On November 4, the Senate approved Bill C-36 with no amendments on its third reading. By the end of the year, the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA) will inevitably receive royal assent (if it hasn’t already by the time of this article’s publication), squeaking in before the deadline set by the Supreme Court after it struck down Canada’s previous prostitution laws last...
Osgoode’s Trip to Winnipeg From October 24 to 26, a twenty-two person Osgoode group went to Winnipeg to visit the newly opened Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Our group consisted of the twelve students in the Anti-Discrimination Intensive Program, ADIP directors Michelle Mulgrave and Bruce Ryder, visiting professor Jeffery Hewitt, artist-in-residence Julie Lassonde, and six other passionate...
The truth behind “free-range” farms With increased awareness of the inhumane practices occurring at factory farms, more and more people are opting for meat from free-range or cage-free farms. However, as Dr. Charles Olentine, editor of Egg Industry magazine, articulated, “just because it says free-range does not mean that it is welfare-friendly.” Contrary to what many believe, free-range or cage...
Today, the leaders of Canada’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer (“LGBTQ”) law students wrote to the Honourable Amrik Virk, British Columbia’s Minister of Advanced Education, to request that he reverse his Ministry’s approval of Trinity Western University’s (“TWU’s”) law degrees. TWU’s ‘Community Covenant Agreement’...
An Avalanche of Actors Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) 3/4 Tasty, ironic, incisive, and savagely audacious, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) is a weird brew of backstage black comedy and theatrical satire, a volcano of creative ideas in full eruption, and a dark comedy of desperation buoyed by unbridled artistic optimism. It will make you laugh out loud and...
Amidst a generally perceived crisis in access to justice, increasing emphasis has recently been placed on the potential role of paralegals to offer affordable, efficient, and effective legal assistance to people with unmet legal needs. The Paralegals and Access to Justice case study was initiated by Professor David Wiseman of University of Ottawa, Faculty of Common Law, to investigate the extent...
A different kind of civil disobedience On Friday, October 31, the Asian Law Students of Osgoode in conjunction with the Dean’s office welcomed Mr. Jason Ng, an adjunct lecturer at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law and head of Debt Capital Markets Legal at PNB Paribas Hong Kong, to speak on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement known as “Occupy Central” or the “Umbrella Revolution.” This...
It’s not about Jian Ghomeshi; it’s more about us. Chris Brown, War Machine, Ray Rice, and now, the most recent addition to such a disgraceful list, Jian Ghomeshi. It seems somewhat horrifying to acknowledge the increasing number of celebrity scandals involving physical abuse that have taken the spotlight within the past several months. What is it about these stories that seem to draw our...
What I Learnt About Being a Lawyer From the Set of Suits My partner and I are in the middle of a high profile divorce settlement. We are having a heated whisper-discussion on the best legal approach to the dissolution of this crumbling but lucrative matrimony. “We need to respect the boundaries of their terms,” I whisper to him. “But frankly I don’t think our client is going to get the yacht.” He...
What the Experience of One Sports Journalist Can Tell Us About Media in Canada On February 15th 2014, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punched his fiancée in the head in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino, knocking her unconscious. The casino’s cameras captured the incident, the details of which became known to the Ravens mere hours later. Sometime thereafter, the National Football...
Are sports leagues going to continue the current pattern of ever-increasing revenues, or will the current sports economic system come crashing down under its own weight? There is no denying that sports is big business. The NBA just signed a new television deal for 24 billion dollars over nine years. The NHL Canadian television deal was for 5.2 billion dollars, and is now suggested to have been...
Part two of three Prior to the cancelled 2004 to 2005 season, the Leafs had an ill-advised pattern of trading away 1st-round selections for unproven and/or unspectacular (and sometimes rental) players in order to make a run (albeit a short one at best) in the playoffs. They would also opt for band-aid solutions in the form of signing relatively-big names but past-their-prime unrestricted/Group...
How much are sports figures being paid, and who controls their salaries? Having recently participated in the Hockey Arbitration Competition of Canada, I realized I knew almost nothing about the NHL salary caps. Below is my “idiots guide to salary caps,” for anyone else who might have been living under a rock. A salary cap is an agreement or rule that puts a limit on the amount of...
Osgoode Hall Law School is coincidentally located in very close proximity to one of Canada’s most “notorious” and “crime-ridden” locales. For many, the phrase “Jane and Finch” conjures notions of extreme poverty, drug abuse, gang violence, crime, and racialized identities, if not conceptions of even greater heinousness. It is a dangerous place, to be entered with...
By now, we all can relate to the fact that that one semester flies by in no time. Maybe the first weeks feel slower, but as routine kicks in, it’s already time to hustle for finals. But that perceived passage of time can change so very drastically when one is taken out of that habitual comfort zone; three months is a long, long time to pass when alone in a new world. Time alone in a foreign place...
Has the Copyright Act become outdated in a new digital era? Once upon a time, it was commonplace for consumers to pop into their local shops and browse through collections of used records, CDs, movies, books, or whatever other media were available for purchase. Students would resell their used textbooks to get back a portion of the initial price paid for them, and Nirvana fans could pick up a...
The Canadian Bar Association Needs to Make Some Changes On October 16, 2014, the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) dropped its application to intervene in Chevron v Yaiguaje, an upcoming Supreme Court case, just before the October 17 filing deadline. Chevron is appealing an Ontario Court of Appeal decision allowing a group of Ecuadorian villagers to seek damages from Chevron’s Canadian assets. In...
Food Adventure #4 – SAVING GRACE (907 Dundas St. West) A thing or person’s “saving grace” is its redeeming quality, that feature which compensates for its flaws and imperfections. As I set off for my brunch adventure this week, I hoped and prayed that Saving Grace would be my saving grace from the lackluster brunch experiences I have relayed to you thus far. In addition to the promise that...
The Osgoode Indigenous Students Association (OISA) attended the Indigenous Bar Association’s (IBA) 26th annual conference in Calgary on October 2 to 4th. Elder Clarence Wolfleg welcomed the IBA back to the location of its first conference, and introduced participants to Treaty 7 territory with prayer and smudging from a sitting position. All were welcomed to the conference by a drum song...
A Wife, A Mother, and a Music Instructor Gone Girl (2014) 3/4 Mystifying, well-planned, precisely curdled, and tantalizingly mercurial, Gone Girl is a stealthy comedy and an absorbing melodrama; a break-all-the-windows plot-twister that retains every jolt from Gillian Flynn’s blockbuster novel, and a work of chilly wit and bleak metaphor that toys with the viewer like a femme fatale with her...
In October 2013, the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters* released its final report, A Roadmap For Change. The report outlined detailed recommendations, and called on diverse justice system stakeholders to improve access to justice in Canada. The “nine-point roadmap” advocated for increasing funding for legal aid, strengthening the Early Resolution Services Sector...
…and it’s a pretty cool place. As a 3L Student Caucus representative, I have the pleasure of sitting on the Osgoode Community Enhancement Forum (OCEF). Last year the OCEF considered how fostering a better relationship between Osgoode students and York University might improve the overall student experience at Osgoode. While this goal is obviously a work in progress, in this article I want to...
Because candy My relationship with Halloween is complicated. I like to compare it to eating half a pound of gummy bears in one sitting, or attempting the cinnamon challenge. They may seem like great ideas, but once I start to follow through on them, I abruptly regret my actions. Halloween should come together so much better than it does. Prima facie, the combination of candy, adorable children in...
SENATE INITIATIVE OFFERS NEW OPPORTUNITIES TO THE PUBLIC This year, following a tumultuous period in which Justin Trudeau cast off his thirty-two Liberal senators in favour of younger, more PR-friendly caucus members, the newly self-styled Liberal caucus has launched a public campaign hoping to reinvigorate both the Senate and themselves. Led by caucus leader James Cowan, the Liberal senators...
EASY RESTAURANT (1645 Queen St. West / 713 College St. West) After my disappointing experience at Aunties and Uncles, I was hoping that this week’s brunch adventure would boost my confidence in the Toronto brunch scene. I chose Easy Restaurant, as it is another spot with a great reputation and has a location on College Street, a stone’s throw from my apartment. Unfortunately, this may have been...