Dear Osgoode, My brief time as Editor-in-Chief has come to pass, and with it, our goodbye to Volume 96. In this office, I’ve consciously tried to act more a messenger for the words of others than as a writer at large, but if you’ll indulge this brief episode of hubris, I’d like to pen a more personal letter, so that we may make our farewells proper. I hope you liked the print—I thought it a...
So far, this year has been fraught with many events and politically or economically significant actions that have captured people’s interest and scorn. In this environment, I wish to discuss an event that, despite its impact on the region and people’s lives, has unfortunately gone unnoticed by many—the reignition of a conflict in Africa that has the potential to spill out into a wider war. In...
Photo Credit: Tim Meduna / Meduna Visuals On 15 February 2025, the Osgoode chapter of Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA) won the coveted Large Chapter of the Year Award at the thirty-fourth BLSA Canada National Conference. Spearheaded by our president, Chioma Oriuwa, we collected the glass trophy in front of over 600 students. With “God’s Plan” blasting, we had a three-minute celebration on...
Volunteering is widely seen as an act of kindness, something that people do out of the goodness of their hearts for the benefit of others. And for good reason! At its core, volunteering is something we do willingly and without an expectation of reward. Often motivated by intrinsic reasons such as personal conviction, curiosity, or a desire to help others, volunteers contribute numerous hours to...
The debate surrounding whether AI can develop intuition about the physical world is not just philosophical—it has implications for ethics and our understanding of consciousness itself. AI is fundamentally different from humans in significant respects, even though it can replicate human-like reactions. Human emotion is a combination of biological, neurological, and psychological processes...
Censorship is a shapeshifter. It arrives draped in the robes of morality, national security, or social harmony, but beneath these justifications, it is often a tool of control. In the modern Canadian landscape, where free expression is enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the question is not whether censorship exists (it does) but rather whether it is necessary and to what extent it...
Gentle flutters of wind brush past us as husky straws of grass rustle around our feet. The earthy smell of the damp soil—our final reminder of the remnants of winter’s icy crust—fills the air with freshness and new beginnings. Barren branches are lively again, with tiny sprouts awaiting their time to blossom. Hibernating fauna awakening from their long slumber scurrying around as they begin anew...
Photo Credit: Alexander Murchison / Aird & Berlis Over the summer, I was all alone in Central Canada. There was no one to hold me accountable for anything, no motivators, and no expectations. It was a life-defining experience. Most days started just past 5:30 a.m. CST in Regina, Saskatchewan, for coffee chats starting at 8 a.m. EST. Not because I’m a morning person (I’m not), but...
Image Credit: The guy that does the layout with too much free time despite having a capstone Project to finish As the Obiter Dicta’s cherished readership surely knows, we are a newspaper of unscrupulous ethical standards and unquestionable moral integrity. It might come as a surprise, then, that a significant chunk of the Obiter’s operating budget has hitherto come from the international law...
OSGOODE HALL (The Other One)—It was another quiet morning on The Pond Road when the terrible news came to light that Mollie Mae’s American Express card was declined as she tried to secure seats on her Air Canada flight. Mollie, a 3L well past the point of caring, had been planning to visit New Orleans during the week before her first exam. This would have been Mollie’s seventh holiday of the...
Photo Credit: Bill Watterson Modern academia is a cemetery for creative writing, and I regret to bear the news that you’re not protected from that curse. There’s the occasional glimmer of fun in the all too rare colourful judgement or creative law journal piece, but for a profession taught to row with words, it sure leaves much to be desired in wordsmithing. You’re expecting me to decry this...
Toronto Blue Jays Land Shohei Ohtani in Blockbuster Trade Photo Credit: x.com / @BodogCA Shohei Ohtani’s plane has finally landed at Pearson. On 19 March 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers wrapped up their Japan Series at the Tokyo Dome and along with it, their Ohtani era. When the team arrived back in L.A., they announced at an improv runway presser that they had traded the superstar to the Toronto...
As a dilettante and preeminent souse, I am well acquainted with the concept of a provider of alcohol that is there one day and gone with thy money the next. Though birds do pray tell that Osgoode’s JCR is not a place for such mournful experiences. Therefore, I did not tarry in experiencing this establishment to review it so that my fellow functioning dipsomaniacs may decide whether to visit it...
Photo Credit: Actinolite Restaurant / Instagram The end of the school year is upon us, and graduation (for my 3L friends) is only months away, so for those of you looking to splurge a little to celebrate graduation or any other special occasion, I have compiled a short list of three fantastic restaurants for your consideration. 1. Actinolite Restaurant 971 Ossington Ave | Canadian | $$$$ Named...
I like to think that the loveliest things in life come in pairs. It’s why my favourite number is two—the smallest number needed to create a relationship. Have you had the chance to go by Scholars Walk recently? I’m sure you would know this pair regardless. They arrive in early spring each year when the ice has barely melted and the winds are still chilly. With fluffed feathers and white...
Photo Credit: United Artists Whenever a beloved franchise is adapted to the big screen, impassioned debate about its faithfulness to the original soon follows. Fans of established works are often dissatisfied with material changes to the tone, plot, or message of the original. However, approaching a film with this frame of mind is deeply flawed and reductive. Film is an art form of its own, and...
At first glance, the exhibition looked like any other—until you realized the artists had not chosen the displays. A bot chose them. Each week, the bot was given a Bitcoin allowance and left to wander the darknet, where it made purchases and mailed them to the gallery. No human intervention, no curation. Just transactions unfolding at random, inching closer to the illicit. Ten ecstasy pills...
No Player in the League is Safe Photo Credit: x.com / @NBAWORLD24 As we all know by now, the Dallas Mavericks traded twenty-five-year-old superstar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers for Anthony Davis, Max Christie, and a 2029 first-round draft pick on 2 February 2025. While the immediate fallout has centered on the Mavs’ less-than-credible decision-making and fan outrage, this transaction...
Rehabilitating Pete Rose is an Insult to Baseball and to America Photo Credit: AP When I scrolled through The Athletic’s featured posts for the last month, I was not expecting to read a headline that would make me mad. Gobsmacked? Sure—after the Luka Dončić trade, one expects the unexpected, you know? But not physically angry. There is apparently a debate going on about whether Pete Rose should...
Toronto Blue Jays Season Outlook Photo Credit: Chris Young/ The Canadian Press I recently saw a pre-season power rankings list from The Athletic, in which the Toronto Blue Jays were listed eighteenth out of thirty. Imagine telling someone this three years ago when this team was the up-and-coming perennial contender in the making, with the superstar talents of Bo Bichette and Vladamir Guerrero Jr...
He Has Delivered When It Matters Most Photo Credit: Joshua Gateley / Getty Images The Most Valuable Player (MVP) race remains too close to call, with only weeks remaining in the National Basketball Association (NBA) regular season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokić have put together dominant, season-defining performances, leading their respective teams to first and second seeds in the...
Toronto Maple Leafs’ “Playoff Push” Photo Credit: Michael Chisholm / GettyImages With the seventy-game mark fast approaching, teams are beginning to be locked in—or out—of the playoffs. The San Jose Sharks had the honour of being the first team with such distinction, being mathematically eliminated from the playoffs on 16 March 2025. While the Toronto Maple Leafs have not officially taken a...
Photo Credit: FPG / Getty Images In the chance that you, dear reader, live under a rock, the edition of the Obiter Dicta that you are currently reading is the penultimate issue with myself as the head opinion editor. A veritable tragedy! To ease you through what I am sure will be a difficult loss for Osgoode’s student body and the Obiter’s treasured readership, I have penned this article. As is...
Photo Credit: NYC2012.com I was an unusual child. While other kids were watching cartoons, I was glued to Pat Foran’s Consumer Alert on CTV News and CBC’s Marketplace, fascinated by the way they held shady businesses accountable. As I grew older—and as the cost of living skyrocketed—my passion for consumer protection only grew. So naturally, when I discovered Scocco Law’s Consumer...
We all grow up liking different things, whether it is dinosaurs, dolls, or whatever your fancy. My thing was history and, thus, I am overjoyed at the uncovering of the potential first royal tomb of a Pharaoh since Tutankhamun in 1922. In mid-February, a team of archaeologists found what they believe to have been the tomb of Thutmose II, who ruled Egypt’s eighteenth dynasty around the late...