCCA 171 at paras 7 - 11.

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Dan Orsetti, Public Guardian And Trustee of British Columbia on WILLS, ESTATES AND SUCCESSION ACT

The BC Supreme Court considered this section in BCEST 2023 79 (Re), 2025 BCSC 2304, at paragraphs 40-41. The judge confirmed that section 58 of the Administrative Tribunals Act, S.B.C. 2004, c. 45 applies to decisions of the Employment Standards Tribunal. The "applicable sta...

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Scott Marcinkow, Harper Grey LLP on EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ACT

In Mithaq Canada Inc. 2024 ONCMT 9 the Ontario Capital Markets Tribunal (Tribunal) dismissed the application of Mithaq Capital SPC (Mithaq) to cease trade a private placement that Aimia Inc. (Aimia) completed in October 2023. Mithaq had asserted that the private placement was ...

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Teresa Tomchak, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP on NATIONAL INSTRUMENT 62-104 TAKE-OVER BIDS AND ISSUER BIDS (B.C. Reg. 21/2008)

In BC EST # D063/17 (Red Chris Development Company Ltd.), the Employment Standards Tribunal considered an appeal relating to an overtime claim. The employer argued that the employment agreement contained or constituted an averaging agreement because (among other reasons) it ...

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Scott Marcinkow, Harper Grey LLP on EMPLOYMENT STANDARDS ACT

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