Halifax, NS, August 2025 – The Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC), a government-
supported organization that works to modernize and harmonize federal, provincial, and territorial
laws and considers proposals to reform criminal laws, held its 107 th annual meeting in Halifax,
Nova Scotia, from August 10 to 14, 2025.

 

The ULCC is comprised of a Civil Section and a Criminal Section.

During the annual meeting, the Civil Section received policy reports on nine projects including

Defamation Law, Hybrid Charitable Organizations, Cash Payments, Intestate Succession, Non-
Disclosure Agreements, Class Actions, Joint Ventures, and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments.
Additionally, the United States Uniform Law Commission (ULC) reported on its projects.

The Criminal Section debated and voted on proposals to reform Canadian criminal law by
amending the Criminal Code and related statutes. It considered 29 resolutions on a wide range of
criminal justice topics, including the addition of certain firearms offences to the list of primary
designated offences for the taking of a DNA sample, changes to the revocation regime for
probation orders, and victim impact statements. Amongst others, the Section adopted a resolution
recommending that Justice Canada consider creating a new offence for smuggling contraband into
a carceral institution.
 

The Section received the final report of the Working Group on the operation of sections 278.1-
278.4 of the Criminal Code. It also received progress reports from three working groups
regarding: restrictions to publication, section 672.26 of the Criminal Code concerning juries and
fitness hearings, and statutory exemptions to mandatory minimum penalties of imprisonment.

 

At a joint session of the Civil and Criminal Sections, the delegates received a status report from
the Joint Working Group on the Treatment of Animals in Canadian Law, and the Diversity and
Inclusion Committee presented the results of a demographic survey conducted following the 2024
annual meeting.

 

Both Sections attended the Earl Fruchtman Memorial Seminar, which was a panel presentation
drawing urgent attention to the need for reforms related to gender-based violence.

 

Delegates to the ULCC are legal experts invited by federal, provincial, and territorial
governments. This year, they included government lawyers and those in private practice,
prosecutors, members of the judiciary, law professors, and representatives from the Law
Commission of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, the Barreau du Québec, Canadian law
reform organizations, and other legal organizations in Canada. Approximately 76 participants
were in attendance for this year’s annual meeting, including the President and the Executive
Director of the ULC of the United States.

 

The ULCC was founded in 1918 and over the years has recommended the implementation of
numerous uniform acts and other law reform proposals. Those recommendations have often been
enacted into law by federal, provincial, and territorial governments.