Author: Tal Schreier

Cheryl Milne Receives OBA Award of Excellence in Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Law

Posted on by Tal Schreier

The Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is delighted to announce that our Executive Director, Cheryl Milne, has been awarded the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) Award of Excellence in Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Law. The award was presented on October 8, 2025, following the 24th Annual Charter Conference, hosted by the OBA’s Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Law Section.

This prestigious award recognizes outstanding contributions to the advancement of constitutional and human rights law in Ontario through advocacy, education, and public service. Recipients are selected for their demonstrated excellence, leadership, and commitment to upholding the values enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Cheryl was nominated for the award by faculty and students at the University of Toronto Henry N. R. Jackman Faculty of Law, who praised her tireless commitment to advancing constitutional rights through litigation, research, and legal education. She was introduced at the awards ceremony by Mary Birdsell, Executive Director of Justice for Children and Youth, who spoke to Cheryl’s long-standing dedication to protecting the rights of young people and marginalized communities.

Earlier in the day, Cheryl also participated in the 24th Annual Charter Conference, where she presented on the constitutional implications of refugee protection policies under section 7 of the Charter.

Before joining the Asper Centre, Cheryl served as a staff lawyer at Justice for Children and Youth, where she represented children and youth in a wide range of legal matters and played a pivotal role in advancing child rights advocacy in Canada.

As the Asper Centre’s founding Executive Director since 2008, Cheryl has led the Centre’s work in constitutional advocacy, research, and experiential education at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. Under her leadership, the Centre has intervened in landmark constitutional cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, trained hundreds of law students in public interest litigation, and deepened understanding of constitutional rights in Canada through innovative programming and partnerships.

The Asper Centre community congratulates Cheryl on this well-deserved recognition of her exceptional career and her profound contributions to advancing the rights and freedoms of all Canadians.

Asper Centre Calls for Stronger Role for Public Interest Interveners in Canadian Courts

Posted on by Tal Schreier

On September 9, 2025, the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights released its new report, More than Busybodies – Asper Centre Report. The report makes the case for strengthening the role of public interest interveners, who provide courts with essential perspectives that go beyond the positions of the immediate parties.

Drawing on research by Asper Centre students and staff, as well as a March 2025 Roundtable with leading practitioners and organizations that regularly intervene, the report highlights barriers that too often prevent interveners from contributing fully, including inconsistent leave decisions, restrictive procedures, and a lack of transparency.

To address these challenges, the report offers concrete recommendations to improve the intervention process, such as requiring courts to give reasons when denying leave, shielding interveners from cost awards, and ensuring adequate time for oral arguments.

“Public interest interveners are not mere busybodies—they bring diverse perspectives and lived experience that help courts see the broader stakes of constitutional litigation,” the report stresses.

With nearly 70% of Supreme Court of Canada cases in recent years featuring interveners, the Asper Centre underscores that their role is critical to the development of constitutional law. By adopting the report’s recommendations, Canadian courts can ensure that public interest voices are not sidelined but empowered to contribute meaningfully to justice.

Read More than Busybodies – Asper Centre Report

My Summer Fellowship at the Canadian Environmental Law Association

Posted on by Tal Schreier

by Olivia Parker

This summer, I had the privilege of being sponsored by the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights through the Yaremko Fellowship program to work with the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) in Toronto. Founded in 1970, CELA is a legal aid clinic dedicated to advancing environmental justice for low-income Ontarians. Over its long history, CELA has been involved in significant cases such as representing residents of Walkerton during the 2000 drinking water tragedy, and ongoing litigation on behalf of citizens in Elliot Lake seeking a cleanup order for uranium waste used as backfill in their homes.

Environmental Legal Action Guide

Asper Centre/CELA Environmental Legal Action Guide, 2025

During my time at CELA, I worked on several projects and researched a range of pressing environmental law issues. I helped finalize an Environmental Legal Action Guidebook created in partnership with the Asper Centre. This guide, which originated as an Asper Centre working group project, is a 73-page, five-chapter detailed resource designed for activists seeking to use Canadian law to advance environmental justice. It covers Ontario’s Environmental Bill of Rights, nuisance law, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Indigenous rights, and law reform strategies. I edited the Guidebook to make it more accessible and prepared it for publication. I hope it will be a practical tool for communities and advocates across Canada.

Early in the summer, I examined U.S. state-level environmental justice legislation to identify potential reforms for Ontario. I found examples from four states requiring developers to conduct cumulative impact assessments when proposing facilities in vulnerable communities—considering both the facility’s direct effects and existing environmental risks. These insights could guide similar proposals here in Ontario to strengthen environmental protections.

I also researched ways to improve environmental protections for migrant farm workers in Canada, many of whom face dangerous exposure to extreme heat and pesticides—both on the job and in employer-provided housing, which currently has no upper temperature limit. Drawing from U.S. and European statutes and advocacy initiatives, I developed recommendations including “right-to-know” pesticide hazard laws and an upper temperature standard for housing.

CELA, in partnership with the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, recently released a poster outlining how recipients of Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) or Ontario Works (OW) can apply for funding for air conditioning units. Although funding is discretionary and requires a doctor’s note, we received numerous reports of applicants being denied despite meeting the medical requirement. I contacted multiple ODSP/OW offices across Ontario to gather information on how municipalities allocate this funding—research that could help shape future law reform.

In Ontario, public health units are required to identify populations particularly vulnerable to climate change and develop strategies to reduce these impacts. Of the 29 health units in the province, 17 have completed such assessments. I reviewed these assessments to produce a report highlighting vulnerable communities across Ontario. Consistently, children, seniors, and people of low socioeconomic status were identified as most at risk. Many health units also highlighted those who are chronically ill, Indigenous peoples, and newcomers to Canada. CELA intends to use these findings to inform policy recommendations that will better support these groups as climate change impacts intensify.

I am deeply grateful to the Asper Centre and CELA for making this experience possible. Over the summer, I developed my legal research and writing skills while engaging with complex and urgent issues in environmental law. I highly recommend this fellowship to other law students and look forward to continuing my work in environmental and constitutional law.

Olivia Parker is a rising 2L JD Candidate (2027) at the Faculty of Law and was the Asper Centre fellow at CELA this summer. 

Meet Megan Savard, the Asper Centre’s new Constitutional Litigator in Residence for Fall 2025

Posted on by Tal Schreier

By Tyler Lee & Romina Hajizadeh 

During her term at Downtown Legal Services, a young and eager Megan Savard was called upon by an elderly man who had been accused of a domestic assault. He struggled with the weight and bureaucracy of the legal system, and Savard was his last hope to defend the case. Based on her interactions with the accused, Savard sensed something was wrong with the charge. Her intuitions were vindicated when, while carefully scanning a pile of evidence, Savard eventually found a photograph depicting a lock of hair ripped from the man’s head — a crucial piece of exculpatory evidence indicating that he was not the aggressor. Savard was hooked: from that moment onwards, she knew that she wanted to be a lawyer representing people in need of legal services, helping them navigate the justice system through their toughest challenges. 

We heard this story and many more while speaking with Savard about her career so far, her constitutional law expertise, and what she’s looking forward to in her new role as the Litigator in Residence at the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights. We are thrilled to have Megan play an integral role in the Asper Centre student clinical program, which allows students to gain practical experience in constitutional litigation. 

Megan Savard’s legal journey began at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, where she was a member of the inaugural cohort of student clinicians at the Asper Centre. There, she partnered with OJEN to develop a trial advocacy program for students in rural Ontario. Savard felt as though she was, in some ways, “introducing a brand-new way of looking at the justice system.” In other ways, however, she was conscious of her positionality as a white woman presenting a colonial system. Mindful of this, her goal was to make the justice system as approachable and accessible as possible. For Savard, this experienced reinforced the fact that the justice system is a Western construct, and it is Canada’s obligation to make that system as inclusive as possible. Ultimately, her experience as a clinical student was extremely profound, showing her that the justice system is not solely about individual clients – in many ways, it is also about pursuing “macro-level” change.  

After law school, Savard set out to make an impact in the field of criminal law. When asked about what drew her to criminal law in particular, Savard explained that criminal law was particularly high stakes owing to the relationship between the Crown and the accused, and liberty interests at stake with cases involving potential incarceration. Though Savard noted that clients might not always be an external source of validation, she felt that her work involved shining a light on state-perpetuated injustice and vindicating the rights of society at large, rather than just one client. This inspires her relentless pursuit of justice. 

During her time at a boutique litigation firm, Savard developed strong litigation skills with a particular focus on winning the hearts of jurists and judges. When asked about her view on what makes for successful litigation in constitutional matters, Savard explained that litigators will rarely win the day if the triers of fact cannot intuitively grasp the ramifications of state excess or state overreach. Savard noted that coming equipped with easily digestible arguments (and several alternative arguments) increases a litigator’s chances of success. 

Equipped with these skills, Savard founded Savards LLP in 2021. Though Savard explained that there are quite a few “headaches” that come along with managing a firm, she explained that she enjoyed the freedom to take control of the way she does business and the clients she takes on. She wanted to maintain a practice purely in criminal law with an emphasis on assisting low-income, marginalized clients.  

When asked what misconceptions surround her practice and constitutional litigation more broadly, Savard pushed against the notion of defendants “getting off” of Charter violations on a technicality. She noted the recent Quebec Court of Appeal decision in Luamba as an example, illustrating how such litigation can unveil systemic discrimination towards marginalized communities in our justice system. “To be able to shine a spotlight on that and hold the state accountable… you could never call that a technicality.”  

Now, Savard is returning to the University of Toronto, where her legal career began. In what is a full-circle moment from her time as a member of the Asper Centre’s inaugural cohort of clinical students, she will now serve as our Litigator in Residence for the 2025/26 academic year. She hopes to positively impact the Asper Centre by getting students involved at every stage of litigation. Savard noted that the Asper Centre clinical program allows students to get the experience of being the client (in the context of interventions), while simultaneously taking a big picture look at the law. For her, this “combination of practical exposure to the trade of law” alongside the big picture perspective the Asper Centre takes to constitutional issues is what gets her most excited for the clinic.  

Ultimately, Savard sees the clinic as a space for her to learn as well. “Students are in the business of learning and questioning” our legal institutions, creating an environment that allows practitioners to revisit old notions of how to practice law. 

Read more about Megan’s appointment here and listen to Megan giving a master class in criminal defense remedies in a recent episode of the Asper Centre’s Charter: A Course podcast.

Tyler Lee & Romina Hajizadeh are rising 2Ls at the Faculty of Law and the 2025 Asper Centre summer research assistants.

Megan Savard Named Fall 2025 Constitutional Litigator in Residence

Posted on by Tal Schreier

We are delighted to announce that Megan Savard has been selected as the Asper Centre’s Constitutional Litigator in Residence for Fall 2025.

Megan will co-teach the Asper Centre’s Clinic Course alongside Executive Director Cheryl Milne during the Fall 2025 term. This upper-year course at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law offers students a unique opportunity to engage directly in Charter rights advocacy, including constitutional litigation.

With her deep expertise in constitutional litigation and criminal defence law, Megan will bring invaluable insight and experience to the Clinic. She will support student work on a range of impactful projects, including criminal law-related interventions and the Asper Centre’s ongoing Voting Age Charter challenge.

We look forward to welcoming Megan and to the exciting contributions she will bring to the Centre and our students.

Megan Savard is a partner at Savards LLP. She practices criminal, constitutional and regulatory law, with a particular focus on sexual offences, privacy law, and complex constitutional litigation. Her client-focused approach ensures that the justice system works for her clients, not against them.

Megan is an experienced trial and appellate advocate, appearing regularly at all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. She has been counsel in some of Canada’s highest-profile cases. Megan is consulted by individuals and organizations on criminal and constitutional issues. She acts as duty counsel for the Ontario Court of Appeal’s Inmate Appeal Duty Counsel Program. Megan is recognized by Best Lawyers in Canada in Appellate Practice and Criminal Defence.

Megan is an active leader in Canada’s premier advocacy organizations. She is a past Director of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, and has co-chaired its Litigation Committee.

Megan is a sought-after speaker on criminal law issues. She lectures frequently at conferences and universities, and educates judges, lawyers and police officers about emerging issues. Megan teaches Trial Advocacy at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law and has served on the faculty of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s National Criminal Law Program. She also provides expert testimony about criminal law issues in non-criminal tribunals.

In 2019, Megan received the Precedent Setter Award, which recognizes lawyers for excellence and leadership in the legal community. In 2024, Toronto Life recognized her as one of the 50 Most Influential Torontonians for her representation of high-profile clients.

View the Asper Centre’s past Constitutional Litigators in Residence HERE.