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Parliamentary Democracy Book Launch

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 ... Read More

Clinical Course Deadline

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.

Student Working Groups Information Session

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 • ... Read More

Workshop on Exclusion of Evidence Cases

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 ... Read More

Workshop: Human Rights at the UK Supreme Court

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 ... Read More

Prime Minister of Canada et al. v. Omar Khadr

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 ... Read More

Workshop: The Charter Rights of Canadian Citizens Abroad

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, ... Read More

Albie Sachs: The Strange Alchemy of Life and Law

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 ... Read More

The Khadr Decision: A Just Result?

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 ... Read More

Overdue Update or Big Brother? Lawful Access and Cyber Surveillance

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 ... Read More

Is none still too many?

Faculty of Law, University of Toronto Constitutional Roundtable presents James Hathaway, University of Michigan Law School Audrey Macklin, University of Toronto Faculty of Law Lorne Waldman, Lorne Waldman and Associates Is None Still Too Many? Asylum Seekers on Boats, Then and Now, Here and There 12:30 – 2:00 Tuesday, October 5, 2010 Classroom C – ... Read More

Symposium: The Role of Interveners in Public Interest Litigation

Friday, November 6th, 2010 Sign in and Registration: 8:30 a.m. Public interest litigation can have a significant impact on public policy in Canada. Although Charter and other public interest litigation is most often commenced by individual claimants who are challenging laws that affect them individually, the test case litigant is often supported or opposed by ... Read More

Becoming Supreme: How Federalism Fosters Judicial Power

Barry Friedman New York University Law School One of the longstanding, beguiling questions among scholars in several disciplines is how judicial power gains traction. Why do those setting up governments create an independent judiciary, why or how does judicial review get a foothold, and most important, what is the fount of judiciall supremacy? Theories abound, ... Read More

Constitutional Roundtable

Is Coalition Government in Britain here to stay? Professor Robert Hazell University College London   Thursday, February 3, 2011 4:00-5:30 p.m. Bennett Lecture Hall, Flavelle House, Faculty of Law   Prof Robert Hazell is Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London, the UK’s leading research centre on constitutional reform. He was originally a ... Read More