On January 27th, Holocaust Remembrance Day, the JLSA is inviting students to attend our event dedicated to the commemoration of Holocaust victims and the education of the atrocities under the Nazi Regime. The event will feature introductory remarks from Dean Mary Condon and Associate Dean Karen Drake. Our event will also feature a speech on the importance of Holocaust Remembrance by Irwin Cotler...
On June 10, 2020, I participated in an online debate. It was organized by Ryerson University’s Centre for Free Expression (CFE) and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA). The debate was entitled, “Fighting Anti-Semitism or Silencing Critics of Israel: What’s Behind the Push for Governments to Adopt the IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism?”. The debate was purposefully produced in the...
The agriculture sector is one of the main three sources of greenhouse gas emissions, where cattle, sheep and goat production currently produces approximately half of that amount. Specifically in Canada, 10 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions are from crop and livestock production. Despite this large share of our country’s emissions coming from this source, there has been relatively no...
The intersection of government procurement and subsidies presents a particularly complicated problem in regulating international trade. Government purchases account for ten to fifteen percent of national GDP (Gross Domestic Product) on average, and markedly higher for that of developing countries. In fact, government purchases may represent a significant contribution to developing countries’...
The concept of blind justice is fundamental to the ultimate aspirations of true justice itself: where all members of a given society are treated equally by the rules and laws of that society, irrespective of who one happens to be, and what position in society they happen to occupy. If we conceptualize our system of rules and laws as the concrete foundation on which the rest of our society is...
2020 is the year marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst virus in modern history that pushed society, economies and communities to their breaking point. However, it must not be forgotten that while the pandemic was raging, so was the climate emergency. 2020 marked record-breaking wildfires from Australia to the west coast of the United States, the highest number of powerful Atlantic storms...
The minsky moment triggering the demise of US financial markets in 2008 stems from the fall of Lehman Brothers, underscoring unregulated risks associated with shadow banking. From 2008 to 2021, shadow banking increased at an unprecedented rate as investors and lenders bypass the scrutiny of traditional banking. The downsides, however, are the lack of safety nets in calculating actual risks...
The Nickel Boys never allows you to look away, to make excuses, or to close your eyes and pretend. Colson Whitehead describes the horrors endured by the titular “Nickel boys” students at the fictional reformatory school Nickel Academy in great detail. In doing so, he sheds a light on a dark period of American history and the abuse endured by the students of the real-life Dozier School for Boys...
Steven Soderbergh’s latest flatters to deceive With a cast as star-studded as it commands, Let Them All Talk should be great. However, the film ends up leaving one as cold as the Atlantic Ocean much of it is set on. Released December 10th, 2020 through HBO Max, Let Them All Talk (LTAT) sees Steven Soderbergh tap some of the most decorated talents in his bursting rolodex. The pieces should add up...
Last issue, I suggested that Haydn—whose music is generally recognized for its technical mastery and historical significance—is still not played or listened to enough. This time, I turn to another (relatively) underrated composer, Francis Poulenc (1899-1963). Now, I suspect even Poulenc aficionados would not try to present him as an innovator or a jack of all trades. He did not influence...
Mario Lofranco continues his essay on ending the stigma surrounding doping in Sports In the first part of this article series, I refuted the three common arguments for maintaining the prohibition on doping in sport: (1) naturalness; (2) unfair advantage; and (3) the spirit of sport. In this article, I discuss the most common argument in favour of the prohibition against doping – harm – and argue...
How the Leafs Budding Young Stars Performed at the World Juniors On January 5, 2021, the United States, led by promising goaltender Spencer Knight (FLA), blanked Canada 2-0 in the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championship (WJC) final, capturing their 5th title. The WJC is a fan favourite and every Boxing Day marks the beginning of an exciting tournament for both the young players and NHL front offices...
With the pandemic creating an All-Canadian NHL Division this season, we’re due for a hockey war up North Well, after a tumultuous 2020 on and off the ice, Canadian hockey fans are in store for an incredible NHL season. With that in mind, let’s tackle the newly formed Scotia™ NHL™ North Division. This division is undoubtedly a return to the NHL’s roots, as you’d have to harken all the way back to...
Welcome back to NBA basketball! The NBA regular season has started once again a mere two months after the end of the 2019-2020 season, this time on a shortened 72 game schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the NBA may have returned, the Raptors appear to remain on “vacation mode” as they begin their season with a losing record of 2-7 (at the time of writing), currently the second...
Why the right decision is seldom well-received in the NFL In their penultimate game of the 2020 season, Philadelphia Eagles’ (now former) head coach Doug Pederson made a decision that nearly sparked a revolt amongst the Eagles’ roster, cost the New York Giants a playoff spot, and left the NFL community at large in a state of moral panic. The decision under trial was the choice to bench emerging...
The international community received a welcome dose of optimism earlier this week when Moderna Inc., a Massachusetts-based biotech company, released encouraging evidence of its progress in developing a vaccine effective against COVID-19. According to early data released by the company, the Moderna vaccine has proven to be 94.5% effective against COVID-19 upon evaluation by members of the Data...
Connor Campbell is an articling student at McMillian LLP in Toronto, Ontario, and Editor Emeritus of Obiter Dicta. Connor previously served as a staff illustrator for Obiter during his 1L year at Osgoode, before serving as Editor-in-Chief during his 2L and 3L years. Connor was also the staff cartoonist for The Varsity, the school paper at the University of Toronto. Connor graduated from Osgoode...
Stocks chosen for their adherence to environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics have been underperforming the wider equity market. ETFs (exchange-traded funds) focused on buying ESG stocks are performing at their worst levels since the summer of 2019, and short sellers are cashing-in. ESG investing has long been purported as a viable strategy to encourage corporations to move from...
Ant Group Co., commonly known as the proprietor behind Alipay, was set to mark an IPO record if its planned listing for November 5th on Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges proceeded. The name “Ant”, chosen to represent the fact that the payment-processing-platform will accept even the smallest payments, is certainly not representative of the firm’s latest capital raising arrangement. Ant has lined...
Earlier this week, the Ethiopian military launched a military offensive into its Northern region of Tigray. Abiy Ahmed, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, stated that the offensive was in response to an attack on a federal military base in the region. Abiy claims that a regional political group, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), is behind the attacks. Abiy’s military offensive has many...
In 2016, Donald Trump, on his path to becoming the 45th President of the United States, made many significant promises pertaining to the Middle East. Trump boldly stated that he would “utterly destroy ISIS,” “tear up” the Iran nuclear deal, move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel-Aviv to Jerusalem, and bring peace to the one of the most complex and historically violent regions on Earth. Four...
How Each Crisis that Engulfed 2020 was Predictable and Foreseen In 2007, Nassim Nicholas Taleb published his seminal piece, The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, to great commercial success and critical acclaim. The book, among other things, told the story of a popular assumption that remained nestled in the minds of ‘Old World’ citizens until the late 17th century: that all swans...
Let’s go back to January. You know, before this whole COVID thing happened. On Tuesday cheap nights, some friends and I would have the entire day planned out. We’d finish our lectures, do whatever readings we had, and then: movie time. We’d try to book something that sounded remotely good for around 8. Then, we would head out a bit early to grab Five Guys, a staple in our movie night experience...
With exam season looming, it seemed like a good time for another recommendation list to help Osgoode’s students get through this stranger than usual study period. While I have watched 10 seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race since the beginning of the semester, I still somehow found time for a few other things that I wanted to recommend here. Good luck with exams! TV Show – Pen15 Season 2 (CBC...
As I watched Justina Machado’s Penelope Alvarez fail to get her oblivious son to help her with groceries in One Day at a Time, it struck me how relatable the show truly is. The exact scene has played out hundreds of times with my own little brother, headphones in and video game on, oblivious to my mother asking for his help. It was a small moment, but it reminded me of the appeal of sitcoms, of...