Listen to the Episode Here

Students Discuss the Nov 10 Crackdown

“Changed, Changed utterly.” Garrett Zehr examines the recent November 10th police crackdown against student protestors at McGill University in Montreal. Students mobilized against tuition increases and unexpectedly met with Riot police violence. Here is a link to the report prepared by Dean of Law Daniel Jutras Inquiry. Here is a link to the Independent Student Inquiry. For a host of articles and information on the Nov 10, see the McGill Daily’s coverage.

Preeti Dhaliwal interviews McGill law student (and former LegalEase contributor) Melanie Benard who shares her first-person narrative of the November 10 crackdown.

Paul Holden and Mark Phillips close the first half of the show by updating our listeners on the MUNACA strike for the last time. The strike is over, but LegalEase presents a case study on how the strike affected student communities. Namely, LegalEase investigates its own nest in the law faculty – observing the McGill Law Student Association’s Referendum and General Assembly processes, canvassing the opinions of students. Est-ce que c’est un ‘crackdown’ sur la proces démocratique?

In the second segment, LegalEase shifts gears: how can we crack down on corporations using the tools of Canadian criminal law? Rana Alrabi presents two guests on the subject of business and human rights, criminal Corporate Responsibility. Elise Groulx and Helen Dragatsi, two members of the Quebec bar, implore us to look closely at the role of Canadian corporations operating abroad. Me Dragatsi discusses her recent book, “Criminal Liability of Canadian Corporations for International Crimes.” La deuxième invitée, Me Groulx, éxplique les nuances de la commerce et la droit de la personne dans la contexte globale. She predicts the development of international criminal law to enable the prosecution of private corporations who perpetuate global conflict through rogue actions.

The two experts discuss the case Association canadienne contre l’impunité (ACCI) c. Anvil Mining Ltd., 2011 QCCS 1966 where the Superior Court accepts jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed by a Canadian corporation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For further discussion on this subject, consult recent article by Yale graduate student, James Yap, “Corporate Civil Liability for War Crimes in Canadian Courts
Lessons from Bil’in (Village Council) v. Green Park International Ltd.” published at Journal for International Criminal Justice (2010) 8 (2): 631-648.

Tune in live every second Friday of every month from 11h00-12h00 on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal or listen on-line at www.ckut.ca. For more programming, check us out at http://legaleaseckut.wordpress.com

Bread and Roses

Welcome et bienvenue to LegalEase: a monthly Montreal-based and produced radio show on 90.3 FM CKUT. We broadcast law broadly. Le collectif LegalEase est un group des etudiants et etudiantes en droit de la communaute montrealaise. This month the program is entitled, “Remembering and Responsibility.” Listen to the Episode Here

On this Remembrance Day, LegalEase remembers the past, honours the past, and asks questions on how to build a society with lasting peace. Host Preeti Dhaliwal dedicates this episode to life of Alexandra Dodger, a fellow law student and one-time contributor to LegalEase.

We bring you original and hard-hitting content this month. First, we return to the ever present Munaca Strike with an Update from Katrina Peddle. Stephanie Lapierre and Kieran Gibbs nous offrir un presentation de la mouvement “Occupy” a Montreal: Ground footage of la place des peuples et une entrevue avec prof Eric Pineau. Third, we present you a feature lecture by lawyer Veena Verma on Seasonal Agricultural Workers in Canada. Finally, Garret Zehr does a piece on drone assassinations and the rule of law.

Tune in live every second Friday of every month from 11h00-12h00 on CKUT 90.3 FM in Montreal or listen on-line at www.ckut.ca. For more programming, check us out at http://legaleaseckut.wordpress.com

Old Supreme Court of Canada

At work today, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of Old City Hall. So I decided to write a quick bit on Courthouses in Canada. There are at least 261 buildings in Canada designated heritage sites, so we have some ground to cover! We welcome additions, so please, if I overlook a magnificent / thoughtful building, please let me know.

Note: this post will double up as a link directly to the Court information of the particular Courthouse in question. That way, in case you randomly found this page in search of ‘useful’ information, all birds will have been killed.

1. Old City Hall, Ontario Court of Justice, Toronto, Ontario

Old City Hall, Toronto Archives, 1914

Even before being one of Canada’s most beautiful courthouses, Old City Hall makes the list as one of Canada’s most astonishing buildings. This court does mostly criminal – provincial and federal. Inside, you will find murals, stone work, stained glass, and remnants of its former self, the seat of municipal government for the City of Toronto. Absolutely beautiful, it is worth a stroll. This, coupled with the increasingly absurd treatment of criminals provides a fascinating vista into Canadian society. If ever in Toronto and so inclined, consult this online tour of the building to add nuance to a visit.

In the 2000s, CBC produced a show featuring a new criminal defence lawyer situated within Old City Hall. This is Wonderland ran for four seasons and, even though it is a comedy, gives a pretty accurate depiction of the every-day happenings at OCH.

2. Battleford Courthouse, Battleford, Saskatchewan

Welcome to Battleford

Unveiled 1785 – Like an fully-grown, old tree. This building is over 200 years and is still still simmering. Described as ” Romanesque Revival-style exterior.” The wikipedia article gives me lots of useful information. This building was formerly a trading post for Hudson’s Bay, post for the RCMP, and perhaps was even the seat of government, when the bustling metropolis of Battlefield was made capital of the North West Territories from 1877 to 1883. Indeed, the site is linked with the ignominious Red River Rebellions and several comrades of Louis Riel were probably executed at this site. For Canada approved history, look here; for critical history, look here.

Aside from standing as one of Canada’s oldest Courthouses, this building represents a relationship between First Nations peoples in Canada and White settler society. Thus, we find this building within the registry of buildings of Heritage Canada.

Talking Shop at Battleford

3. More to come…

Alexandra Dodger

LegalEase recommends you read some of Alex’s writing. You can check out work for the McGill Daily here, on international law published at Legal Frontiers here, and I encourage you to check out pages 5 and 22 of the November 2009 Quid Novi (McGill Law Publication).

Alexandra Dodger will be missed dearly.

Gone from The DTES, Gone from the Commission

Over the past several weeks, high profile actors have been pulling out of the B.C.’s Missing Women Comission of Inquiry, threatening its legitimacy. In recent days, BCCLA and Amnesty Canada have both withdrawn from the commission, citing a disparity of resources allocated to protecting police officers and government officials, while offering the marginalized women in question no legal counsel. Activist organizations, from whose efforts the commission was born, have decided to boycott the government effort and are organizing protests which will be led by the Coalition of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre (DEWC) and Feb 14th Women’s Memorial March Committee (WMMC). They have called the inquiry a “sham”.

The commission was initially intended to shed light on the hundreds of disappearances of women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The most notable case linked to this ongoing problem is that of Robert Pickton, former pig farmer and serial killer convicted of the second-degree murders of six women, though he may have had as many as 49 victims.

Investigation or Sham inquiry?

Ian Hanomansing interviewed several of the key players in this debate on CBC’s flagship radio program The Current. You can hear their conversation here. He interviews Shirley Bond, Harsah Walia, and Ernie Crey.

For more on the subject of Commissions of Inquiry more generally, please see this link provided by the Privy Council’s Office. Indeed, for references sake, the best work on the subject – Commissions of inquiry : praise or reappraise / editors, Allan Manson, David Mullan. Toronto : Irwin Law, 2003.

More on Commissions

PHS Community Services

LegalEase has previously covered this case in its earlier incarnations. Check out our coverage of this speech delivered by Hester Lessard: http://legaleaseckut.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/episode-20-mar-2011-downtown-eastside-vancouver/

For more in-depth ruminations on the subject, please refer to our friends at Pivot Legal in Vancouver: http://pivotlegal.org/pivot-points/blog/the-historic-insite-decision-in-a-nutshell#cdnpoli

Pivot Legal

Trans rights: coming to a Jurisdiction near you

A newly proposed law, Bill-276 (read text here), aims to protect trans rights. It died in the house this past Spring (2011) after being introduced by Bill Siksay but has found a new advocate in Hedy Fry. The Bill is formally titled: “An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity and gender expression)”. LegalEase will follow its progress as it makes its way up to the Senate. Much moral support offered.

“The Wayne State University Law School Student Board of Governors (SBG) will host the 26th annual Ambulance Chase Charity Run/Walk at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2011.

Consisting of a 2.2 mile race (shorter for those who prefer to walk) in which participants run/walk behind an ambulance, the event pokes fun at the stereotype of the “ambulance-chasing lawyer.” Typically about 250 people run the race, with another 100-150 attending the event as spectators.” For more, check here.

Electoral Ridings in Montreal

Some hullaballoo about new seats for Ontario, BC and Alberta. The NDP and Quebec oppose the change and root their opposition in this decision: Reference re Prov. Electoral Boundaries (Sask.), [1991] 2 SCR 158 Read below for a backgrounder.

“The Commons has 308 seats at present. Our Constitution guarantees 75 of those to Quebec. That’s 24.4% of the seats for a province with 23.2% of the national population. (Ontario, by comparison has just 34.4% of the seats despite being home to 38.8% of Canadians.) Even if the federal Tories move ahead with plans to add 30 seats to the Commons – 18 in Ontario, seven in British Columbia and five in Alberta – Quebec will still have 22.2%.

After adding the planned new seats, Quebec would still come as close as any province but B.C. to having the proper number of seats for its population. If more seats are added, Quebec’s representation will be one percentage point below its share of the national population, Alberta’s will be 1.2 percentage points under and Ontario’s will be 2.1 points under. Only B.C., which would then be 0.6 percentage points under-represented, would be more equitably treated than Quebec. (Manitoba, Saskatchewan and all the Atlantic provinces already are over-represented, and would remain so under the new plan.)

But in 1991, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that electoral districts in Canada do not have to honour the one-person, one-vote standard. (Well, actually, the Supreme Court said the oneperson, one-vote rule was sacred in a democracy, but then listed so many allowable exemptions as to make the rule meaningless.)

The majority on the court explained that “relative parity of voting power is a prime condition of effective representation.” The judges then added that “deviations from absolute voter parity, however, may be justified on the grounds of practical impossibility or the provision of more effective representation. Factors such as geography, community history, community interests and minority representation may need to be taken into account to ensure that our legislative assemblies effectively represent the diversity of our social mosaic.” Other than all those exceptions, though, “dilution of one citizen’s vote, as compared with another’s, should not be countenanced.”" – Thomas Mulcair’s numbers game, Lorne Gunter, National Post