Happy new school year, Osgoode! My name is Irmak and I’m the News Section Editor this academic year for our great school newspaper (which, our Editor-in-Chief recently found out, is the oldest law school newspaper in North America). This year’s News team of columnists, staff writers, and contributors will be responsible for curating news content, relating it to you as a law student...
Dear Osgoode Community, A committee of Osgoode students, staff and faculty, along with York Facilities Services staff and accessibility consultants, continue to make inroads into improving the accessibility of our building. Following on the heels of enhancements to the pillars in Gowlings Hall to assist the visually impaired community in safe navigation, we will now be moving forward with the...
Welcome to the Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC) Osgoode Chapter! PBSC is a national organization which provides pro bono legal services to organizations and individuals in need. It is the only national law student program in the country with chapters in all 22 Canadian law schools. As the largest chapter in Canada, last year, PBSC Osgoode successfully placed over 200 students into more than 50...
On behalf of the Muslim Law Students’ Association (MLSA), welcome Osgoode Class of 2022!! Congratulations on joining the ranks of one of Canada’s finest institutions. Osgoode boasts one of the most diverse student bodies of any Canadian law school, and the MLSA, as well as other student organizations like it, are shining examples of it. The MLSA provides a range of programming, from social...
On August 26, 2019, the Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) began a seven-day hearing for an appeal to the City of Toronto’s amendments to short-term rental bylaws. The amendments to the bylaws were approved on December 7, 2017 and January 31, 2018 by the City of Toronto Council; but were subsequently appealed. The new bylaws were legislated to target Airbnb-type short-term rentals. The key...
The fall semester always dawns on us so fast! But it’s good to have everyone back on campus refreshed to start off a new academic year. The Osgoode Library librarians and staff are in full swing to make the library accessible and welcoming for everyone. We listened to suggestions from the student representatives during the past academic year. As a result, library tours are available as part of...
Welcome to Osgoode! My name is Ali, and I run a club called the Disability Collective of Osgoode (DCO). The DCO is a platform used both to build community amongst Osgoode students with disabilities, and to engage in collective advocacy, because our voices are stronger together than they are individually. The start of law school can be an exciting period, but I also know it can be a difficult time...
Statement of Principles debate reflects lawyers’ unwillingness to address systemic racism in the profession Over the past two years the Law Society of Ontario (LSO) has become a public forum for the debate about the existence of systemic racism in the legal profession. Tomorrow, the regulator will open its floor once again to consider and possibly vote on the source of this debate: the Statement...
This June, the Ontario government implemented its funding cuts to legal aid, impacting several sectors of the legal community. Groups affected ranged from individuals with precarious immigration status, to vulnerable members of communities, to clinics who provide legal services or necessities such as food and shelter to low-income neighbourhoods. This piece discusses the severe impacts of the...
Dear Class of 2022, On behalf of the Osgoode Women’s Network (OWN) Executive Committee, we would like to extend our congratulations on beginning your legal career here at Osgoode! Osgoode noted potential in each of you and has hand-selected you to join our ranks, believing you could bring something unique to the classrooms and halls! Keep this in mind as you attend classes and begin to delve into...
Hey Osgoode! We’re OPSC, your student-student support network. We’re here to support you throughout your academic journey – and beyond, through our alumni support network. Get in touch with us if you want to speak to someone who has had similar experiences as you, or if you want to talk to someone about concerns that go beyond academics. We’re a team of empathetic and...
CLASP and PBSC Osgoode working with PBSC National to make I.D. accessible to Ontarians and support Bill-26. Government issued photo I.D. is required to access many vital government services, including health care, social assistance and subsidized housing. The costs and administrative complexity related to getting I.D. has prevented many low income and otherwise precarious residents of Ontario...
Heller v Uber raises important questions about Labour and Employment Law, International Law, and arbitration Have you ever thought about who Uber drivers are employed by? Are you employing them? Are you in a contractual relationship with them? Do they work for Uber? Some of these issues were addressed in Heller v. Uber. A proposed class action by Heller, an Ontario Uber driver, has...
Osgoode Health Law Association: Perspectives in Health Over the past few decades, assisted human reproduction has undergone significant developments in Canada. Increases in technology have led to incredible developments, such as embryonic cloning and in vitro fertilization (IVF), resulting in a growth of study in assisted reproduction policy. In 2004, the federal government passed the...
I was driving home from school, late at night. Paul Kennedy, the host of Ideas on CBC Radio, was intently discussing something. I wasn’t really paying attention, but suddenly I heard Paul Kennedy talk about bringing mammoths back to life. This got my attention. The thought of recreating extinct animals made me excited and nervous at the same time. As soon as I got home I found myself scouring...
Thousands Rally Against Kinder Morgan Trans Mountain Pipeline Recently, thousands of protestors gathered in Burnaby, British Columbia to oppose the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline. Overseen by the Canadian division of Texas-based oil giant Kinder Morgan, the $7.4-billion project will expand the current 1,150-kilometre pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby. The new extension is set to...
Embracing the #RacismLivesHereToo campaign at Osgoode Hall Law School My excitement in coming to Osgoode was unparalleled: the first day of the legal career for the first lawyer-to be in the family. I couldn’t wait for all the intellectual discussions with like-minded people who were here to make the world a better place. To my shock, on my first day of school, I was asked by a few peers about...
How the United States Constitution makes gun control nearly impossible In the aftermath of the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, gun control is once again a hot topic in the U.S. In the days that followed the shooting, many of the school’s students spoke out about the U.S. government’s lax stance on gun control, garnering considerable attention (and criticism) on social media...
In today’s political climate of Islamophobia and identity politics, Sri Lanka’s tumultuous history may provide some key lessons. Many people, when asked, would not be able to place Sri Lanka on a map. The small teardrop-shaped island nation off the coast of South India is often overlooked both on the map and in the news. But to the socially conscious observer navigating today’s political...
Revenue Agency Ordered to Pay $1.7M in Damages In 2008, Tony and Helen Samaroo, a couple from Nanaimo, British Columbia who owned a popular restaurant called the MGM, were charged with twenty-one counts of tax evasion. The Samaroos were accused of misrepresenting earnings and pocketing upwards of $50,000 a month off the books. The couple claimed that they were simply transferring old $50 and $100...
Osgoode Health Law Association: Perspectives in Health With tragic cases such as those of Tina Fontaine and Colten Boushie recently coming to a close, Canadians are becoming aware of the effects that governments and their institutions have on Indigenous people, and in these cases specifically, Indigenous youth. These two cases illustrate the failure of government, its...
After decades of intransigence, Ireland will hold a vote to repeal a constitutional ban on abortion 2018 could be the year abortion is finally legalized in Ireland if a referendum to repeal the constitution’s Eighth Amendment passes this spring. The country’s restrictive abortion law is over 150 years old. Passed in 1861, the Offenses Against the Person Act makes it an offence to “procure...
It’s time to put the brakes on the idea of Ryerson Law and look at the negative effects of opening another law school in Toronto The Law Society of Ontario (LSO) recently approved Ryerson’s proposed new law school. I am sure that most of us have a similar response to this – enough is enough! You may think that I’m being self-interested in opposing Ryerson’s dreams of having a legal institution...
In Carter v Canada, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the criminal status of medically assisted dying was unconstitutional.[1] In June 2016, the government of Canada responded by creating provisions in the Criminal Code (Code) that decriminalized medical assistance in dying (MAiD).[2] Sections 241(2)-(7) of the Code set out the applicable exemptions allowing for MAiD and sections 241...
Indigenous children are starkly overrepresented in Ontario’s child welfare system: there are 7 times as many children in care as their proportion of the population.[1] The same problem existed in the 1980’s when the Supreme Court of Canada articulated the “best interests of the child” test in a de facto adoption case involving an Indigenous child.[2] In Racine v Woods, the court ruled that when...