On Friday, September 18, 2020, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away as a result of complications from metastatic cancer of the pancreas. Reportedly, she died at home in the company of her family. Her death meant the end of a 27-year stint sitting as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), and for many, the end of a legal and feminist icon. Ginsburg is...
In June 2020, violence erupted at the Indian-Chinese border. Soldiers from both sides fought with their bare hands, pelting stones and wielding iron bars and nail-studded clubs – all in pitch darkness. Many fell to their deaths, off a steep cliff and into the freezing Galwan river. India and China share a nearly 3500 km. long boundary, split into three sectors: the Western LAC (Line of...
In case you have not been keeping up with the drama around video-sharing app TikTok, the app has found a lifeline for its time in the U.S. by partnering with U.S. firms Oracle and Walmart. While TikTok has had major success over the summer and has grown into a massive global craze, the company has come under fire for fear that the data collected on its massive user-base may be handed over to...
During my first welcome reception at Osgoode, I vividly remember a male articling student at the hosting firm telling me, completely unprompted, why there aren’t as many women in law as men. “I guess it’s all the harassment,” he said, laughing nervously. “It can be hard, you know. With sexism.” At the time, I was irritated that he had acted as if this was some sort of revelation to me...
For many Canadians right now, the scale of the coronavirus calls to mind the Great Depression or the 2008 financial crisis—events that forever reshaped society. The current crisis has changed the way we travel and interact with people, the level of surveillance and security we are accustomed to, and even the way we practice hygiene. Will touch become taboo? What will become of sports stadiums...
The world is on fire. Right now the most obvious example of this is in the Western United States where 3.1 million acres have already burned down due to forest fires over the past two weeks. Despite the wealth of scientific evidence that names climate change as the main culprit behind this, President Donald Trump says the wildfires and mass devastation that is happening are just because of poor...
There’s a trope that law school self-selects for people who like to argue. But even if you like to argue, you may not be going about it in the most productive way. If law school is all about education, the way we converse about opposing views should follow suit. This is where we need the principle of charity. The principle of charity addresses how we should assess an argument or particular...
Winged Words Story # 1 In 2017, I visited an old friend in New York, to see her city through her eyes and to take advantage of her kindness and free couch. I fell in love with it and vowed to return again in some capacity, if one day I could. It’s the only American city I can see myself calling home one day, there’s something about its vibrance and dynamism, there’s a magic in being lost in a sea...
Elevation and depth in the world serve to complicate one’s wish to move in a linear manner. Yet life is a non-linear journey, and so we find beauty in things that rise and tower above us, and mystery in the incalculable things that plunge below us. There is value, it seems, in viewing things in a complex manner. On the other hand, when we eliminate the complexity of our world, as totalitarians...
Everyone I speak to quickly learns that I’m interested in pursuing criminal law, so it should be no surprise that I enjoy the occasional true crime story or two. The genre has become prolific, especially on Netflix, and there is no shortage of media to consume. I have particularly enjoyed the following stories, and I hope you find something that piques your interest whether you’re an experienced...
Obiter’s Survey of Books on China Continues At the heart of Canadian historian Timothy Brook’s new book, Great State: China and the World (Harper, 2020), is a desire to show that China’s interactions with the rest of the world—at least since the thirteenth century—have been varied and complex. Indeed, China did not exist in splendid isolation until being “opened up” in the eighteenth and...
That was one of the questions put to viewers by Netflix’s recent documentary, The Social Dilemma. The documentary interviews prominent technological experts who helped design some of the most iconic social media functions: for example, Facebook’s “like” button. The documentary begins with experts acknowledging there is a problem but having difficulty labelling and defining the problem. Of...
A few weeks ago, the French film Cuties landed on Netflix amid a torrent of criticism that the movie promotes pedophilia. The outrage was largely tied to the image that Netflix had chosen to market the film, which showed the movie’s 11-year-old protagonists—a group of girls who form a dance troupe—in sexually suggestive poses and clad in skin-tight, barely-there costumes. The image was, as...
With new talent in tow,, the Blues appear poised to mount a title challenge In a Premier League offseason in which business as usual was severely dampened by COVID’s impact on normally bursting club coffers, Chelsea had a transfer window for the ages. While financial juggernauts like Manchester City tightened their purse strings, tinpot clubs like Liverpool furloughed staff, and Arsenal players...
A championship-proven team. Free food and drinks. Free penthouses. Coaching and medical staff attending to your needs. A city and country that loves and adores you. The opportunity to repeat as NBA champions. Who would say no to that? Kawhi could’ve had everything he wanted had he stayed in Toronto. Ultimately, the allure of playing in his hometown was the deciding factor for Kawhi to leave...
On September 12, 2020, it was announced that the New York Islanders general manager, Lou Lamoriello, former GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs, had won the Jim Gregory award for General Manager of the Year. Much like any time the Islanders scored on or had beaten the Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, or Tampa Bay Lightning on the road to the Eastern Conference Final, my dad was quick to let me...
Welcome to Obiter 2020-2021 When I joined Obiter in 2018, I had a simple goal; write about law school as little as possible, and remind people that behind their academic veneer, they were far more than just students. I wrote to show people that who they were before law school was someone still worth being, that these legal identities prescribed for us were not as all-consuming as they felt. ...
This year, more than any other year, Obiter Dicta is committed to ensuring the voices that need to be heard have a platform to call theirs. We are committed to doing everything within our power as a paper to publish pieces that are representative of the change that has occurred, and the change that is yet to come. Police brutality, structural racism, and systemic injustice have inspired the...
From Dr. Theresa Tam to Osgoode Hall’s Faculty Council When the pandemic first became a reality late last spring, it was not obvious what the world would look like six months down the road. Many – including myself – were expecting a shut-down of at least a couple months, but nobody could have predicted that we would still be practicing social distancing on a society-wide scale in mid...
Investing has always seemed to be somewhat of a mystery to the average person. However, this is quickly changing. In one way or another, nearly all Canadians have had some exposure to the capital markets, whether it be through the Canadian Pension Plan, their retirement account, or their deposits at the bank. Eventually, all this money is used as capital to support businesses who need it, and...
In June 2020, violence erupted at the Indian-Chinese border. Soldiers from both sides fought with their bare hands, pelting stones and wielding iron bars and nail-studded clubs – all in pitch darkness. Many fell to their deaths, off a steep cliff and into the freezing Galwan river. India and China share a nearly 3500 km. long boundary, split into three sectors: the Western LAC (Line of...
The stock market is not the economy, and the economy is not the stock market. The two have always been distinct, but the disconnect has perhaps never been more pronounced. Yet, confusion abounds (thanks, in part, to the efforts of self-styled investing gurus on TikTok and other social media “finfluencers”). I hope to alleviate some of that confusion with this article. If I can save at least one...
Whether it’s because of its domination of online retail, its tax-evading strategies, or its founder’s wealth, Amazon has been under constant fire in the past few years from political commentators, consumers, and the media. In August, the Canadian Competition Bureau launched an investigation into Amazon for activity potentially impacting competition to the detriment of consumers and businesses in...
The International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP) organizes law students and lawyers to develop and enforce a set of legal and human rights for refugees and displaced persons. We’re gearing up for a 2020-2021 year filled with events, the latest migration news, and effective advocacy on behalf of our clients. This year, the IRAP Osgoode chapter will: Work on the case files of 3 applicants...
Hello Osgoode! To the 1Ls, welcome to Osgoode Hall! We’re excited that you chose Osgoode Hall to begin your legal career. The Asian Law Students Association (ALSA) is a student club at Osgoode Hall Law School committed to fostering a friendly student environment and working towards dismantling systemic barriers in the legal profession and beyond. We provide mentorship and networking...