Episode 38 – The Status of Status

Welcome et bienvenue to LegalEase: a monthly Montreal-based and produced radio show on 90.3 FM CKUT – a broadcast about law, cast broadly. Le collectif LegalEase est un groupe d’étudiants et étudiantes en droit de la communauté montréalaise.This month the program is entitled, “The Status of Status.”

http://archive.org/details/LegaleaseOnCkut90.3Fm-Episode38october2012-TheStatusOfStatus

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Give your temples a massage and let your mind be a sponge, because this week LegalEase delves deep into the dynamics of legal discourse and case analysis. This month, LegalEase assesses new develops in Canadian laws concerning HIV status and Aboriginal status.

The Supremes

In our first segment, Jean-Philippe MacKay and Rosel Kim break down the recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions on the subject of HIV status non-disclosure. R. v. D.C., 2012 SCC 48 (CanLII) and R. v. Mabior, 2012 SCC 47 (CanLII).

The second segment looks at the Canadian State’s most recent ruminations on Aboriginal Status. Eden Alexander presents the recent Ontario Court of Appeal decision, United States v. Leonard, 2012 ONCA 622 (CanLII). You may find, as did the learned Sharpe J.A., that this piece “shocks the conscience.”

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 podcast library for past programming.

Episode 34 – Methods of Suppression

Welcome et bienvenue to LegalEase: a monthly Montreal-based and produced radio show on 90.3 FM CKUT – a broadcast about law, cast broadly. Le collectif LegalEase est un groupe d’étudiants et étudiantes en droit de la communauté montréalaise.This month the program is entitled, “Methods of Suppression.”

Methods of Suppression – from popular assembly to personal information to gender identity. What are the tools of the state? LegalEase speaks with Irena Ceric of the Movement Defence Committee, Michael Vaughn of BCCLA, Dean Spade Assistant Professor at Seattle University.

Listen to the Episode Here

RCMP Truth Verification – Fewlings.

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 podcast library for past programming.

Episode 28 (Dec 2011) – Crackdown

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 groupe d’étudiants et étudiantes en droit de la communauté montréalaise. This month the program is entitled, “Crackdown.”

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 http://www.ckut.ca. For more programming, check us out at https://legaleaseckut.wordpress.com

Episode 26: Crimes

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, “Crimes.” Listen to the Episode Here: http://goo.gl/wVnjX

This month’s show features a diverse set of programming on the topic of crime. New contributor Mark Phillips conducts an interview Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and how it relates to prisoners in the justice system. Garrett Zehr presents a piece on efforts to charge Bush administration officials with war crimes. Host Preeti Dhaliwal revisits some older content on Insite, in light of the new Supreme Court decision which recently came down on the subject. She also offers an update on the MUNACA strike. Finally, Jesse Gutman breaks down the jargon on the Conservative’s Omnibus Crime bill, the Safe Streets and Communities Act.

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

Extra, Extra: Supreme Court has published Insite decision!

In case you haven’t heard, the Supreme Court has recently released their decision in the matter of Canada (Attorney General) v. PHS Community Services Society, 2011 SCC 44

PHS Community Services

LegalEase has previously covered this case in its earlier incarnations. Check out our coverage of this speech delivered by Hester Lessard: https://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