Examining India’s Changing Reproductive Health Policies In 1952, India launched the world first national program emphasizing family planning to the extent necessary for reducing birth rates “to stabilize the population at a level consistent with the requirement of national economy”. Since then, the family planning program has evolved and the program is currently being...
Placing drones in historical context This article responds to arguments presented by Professor Steven Coll in multiple articles for The New Yorker. Barack Obama followed a “small footprint” foreign policy doctrine. The US became increasingly reliant on the use of unmanned, aerial drones to maintain security and project military power. In “The Unblinking Stare,” Steve Coll, of...
How a Man of War Became a Man of Peace Peres the “man of peace.” Peres the “beloved.” Peres the “optimistic.” How sad we ought to be that Israel’s last founding father is dead…right? Wrong—well, sort of. I am struggling to summon any sympathy. And that is not for a lack of effort. I don’t rejoice in these sorts of things—that would be eerie and morbid. Not my style. But...
Revisiting Executive Compensation in the Wake of Wells Fargo In early September, news broke that Wells Fargo & Co., an American financial services company, had opened as many as two million unauthorized bank accounts in its customers’ names over the past several years. These so-called “ghost accounts” reaped unwarranted bank fees for the company and allowed Wells Fargo employees to...
Time for a Fact-Check At some point in early 2016, all Ontario drivers received a letter from their insurer announcing a number of changes to their policy. This was the Wynne government platform coming to fruition: to reduce automobile insurance premiums by 15% within two years of her election. That sounds great. We all love saving money. But what did our government do “in exchange” for...
The pressures of law school are seemingly endless. (Sorry, 1Ls, did I get off on the wrong foot here?) While that may seem like a less than comforting statement, particularly for the newer folks who may be reading this, I have chosen to write honestly rather than in a grandiose, preachy or pseudo-soothing manner that makes you want to shut me up before we even get to the good stuff. I trust that...
If you haven’t been living under a rock this past year, you’ve noticed Donald Trump has been trying to make America great again. There are some absolutely terribly fitting hats out there to remind you in case you’ve missed out on the movement. And if you’re anything like me, you’ve spent a little too much time trying to figure out exactly why he’s gained the popularity he has in this...
A Means to Distract From Climate Change Source: flavorwire.com As a former Starbucks barista, the first days of September meant only one thing: PUMPKIN SPICE LATTES (or the beloved acronym “PSL”). Before anyone judges, I am an avid pumpkin lover. Pumpkin pie is life, pumpkin brownies are bliss, and pumpkin mac and cheese is a must try! However, I am no PSL fan partly because I...
Apple’s abandonment of hardware standard signals aggressive new IP strategy A demonstrator displays the bottom of the iPhone 7, which features a new microphone grille, where previous iPhones’ headphone jacks were once located. One of the most newsworthy updates to Apple Inc.’s recently released iPhone 7 is the wholesale elimination of the 3.5mm analog headphone jack, a...
Only one side of this issue has any right to be upset 2016 has been an awkward year for race relations. After decades upon decades of watching their rights to due process getting filled with bullets and forced to pay for the spent ammunition, the black communities of North America seem to have collectively said “no more”, and began to protest on a large scale. Although I don’t...
How the Crown Mishandled Ivan Henry’s Trial During the summer months, there was much talk about the wrongful conviction of Ivan Henry, a BC native who spent nearly twenty-seven years behind bars for a series of sexual assaults that he never committed. After being acquitted in 2010 of his ten convictions, Henry initiated an action against the province of BC for which he sought forty-three million...
What do politicians do? This year has certainly been a very interesting one in the realm of politics. From the vigorous debates and drama in the US election, to Brexit, and to the elections in Philippines and Australia, the political departments of news and media outlets have seen a busy time. With the changing political landscape, we also see a change in the people...
It was Todd who said it, flailing about like an eager pre-schooler anxious to answer his teacher’s question. “Me, me; pick me,” his flung-up finger eagerly solicited, as the heads of everyone whirred in his direction, multiple sets of eyes dilating on his ruddy expression. “Statistics show,” he said academically, “that when emergencies occur amid a group of people, response to the ailing is...
Details remain elusive at TPS consultation meeting with Jane and Finch community At a public consultation at the Driftwood Community Center on 7 September 2016, members of the Toronto Police Service (TPS) – including Chair of the Toronto Police Service Board Andy Pringle and Chief Mark Saunders – engaged the Jane and Finch community in a public consultation to elicit feedback on...
A call for sympathy The Philippines is under international scrutiny due to President Duterte’s violent and illegal anti-drug policies. Since becoming President on 30 May 2016, Duterte has encouraged the extrajudicial killing of drug offenders from both police departments and vigilante groups, stating in his inaugural speech at Davao City to “[d]o it yourselves if you have guns, you have my...
To say law school is a stressful environment would be both an understatement and a statement so ridiculously, blatantly obvious that you’d probably dislocate your jaw trying to say “duhhhhh” emphatically enough. I overheard someone say “everyone in law school has an anxiety disorder: it’s called law school”. We end up balancing about 500 pages of readings a week with social and family...
There isn’t a class titled “How to Keep a Straight Face When Someone Lies to You” There are a lot of things you likely won’t learn in law school. This is not a dig at any of our professors, their pedagogy, or even the Canadian legal education system as a whole. The issue is that education can’t replace real world experience. You don’t learn key networking skills poring though a textbook and...
How Pharma Companies Influence Medical Decision Making Pharmaceutical companies that manufacture a particular kind of drug can maintain their monopoly over this product through patent protections, preventing other companies from manufacturing, marketing, and profiting from the drug. However, drug patent protections do expire; most drugs are initially protected for around twenty years in the US...
by Barbara Captijn, former self-represented litigant, blogger and consumer advocate I was pleased to be invited to Osgoode Law School’s “Bring a Self-Represented Litigant (SRL) to Law School Day” on March 14th. Thanks to Dr. Julie Macfarlane of the University of Windsor Law School and Dean Sossin of Osgoode Hall for this opportunity to interact with students and law professors, and share...
By: Andrea S. Anderson, PhD Candidate, Osgoode Hall Law School There is nothing quite like being a defence lawyer—walking into a criminal courtroom with a nice suit on, pulling your litigation case, proceeding to the front to sit at counsel table ready to advocate for your client—only to be stopped by another member of the bar who advises you that the general public are to sit in the body of the...
Black Lives Matter and the Optics of Justice A little over a week ago, Black Lives Matter Toronto staged a demonstration at City Hall to protest a decision by the Special Investigations Unit not to criminally charge the officer who shot and killed Andrew Loku last summer. Many see the death of Andrew Loku, a forty-five -yearold survivor of war and father of five with a history of mental illness...
Justice Cromwell’s departure will test the Liberal government’s call for transparency Justice Thomas Albert Cromwell: “Being a judge is both a great privilege and an onerous responsibility” The news that Justice Cromwell had announced he will retire from the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) on 1 September of this year—twelve years before the mandatory retirement age of 75—seemed to come out of...
Bringing Awareness to the ‘Gap’ A brief look at how stereotypes, myths & seduction affect the application of law in sexual assault cases By Jessica Zita Law has power in constructing knowledge and ideology, yet it functions in dynamic tension with social structure and systems that affect its operation. –Ruthy Lazar If the outpouring of dialogue inspired by Ghomeshi indicates anything, it is...
Before starting law school, I diligently researched what it was like to enter law school as a mature student. I found pitifully few accounts from those that had succeeded in the role, and many that just dropped off without a concrete indicator of where their journey ended. As I near the end of my three years at Osgoode, I can offer evidence (just what every law student needs) that success as a...
I have a problem. Okay, I have lots of problems, but this article is going to focus on just one of them. I’m an information junkie. Sometimes, that leads me to learn about beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that are downright disturbing. Call it a morbid fascination with the deranged, or a waste of time for someone who almost certainly has better things to do. In any case, I’ve habitually gazed...