Episode 30 (Feb 2012) – Addressing the Medium

Welcome et bienvenue to LegalEase: a monthly radio show on 90.3 FM CKUT. We broadcast law broadly. Le collectif LegalEase est un groupe d’étudiants et étudiantes en droit de la communauté montréalaise. This month the program is entitled, “Addressing the Medium.”

Listen to the Episode Here

The Medium is the message. Yes. This month LegalEase ‘instant messages’ the medium – in addressing the stale form of legal instruction and thought as well as the burgeoning role of social media in revolutionary struggle. Has the social media primary functioned as a catalyst for rebellion or mechanism for repression?

Seminal text

First, LegalEase delves into the ever-evolving topic of social Media and revolution. Specifically, we hear from a panel: Professor Payam Akhavan, McGill University Faculty of Law, on social media under Totalitarian regimes, Assistant Professor Julian Awwad, Concordia University, Department of Communication Studies, and recent McGill Law grad and Grotius Scholar Kirk Shannon.

Second, Garrett, Preeti and Lena break down the Winter 2012 student-initiated Critical Race Theory Seminar. Wikipedia defines Critical race theory (CRT) as “an academic discipline focused upon the application of critical theory, a critical examination of society and culture, to the intersection of race, law, and power.” Want the syllabus? Send a message to legalease@ckut.ca

LegalEase on 90.3 FM is a radio program broadcast every second Friday of the month at 11am EST from Montréal, Québec. Originally founded by the McGill Legal Information Clinic in 1989, LegalEase is now run by a collective of progressive of law students from McGill University. Our weekly radio show deals with legal topics of interest to the community, with the intention of making the law both accessible and engaging. Tune into our show, follow us on Twitter @LegalEaseCkut, email legalease[at]ckut.ca or check our podcast library for past programming.

Pétition : Demande d’enquête publique sur les plans stratégiques et les interventions des forces policières lors de la grève étudiante

Pétition :
Demande d’enquête publique sur les plans stratégiques et les interventions des forces policières lors de la grève étudiante

Pour signer cette pétition, vous devez compléter 3 étapes :
https://www.assnat.qc.ca/fr/exprimez-votre-opinion/petition/Petition-3047/index.html

Étape 1 : remplissez le formulaire sous le texte de la pétition et envoyez-le (vous devez accepter les conditions à respecter pour pouvoir signer la pétition avant d’envoyer le formulaire).
Étape 2 : consultez votre boîte de courriels et ouvrez le message envoyé par l’Assemblée.
Étape 3 : dans ce message, cliquez sur le lien vous permettant d’enregistrer votre signature.
Vous ne pouvez signer la même pétition qu’une seule fois.

Texte de la pétition

Considérant que les nombreuses interventions policières effectuées lors de la grève étudiante du printemps 2012 auraient été marquées par des gestes qui mettraient en cause l’application de la Charte des droits et libertés de la personne;

Considérant que, selon des témoignages, il y aurait eu entrave par les forces policières aux soins d’urgence à prodiguer aux personnes blessées lors de certaines manifestations;

Considérant que le Comité contre la torture de l’ONU avait interpellé le Canada en 2005 concernant l’emploi abusif et dangereux d’armes chimiques, irritantes, incapacitantes ou mécaniques;

Considérant que le Comité des droits de l’homme de l’ONU avait interpellé le Canada en 2005 concernant des arrestations massives faites par les corps policiers lui rappelant que seules les personnes ayant commis des infractions pénales au cours des manifestations pouvaient être arrêtées;

Considérant que la Charte québécoise des droits et libertés reconnaît le droit constitutionnel de manifester et les libertés d’expression et d’association;

Nous exigeons que le gouvernement du Québec institue une enquête indépendante qui devra permettre notamment :

d’identifier les plans stratégiques adoptés lors des manifestations qui ont eu cours lors de la grève étudiante du printemps 2012;
d’examiner le rôle et la responsabilité des dirigeants politiques et policiers dans la planification et la coordination des différentes stratégies d’intervention des forces policières;
d’examiner le recours à des balles de plastique ou autres pour contrôler des foules;
d’identifier s’il y a eu des violations de droits;
d’assurer aux victimes de violations de droits une réparation adéquate.

Episode 29 (Jan 2012) – Le Pouvoir

Welcome et bienvenue to LegalEase: a monthly radio show on 90.3 FM CKUT. We broadcast law broadly. Le collectif LegalEase est un groupe d’étudiantEs en droit de la communauté montréalaise. This month the program is entitled, “Le Pouvoir.” Power in the classroom, power in the legal profession, power in the courtroom.

Many groups oppose the Tory Crime Bill

Nous commençons avec Stephany Laperriere qui nous emporte à l’UQAM pour un table-ronde sur la projet de loi C-10 presentée par la ligue des droits et libertes. The Omnibus crime bill will have a major effect on judges, lawyers and the relationship between society and incarcerated persons. [Note – since this broadcast, the bill has passed through the Senate and has received Royal Assent. You may review Bill C-10 here.]

Next, we sit down with Ellen Schlesinger on Women in the Legal Profession and why women so often leave the field. LegalEase then transitions into a broad conversation on the subject of mental health and the practice of law.

Ellen Schlesinger

Featured Songs: Blue King Brown, “Resist”; “Pueblo Get Ready,” Las MIgrantes.

LegalEase on 90.3 FM is a radio program broadcast every second Friday of the month at 11am EST from Montreal, Quebec. Originally founded by the McGill Legal Information Clinic in 1989, LegalEase is now run by a collective of progressive of law students from McGill University. Our weekly radio show deals with legal topics of interest to the community, with the intention of making the law both accessible and engaging. Tune into our show, follow us on Twitter @LegalEaseCkut, email legalease[at]ckut.ca or check our website for past programming at https://legaleaseckut.wordpress.com

Quebec Steelworkers rally in fight against Rio Tinto

Vol. 76/No. 20      May 21, 2012   http://www.themilitant.com/2012/7620/762055.html

BY MICHEL DUGRÉ AND KATY LEROUGETEL  

QUEBEC CITY—Hundreds of Steelworkers locked out by Rio Tinto Alcan in Alma, Quebec, rallied outside the Quebec legislative assembly here May 3 to greet 24 fellow union members as they completed a several-day marathon from Alma to the provincial capital to present the government with a petition signed by 12,000 people. The petition demands an end to the government’s buying of Rio Tinto’s excess electricity during the lockout, boosting the company’s union-busting campaign with more than $50 million for its war chest.

Pauline Marois, leader of the provincial opposition Parti Quebecois, a bourgeois-nationalist Quebecois party, addressed the union rally before presenting the petition in parliament. The Liberal government lost no time in rejecting the petitioners’ demands. Alma’s mayor has maintained formal neutrality from the outset.

Rio Tinto locked out 780 Steelworkers Jan. 1. Workers are demanding a guaranteed minimum number of union jobs. The bosses are pressing to replace many union positions with subcontractors at half the pay as workers retire.

At the rally, Solène Boudrias and her mother Marlène Boudrias, both members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada union, told the Militant about their participation in an April 21 “wife picket,” in which some 200 family and friends of locked-out union members took over picketing for the day. “It helped break our isolation. We learned that we all have the same experience,” Solène Boudrias said. “It’s hard to keep arguing with others. People think the guys are on strike and are doing this for more money.”

Rio Tinto employs roughly 77,000 people in 40 countries. The international company mines, refines, and smelts aluminum, copper, diamonds, coal, iron ore, uranium, gold and other minerals. It’s the world’s second largest aluminum producer, with the bulk of its aluminum smelting operations in Canada.

“The company is looking at this long-term,” locked-out Steelworker Martin Potvin told the Militant. “It’s only in Canada that we still have defined-benefits pensions. In 2015, all company installations in the region will renegotiate the pension plans.”

Currently operating at one-third of its normal production, the Alma plant has not been able to meet customer orders, company press liaison Claudine Gagnon told the Militant, but “our clients are aware of the situation.”

The company broke off conciliator-initiated negotiations April 6. Gagnon told the Militant that Rio Tinto does not agree with the union’s demand to maintain 900 guaranteed union jobs.

“People are getting sick of nothing happening,” locked-out Steelworker Danny Bouchard said in a phone interview. “The company broke off negotiations when they saw that solidarity is still flowing in.”

On April 20 Rio Tinto suspended two union members, effective once the lockout ends, for alleged acts of sabotage last year.

“We firmly defend these workers,” union President Marc Maltais told the Militant. “We went out with 778 members, we’ll go back with 778 members. There was no sabotage.”

Picketing continues around the clock seven days a week in Alma.

For information on union actions planned in the coming weeks, or to send messages of support, contact: Métallos local 9490, 830 rue des Pins ouest, Alma, Quebec G8B 7R3. Tel.: (418) 662-7055. Fax: (418) 662-7354. Email: syndicat@staalma.org.