Last October, an 89-year-old lady named Audrey Tobias was acquitted for not filing out her census form. As some of you may know, Ms. Tobias did not forget, but in fact, purposely decided not to complete the form. According to section 31 of the Statistics Act, it is an offence to “refuse or neglect” to fill out a census form or to return it by the date and in the form required, or to knowingly...
York University has been caught in a firestorm over its decision to side with a male student over his wish to be excused from a group project because of his claim that his religious beliefs prevented him from working with women. This case has again reignited the age-old debate between secularism and religious values and between inclusiveness and diversity, debates that university administrations...
It’s late. 1 AM on a Saturday, actually. I’m tired and stressed and alone. I’m thinking about money. I should be thinking about Torts, but yeah, I’m thinking about money. I’m also looking at my Facebook chat list and I’m realizing that a lot of my friends are online too. They’re also tired. And yes, I’d bet that they’re thinking about money. And maybe feeling alone too. This is true, I...
Hot on the heels of his “I’m not Rob Ford” political campaign, polls are indicating that the other guy has an early lead on Rob Ford in the upcoming mayoral election in Toronto. Campaign critics have lauded the other guy’s campaign strategy, with some even suggesting that it may inspire a similar cultural zeitgeist as Obama’s equally memorable “Hope” campaign. We approached Torontonians to get a...
Happy Winter Semester Osgoode! On behalf of Legal and Lit, I hope you all had a very cheerful winter holiday season. Looking back on the fall term, I am reminded of the privilege it has been to serve you as L&L President. I have been learning a lot along the way and look forward to redoubling my efforts this semester to bring to fruition, in collaboration with my colleagues on the Legal and...
Did you know that almost 12 million Canadians will face at least one legal problem in a given three-year period? Or that taking just a two-day civil action to trial costs between $13,500 and $37,200? Canadians today are losing their access to justice as the costs of legal services and length of legal proceedings climb steadily upwards. The Canadian Forum of Civil Justice is starting a new segment...
This year, the Academic Policy and Planning Committee (APPC) (a part of Faculty Council here at Osgoode), has been discussing the bell curve and its application to small classes. The scope of the discussion includes all seminars, intensive/clinical programs and classes with enrolments under thirty students. As one of your student representatives on the APPC, I would like to take the opportunity...
On December 20th the Supreme Court of Canada released the Bedford decision, striking down Canada’s prostitution laws as unconstitutional, suspending the decision for one year. As an interested law student, I shadowed a member of one of the intervenors in the case, the Asian Women’s Coalition Ending Prostitution (“AW”), at the media scrum on the day the decision was handed down. AW is a...
In 1979, I left Osgoode Hall Law School, law degree in hand, excited and anxious about an uncharted career ahead. Thirty five years later, I am back at Osgoode, honoured to be selected as a Roy McMurtry Clinical Fellow.
From January 13 to February 7, I will be at Osgoode full time, eager to add to your legal education, and to learn as much as I can.
During reading week, I had the opportunity to travel to Prague to visit a good friend of mine, and of course, to do research for my Entertainment and Sports law seminar paper. PIERA SAVAGE <Contributor> I’d been to Prague a few months before, in late August, when it was still quite warm, and had fallen in love with the charming city. I welcomed the opportunity that reading week provided to...
According to information received by Obiter Dicta this week, the Legal and Literary Society’s 2013-14 budget includes an operating deficit of $22 825. Approved unanimously at a special September 12 meeting, the budget includes categorized revenues and expenditures for, among other things, clubs and major L&L events throughout the year. Legal and Lit’s constitution requires publication of the...
There is a certain kind of rivalry among siblings that is hard to describe. Perhaps it takes having siblings to truly understand experiencing un-vocalized love and very-vocalized competition, especially when your siblings make it to “high” places. So my dad and I often joke that he is the family’s parish priest, whose brothers have been made cardinals. While the priest has his ear to the ground...
I can’t tell you what Professor Michael Mandel meant to each of the approximately 4000 students he had a hand in educating over his lengthy 39-year academic career; I can, however, tell you what he meant to me. Through this, those of you who had the chance to learn from him might remember something about the experience, and those of you who didn’t might perhaps be able to get some idea of what it...
Last year, before starting my first year of law school, I received from Osgoode information concerning my courses and the professors who were teaching them. I eagerly searched each of them on Osgoode’s website. I remember reading Professor Mandel’s bio and thinking how interestingly odd it was (odd in a good way of course). I am not able to recall the details and could not go back to the website...
On October 27, 2013, the Osgoode community experienced the significant and tragic loss of an alum and cherished professor, Michael Mandel.
Many students received an email from the Dean, twitter and facebook headlines soon followed. Within hours, the Osgoode community reacted. Lawyers, academics, alumni and current students began to express their feelings of loss across various outlets.
At first, I was somewhat ambivalent about my stance on the Quebec Charter of Values.
Nicholas Banerd <Contributor>
I have always fervently supported the idea of a secular state. The Parti Quebecois’ ban on religious symbols would only apply to state-workers, and citizens seeking government services.
Law school is expensive.
This academic year, each of us will pay Osgoode somewhere in the neighborhood of $22,000. That’s more than 75% of the median Canadian’s income.
The future is finally here. The creators of Wikipedia have done it again, inventing a new, immersive form of Wikipedia called the library. “It used to be that you were at a distance from Wikipedia, staring at it from your screen monitor. With the invention of the library, we have revolutionized how you can use Wikipedia so that it is a much more integrative experience. You can grab and touch...
I saw this Disney documentary once titled Earth (don’t judge me). It showed the long journeys elephants have to travel during the migration period some of them undertake. The particular herd being filmed went through hostile sand storms, days without water, infernal heat, and attacks from other animals. At one point one of the baby elephants is about to collapse. You see the mom trying...
This week, the Harper government announced aproposal to suspend Senators Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin, and Patrick Brazeau. The collective cream of Canada’s political crop of incompetency, ignorance and greed, the move was largely supported by politicians and the public, and even spurred other Senators to begin filing more complete tax returns (yes, this is already part of their job anyway, but...
JEFF MITCHELL <Contributor> Everywhere I travel, tiny life. Single-serving sugar, single-serving cream, single pat of butter. The microwave Cordon Bleu hobby kit. Shampoo-conditioner combos, sample-packaged mouthwash, tiny bars of soap. The people I meet on each flight? They’re single-serving friends. – Fight Club (1999) Why should our classroom experience be single-use? Why are many of us...
DYLAN MCGUINTY
<Contributor>
Dear Osgoode students,
I am pleased to give you my first progress report since being humbled by the trust you placed in me by electing me as your Legal and Lit President.
XI CHEN <Contributor> On Monday September 30, the Distinguished Speakers Series (DSSOC) and the Asian Law Students of Osgoode (ALSO) invited Mr. David Tsubouchi, a former Ontario cabinet minister and Osgoode alumnus, to the school to speak about his fascinating life experiences and his recently published memoir. Over the course of two hours, Mr. Tsubouchi shared stories from both his...
SAM MICHAELS <Staff Writer> This week, the FBI took down the site once thought to be the internet’s Forbidden City. The infallible Silk Road is gone, replaced with a United States Government warning, signaling the potential for sweeping changes in how the internet and society interact. If you don’t know what the Silk Road is, well, the secret is out, so a quick Google search will fill you...
CITLALLY MACIEL <News Editor> On September 23, 2013, an email was sent to the Osgoode community reporting that its Assistant Dean Stribopoulos had been appointed a Justice of the Ontario Court of Justice in Brampton. Justice Stribopoulos will join a number of other Osgoode alumni who have been appointed a magistrate position. Currently, one member of the Supreme Court of Canada is an...