Save the Date: CAN-TECH Law Fall Conference, October 15 to 16, 2026

"Prompting Tomorrow: Shaping Next-Gen Law from Innovation to Implementation in the AI Era"

Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa

Join us at the premier national gathering for technology lawyers—whether you’re in-house, in private practice, in government, academia or simply grappling with technology-aware  advising, CAN-TECH’s annual conference will delve into the cutting-edge legal challenges shaping tomorrow: from AI governance and cybersecurity to quantum computing and emerging tech. Expect engaging insights, practical strategies, and a vibrant network of peers tackling innovation and law.

Let’s shape the future—together!

Co-Chairs:

Julia Johnson , Senior Director of Legal and Privacy, Assent

Julia Johnson is Senior Director, Legal and Privacy at Assent, a technology company focused on supply chain compliance solutions, where she leads the company’s global legal and privacy team. She brings extensive experience advising high-growth technology companies on privacy, AI, and complex commercial matters.

Prior to Assent, Julia was Director of Legal and Privacy at Ada, an AI customer service company, where she played a key role in the company’s shift to generative AI after joining full-time in 2022. She first advised Ada as outside counsel in 2017 and guided the company through major enterprise deals and global compliance initiatives.

Earlier in her career, Julia practiced at McCarthy Tétrault and LaBarge Weinstein, advising scaling technology companies on IP, data protection, financings, and M&A. A certified privacy professional (CIPP/C) and trademark agent, she brings deep expertise at the intersection of AI, law, and innovation.

Jennifer Davidson, Partner, Deeth Williams Wall LLP

Jennifer Davidson is a Partner and Co-Chair of Deeth Williams Wall’s Technology and Privacy Law Practice Group.

Jennifer advises clients on all aspects of the digital risk management lifecycle, including incident preparedness, risk assessment, response, ransomware negotiations, emergency management, and regulatory compliance.  Jennifer acts as breach counsel for clients in both the public and private sectors, managing security incidents on local, national, and international levels.

Jennifer’s technology practice encompasses a wide range of technology-related transactional matters, including procurement, data protection, S/I/PaaS solutions, IP protection and commercialization, particularly with respect to emerging technologies and machine learning algorithms.

Jennifer is the Chair of the Data Protection Committee at the International Technology Law Association (ITECHLAW), Past President of the Canadian Technology Law Association (CAN-TECH), Past Chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s IP&IT Law Section, and faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School’s Drafting and Negotiation IT Agreements certificate program.

Jennifer was recently recognized in the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory as Repeatedly Recommended as a Leading Lawyer for Data Privacy & Cybersecurity / Technology Transactions / Information Technology, Best Lawyers Canada: Ones to Watch in the practice areas of Technology Law, Privacy & Data Security Law, Information Technology Law and Intellectual Property Law.

Jennifer is a frequent speaker and writer on technology, cybersecurity, privacy and intellectual property law as well as matters pertaining to equality, diversity and inclusion in the legal sector.

Registration details coming soon!

Save the date: June 4, 2026

Back by popular demand, the CAN-TECH Spring Conference is set for June 4, 2026. This year, the conference will focus on preparing junior to mid-level technology lawyers for the realities of modern practice.

The half-day, pan-Canadian program, with hybrid in-person and webcast sessions, features panels across five satellite locations discussing a range of topics, including:

• key skills for handling technology transactions – including if they go wrong;
• a critical exploration of the current and future privacy law landscape; and
• guidance for both in-house and in-firm lawyers on developing a successful career in technology law. 

We look forward to you joining us at one of our locations across the country for a chance to learn and network with your peers in the industry.

Co-Chairs:

Kristal Allen, Partner, Dentons

Kristal is the co-lead of Dentons’ Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies practice, where she supports innovation-driven companies and serves as a strategic advisor from start-up through scale-up. Kristal is a pragmatic lawyer with a commercial focus, frequently advising on issues common to high growth entities such as collaborative development arrangements, technology development and commercialization, customer and supplier engagement, and intellectual property portfolio management. 

Kristal brings a wealth of practical and industry knowledge when advising clients, particularly in the health, food, and technology sectors. In her practice, Kristal draws upon her experience in the life sciences and technology industries. Before becoming a lawyer, she held a variety of positions in areas such as technical marketing, regulatory, and new product research and development for major life sciences companies, providing advice to R&D teams, marketers and regulators. 

Kristal joined Dentons’ as a partner in 2023, after practicing with another large Canadian law firm, and after several years as senior legal counsel and chief privacy officer to a large public company with global operations. 

M. Imtiaz Karamat, Associate Lawyer, Deeth Williams Wall LLP

M. Imtiaz Karamat is an associate lawyer with Deeth Williams Wall’s Technology and Privacy Group, where he assists both startups and established businesses with commercial transactions and maintaining compliance with privacy laws. Imtiaz’s multifaceted practice covers a range of technology and privacy matters, including advising clients on technology contracting, IP commercialization, privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity.

Imtiaz is passionate about emerging technologies and is always applying creative solutions to support clients with meeting their goals. Prior to entering the practice of law, Imtiaz completed extensive graduate research work in the medical sciences, which uniquely positions Imtiaz to advise clients in technology matters that intersect with the health sector.

Imtiaz regularly contributes to education initiatives in technology and privacy law, including organizing and presenting at local, provincial, and national legal programs.

Registration details coming soon! Stay tuned for more details on our five panellist host locations, coming soon!

Interested in hosting a "viewing" party for the conference? Email contact@cantechlaw.ca to express your interest in being a host city!

What we hope we see coming this quarter is the passing of Bill C-16 (currently in committee in the House of Commons)—or at least the parts of it that criminalize the circulation of “deepfakes” in the form of intimate images. 

For more details, please click here

Criminal court provides significant discussion of screening electronic evidence for AI fakery

In R. v. Medow, Justice Brock Jones of the Ontario Court of Justice presided over the trial of a man accused of various offences, including impersonating a police officer, obstructing a police officer during the course of his duties and assaulting a police officer causing bodily harm. The charges arose out of an encounter between the accused and a police officer who was conducting a traffic stop of a motorist, and the entire encounter was recorded on both the officer’s bodycam and the in-car camera in his squad car. At trial the accused questioned the authenticity of the camera footage, suggesting it had been digitally altered or was even a “deepfake,” all related to what he alleged was a police conspiracy to frame him.

For more details, click here.

Internet-delivered services that extend beyond provincial boundaries are within exclusive federal jurisdiction, Ontario Divisional Court finds

A unanimous three judge panel of the Ontario Divisional Court affirmed a decision of the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO), which found that Meta Platforms’s Facebook service is outside of provincial jurisdiction. The conclusion, in Trudel v. Meta Platforms Inc., may have implications well beyond human rights adjudication.

For more details, click here.

Even location-agnostic scraping of web content can create a “real and substantial connection” for privacy laws to apply.

As part of an ongoing, multi-jurisdictional fight following an investigation by federal and provincial privacy regulators into the company’s practices, Clearview AI lost its appeal in the British Columbia Court of Appeal over whether the province’s Personal Information Protection Act (“PIPA”) could apply to their activities that were directed from outside of Canada.

For more details, please click here

Access to subscriber information is scaled back from Bill C-2, but mandatory lawful access capabilities remain very broad

On March 12, 2026, the Public Safety Minister tabled Bill C-22, the proposed “Lawful Access Act, 2026” in Parliament. It represents the latest iteration in a long line of Canadian legislative efforts to expand law enforcement and national security access to digital information, and it reflects both continuity with, and refinement of, the earlier proposals contained in Bill C-2 (the Strong Borders Act).

For more details, please click here.

Slightly modified version of previous bill re-introduced after recent federal election.

Though Bill S-210, Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act, fell off the order paper when Parliament was prorogued, the Bill’s sponsor Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne has reintroduced it with some modifications in the current session as Bill S-209.

For more details, please click here.

Social media platform applies for judicial review of BC Civil Resolution Tribunal order to take down image worldwide.

In the September issue of this newsletter, we reported on the case of Re X Corp., 2025 BCCRT 1228, a decision of the British Columbia Civil Resolution Tribunal (“CRT”). The CRT had earlier issued a decision under the BC Intimate Images Act, ordering X (formerly Twitter) to take down certain intimate images of the complainant. X responded by “geo-fencing” the images, which made them inaccessible from Canada. In a further proceeding by the complainant, the CRT ruled that geo-fencing was inadequate and that X had not complied with the order. It ordered X to take down the images globally and fined it $100,000.00, the highest available penalty from that body.

For more details, please click here.

Parties, lawyers and judges continue to face sanctions for improper use of generative AI in cases.

This newsletter has previously reported on cases where improper use of generative AI has had repercussions in the conduct of legal proceedings, in Canada and elsewhere. We come to the topic yet again, however, to note that what began as a trickle has become a stream—and perhaps the harbinger of a flood.

For more details, please click here.