Netflix’s Making a Murderer Brings Justice Issues to the Spotlight My fellow peers were right in recommending Making a Murderer as an engaging and compelling docu-drama narrowing in on our perceptions of administration of justice. Netflix introduced the documentary in late 2015, just in time for law students to binge on the entire collection, post exam-stress and right before the new term. It...
The Role of Public Health in President Obama’s Executive Orders On 4 January 2016, President Obama announced a series of executive orders that are meant to address what he calls an “epidemic of gun violence” in the United States. He justified these orders by referring to the blocking of gun reforms in the United States congress despite the increasing number of violent public shootings and deaths...
A SYMBOL COMMANDING CHANGE IN CANADA
The image of Alan Kurdi’s tiny, lifeless body on the shores of Bodrum, Turkey commanded the world’s attention. The three-year-old immediately became the symbol of the dire situation facing Syrian refugees, displaced from their homes by civil war. His tragic story bore significant weight in the transformation of the world’s reception of Syrian refugees.
Some Areas of Concern Jim Balsillie, former CEO of Research in Motion, called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “the worst public policy decision in the country’s history.”[1] The TPP is a trade agreement between Pacific nations to achieve regional trade integration. Canada officially joined negotiations in 2012. The TPP has been subject to much controversy due to its expansive scope and lack...
Connecting Climate Change and Health in the Paris Agreement Between 30 November to 11 December 2015, 195 countries as well as thousands of international organizations, activist groups, and spectators gathered in Paris in order to discuss how the international community will address climate change. The UN conference culminated in the adoption of the Paris Agreement on 12 December 2015. This...
Are companies required to bridge the gap between morality and legality? Convicted murderer Paul Bernardo made headlines this month when it became known that he had self-published a fictional e-book. The novel, titled A MAD World Order, is an allegedly violent thriller involving Mexican drug cartels and Russian agents, and became available for purchase on Amazon.com. It was a story that called...
The Paris Attacks and the Western Media’s Response When tragedies, like the recent terrorist shooting in Paris, France occur the world seems to pause in shock. Articles from online news sources, as well as national tabloids and television programs begin broadcasting ‘breaking live news’ coverage of the scene that continues for hours after the event has ceased. Social media networks are...
My Thoughts From the Innovation and Access to Justice Conference I did it! I finally made it to my first university-related conference that was held somewhere other than my own school! This past summer, while working as a research assistant with the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) at Osgoode, I heard about the inaugural Innovation and Access to Justice Conference planned for October 2015...
Environmental Sustainability in the Sustainable Development Goals International discussions on environmental sustainability has increased since the unanimous passing of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September. Given the SDG’s broad approach to addressing the connection between international development and the environment, countries are looking for opportunities to discuss realistic...
Everyday Legal Problems Survey In order to explore the nature and extent of self-reported legal problems by Canadian adults eighteen years of age and older, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ), located at Osgoode Hall Law School, conducted a national legal problems survey. The logic underlying the decision to pursue this research is that a legal problem does not begin when first contact is...
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) at Osgoode Hall Law School has been dedicated to access to justice research and advocacy since it first opened its doors seventeen years ago. In keeping with this mandate, CFCJ Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Albert Currie, recently released an evaluation report on the Halton Community Legal Services’ (HCLS) Legal Health Check-Up (LHC) pilot project; an...
CANADA ELECTS TRUDEAU Today is a historic day for Canada, ourselves, and the world. Yes, the release of the new Star Wars trailer will most certainly be marked in history second only to the release of the movie itself. However, a “secondary” piece of news occurred yesterday which does demand a bit of attention, at least until 18 December 2015. As it turns out, Canada has a new Prime Minister...
When is a War Crime not a War Crime? On 15 October, international medical humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)—better known in the English-speaking world as Doctors Without Borders—launched a petition to encourage the United States to consent to an independent investigation into the American bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan. On 3 October, American airstrikes targeted the...
Current Students Host Oz Applicants Osgoode Hall’s Black Law Students Association (BLSA) hosted their annual Opportunity Day event on Saturday 17 October. BLSA members welcomed nearly sixty event participants, most of whom are people of colour, and all of whom are planning to apply to law school within the next year or two. “Opportunity Day is a chance for current undergraduates, high school...
Let the Complainant-Whacking Commence Correction: This article was intended for publication in Volume 89, Issue 4. On 2 October 2015, Jian Ghomeshi, flanked by his lawyers and surrounded by police, entered Old City Hall where he plead not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking. The plea should come as no surprise; Ghomeshi published a Facebook post shortly after the...
Where do we actually stand on this issue? Canada likes to pride itself for being progressive on refugee issues, but is it really as kind and open to refugees as we would like to believe? The saddening story of Alan Kurdi has raised some doubts about Canada’s self-image. Tima Kurdi had attempted to sponsor her brother Mohammed and his family to come to Canada, but did not have enough money to...
The Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ) is a national non-profit organization that is dedicated to access to justice research and advocacy. The CFCJ was founded in 1998 and moved to Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in 2011. Earlier this year the CFCJ launched the Access to Justice Research Network (AJRN), an interactive online platform that invites the discussion and dissemination of...
The Stories Behind Law From 10 September to 13 September, approximately forty students and faculty members from Osgoode Hall Law School traveled to Neyaashiinigmiing (Cape Croker), about four hours north of Toronto. Professor Andrée Boiselle worked with John Borrows, his daughter Lindsay Borrows, and their community, the Chippewas of Nawash, to organize the camp and welcome us to...
Will an iconic piece of Toronto architecture turn into a shopping centre? Last year in Professor Berger’s criminal law class, a few friends and I went down to Old City Hall for the afternoon to watch bail court for an assignment. A few of us had never entered the building before, so we were pretty excited to see what it looked like, and since the facade of the Old City Hall is pretty remarkable...
As many people have already heard, Russia has joined the war in Syria, where Russian warplanes have carried out airstrikes on opponents of President Bashar al-Assad. This recent addition to the four year civil war in Syria has added new elements, which continue to further the suffering for many civilians. Russia claimed that they are targeting the Islamic State (IS) and “other terrorists” when on...
Osgoode Women’s Network raises $3,760 “OWN Ran for the Cure and raised $3,760! The OWN Executive would like to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in some way, shape or form with this year’s CIBC Run for the Cure 2015. As a student club at Osgoode, we were able to raise $3,760, which surpasses last year’s fundraising efforts by over $1,000! $317 was raised from the...
In what’s shaping up to be the biggest auto industry shake-up of the decade, Volkswagen’s (VW) emissions scandal has—by this point —obliterated over 30 billion USD of the company’s shares, and forced CEO Martin Winterkorn to resign. In late September, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revealed that VW cars being sold in the US were rigged with stealth software that allowed the cars to...
A look at this month’s most pointless appeals In less than twenty-four hours, appeals were announced in two cases that made massive headlines both in Canada and the US. After the Federal Court of Appeal held that the ban against wearing niqabs during citizenship ceremonies is unlawful, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration announced on 18 September 2015 that they would appeal this decision...
Learning from the Interim Federal Health Program Canada is currently witnessing a revitalized interest in the plight of refugees, starting in early September when the tragic photos of the Kurdi family’s attempt to escape Syria were widely published in the news and shared on social media. Since then, a large number of different non-government organizations, activist groups, and public...
On 5 September 2015, news broke of threats directed against “women and feminists” at the University of Toronto. It was right before the weekend, and on the weekends, I do my studying at UofT. My thought process was as follows: should I risk my personal safety when I can simply study elsewhere? My poor mother! If I go to Robarts, there are lots of good hiding places and several exits, so I have a...