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...
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 advocates working in different and...
It’s been over thirteen years since terrorism made its way into the public consciousness through the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Yet, despite tightened security, increased antipathy towards Muslims, and years of war and torture, the slew of recent terrorist activity makes it seem like the West’s attempt to subdue extremist militant behaviour has only served to alter the nature of...
Raising Awareness on Everyday Environmentally-Friendly Initiatives When Osgoode students were asked to name a sustainability initiative on campus, the majority were able to name at least one or two great projects. For instance, many knew that reusable cutlery, mugs, and plates are available in the Bistro to minimize packaging waste. But did you know that the Bistro also offers a twenty-five cent...
How did it come about, what is it doing, and where is it heading? Islamic State (IS) introduced itself to the Western world this summer through the infamous beheading videos. The official name for the group is the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Arab acronym of Da’ish, or the self-termed IS). It is a Sunni caliphate...
What’s at stake in the Law Library’s new policy on access? Change is afoot at Osgoode Hall. On November 17, the Law Library instituted a “restricted-access policy,” prohibiting non-Osgoode students and community members from using the Library’s study spaces for the remainder of 2014. In an email to the student body sent on November 13, Chief Law Librarian Louis...
Towards a Less Constitutional Constitutionalism On November 12, 2014, Stacy Douglas, assistant professor at Carleton University and constitutional scholar, visited Osgoode Hall Law School as part of the Law.Art.Culture Colloquium Series. She presented on the problem that constitutions, often considered to be the primary devices with which to construct new political communities, have a tendency to...
Putin’s Struggle to Revive the Soviet State “I guess I’ll shake your hand but I have only one thing to say to you: You need to get out of Ukraine.” These were the words used by Prime Minister Stephen Harper to the President of Russia, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, in their initial meeting during the first day of the 2014 G20 summit. This was Canada’s official response to what...
The A2J Blog on the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice website features leading voices in access to justice research and advocacy. It publishes submissions from a range of individuals at the forefront of access to justice initiatives – from senior scholars to engaged law students. Recent contributors include Ab Currie (CFCJ Senior Research Fellow), JP Boyd (Executive Director of the Canadian...