David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights

Albie Sachs: The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law
2010-01-15 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Toronto)
Albie Sachs: The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law
(Oxford University Press, 2009)
Friday, January 15, 2010
3:00 – 4:00 (to be followed by a reception)
Faculty of Law, Flavelle House, Room FLB

Should a judge be an instrument of pure, detached reason, or a person imbued with human empathy? Albie Sachs, appointed by Nelson Mandela to South Africa’s first Constitutional Court, which has heard landmark cases dealing with terrorism and torture, social and economic rights, the truth commission, and same sex marriages, argues that reason and passion are inextricably linked in the judicial function. The talk offers a unique insight into the judicial philosophy of one of the world’s most prominent constitutional judges, recounted in Sachs’ recent book The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law (OUP, 2009).
Read more about Albie Sachs
To be followed by a reception and book signing in the Rowell Room, Flavelle House.

Workshop: The Charter Rights of Canadian Citizens Abroad
2009-11-24 12:30 - 14:00
What duties does the Canadian government owe to Canadian citizens when they are outside of the country? Is there such a thing as a legal duty to protect citizens from harm, or seek their repatriation when they have suffered harm? What are the rules, post Hape and Khadr, governing the extraterritorial application of the Charter, as well as the impact of international law on those rules? What are the implications of anti-terrorist measures that involve information sharing with governments that may engage in coercive practices on Canadian citizens abroad? This distinguished panel of practitioners and academics will address these complex issues and more.
Paul Champ is the founding partner of Ottawa law firm Champ & Associates. He is a litigation lawyer with a focus on human rights, employment, labour, and public interest law, and has developed a practice in national security law. Paul regularly acts as counsel to organizations such as Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, and his firm is a partner with the International Justice Network. Paul has defended the human rights of detainees in the custody of the Canadian military in Afghanistan, was involved in the Iacobucci Inquiry, and appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada in Canada v. Khadr. He was co-counsel in Abdelrazik v. Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Prof. Audrey Macklin is a professor at the Faculty of Law. She holds law degrees from Yale and Toronto, and a bachelor of science degree from Alberta. She served as law clerk to Mme Justice Bertha Wilson at the Supreme Court of Canada. Prof. Macklin’s teaching areas include criminal law, administrative law, and immigration & refugee law. Her research and writing interests include transnational migration, citizenship, forced migration, feminist and cultural analysis, and human rights. She has published on these subjects in numerous journals and in collections of essays such as The Security of Freedom: Essays on Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Bill and Engendering Forced Migration. Prof. Macklin has been active in the Omar Khadr case and most recently acted as co-counsel for the Asper Centre in Prime Minister of Canada et al. v. Omar Khadr at the Supreme Court.
Prof. Ed Morgan is a professor at the Faculty of Law where he teaches in the fields of international law and constitutional law. He has a B.A. from Northwestern University, an LL.B. from the University of Toronto and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He has written numerous law journal articles, case comments, and book chapters dealing with international and constitutional law issues. He is a regular contributor to national newspapers on issues of international and constitutional law. Professor Morgan has appeared at all levels of Canadian courts as well as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Decolonization Committee of the United Nations, and has provided expert evidence on international law to numerous U.S. federal and state courts in jurisdictional disputes and conflict of laws cases. He has represented numerous public interest groups in constitutional, and public interest appeals, and has argued sovereign immunity cases in the Ontario courts, the U.S. federal courts, and the Supreme Court of Canada on behalf of and in challenges to a number of national governments.
Lorne Waldman, LL.B., LL.M., graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1977. He was called to the bar in 1979 and since then he has been practicing exclusively in the area of immigration and refugee law. Mr. Waldman has appeared very frequently at all levels of courts in Canada, including the Federal Court where he has argued many of the leading cases in immigration and refugee law. He was counsel for the Senate of the Republic of Italy when it intervened before the Supreme Court in Burns and Rafay and was one of the senior counsels representing Maher Arar at the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar. He recently represented the Canadian Bar Association in The Prime Minister of Canada et al v. Omar Khadr.
A light lunch will be served.
Event date: Tuesday, November 24, 2009, from 12:30 AM to 2:00 AM
Location: Room FLB, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Prime Minister of Canada et al. v. Omar Khadr
2009-11-13 09:00 - 13:00
Students and Faculty are welcome to come and watch the live webcast of the argument at the Supreme Court of Canada in Prime Minister of Canada, et al. v. Omar Khadr. The Asper Centre and the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) have been granted standing in the case as interveners with Human Rights Watch. Professor Audrey Macklin will be our co-counsel with John Norris and Brydie Bethel. Professor Sujit Choudhry is acting as counsel for the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. Directors Cheryl Milne and Diana Juricevic will be on hand to answer questions about the case.
Coffee and muffins will be served.

Event date: Friday, November 13, 2009, from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM
Location: Rm FLB, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Workshop: Human Rights at the UK Supreme Court
2009-11-05 12:30 - 14:00
David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights
and the International Human Rights Program
Present
Michael Fordham, QC
Human Rights at the UK Supreme Court

A light lunch will be served.
Michael Fordham QC is a leading public law and human rights barrister in London (www.blackstonechambers.com). His awards have included Human Rights Lawyer of the Year 2005, the Bar Pro Bono Award 2006, and Human Rights and Public Law QC of the Year 2008. Mike has appeared in more than 30 cases in the UK’s Supreme Court (formerly known as the House of Lords), including many interventions for non-governmental organizations, beginning with Amnesty International in the Pinochet cases (Pinochet [2000] 1 AC 61; and Pinochet (No.3) [2000] 1 AC 147). Mike led the interventions for JUSTICE in the anti-terrorism control orders cases (MB v SSHD [2007] UKHL 46; JJ v SSHD [2007] UKHL 45; AF v SSHD [2009] UKHL 28) and in the asset-freezing case (A v HM Treasury, pending: the first appeal argued in the new Supreme Court). Mike has also led the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)’s interventions in Fornah v SSHD [2006] UKHL 46 (gender-based persecution) and R v Asfaw [2008] UKHL 31 (refugee penalisation); the intervention by Liberty in YL v Birmingham CC [2007] UKHL 27 (human rights in private care homes); as well as pending interventions for UNHCR (asylum and sexual-orientation) and Bail for Immigration Detainees (immigration detention due process). Mike is author of the Judicial Review Handbook (5th ed., 2008), co-editor of the quarterly journal Judicial Review (since 1996) and College Lecturer in Administrative Law at Hertford College, Oxford.
Michael Fordham will be talking about recent trends in human rights cases before the UK Supreme Court.
Please RSVP to Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca
Event date: Thursday, November 05, 2009, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Solarium, Falconer Hall, Faculty of Law

Workshop on Exclusion of Evidence Cases
2009-09-30 12:30 - 14:00
Grant, Harrison, Shepherd & Suberu:
The Supreme Court Decisions of the Summer of 2009
Watch the Webcast
On July 17, 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its long awaited decisions in R. v. Grant, R. v. Harrison, R. v. Shepherd and R. v. Suberu clarifying the law in respect of the exclusion of evidence under s.24(2) of the Charter. Their decisions have been described as an appropriate balancing between liberty interests and the administration of justice, a clear message to police of the constitutional limits placed on their powers, and an imaginative redrafting of the Stillman test, but with an impact that might be hard to predict. Join our distinguished panel who will summarize, debate and discuss the ramifications of the decisions from many perspectives.
Professor Hamish Stewart is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Toronto, where he has taught criminal law, evidence, and several other subjects since 1993. Before attending law school, he studied economics, receiving his B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1983 and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1989, and he taught for a year in the economics department at Williams College in Massachusetts. He received his LL.B. degree from the University of Toronto in 1992, clerked at the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992-93, and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1998. From 1998 to 2007, he was an Associate Editor of the Canadian Criminal Cases and the Dominion Law Reports. Professor Stewart is the principal author of Sexual Offences in Canadian Law (Canada Law Book, 2004), the General Editor of Evidence: A Canadian Casebook, 2d ed. (Emond Montgomery, 2006), and the author of more than 40 scholarly papers in criminal law, evidence, legal theory, and economics.
Professor Martha Shaffer joined the Faculty of Law in 1990, and is now an associate professor. She holds law degrees from Harvard and Toronto, as well as an undergraduate degree from Harvard. She served as Law Clerk to the Supreme Court of Canada for Chief Justice Brian Dickson, before becoming the Boulton Junior Fellow at the Faculty of Law, McGill University. Professor Shaffer’s principal research and teaching interests concentrate on criminal law, family law and equality issues.
Jonathan Dawe was counsel for the Appellant in R. v. Grant and the Civil Liberties Association in R. v. Harrison. B.Sc.(Hons.), McGill University (1987); LL.B., University of Toronto (1994); LL.M., Yale Law School (1996). Called to the Ontario Bar, 1997, Partner with Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP (Toronto). Clerked for the Rt. Hon. Antonio Lamer, C.J.C. (1994-95). Associate Commission Counsel to the Driskell Inquiry (Manitoba; 2006-07). Practices in the area of criminal and constitutional law, with a special emphasis on criminal appeals. Teaches Criminal Procedure (1999-2004; 2010-) and Advanced Criminal Procedure and Charter Issues (2009-) at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto.
Rick Visca was counsel for the Respondent in R. v. Harrison. He graduated from University of Toronto with a degree in Political Science . Studied law at the University of Victoria, and received LLB in 1992. Articles at Holden Day Wilson. Began as a prosecutor with the Department of Justice in 1994. Prosecuted drug, tax, misleading advertising, and other miscellaneous federal legislation offences. Maintains a trial and appellate practice with the now Public Prosecution Service of Canada.
Event date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Bennett Lecture Hall, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Student Working Groups Information Session
2009-06-22 12:30 - 14:00
U. of T. law students are invited to attend an information session on the various working groups of the Asper Centre. Volunteers are needed to participate in the following groups over the course of the school year:
• Emerging Constitutional Issues
• The Charter and Canadian Citizens Abroad
• The Internet Surveillance Working Group
• Legal Aid Boycott
(Pizza lunch will be provided.)
Event date: Tuesday, September 22, 2009, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Bennett Lecture Hall

Clinical Course Deadline
2009-06-15
Monday, June 15, 2009, at 4:00 PM
Deadline for upper year students to submit their application for the fall 2009 term of the Asper Centre Clinical Legal Education Course.

Parliamentary Democracy Book Launch
2009-04-21 04:30 - 18:00
PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN CRISIS: The Dilemmas, Choices and Future of Parliamentary Government in Canada
Edited by Lorne Sossin and Peter Russell, published by University of Toronto Press
Faculty of Law, Flavelle House, Rowell Room
Our distinguished panelists discussed the future of Canada’s democracy: lessons learned and where to we go from here. This is the third in our series on the topic and celebrated the book that came out of our December 5th event on the Governor General’s decision to prorogue Parliament. The discussion was followed by a wine and cheese reception to celebrate the publication and the accomplishments of the Asper Centre in its first year. Our panelists included:
Peter Hogg is the Scholar in Residence of the law firm Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP (Blakes). He is professor emeritus at the Osgoode Hall Law School of York University. Peter is the leading constitutional law scholar in Canada. He is the author of the only comprehensive treatise, namely, Constitutional Law of Canada.
Michael Valpy is an award-winning Canadian journalist and author. He writes for the Globe and Mail newspaper where he made his reputation on both political and human interest stories. Through a long career at the Globe, he has been a reporter, Ottawa-based national political columnist, member of the editorial board, deputy managing editor, Africa-based correspondent during the last years of apartheid, and religious affairs columnist.
David Cameron is a Professor of Political Science at U of T, and is renowned for his significant career in public service at both federal and provincial levels of government. Professor Cameron’s interests include Canadian government and politics, questions of federalism and Quebec nationalism, ethnocultural relations, and the politics and constitution-making of emerging federal countries such as Sri Lanka and Iraq.
Barbara Cameron is an Associate Professor of Political Science at York University where she teaches courses on public policy and Canadian government at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Her current research focuses on the challenges of democratic accountability in the context of Canada’s system of federalism and the growing power of the executive branch of government. In addition to her academic publications, she works with non-governmental organizations on public policy issues, including the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Child Care Advocacy Association of Canada.
Sujit Choudhry (moderator) holds the Scholl Chair and is Associate Dean (First Year Program) at the U of T. He is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Science, the School of Public Policy and Governance, and the Department of Health Management, Policy and Evaluation. He is a Senior Fellow of Massey College, and a Member of the University of Toronto Centre for Ethics and Joint Centre for Bioethics.
With an introduction and concluding remarks from the editors:
Lorne Sossin is a Professor at the U of T’s Faculty of Law. His teaching interests span administrative law, public administration, professional regulation, civil litigation, ethics and professionalism, and legal process. He was the recipient of the Mewett Teaching Award in 2003 and 2004.
Peter Russell is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto. He has published widely in academic journals and intervened in many instances of constitutional crisis and development. He is the author of several books on the constitution, democracy and the judiciary, including Two Cheers for Minority Government: The Evolution of Canadian Parliamentary Democracy.

(2009)

Leading legal scholars weigh in on current constitutional quandary
2008-12-05
A special panel discussion with leading constitutional scholars to discuss the Governor General’s decision to prorogue Parliament.
Read presentations on the Faculty Blog.

Litigating the Charter: Strategies for a Successful Charter Claim in the 21st Century
2008-09-05
The inaugural event of the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights was a colloquium where leading constitutional scholars and litigators discussed current challenges and possibilities in constitutional theory and practice.
