The Fall sitting of the Nova Scotia Legislature concluded in early October with the introduction of key legislative changes aimed at modernizing laws and improving the efficiency of the justice system.
Changes under the Justice Administration Amendment (Fall 2025) Act include the ability to expand the program that recalculates child support orders, aligning jury eligibility rules with the Criminal Code, expanding who can witness affidavits, repealing law stamp requirements, and easing the workload of the chief medical examiner by allowing a qualified alternate to chair death review committees.
The Act brings together amendments to seven statutes, including:
- Repealing requirements in the Cape Breton Barristers Society Act and Legal Profession Act that dealt with fees for law stamps.
- Amendments to the Interjurisdictional Support Orders Act and the Parenting and Support Act to make child support matters more efficient and family-friendly, allowing certain applications to move through an administrative process instead of court, allowing for new regulations to be introduced to enhance child support programs and broadening opportunities for families to resolve issues without litigation.
- Amending the Juries Act to align with the Criminal Code, reducing confusion about who may serve as a juror. Prior to the amendment, a person was disqualified as a juror if they had served a prison sentence of two or more years. However, the Criminal Code allows a person to serve if they have received a pardon or record suspension. This amendment will help reduce confusion and the potential for a legal challenge.
- Amending the Probate Act to add a Commissioner of Oaths to the list of persons who are authorized to take an affidavit as proof of the execution of a will. This amendment will align the Commissioner of Oaths’ role and responsibility within Probate Court with their current roles and responsibilities in other courts, while also streamlining the process and making probate matters more efficient for lawyers and personal representatives.
- Amending the Fatality Investigations Act to allow the Minister of Justice to designate another member of a death review committee to serve as Chair in place of the Chief Medical Examiner, and to allow the Chief Medical Examiner to designate another Medical Examiner to sit on a death review committee.
In addition, amendments were made to the Civil Forfeiture Act to keep pace with evolving criminal activity. There is now an administrative forfeiture process, allowing property of crime valued under $125,000 to be seized without going through lengthy and costly court proceedings. Nova Scotia now can use Unexplained Wealth Orders – an investigative tool already in use in other jurisdictions – requiring individuals suspected of benefiting from crime to demonstrate the lawful source of their wealth. Rebuttable presumptions have been added to provide clarity for decision makers and strengthen the Act’s application, while updates to the use of forfeiture funds will provide greater support for victims of crime and community-based prevention initiatives.
Read the full Act: Justice Administration Amendment (Fall 2025) Act (link).
Modernizing Nova Scotia’s access to information and privacy laws
Government also passed a new Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPOP Act) during the fall session – the first major change to Nova Scotia’s access and privacy law in 25 years.
The new Act consolidates the previous FOIPOP Act, Part XX (20) of the Municipal Government Act (MGA) (which governed access and privacy for municipalities, villages, and other municipal bodies), and the Privacy Review Officer Act (PRO Act). It also repeals the Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act, as well as Part XX of the MGA and the PRO Act.
Provisions of Nova Scotia’s new FOIPOP Act include:
- The Information and Privacy Commissioner will be made an Officer of the Legislature.
- Privacy oversight by the OIPC will be expanded to include municipalities, villages and other municipal bodies.
- Exemptions for Cabinet records and solicitor-client privileged records have been clarified.
- Public Body heads will have the authority to refuse to disclose information that may harm individuals or compromise security/cyber security.
- Legislative responsibility for the Act will shift from the Minister of Justice to the Minister of Service Nova Scotia, in order to align the act with the government department that currently carries out the operations of the Act for government.
- For FOIPOP applicants, the $5 fee will remain, but applicants will receive an extra hour of free initial processing time.
- Notification to affected individuals about privacy breaches where there is a risk of significant harm will become mandatory.
- Maximum fines under the Act will increase. Fines for individuals will increase from $2000 to $10,0000, and fines for organizations will be added with maximum fines set at $50,000.
- The rules around frivolous and vexatious applications that were added in spring 2025 will remain.
The new FOIPOP Act reflects feedback collected through an extensive review of the previous legislation, which included more than 100 submissions from stakeholders and consideration of 149 recommendations made by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.
The new Act will come into effect April 1, 2027. The lead time will allow for the provision of a year’s notice to municipalities and villages, and allow time for necessary procedural and system updates, regulation drafting, policy development, and training design and delivery.
Read the full Act: Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (link).