Ever since the term “generational talent/player” was coined roughly a decade in the 2005 National Hockey League (NHL) Draft, a highly-anticipated draft that produced the current fact of the NHL in Crosby, NHL General Managers (GMs)—especially those whose teams are at or near the very bottom of the NHL standings from the previous season—have been actively chasing the next such phenom...
Legal Technology is often reported as being intrinsically linked to access to justice. Apps, AI, and digital access suggest an Uber-like ability to receive legal services at the push of a button. A recently published Globe and Mail article by University of Ottawa law professor Jena McGill, for example, bore the headline “Better access to justice in Canada? There’s an app for that.” However, while...
An Education in Intolerance On 2 November, I had the privilege of hearing Elly Gotz, a retired engineer, businessman, and a Holocaust survivor, speak at one of his many talks on intolerance he does at various schools, universities, and public functions. I met Elly in May earlier this year at the March of Remembrance and Hope (MRH), an educational leadership program that teaches the dangers of...
President Obama Calls for a Mission to Mars by the 2030s In a recent op-ed for CNN, U.S. President Barack Obama expressed a keen interest in sending humans to Mars by the 2030s. The President outlined his plan to deliver American astronauts to the red planet by promoting greater cooperation between government agencies and private companies – a partnership that will not only allow humans...
Imagining ways to make Canada a better home for refugees The Mindshare speaker series, hosted by universities across Canada in 2016 to promote action-oriented policy dialogue, came to York this month. The sizeable crowd attending the York Glendon campus event was invited to “Re-Imagine Refuge”: to examine the status quo and find ways to make life better for the many forced migrants...
What We’ll Need to do Better Next Year Unfortunately, I was right about the Blue Jays losing this year’s ALCS. Even more unfortunately, I was wrong in predicting they’d at least put up a good fight. We certainly went down swinging in the wrong way. Encarnacion’s awkward 9th inning hacks in Game 5 certainly won’t be as fondly remembered as Bautista’s bat flip or either of Joe Carter’s...
Real Men Don’t Commit Sexual Assault, Let Alone Brag About It In case you missed it, Donald Trump was recently caught admitting to being a sexual predator. I won’t repeat his comments because they’re disgusting, degrading, and have already reached memetic proportions. While I was surprised by the sheer vulgarity of what he said, I can’t say I found the admission especially surprising...
Indians. Redskins. Braves. Blackhawks. Long-held sports traditions or discriminatory cultural misappropriation? It’s a contentious debate that found itself front and centre in a downtown Toronto courtroom on Monday 17 October. Douglas Cardinal, a prominent Indigenous activist, had just launched actions with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, and was...
Downstream Emissions in Canada’s New Environmental Assessment “Climate Test” In late January 2016, Canada’s federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, and Minister of Natural Resources, Jim Carr, announced interim changes to environmental assessment processes as part of “efforts to restore public trust.” One of the changes is to assess “[d]irect and upstream...
Horoscopes for Osgoode Hall Aries By now slowly sinking feelings of frustration, confusion and despair are looming over you like a giant monster ready to swallow you whole. Remember to battle forth courageously, and no matter how bleak and horrible the looming dread of future commitments may appear, have faith that you will get through the next few months relatively unscathed. ...
The Best Mexican Restaurant in Toronto La Carnita (ranked #1) Location: 130 Eglinton Avenue East, with three other locations at 106 John Street, 501 College Street, and 780 Queen Street East Atmosphere: Eclectic urban industrial I love tacos. One of the best trends to happen in recent food history—as far as I’m concerned—was the surge in popularity of Mexican food. I’m...
Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights/OBA Foundation DATE: Thursday, 24 November 2016 TIME: 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM LOCATION: Ontario Bar Association 20 Toronto Street #300 Toronto, ON M5C 2B8 Register for FREE at: About the Conference: Join Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights and the OBA Foundation for Canadian Responses to the Syrian Refugee Crisis: Reflections...
Examining India’s Changing Reproductive Health Policies In 1952, India launched the world first national program emphasizing family planning to the extent necessary for reducing birth rates “to stabilize the population at a level consistent with the requirement of national economy”. Since then, the family planning program has evolved and the program is currently being...
Do we always know when we’re being marketed to? Every day on our way to school, work, or home, when we are watching TV, listening to the radio, or are surfing social media, we may be exposed to pharmaceutical industry marketing campaigns, whether we know it or not. Is there anything wrong with being exposed to industry marketing? Well, it depends. In order to answer this question, we must...
You’re bound to disagree with someone on something I wish to address a growing trend in social and political discourse that’s troubling, if not disturbing. I should begin by noting that the internet’s good for a great number of things: news, research, sports scores, cute animal photos, discrete hook-ups, and humourous videos of people getting injured attempting something...
Placing drones in historical context This article responds to arguments presented by Professor Steven Coll in multiple articles for The New Yorker. Barack Obama followed a “small footprint” foreign policy doctrine. The US became increasingly reliant on the use of unmanned, aerial drones to maintain security and project military power. In “The Unblinking Stare,” Steve Coll, of...
How a Man of War Became a Man of Peace Peres the “man of peace.” Peres the “beloved.” Peres the “optimistic.” How sad we ought to be that Israel’s last founding father is dead…right? Wrong—well, sort of. I am struggling to summon any sympathy. And that is not for a lack of effort. I don’t rejoice in these sorts of things—that would be eerie and morbid. Not my style. But...
Revisiting Executive Compensation in the Wake of Wells Fargo In early September, news broke that Wells Fargo & Co., an American financial services company, had opened as many as two million unauthorized bank accounts in its customers’ names over the past several years. These so-called “ghost accounts” reaped unwarranted bank fees for the company and allowed Wells Fargo employees to...
Helping Haiti After Hurricane Matthew Hurricane Matthew, a powerful Category five Atlantic hurricane, devastated Central America and the southern United States between 28 September and 10 October, directly killing at least a thousand people and doing over five billion dollars’ worth of damage. One of the worst-hit countries was Haiti, an island nation in the Caribbean with a population of almost...
The Best Pizza in Toronto I’m breaking one of my own “rules” here by reviewing a place I’ve been to before, but the last time I went to Libretto it was at the University location and was right after a Jays game, so I may have not be at my most…discerning. Also, pizza is important, and I can easily see myself revisiting this list throughout the year, so might as well start from the top...
It’s not just home ownership Toronto has been named one of the hottest, most progressive, and most lucrative places to live in the world, offering great entertainment experiences, a fabulous mix of historic and modern architecture, employment opportunities, fancy living, and investment properties. Even Toronto’s musicians are on fire, furnishing Torontonian playlists with catchy rhythms...
The lady with the dog was crying today. I saw her lift the lower reaches of her skirt hem to wipe her sunburned face and wrinkled cheekbones. I watched her cut across the street, almost hurried, almost desperate, two other women hot at her heels. Slowly, surely, a crowd was gathering. I walked on, more quickly now, heading back from Campo dei Fiori, from where the church had immolated the...
What the Heck, Let’s Give Sportswriting a Try As a baseball fan and statistics geek, I figure there’s no harm in writing a quick analysis of the series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland ‘Indians’. Granted, the series will probably be at its halfway point by the time this gets to print, but here’s hoping it will be interesting to see how reality challenges expectation. I will try...
Time for a Fact-Check At some point in early 2016, all Ontario drivers received a letter from their insurer announcing a number of changes to their policy. This was the Wynne government platform coming to fruition: to reduce automobile insurance premiums by 15% within two years of her election. That sounds great. We all love saving money. But what did our government do “in exchange” for...
Perspectives in Health Hello from your Osgoode Health Law Association (HLA)! The HLA is here to introduce our student body to the area of health law, to raise awareness of important health law issues, to help students explore the many career paths in health law, as well as to foster interdisciplinary collaborations and dialogue between students and health law professionals. We are excited...