What comes first for faculty during the strike? Osgoode Hall Law School is caught in the crosshairs of yet another York University labour disruption by the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 3903 (CUPE 3903). The union represents contract faculty, graduate assistants, and teaching assistants, only the latter two of which remain on strike. On 3 March, the university suspended all classes...
The Travails of Resuming Law School on a Struck Campus Recent developments at Osgoode Hall are conspiring to introduce an unseemly innovation on 16 March 2015: two-tiered legal education. But first, a brief recap on how we got to this point. On 6 March, following four days of strike action, CUPE 3903 leaders agreed to put the York administration’s latest offer to a ratification vote. The offer...
135 Osgoode students urge Dean Sossin to respect the CUPE 3903 strike and not resume classes until a negotiated deal is reached. Dear Dean Sossin, We are writing to express our support for members of CUPE 3903 currently on strike at York University. As students and future practitioners of law, we view this strike as the exercise of a constitutionally-protected right, one which deserves...
From Vulvas to Butt-Sex For the first time since the Spice Girls reigned supreme, Ontario’s students through grades one to eight will have a new Health and Physical Education curriculum. On 23 February the new curriculum was released. It details learning correct terms for body parts in grade one, different sexual orientations and gender identities in grade three, masturbation in grade six, and...
Bill C-51 and Bill C-279 as Obstacles for the Progression of Social Justice in Canada The law can be used as a tool to empower people associated with social differences—which pertain to the social construction and intersectionality of gender, sexuality, race, ability, class, and caste in society—but it can can also be used to further oppress people associated with social differences. The actions...
Canada’s Aboriginal Women A domestic violence issue: that is how Aboriginal Affairs Minister Bernard Valcourt characterized the crisis of missing and murdered Aboriginal women. Implicit in this characterization is that this is an Aboriginal problem of which Canadians and the Canadian government can wash their hands. The very premise is fallacious, and the consequences could not be more dangerous...
The Social Injustices of Clinical Drug Trials in the Global South Capitalism: a word that describes a society where an alarming number of things can be bought and sold. Land, air, resources, people’s thoughts and ideas—all are liable for exploitation and depletion in service of an expanding market. The human body has also become a site of market expansion and profit generation. Countries such as...
CLEO’s Fiona MacCool on accessible information In November 2014, the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice launched a new series on the A2J blog titled “Access to Justice Advocates.” The series is a response to recent reports that have underscored the importance of innovation and imagination in the pursuit of access to justice. At CFCJ, we understand that such efforts come down to people—to the diverse...
My attempt to wade through, and make sense of, Toronto’s first camping festival’s lineup On 10 February 2015, the GTA’s worst kept secret was finally released into the public domain. The town of Barrie, or as hipsters call it, Oro-Medonte, will be hosting the area’s first camping music festival. Headliners Sam Smith, Kendrick Lamar, and Alt-J were billed as the headliners that will drive crowds...
Sustainability at Home Whether at Passy or at home, here are some easy sustainability tips: Electronics continue to drain electricity when they’re plugged in even when they are off. Save power by turning off your power-bars or unplugging electronics that aren’t in use. Don’t flush floss down the toilet. It gathers in water treatment plants, tangles in the filtration systems, and...
Which Side Are You On? Negotiations between York administration and the university’s education workers union, Local 3903 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees, have not yet resulted in a new collective agreement. A strike may begin as soon as March 3rd. If that happens, it will have a serious impact on all York students, including us at Osgoode. CUPE 3903 represents over 3700 education...
Reflections on the Impending Strike at York York University and CUPE 3903 are moving closer and closer to both a deal and an impasse. The pursuit of one entails the advance of its opposite. From this paradox emerges the absolute uncertainty of the whole situation, a source of great anxiety and, for some, great exhilaration too. On Monday, March 2nd, members of the union will vote on the...
On January 28th, 2015, I was glad to partner with the CFCJ to host a panel event titled “The Power of Bilingualism in the Legal Profession.” Osgoode Hall Law School opened its doors to an esteemed group of panelists: Justice Paul S. Rouleau of the Court of Appeal for Ontario François Baril, Partner at Gowlings LLP and President of AJEFO Josée Bouchard, Equity Advisor at the Law Society of Upper...
Canadian Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges Networking Event with Osgoode If you are a current student of the Law, Gender, and Equality perspective option, or have perhaps had a conversation with myself in the past week, then you may have participated in a passionate discussion about the sexism that plagues our Canadian judiciary. Or perhaps you are a female student who was...
Osgoode Hall Law School played host to Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, on Wednesday, January 28, 2015. Her Honour participated on a panel entitled “The Monarchy in Action: Canada’s Vice-Regals at Work” as part of the Crown & Constitution Speakers’ Series organized by the Osgoode Constitutional Law Society. Political Science Emeritus Professor, Peter...
Selfish or Selfless? I was never very interested in volunteering. Chalk it up to my pessimism or nihilism, or simply to the fact that I thought that people should help themselves and persevere through sheer willpower. I didn’t volunteer to answer questions in class, nor took the popular avenue of padding my resume. I completed my volunteer hours in high school through an involvement with the Air...
Alternative business structures hold a lot of promise for both a new generation of legal professionals and the society they will serve. Recently, the Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) called for input on whether (and to what degree) it should allow alternative business structures (ABS) for the delivery of legal services in Ontario. The profession has taken a particular interest in a paper on the...
A breakdown of what tuition pays for at Osgoode JD Students at Osgoode Hall have the dubious distinction of paying the second highest law school tuition in Canada: $23,599. But ever wonder what your tuition is actually paying for, and what causes Osgoode tuition to be so high? The pOZcast (the student-run podcast) has been conducting an analysis trying to determine the breakdown of how tuition...
The Impact of the Vision Report on Experiential Education at Osgoode and Community-Based Legal Clinics in Toronto Osgoode students weren’t just worried about exams and papers at the end of the Fall 2014 term. Almost one hundred students completed a Student Caucus survey about the impact of the Vision Report on Parkdale Community Legal Services (PCLS), clinical education at Osgoode, and the...
There comes a time in every law student’s life when he or she must come face to face with some of the more uncomfortable truths about their chosen path: long hours, ethical dilemmas, tricky workplace politics, and the vice-laden path to making partner await each of us. These realizations are difficult to come to terms with, and will be even more difficult to navigate once we are thrust into the...
Let’s celebrate the diversity of Canadian families on this Family Day In 2013, British Columbia’s Premier Christy Clark established the province’s Family Day holiday with a throne speech that celebrated the diversity of Canadian families, “large and small; same sex; culturally diverse; foster families and adopted children; new Canadians coming to a new world; a single mother caring for her young...
Despite student perception, an analysis shows that students are not paying more for law school textbooks than students a decade ago. As school returns for the Winter semester, there are the familiar sights of students trying to procure textbooks. It is not uncommon to see posts on Facebook of students both looking to sell or buy used books. Students also have the option of purchasing new...
Solitary Confinement on the Rise in Canadian Prisons You know you might be in trouble as a correctional system when one of the most notorious prisons in the US has begun to implement more progressive policies than yours. Rikers Island, the massive corrections complex that reeks of urine and desperation (known to any Law and Order aficionado), has been mandated by the New York corrections board to...
The slippery slope that left Canada’s newly implemented notice-and-notice system open for abuse Less than a week after it came into effect, Canada’s new copyright notice-and-notice system, which requires Internet service providers to forward warning notices issued to customers by rights holders, was already marked with controversy. Described as a “loophole in the new law,” the government’s...
Hong Kong’s Social Awakening The streets of Hong Kong have been emptier as of late, from Mong Kok to Admirality. A movement for political reform that initially drew tens of thousands has been largely stifled by police presence and arrests. “Success isn’t necessarily measured in result, but in the collective social awakening, and we’ve achieved exactly that,” says Jason Y. Ng, a University of...