This year, more than any other year, Obiter Dicta is committed to ensuring the voices that need to be heard have a platform to call theirs. We are committed to doing everything within our power as a paper to publish pieces that are representative of the change that has occurred, and the change that is yet to come. Police brutality, structural racism, and systemic injustice have inspired the greatest protests in human history. Canada is no exception to needing to change. We will provide space for—and highlight—Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and all other historically marginalized voices..
Not because we should, but because we must.
If there is anything to learn from the nearly 100 years of law school school culture documented throughout Obiter’s history, it is that the seeds of change are planted on these pages. Sandra Chapnik, who was a student in one of Osgoode’s first mature students classes, wrote about the struggle of being both a mother and a student before being called to the bench in Ontario. The current Mayor of Toronto, John Tory, wrote about his positive outlook on marijuana – many years before it was legalized. In the 1950s, Osgoode’s female students wrote about how the abuse of their male colleagues would not prevent them from reaching their goals. And it didn’t.
Osgoode students don’t just speculate; they think, they write, and eventually, they do.
The editorial board is dedicated to continuing the paper’s legacy of being a conduit for innovative and progressive ideas. We should not be bound by the whims of the world that we know. We should build one that is better.
— the Editors