David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights

Clinical Course Deadline 2010
2010-06-14
Monday, June 14, 2010, at 4:00 PM
Deadline for upper year students to submit their application for the fall 2010 term of the Asper Centre Clinical Legal Education Course.

Criminalization of Polygamy: Constitutional or Not?
2010-03-23 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Toronto)
Join us for a panel discussion on the upcoming reference at the British Columbia Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of s. 293 of the Criminal Code which prohibits polygamy in Canada. This case has attracted wide interest, and will involve various interveners, including the Asper Centre together with the Canadian Coalition for Children and Youth, and other religious, women’s and children’s, and civil liberties organizations. Cheryl Milne, Director of the Asper Centre, will moderate a panel including faculty members Lorraine Weinrib, Rebecca Cook, and Mohammad Fadel. Professor Weinrib, who has published widely in the area of the Charter and teaches several courses in constitutional law, will address the issue of freedom of religion with respect to polygamy, particularly the treatment of children and vulnerable persons by religious institutions, and more specifically the questions of religious framing of the family with reference to polygamous communities. Professor Fadel, who teaches Religion and the Liberal State: The Case of Islam and has published numerous articles in Islamic legal history, will discuss polygamy under Islamic law and associated issues freedom of religion. Finally, Professor Cook, Faculty Chair in International Human Rights and Co-Director of the International Programme on Reproductive and Sexual Health Law at the University of Toronto, will address Canada’s obligations under international law with respect to polygamy.
A light lunch will be served.

March 23, 2010

Constitutional Roundtable - Marci Hamilton
2010-03-17 12:30 - 14:00
Marci Hamilton – Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
The Rules Against Scandal and What They Mean For the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses
NOTE: Room change to FLA in Flavelle House.
MARCI A. HAMILTON is one of the United States’ leading church/state scholars and holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University. She is the author of JUSTICE DENIED: WHAT AMERICA MUST DO TO PROTECT ITS CHILDREN (Cambridge University Press 2008) and GOD VS. THE GAVEL: RELIGION AND THE RULE OF LAW (Cambridge University Press 2005, 2007). She is also a columnist on constitutional issues for www.findlaw.com, where her column appears every other Thursday. She has been a visiting professor at Princeton University, New York University School of Law, Emory University School of Law, and the Princeton Theological Seminary.
Professor Hamilton is frequently asked to advise Congress and state legislatures on the constitutionality of pending legislation and to consult in cases involving important constitutional issues. She was lead counsel for the City of Boerne, Texas, in Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997), before the Supreme Court in its seminal federalism and church/state case holding the Religious Freedom Restoration Act unconstitutional. She has served as constitutional law counsel in many important clergy sex abuse and religious land use cases, and has testified before numerous state legislatures regarding elimination of the statutes of limitations for childhood sex abuse.
Professor Hamilton clerked for Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the United States Supreme Court and Judge Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. She also received her M.A. in Philosophy and M.A., high honors, in English from Pennsylvania State University, and her B.A., summa cum laude, from Vanderbilt University. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order of the Coif.
A light lunch will be provided.
For more workshop information, please contact Professor Lorraine Weinrib at l.weinrib@utoronto.ca or Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca

Event date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Room FLA, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

Clinic Information Session
2010-03-15 12:30 - 14:00
Information session on clinical opportunities
Please join all the clinics for a joint information session about for-credit clinical opportunities in second and third year. Presenters will include: Asper Centre, DLS, Health Law and Equity Clinic, and the IHRP. Each clinic will review the type of cases/projects pursued, admission requirements and application details.
For more information, contact Kara Norrington at kara.norrington@utoronto.ca

Event date: Monday, March 15, 2010, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: FLA, Flavelle House

Canadian Federalism and Treaty Powers: Organic Constitutionalism at Work
2010-03-02 12:30 - 14:00
Hugo Cyr – Université du Québec à Montréal
ABSTRACT: With the increased mobility and interdependence brought on by globalisation, governments can no longer deal effectively with what were traditionally regarded as «domestic issues» unless they cooperate among themselves. International law may once have been a sort of inter-state law concerned mostly with relations between states, but it now looks increasingly inside state borders and has become, to a large degree, a trans-governmental law. While this creates significant challenges even for highly-unified «nation-states», the challenges are even greater for federations in which powers have been divided up between the central government and federated states. What roles should central governments and federated states play in creating and implementing this new form of governance? Using the Canadian federation as its starting point, this case study illustrates a range of factors to be considered in the appropriate distribution of treaty powers within a federation. Professor Cyr also shows how – because it has no specific provisions dealing with the distribution of treaty powers – the Canadian constitution has «organically» developed a tight-knit set of rules and principles responding to these distributional factors. This book is therefore both about the role of federated states in the current world order and an illustration of how organic constitutionalism works.
PRESENTATION: The presentation will focus on the first part of Chapt. II in which I examine the traditional arguments put forward by the federal government to support its claim that it possesses exclusive and plenary powers to make treaties. In that chapter, I show how all such arguments are without valid constitutional foundation. I also demonstrate how orthodox constitutional sources and sound policy reasons support a division of treaty-making powers according to the general division of legislative powers
Hugo Cyr [LL.B., B.C.L. (McGill), LL.M. (Yale), LL.D. (U. de Montréal] is Professor of Public Law and Legal Theory at the Université du Québec à Montréal and a member of the Québec Bar. He is a member of the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la diversité au Québec (CRIDAQ) and Vice President of the Chaire UNESCO d’étude des fondements philosophiques de la justice et de la société démocratique. He has been a Boulton Fellow at McGill University, a law clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada and a Visiting Researcher at the European Academy of Legal Theory. Professor Cyr has also taught at McGill University and the Université de Montréal.
A light lunch will be served.

2010

Overdue Update or Big Brother? Lawful Access and Cyber Surveillance
2010-02-25 12:30 - 14:00
As rapidly advancing communication technology transforms so many aspects of human interaction it is crucial for public safety that investigative powers remain relevant to the rapidly evolving methods of crime. However, these methods must not too broadly infringe on the rights and liberties of Canadian Citizens. In 2009, two bills, C- 46 and C-47, were introduced with the intent of updating the state’s authority to access electronic communications data. These bills have been controversial, provoking very different responses from the law enforcement and privacy communities.
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association are co-hosting a workshop to explore the important issues associated with giving law enforcement easier access to electronic communications data. Topics will include: the emerging realities of internet privacy, informational privacy, and defence and crown perspectives on proposed “lawful access” legislation.
Speakers will include:
Prof. David Murakami Wood is a Canada Research Chair in Surveillance Studies and Associate Professor at Queen’s University. He is a member of Queen’s new Surveillance Studies Centre and Managing Editor of Surveillance & Society, the international journal of surveillance studies. In 2006 he coordinated the influential Report on the Surveillance Society for the UK Information Commissioner (ICO) and organised submissions to the UK House of Commons and House of Lords inquiries on surveillance. Professor Murakami Wood’s research and teaching interests include surveillance and globalization, new technologies of surveillance, and the history, politics and ethics of surveillance. He is currently writing several books and has published numerous articles on surveillance-related issues.
Prof. Lisa Austin is an associate professor at the Faculty of Law, where she is affiliated with the Centre for Innovation Law and Policy. Prior to joining the faculty, she served as law clerk to Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Austin’s research and teaching interests include property, privacy, the legal regulation of information and the ethical and social justice issues raised by emerging technologies. She is currently developing work on issues such as the challenges that information technology poses to our conception of privacy, and what theory of law is most responsive to the needs of a technological society.
Robert Hubbard was called to the Ontario Bar in 1977. He is counsel with the Crown Law Office – Criminal of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario. Previously, Bob was Senior General Counsel with the Department of Justice in Toronto. He has appeared as counsel at all levels of court. Most recently, Bob was involved in the prosecution of Livent principals Garth Drabinsky and Myron Gottlieb. He has appeared as counsel on many search and seizure/privacy cases at the Supreme Court. Bob has co-authored the books Wiretapping and Other Electronic Surveillance: Law and Practice, 2000, Aurora, Canada Law Book, The Law of Privilege in Canada, 2006, Aurora, Canada Law Book and Money Laundering and Proceeds of Crime, 2004, Toronto, Irwin Law. Bob has also published several articles dealing with privacy issues including: Hubbard, R.W., DeFreitas, P. and Magotiaux, S. “The Internet — Expectations of Privacy in a New Context” [2001] 45 Criminal Law Quarterly 170-197; Hubbard, R.W., Magotiaux, S., and Proestos, X., “The Limits of Privacy: Police Access to Subscriber Information in Canada,” [2002] 46 Criminal Law Quarterly 361- 390. He lectures extensively on criminal law and advocacy related issues.
Adam Boni is a criminal defence lawyer. He began his career as a federal prosecutor with the Department of Justice. In 1999, he left the federal prosecution service to start his own boutique criminal defence practice in downtown Toronto. During the past decade, Mr. Boni has litigated a number of large criminal cases, at trial and on appeal, involving complex Charter of Rights issues. He has a keen interest in search and seizure litigation involving electronic surveillance. Mr. Boni is a past Director of the Ontario Criminal Lawyers’ Association (2007-2009). He is a co-author of Sentencing Drug Offenders (Canada Law Book, 2004) and has written extensive papers on warrantless search issues and roadside drug investigations for the Advocates’ Society. Mr. Boni has been a regular guest speaker at a number of Continuing Legal Education programs offered by the Advocates’ Society and the Criminal Lawyers’ Association on Charter of Rights’ issues. He has been a guest lecturer at training programs and legal educational conferences held for Canada Border Services Agents, Peel Regional Police, the Toronto Police Service, the Ontario Provincial Police and the York Regional Police Service.
This panel discussion will be moderated by Graeme Norton, Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s Public Safety Project.
Event date: Thursday, February 25, 2010, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Room FLB, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
CLICK HERE FOR LINK TO WEBCAST

The Khadr Decision: A Just Result?
2010-02-11 12:30 - 14:00
The Supreme Court of Canada released its unanimous decision in Prime Minister of Canada et al. v. Omar Khadr on Friday, January 29, 2010. It declared that the Canadian government is violating Omar Khadr’s right to life, liberty and security under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The court denounced the use of torture in the form of sleep deprivation by U.S. authorities against Mr. Khadr when he was 15 years old in order to soften him up for interrogations conducted by Canadian authorities. However, it stopped short of ordering what was being sought – the request by the Canadian government to release him from Guantanamo and return him to Canada – citing Crown prerogative in regard to foreign relations. What are the implications of this decision? What is the appropriate role for the judiciary in the circumstances of this case? Is a declaration of injustice a just remedy? What difference does it make that Omar Khadr was a child at the time of the initial violations and the allegations against him?
Our Panel:
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. Kent Roach is Prichard-Wilson Chair of Law and Public Policy at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, with cross-appointments in criminology and political science, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and of Yale, and a former law clerk to Justice Bertha Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada. Professor Roach’s books include Constitutional Remedies in Canada (winner of the 1997 Owen Prize for best law book), Due Process and Victims’ Rights: The New Law and Politics of Criminal Justice (short-listed for the 1999 Donner Prize for best public policy book), The Supreme Court on Trial: Judicial Activism or Democratic Dialogue (short-listed for the 2001 Donner Prize), and September 11: Consequences for Canada (named one of the five most significant books of 2003 by the Literary Review of Canada). In recent years, Professor Roach has specialized in anti-terrorism law and policy and is the co-editor of The Security of Freedom: Essays on Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Bill (2001) and Global Anti-Terrorism Law and Policy (2005). Professor Roach also served on the research advisory committee for the Commission of Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in Relation to Maher Arar and is Director of Research (Legal Studies) for the Commission of Inquiry into the Investigation of the Bombing of Air India Flight 182.
Prof. David Schneiderman is Professor of Law and Political Science. He was called to the Bar of British Columbia in 1984 where he practised law and then served as Research Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in Toronto from 1986-89. He was Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Studies, an interdisciplinary research institute, at the University of Alberta from 1989-99. Professor Schneiderman has authored numerous articles on Canadian federalism, the Charter of Rights, Canadian constitutional history, and constitutionalism and globalization. He has authored Constitutionalizing Economic Globalization: Investment Rules and Democracy’s Promise (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and co-authored The Last Word: Media Coverage of the Supreme Court of Canada with Florian Sauvageau and David Taras (UBC Press, 2006). He is founding editor of the quarterly Constitutional Forum Constitutionnel and founding editor-in-chief of the journal Review of Constitutional Studies.
Cheryl Milne is the executive director of the Asper Centre. She has extensive experience as a legal advocate for children previously with the legal clinic Justice for Children and Youth. There she led the clinic’s Charter litigation at the Supreme Court of Canada including the challenge to the corporal punishment defence in the Criminal Code [Canadian Foundation for Children, Youth and the Law v. Canada (2004)], the striking down of the reverse onus sections of the Youth Criminal Justice Act for adult sentencing [R. v. D.B. (2008)], and most recently an intervention involving the right of a capable adolescent to consent to her own medical treatment (A.C. v. Manitoba Child and Family Services (2009)]. She is currently the Chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights section.
The workshop will be moderated by Prof. Hamish Stewart.

Event date: Thursday, February 11, 2010, from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Location: Rm FLB, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto
Link to the webcast here.

Intellectual Influences on Australian Federalism
2010-02-09 12:30 - 14:00
Nicholas Aroney – TC Beirne School of Law, U. of Queensland
This paper utilizes the Australian experience of federation, 1890–1901, as a vehicle for the discussion of the leading conceptions of federalism extant in the late nineteenth-century English-speaking world. In particular, the paper examines the federal theories of James Madison, James Bryce, Edward Freeman, Albert Dicey and John Burgess in the context of many others, and seeks to show that the idea of a ‘Commonwealth of commonwealths’, although controverted by contending theories, remained a central theme in late nineteenth-century conceptions of federalism.
Nicholas Aroney teaches constitutional law, comparative constitutional law and legal theory. He has published widely in these fields, including recent publications in University of Toronto Law Journal, The American Journal of Comparative Law, Law and Philosophy, Sydney Law Review and Melbourne University Law Review. He also speaks frequently at national and international conferences on these topics. Dr Aroney is the author of several books, including Freedom of Speech in the Constitution and The Constitution of a Federal Commonwealth: The Making and Meaning of the Australian Constitution, recently published by Cambridge University Press. He also recently edited a book entitled Restraining Elective Dictatorship: The Upper House Solution? published by University of Western Australia Press. He is currently working on three further books, The Jurisprudence of a Federal Commonwealth (Cambridge University Press), Shari’a in the West? (Oxford University Press) and Constitutional Federalism: Theory and Practice (Ashgate Press). Dr. Aroney came to the Law School in 1995 after working with a major national law firm and acting as a legal consultant in the field of building and construction law.
A light lunch will be provided.
Feb 9, 2010

Albie Sachs: The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law
2010-01-15 15:00 - 16:00
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.
