Fall elections fill vacancies as Student Caucus ramps up for the new academic year Elections for 1L Student Caucus Representatives took place on September 15, 2014. The results saw Quinlin “Quin” Gilbert-Walters (1L Section A Rep), Lauren Katz (1L Section B Rep), Camille Walker (1L Section C Rep), and Chelsea Caldwell (1L Section D Rep) chosen to be their section representatives. They add to the...
Conflicts of Laws Under First Nations Self-Government Agreements The era of First Nations self-government agreements began in 1975 with the signing of the James Bay and Northern Quebec agreement. The next agreement was not signed until 1993. Since then, close to two dozen more have been signed and several more are under negotiation. These agreements recognize a broad range of regulatory...
With the recently commenced 2014-2015 National Hockey League (NHL) season, Leafs Nation can’t help but think about the question that seems to keep resurfacing since 1967: Why can’t their beloved Toronto Maple Leafs win the Stanley Cup even though the team is the most valued franchise in the NHL (at $1.15 billion) according to the most recent Forbes list of “The World’s 50 Most...
5 Follow-Up Tips After the First Date For those of you who recently participated in the legal dog and pony show that we like to call “OCIs,” I extend a tip of the hat to you all for such a dedicated effort toward your future careers – however masochistic it might be. One can only hope now that the summer months spent personalizing those cover letters with a level of detail that would make a...
When Osgoode Meets Salone We worked for Defence for Children International – Sierra Leone (DCI) in Freetown, Sierra Leone through Osgoode’s student-run International Legal Partnership (ILP) for ten weeks. We drafted and submitted a constitutional review of the Constitution of Sierra Leone that was submitted to the Constitutional Review Commission of Sierra Leone (CRC). Our report consisted of...
International Legal Experience in Your 1L Summer While some 1Ls spent their summers working in law firms or taking courses abroad, I spent this past summer as an International Legal Partnership (ILP) fellow in Kampala, Uganda working at the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI). Doing everything from preparing memos to monitoring death row proceedings, I not only gained amazing legal...
A Call for Humility in the Legal Profession We are the next generation of lawyers, and along with our responsibilities to our clients and to the courts, we have a responsibility to shape the legal profession. Many things are changing in the practice of law. We research statutes and find cases online. We write in a far more clear and succinct fashion. We are approaching client service in a much...
ISIS Edition Last month, President Obama laid out his plan to combat the Islamic State (referred to as both ISIS and ISIL) with air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Canada and the United Kingdom have both decided to join the US-led campaign targeting ISIS in Iraq. However, legal scholars have been mixed on whether this bombing campaign is considered legal under international and US domestic laws. How...
Why a pandemic in one country is business as usual in another Given how Ebola has been spreading through West Africa without any signs of slowing down, one would think there’d be greater panic with the announcement that the infectious disease has entered America. But that’s not the case. Public health officials echo the words of Tom Frieden, Director of the Centre for Disease Control, “[T]here...
Data Collection is Complete The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice recently completed a national study that surveyed over three thousand Canadians about their everyday legal problems. The survey is part of “The Cost of Justice: Weighing the Cost of Fair and Effective Resolution to Legal Problems”—an interdisciplinary, five-year long study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research...
How Factory Farmed Animals are Neglected in the Canadian Legal System Last year, an undercover investigator from Mercy For Animals Canada released footage revealing that the turkeys in a Hybrid Turkeys breeding facility in Bright, Ontario were being clubbed and kicked by employees of the facility, hit with shovels, left with open wounds, and being subjected to what can only be classified as...
A week of engaging discussions and activities on various mental health topics Mental Health Awareness Week is right around the corner! With five days of action-packed activities, #MHAW2014 kicks off on Monday, October 20 and will run until Friday, October 24. The featured events range from a group of distinguished panellists sharing their insights into mental health within the legal profession...
The internet is our generation’s playground, our social hub. We go there to play and chat, learn and explore. We often assume that we’re safe there, that we can do what we want without consequence, that our activities are not being monitored. We rarely take time to consider the digital trail we leave behind. Even if internet companies collect our data for all sorts of reasons (or even generate...
On August 9 an unarmed young, black male was shot at least six times – twice in the head – by a white police officer. For hours, the body was left in the street, uncovered and uncared for. The days following the shooting were marked with an explosion of moral outrage and public anguish. Widespread suspension of dissent and democratic rights through criminal sanctions would ensue. The...
Both Roger Goodell and Adam Silver have recently had to deal with public relations disasters. Former NBA owner Donald Sterling’s phone conversation with his then-“friend” V. Stiviano revealed him to be a racist. A particular hot button issue bothering Sterling was Stiviano having taken a photo with former Laker Magic Johnson and posting the photo on Instagram. Sterling was apparently outraged...
After finding out about the passing of a high school friend’s partner and responding to an invitation to her memorial over Facebook, I spent the better part of an hour browsing through their pictures. This got me thinking about my less savoury Facebook activities. Then I did a little research and decided to confess to Osgoode that I can be one heck of a Facebook creep – not necessarily in that...
After getting my admission to Osgoode Hall earlier this year, I began thinking a bit about what area of law to go into. Then, strapped for cash, I took a job at an automobile assembly plant over the summer. The factory was sprawling, about the size of York’s Keele Campus, and inside was a winding assembly line, which was several kilometers in length. When the line ran smoothly, which it did...
Uncovering the parallels of the Scottish vote with our own, somewhat besmirched history of secession Last week, Scottish leaders followed in Quebec’s footsteps and held that nation’s first popular vote on secession from the United Kingdom. Sovereignty referenda are all too familiar to Canadians. Twice, in 1980 and again in 1995, the Parti Quebécois sought secession from Canada; the latter vote...
What does the public think about the justice system? What does justice mean to everyday Canadians? We interviewed 99 Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area and have captured their responses in our colourful new infographic “What is Access to Justice?”You can see the infographic at: www.cfcj-fcjc.org/infographics/what-is-a2j The infographic is based on the “What is Access to Justice” project...
Pii dash Shkakimi-kwe giigidid aabdeg gbizindawaamin: When the Earth speaks, we will listen. This was a guiding theme posited by elders of the Chippewas of Nawash for Osgoode’s inaugural Anishinaabe Law Camp: Anishinaabe Naakinigewin Gabeshawin. On the weekend of September 11 to 14, approximately 40 law students and Osgoode faculty members travelled to Neyaashiinigmiing (Cape Croker) to attend...
As of September 1, students have been officially able to access the new WestlawNext Platform through WestlawNextCanada.com/students. This website can operate as a homepage for law students, as it includes a lot of helpful and interesting information. For example, under “Insight” students can find legal news and all kinds of helpful research tips. Clicking the box labelled “To Sign on to...
How I turned an idea, a passion, and four months of free time into a business. This summer, I decided to dedicate my time to building a legal information website. I made this decision without any particular affinity for web development, or any real business or legal experience to guide me. The decision had something to do with the weak job market, my lack of confidence in my professional...
Greetings from Tokyo! Your correspondent has now landed in Japan for an exchange semester at Waseda Law School. As introduced before, this semester the Obiter Dicta will bring you a special series covering the amazing experiences of fellow Osgoode students who are spending a semester abroad at one of Osgoode’s partner schools worldwide. As for myself, I will be presenting a little slice of the...
Watching too much TV, is there such a thing? I have been told that I watch too much TV, but I disagree – I think I watch just enough. From drama to comedy, mystery to horror, I watch shows across different networks. And, to draw the ire of the intellectual property crowd, I watch them whenever it is convenient for me. I think TV shows speak volumes about our society, morals, interests, and...
AUNTIES AND UNCLES (74 Lippincott St.) For my brunch adventure this week I, thankfully, wasn’t hung-over and decided that it was time to see what all the fuss was about at Aunties and Uncles. I had been hearing about this place since moving to Toronto, but living in Passy meant taking an hour-long transit ride downtown, followed by what I had heard was an extremely long wait prior to getting...