Personal Rights
Personal Rights pertains to those rights guaranteed to each person under both the Canadian and the Quebec charters of rights and freedoms. If you or a loved one is in doubt of whether you are being fairly treated with respect to your rights to privacy, violability, and personal freedoms and dignity, or with respect to judgements of incapacity, tutorship, guardianship, and power of attorney, we can help you re-establish your rights. We act with celerity and determination to protect your rights against violation by institutions or individuals. We also work with you in matters of third-party representation to protect your rights and privileges, and strive to ensure that you obtain the best possible chance for a safe and happy life.
We act with celerity and determination
to protect your rights against violation
by institutions or individuals.
Inviolability and Freedoms
Every person in Canada, and in Quebec, has a right not to have their personhood violated and to remain free from unlawful sequestration. This right protects you from the actions of other individuals as well as against certain actions by institutions such as medical or psychiatric centers. These rights are especially at risk for people who are in an abusive relationship, reaching their senior years, or living with a diagnosed psychiatric condition.
Abusive Relationships
The Law Firm of Kalman Samuels, Attorneys, is especially committed to protecting its clients against those who would abuse them in personal relationships. Our attorneys present lectures on these topics regularly within the Province of Quebec and internationally. We have won financial awards that have broken records, made jurisprudence, and caught the attention of media and human rights organizations across the nation.
Institutional Abuse
This is one of the most difficult areas of practice in our repertoire. Victims of institutional abuse are often elderly or already diagnosed with a mental condition, rendering our usual “David vs. Goliath” combat even more challenging. At Kalman Samuels, Attorneys, we firmly believe that the question of mental aptitude is addressed on a spectrum and is not a black and white matter.
The elderly and those who are affected by psychological irregularities still have rights and their wishes must be respected to the fullest extent permissible in law. Regrettably, the legal system presently tends to treat the question of aptitude as a “yes or no” test, and we are often called upon to face against a vast array of attorneys, doctors, psychiatrists, social workers and other experts in our efforts to fight for the rights of our clients. Given the vastly uneven playing field in this domain, we consider other attorneys who fight for the rights of patients and the elderly to be our allies and not our competitors. For this reason, we gladly share our most successful strategies with colleagues who consult with us in these matters. We also recommend to you that you consult with an attorney, open up a client profile, and deposit a retainer long before an issue arises. In this way, should your autonomy suddenly be limited by an institution, and your access to your own finances suddenly be restricted, all it will take is one phone call to your established attorneys for them to initiate the procedures required for defending you. The Mandate to act will already be signed and covered by a retainer, and most of the information that they need, will already be at their disposal. In this era where medical professionals can sometimes be uncomfortably zealous in their desire to do what they think is right for you, this type preparation serves as a form of insurance to make sure that your voice is properly heard.
Defamation and Libel
Every person has a right to the safeguard of their dignity, honour and reputation. Regrettably, in Quebec, this area of the law is as yet insufficiently developed to properly and fully protect the rights of individuals.
Although most of these matters end up being settled out of court, the attorneys in our firm have won important victories in this area and we remain constantly vigilant for potential cases that can be used to further advance the law and our society in the right direction. Please note that in Quebec at present, the prescription period by which actions must be instituted is an exceptional one year of time, which is much shorter than the prescription periods for other forms of damages. It is therefore important to consult with an attorney as soon as a situation arises.
Privacy
Every person has a right to the respect of their privacy and their private life. This right is becoming more and more at risk in this age of the internet. It is becoming increasingly easy and perhaps even tempting for perpetrators to post photos, videos or statements anonymously on various platforms, with little risk of repercussion for themselves due to their anonymity.
Even worse, the mainstream media is addicted to such stories. This means, for example, that the victim of a “revenge porn” posting who initiates a legal procedure against a person or a company then runs the risk of having their predicament publicized in the regular mainstream news. At Kalman Samuels, Attorneys, we are experienced in such matters and know how to think outside-of-the-box so as to handle these issues quickly, effectively and discretely. We have obtained multiple injunctions against individuals, internet companies and media outlets for the protection of our clients. Even when the mainstream media has discovered one of our cases and publicized it extensively due to its lurid appeal, we were able to work diligently so as to safeguard the identity of our client. Despite worldwide attention on media and noted hacker platforms, the identity of our client remained secure and unknown to the public. There are never any 100% guarantees, but we have the know-how to stack the odds to the fullest extent in the favour of our clients. What is most important in such matters is to contact an attorney as soon as possible, before acting on your own, so as to maximize the opportunities to safeguard the evidence, trap the perpetrators, and handle the matter as discretely as possible.