Introduction

• Author: Harvey T. Strosberg, Q.C.
• Pages: 217-219

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INTRODUCTION

The articles in this edition of the Canadian Class Action Review are by

a distinguished group of contributors and encompass a diverse range

of issues. Topics covered include: class certification in foreign jurisdic-

tions, securities class actions, approaches to adverse costs, examination

of judicial jurisdiction in the Indian Residential schools settlement, and

neighbourhood annoyances, amongst others.

The first article in this collection, written by John Brown, explores

the risk that certification judgments of worldwide classes will not be

approved in foreign jurisdictions, particularly in Europe where most

countries do not have class action legislation. The author recom-

mends judicial caution in certifying worldwide classes and presents the

Guidelines for Recognizing and Enforcing Foreign Judgments for Collective

Redress: A Report of the International Bar Association Task Force on

International Procedures and Protocols for Collective Redress as a means

for foreign courts to assess the unique characteristics of class action

judgments against known criteria. It is hoped that the Guidelines, which

appear in their entirety as an appendix to the article, will soon become

universally accepted.

In the second article, Shaun Finn and Jonathan Ostrega survey three

emerging hot spots in the Canadian class actions context: class-wide arbi-

tration, securities class actions, and multi-jurisdictional class actions. In

their treatment of class-wide arbitration the authors examine its history

in American jurisprudence and its potential for use in British Columbia,

Ontario, and Québec, ultimately arguing that current Canadian juris-

prudence reveals that the judiciary of each province is understandably

reluctant to transfer its authority to arbitrators. In the second part, the

paper analyzes how the current law deals with securities class actions in

the United States, common law Canada, and Québec. The Sarbanes-Oxley

Act, Ontario’s Bill 198, and Québec’s Bill 19 are all examined to compre-

hend how the appropriate legislation impacts plaintiffs and defendants