Clinical Course Application Deadline
2017-06-30
Deadline for U of T Upper Year Law students to apply for the Asper Centre clinical courses for 2017.
For more information, see the course list on the Faculty of Law website HERE.

Deadline for Submission of Proposal for Asper Centre 2017-2018 Student Working Group
2017-08-15
U of T law students can become involved in the Centre’s work through volunteering with one of our Working Groups.
For information on how to apply to lead a Working Group read the Proposal Requirements below.
If you would like to apply but need some ideas, contact Cheryl Milne or Tal Schreier by email.
This year, in addition to Working Group ideas developed by students, the Asper Centre invites and welcomes proposals from students who would be interested in leading a children’s rights working group, or a social media working group that would assist the Asper Centre in developing web-based and social media based material focused on constitutional issues.
Working Group Proposal Requirements

Application Deadline for Asper Centre Work-Study student
2017-09-13
The Asper Centre is looking for a student to provide research and technical support for the Centre’s website and social media (Facebook and Twitter). The position involves some research and drafting for content to be uploaded to the Centre’s website related to Canadian constitutional law and the activities of the Centre (primarily case summaries). Training will be provided in respect to website; therefore, in-depth knowledge of website development, maintenance and design, although helpful, is not required. Apply by September 13th 2017 at 5:00 p.m. through the University’s Career Centre page: http://cln.utoronto.ca (Job No. 101096).

Asper Centre & IHRP Student Working Group Information Session
2017-09-19 12:30 - 14:00 (America/Toronto) | J250 Jackman Law Building
JD students in all years can volunteer with one of the Asper Centre student working groups, that are led by upper year students. Working groups prepare policy briefs, organize workshops, and conduct research on emerging constitutional issues.
This year, there are three Asper Centre student working groups:

The Refugee and Immigration Law working group
The Indigenous Rights working group
Police Oversight working group

Find out more about these working groups at the Asper Centre & IHRP (International Human Rights Program) Student Working Group Information Session on September 19, 2017 at 12:30PM in J250 in the Jackman law building.

Constitutional Roundtable: Richard Albert
2017-09-27 12:30 - 14:00
CONSTITUTIONAL ROUNDTABLE
presents
Richard Albert
Professor, Boston College Law School
The Most Powerful Court in the World?
Constitutional Amendment after the Senate Reform and Supreme Court Act References
Discussant:
Associate Professor Yasmin Dawood
Canada Research Chair in Democracy, Constitutionalism & Electoral Law
University of Toronto
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
12:30 – 2:00PM
Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park
The Supreme Court of Canada has grown since Confederation from supreme in name alone into the guardian of Canada’s constitutional identity, joining high courts in Colombia, India, Israel, Germany, South Africa and the United States in contention for the title of the most powerful court in the world. Over the decades since its creation in 1875, the Canadian Supreme Court has acquired increasing importance in constitutional law and politics as a result of both constitutional design and the gradual accretion of authority that derives from reasoned judgments, legislative deference and public support. As the Constitution of Canada marks its sesquicentennial, the Supreme Court has acquired a new power that will make it the gatekeeper to constitutional reform in the years ahead: the power to rule whether a proposed constitutional amendment is constitutional.
The recent Senate Reform and Supreme Court Act References reveal the blueprint for how the Court will exercise this extraordinary power under its reference jurisdiction in future litigation challenging the validity of a proposed constitutional amendment: the Court will determine which of the five procedures in Canada’s amending formula political actors must use to formalize any proposed amendment. The source of the Court’s new power is the doctrine and theory of the Constitution’s “architecture”—the Court’s own innovation whose content and boundaries are determined by the Court alone, even where the proposed amendment may affect the Court itself.
Richard Albert is a tenured Associate Professor and Nicholson Scholar at Boston College Law School. His scholarship focuses on constitutional amendment in comparative, doctrinal, historical and theoretical perspectives. He is currently writing a book on constitutional amendment, to be published by Oxford University Press. He is also co-editor of the forthcoming volumes: Canada in the World: Comparative Perspectives on the Canadian Constitution (Cambridge), The Foundations and Traditions of Constitutional Amendment (Hart), and the Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Constitutions (Oxford). A former law clerk to the Chief Justice of Canada, Richard Albert holds degrees in law and political science from Yale, Oxford and Harvard.
A light lunch will be provided.
For more information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.

Senator Kim Pate: "The Need to Correct Corrections: The Case for Judicial Oversight"
2017-10-16 12:30 - 14:00
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is hosting a lunchtime discussion with Senator Kim Pate.
“The Need to Correct Corrections: The Case for Judicial Oversight“
Monday October 16th at 12:30pm in Jackman Law Building J140
Kim Pate was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November 10, 2016. First and foremost, the mother of Michael and Madison, she is also a nationally renowned advocate who has spent the last 35 years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada, with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized — particularly imprisoned youth, men and women.
A light lunch will be provided.
For more information, contact tal.schreier@utoronto.ca

Summer Fellowship Information Session
2017-10-19 12:30 - 14:00 | J250 Jackman Law Building
Introduction to Asper Centre and IHRP Summer Fellowship Opportunities
For current JD students: please attend this information session to learn more about the Asper Centre Summer Fellowship opportunities.

Date: October 19, 2017
Time: 12:30-2:00pm
Location: J250

Constitutional Roundtable Series presents: Constitutional Law Symposium for Canada's Sesquicentennial
2017-10-20 09:00 - 16:00 | Jackman Law Building, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto 78 Queen’s Park, Room J140, 78 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
View our Save the Date Poster
The 2017 Asper Centre Constitutional Roundtable Series presents a
Constitutional Law Symposium for Canada’s Sesquicentennial
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights’ Constitutional Roundtable Series are annual lunchtime discussion forums that provide an opportunity to consider developments in Canadian constitutional theory and practice as well as the emerging field of comparative constitutional law in relation to Canada. This year, to mark Canada’s 150th anniversary of Confederation, our Constitutional Roundtable series theme has focused on the development of Canada’s constitutional and human rights from the British North America Act to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and provides an analysis of constitutional litigation throughout Canada’s history.
On Friday October 20, 2017, the Asper Centre Constitutional Roundtable Series was pleased to present a one-day Constitutional Law Symposium, for Canada’s Sesquicentennial, with a special keynote address delivered by Professor John Borrows, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law, Nexen Chair in Indigenous Leadership, University of Victoria.
Full Symposium Agenda available here. List of Abstracts available here.
Summaries available for panel 1, panel 2, and panel 3.

Panel discussion on the Trinity Western University Appeals
2017-11-23 12:30 - 14:00
On November 30th and December 1st 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada will hear two appeals involving Trinity Western University (TWU), a private Christian university in British Columbia wishing to open a new law school. The appeals involve legal challenges to decisions by the law societies of British Columbia and Ontario and the impact of a policy that requires TWU students to sign a code of conduct forbidding sexual intimacy outside heterosexual marriage. Ontario decided to deny the accreditation of TWU law graduates in the future, while BC approved accreditation. The cases are expected to “break new constitutional ground” around how administrative decision-makers are to balance the competing Charter rights of equality and freedom of religion.
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, Out in Law, The Journal of Law and Equality and the Dean’s Emerging Issues Workshop Series are delighted to jointly present a panel discussion on November 23, 2017 at 12h30 to consider and analyse some of the main issues that will be covered in these appeals, including the administrative law matters, the balancing of competing rights and the unique circumstances involving the involvement of public interest interveners at the Supreme Court.

Panelists: Professor Richard Stacey (UofT Law), Professor Denise Reaume (UofT Law), Professor Richard Moon (Windsor Law) and Cheryl Milne (Executive Director of the Asper Centre, UofT Law). The Panel will be moderated by Maryam Shahid (UofT Law JD Candidate and Co-Editor of the Journal of Law and Equality).
A pizza lunch will be provided.

Constitutional Roundtable: Alistair Price
2017-11-29 12:30 - 14:00 | Jackman Law Building Room J140, 78 Queen’s Park
Asper Centre Constitutional Roundtable
presents
ALISTAIR PRICE
Associate Professor in Law, University of Cape Town
“The Relationship between Constitutional and Tort Damages for State Failures to Protect in Canada, England, and South Africa”
Moderated by:
Assistant Professor Richard Stacey
University of Toronto Faculty of Law
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
12:30 – 2:00
Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park
Canada, England, and South Africa face a similar challenge arising from their shared Diceyan heritage in public law. On the one hand, public bodies and officials in these jurisdictions are bound by the ordinary law of the land applied by ordinary courts, including the private law of tort. On the other hand, the state also owes positive obligations to provide a range of services and protections to members of the public that individuals do not bear, arising from constitutional and administrative law. Where the state breaches its distinctive responsibilities by failing to protect an individual, who as a result is harmed and seeks recompense, a question arises as to the proper law to apply. What then is the relationship between the state’s duties and liabilities in tort and constitutional law? The three legal systems under consideration have answered this question in subtly different ways. The English courts have been unwilling to adjust private law to take account of the state’s special duties. In tort law, public defendants are held to the same standards as private individuals, who are liable for omissions only exceptionally. State liability for breach of positive duties to protect human rights arises instead under the Human Rights Act 1998, where courts have a discretion to award compensation alongside declarations and other public-law remedies. South Africa, by contrast, has to a large extent fused private law and constitutional law in this context. Novel private law duties and liabilities may be grounded on the need to hold the state accountable for breaching positive constitutional duties. As a result, the standalone remedy of constitutional damages is comparatively underdeveloped. Canada, it appears to me, has avoided both extremes: the courts have developed a narrow range of uniquely public duties of care in tort while also recognising that constitutional damages may be just and appropriate to compensate loss, vindicate rights, or deter Charter violations where tort (and other) remedies are insufficient. These varying responses to a shared challenge bring the following issue into sharp focus: to what extent can and should tort law be instrumentalised to serve the social goals of constitutional law?
Alistair Price is an Associate Professor in the Department of Private Law at the University of Cape Town (UCT). He received a BBusSc (distinction) and LLB (magna cum laude) from UCT, a Bachelor of Civil Law (distinction) from University College, Oxford, and a PhD from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. His thesis was entitled The Influence of Human Rights on State Negligence Liability in England and South Africa and, in 2014, he was awarded a prestigious Yorke Prize by the Cambridge Law Faculty for making ‘a substantial contribution’ to knowledge. Before his appointment at UCT, he worked as a research clerk for Chief Justice Pius Langa at the Constitutional Court of South Africa and as a research assistant to Professor Reinhard Zimmermann at the Max Planck Institute for Private Law in Hamburg, and taught tort law for several colleges at Cambridge University. Research interests: the law of obligations (primarily delict/tort); constitutional and administrative law; comparative law.
A light lunch will be provided.
For more information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.

Asper Centre Public Interest Litigation Conference: Call for Papers DUE DATE
2017-11-30
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is pleased to invite abstract submissions for our upcoming Public Interest Litigation Conference, which will be held on March 2, 2018. The Conference will be focused on legal strategies for successful public interest litigation in Canada, as a means to bring together relevant stakeholders to share their challenges, successes and strategies in this field.
Please find below the call for papers. We invite proposals for papers in 2 formats: a longer paper covering pertinent issues related to public interest litigation in Canada and a shorter paper focused on lessons learned from a specific public interest case. We hope that together these streams will generate positive response among both practitioners (lawyers and NGOs) who are engaged in public interest litigation and scholars who study and analyze the impact of these cases.
As indicated in the call for papers, please submit proposals to tal.schreier@utoronto.ca by November 30, 2017.
We look forward to receiving your applications and to hosting you in March!
Sincerely,
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights
Public Interest Litigation Conference – CALL FOR PAPERS

Call for Papers for Public Interest Litigation Conference - Deadline Extension
2018-01-03
We have decided to extend the deadline for our Call for Papers
The new deadline for Abstract submissions for our March 2, 2018 Public Interest Litigation Conference is January 3, 2018.
Please see the extended CALL for PAPERS here.
Many thanks.

TWU Panel discussion with interveners
2018-01-18 18:00 - 21:00 | J250 Jackman Law Building
On Thursday January 18, 2018, Out in Law, the Journal for Law and Equality, the Asper Centre and other groups at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law are pleased to present a debrief panel discussion between a number of interveners in the recent Trinity Western University appeals at the Supreme Court of Canada.
More information here

Constitutional Roundtable: Athanasios (Akis) Psygkas
2018-01-31 12:30 - 14:00 | Jackman Law Building Room J140, 78 Queen’s Park
Constitutional Roundtable Presents
Athanasios (Akis) Psygkas
Lecturer in Law
University of Bristol Law School
on
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
12:30 – 2:00
Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall
84 Queen’s Park
“The hydraulics of constitutional claims: Four models of democratic constitutionalism and same-sex marriage“
With Professor Brenda Cossman, Director of the Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies as Discussant
——-
Who makes constitutional claims? The paper argues that on both sides of the Atlantic a multiplicity of constitutional actors outside the courts participate in the elaboration of constitutional principles. I map out these constitutional actors by using as a case study the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in the United States, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. In all four country cases, there are common functional demands for democratic involvement in shaping constitutional meaning. Even though these demands may take various institutional and procedural forms owing to diverse political, institutional, and cultural contexts, I argue that the same overarching hydraulics effect is at play across jurisdictions. When social movements are shut out of one forum, they channel their constitutional claims through different institutional avenues.
The four systems represent distinctive models of formal recognition of same-sex marriage, with different actors taking the lead and having the final say on this contested issue. However, I explain that in all four cases we can detect the voices of multiple actors, including notably the people themselves, in a process of legal contestation around and interpretation of fundamental constitutional principles. These voices can take different forms, and the paper proposes institutional, historical, political, and cultural factors that may account for this. Thus, the paper tells a story of legal development arising from inclusive interpretive communities in the context of a democratic constitutional theory. This facilitates dynamic constitutional interpretation that reflects evolving political and social demands instead of top-down delivery of constitutional meaning.
————
Athanasios (Akis) Psygkas is lecturer in law at the University of Bristol in the UK and currently a visiting scholar at the University of Toronto. His research interests include comparative public law, regulation, and global governance. His latest book, entitled “From the ‘Democratic Deficit’ to a ‘Democratic Surplus’: Constructing Administrative Democracy in Europe” (Oxford University Press, 2017), examines the impact of EU law on the adoption of participatory regulatory processes in the member states.
Akis received J.S.D. and LL.M. degrees from Yale Law School, where he was a Fulbright scholar, and an LL.B. and LL.M. in Public Law and Political Science from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece). He has held fellowships at the European University Institute in Florence, the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences Po) in Paris, and Yale. He has been managing the Comparative Administrative Law Blog over the past seven years.
Light Lunch Provided
For further details, please contact tal.schreier@utoronto.ca
No Registration Required

Applications for 2018 Asper Centre Summer Fellowship Position Due
2018-02-20 12:00
Applications for Asper Centre Summer Fellowships are due on February 20, 2018.
Please find the 2018 Asper Centre Fellowship Guide here.
Also, current law students can log into the University of Toronto Law Career Network for further information on the application process.

Public Interest Litigation Conference
2018-03-02 08:30 - 16:30
View CONFERENCE Schedule Here
The Asper Centre convened a one-day Conference on March 2, 2018 focused on legal strategies for successful public interest litigation as a means to bring together relevant stakeholders to share their challenges, successes and strategies in this field. The Conference was aimed at both practitioners (lawyers and NGOs) who are engaged in public interest litigation and scholars and students who study and analyze the impact of these cases.
Over 25 papers in total were presented in 11 concurrent sessions throughout the day.
List of Participating Authors & Papers
1. Alexander, Basil: “Pragmatic Assorted Strategies: How Canadian Cause Lawyering Contributes to Social Change”
2. Anglin, Howard: “Public Interest Case Study: R v Comeau”
3. Bharati, Subodh and David Coté: “Scotland v Attorney General of Canada Case Study”
4. Blum, Joshua: “Ali v Attorney General of Canada Case Study”
5. Bredt, Chris & Ewa Krajewska: “Only 5 Minutes? The Supreme Court’s Approach to Interveners Requires Reform”
6. Bussey, Barry: “The Law of Intervention after the TWU case”
7. Chan, Kathryn & Howard Kislowicz: “Divine Intervention: A study of the operation and impact of NGO interveners in Canadian religious freedom litigation”
8. Giltrow, Maegan and Nathan Hume: “The Shadow Intervener: Economics and Public Interest Litigation”
9. Gold, Richard and Rachel Meland: “Litigating Patents in the Public Interest”
10. Grant, Angus: “Intervener Standing in Immigration and Refugee Cases”
11. Faraday, Fay, Tracy Heffernan & Helen Luu: “Winning the Right to Housing: A Holistic Approach to Public Interest Litigation in Three Voices”
12. Fenske, Allison and Joëlle Pastora Sala: “The Wheels of Justice for Vulnerable Individuals: Reflections from the Public Interest Law Centre of Legal Aid Manitoba”
13. Giorgio, Barbara: “Attorney General of Canada v Downtown Eastside Sex Workers: Judicially Precipitated Reform for Public Interest Advocacy”
14. Ha-Redeye, Omar: “When Public Interest Litigation is used as a Cover for Controversy”
15. Kennedy, Gerard and Lorne Sossin: “Justiciability, Access To Justice and the Development of Constitutional Law In Canada”
16. Laing, Christine: “Does Yaiguaje v Chevron Corporation change the security for costs game for public interest litigants?”
17. Latimer, Alison: “Examination of a Solitary Confinement Test Case”
18. Latner, Gabriel: “The Rights Stuff: Why Canada doesn’t have its own ACLU and how we can build one?”
19. Levesque, Anne: “The symbiotic relationship between social movements and public interest litigation: A case study of the I am a Witness Campaign and the human rights complaint of 165 000 First Nations kid”
20. Davidson, Gail and Gavin Magrath: “Balancing Act: Practical Lessons for Human Rights Interventions”
21. Mangat, Raji: “Here from the beginning: the promise of trial-level intervention”
22. Paterson, Josh: “The Carter case – Sustaining the Fight Both Inside and Outside the Courtroom”
23. Sheldon, Tess and Helgi Maki: “Trauma–Informed Strategies in Public Interest Litigation”
24. Sheppard, Dan: “Just Going Through the Motions: The Supreme Court, Interest Groups and the Performance of Intervention”
25. Silcoff, Maureen: “Party Status in Y.Z. v Canada (Citizenship and Immigration)”
26. Spector, Karen: “Legal Strategies for Intervention in Cases Seeking to Advance the Rights of Persons with Mental Health Disabilities”
27. Vaughan, Eleanor: “Solicitor Client Privilege in Lizotte v Aviva Insurance Company of Canada and Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner) v University of Calgary”
N.B. Full day attendance at the Conference may qualify for 6.5 Substantive CPD hours. Kindly also note that we have made an application for accreditation of Professionalism CPD hours with the Law Society of Ontario.

Asper Centre Immigration & Refugee Law student working group presents Senator Ratna Omidvar
2018-03-07 12:30 - 14:00 | J140 Jackman Law Building, 78 Queen's Park Cres, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5, Canada
The Asper Centre’s Immigration & Refugee Law Student Working Group is honoured to host Senator Ratna Omidvar for a lunchtime seminar on Wednesday March 7, 2018 at 12h30. All students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Senator Omidvar will share her personal story of coming to Canada from India, and she will discuss issues related to inclusion and diversity in Canada, immigration and refugee law and policy, the Charter and progressive law reform. She will then take questions from the audience. This will be a great opportunity to get some insight from her inspiring career.
Light lunch will be provided
Email tal.schreier@utoronto.ca for further information.
About Senator Omidvar:

The Honourable Ratna Omidvar, C.M., O.Ont.
Senator for Ontario, The Senate of Canada
Ratna Omidvar is an internationally recognized voice on migration, diversity and inclusion. In April 2016, Prime Minister Trudeau appointed Ms. Omidvar to the Senate of Canada as an independent Senator representing Ontario. As a member of the Senate’s Independent Senators Group she holds a leadership position as the Scroll Manager.
Senator Omidvar is the founding Executive Director and currently a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Global Diversity Exchange (GDX), Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University. GDX is a think-and-do tank on diversity, migration and inclusion that connects local experience and ideas with global networks. Previously, Senator Omidvar was the President of Maytree, where she played a lead role in local, national and international efforts to promote the integration of immigrants.
Senator Omidvar is the current Co-Chair of the Global Future Council on Migration hosted by the World Economic Forum and serves as a Councillor on the World Refugee Council. She is also a director at the Environics Institute, and Samara Canada. Senator Omidvar is the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council’s Chair Emerita and was formerly the Chair of Lifeline Syria.
Senator Omidvar is co-author of Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada (2015), an Open Book Toronto best book of 2015 and one of the Toronto Star‘s top five good reads from Word on the Street. She is also a contributor to The Harper Factor (2016) and co-editor of Five Good Ideas: Practical Strategies for Non-Profit Success (2011). Senator Omidvar received an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Laws, York University in 2012.
Senator Omidvar was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 2005 and became a Member of the Order of Canada in 2011, with both honours recognizing her advocacy work on behalf of immigrants and devotion to reducing inequality in Canada. In 2014, she received the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of German-Canadian relations.

Asper Centre Clinical Course Application Due Date
2018-06-29 10:00
Applications for next year’s (Fall 2018)
Asper Centre Clinical Legal Education Course
are due on Friday June 29, 2018 at 10am.
The Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is devoted to advocacy, research and education in the area of constitutional rights in Canada. Its cornerstone is a legal clinic bringing together students, faculty and members of the bar to work on significant constitutional cases. Appellate level cases that invoke the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in innovative ways to promote social justice will be selected. It is expected that students will have the opportunity to work alongside practitioners and faculty in developing written and oral arguments, for academic credit. Daily casework could include case theory formulation, constitutional legal research, appellate brief and factum writing and attendance at oral argument. Projects may also include policy advocacy and research along with public legal education.
Substantive and procedural issues arising in advocating for constitutional rights will be explored through seminars and experiential learning. You will be exposed to skills-building seminars and case work and explore some of the legal, procedural, strategic, ethical and theoretical dimensions of issues that arise in cases and other forms of legal advocacy. The program challenges students to examine issues in significant constitutional cases and advocacy initiatives in a critical way, while at the same time allowing them to develop the professional and ethical literacy which is essential to the practice of law. Through their clinical work, written reflections, and weekly seminars, students will test relationships between constitutional principles and the practical realities of the advocacy process, and develop a conceptual and empirical understanding of constitutional lawyering.
The clinic will meet once a week for 3 hours. Part of each session will be organized as a seminar, which will focus on substantive issues in constitutional advocacy (eg. constitutional jurisdiction of various courts and tribunals; substantive basis for claims; roles of the various parties in Charter litigation; effective advocacy strategies) or on skills building (eg. research, drafting of pleadings, effective brief writing, analysis of legislation). Part of each session will be organized as discussions of the issues raised by the students casework and the issues involved in constitutional advocacy. Casework may include formulating case theories and advocacy strategies, legal research, drafting of briefs, facta or reports, or attending hearings.
Examples of past projects include:

Research and meetings with an advocacy organization on an election rights test case;
Litigation support (research and legal drafting) for the Centre’s Supreme Court interventions;
Research memorandum exploring advocacy alternatives for redress of rights infringements arising in situations such as the conditions in federal prison and the detention of refugee claimants.

Email cheryl.milne@utoronto.ca if you have any questions.

Deadline for Submission of Proposal for Asper Centre 2018-2019 Student Working Group
2018-08-15
U of T law students can become involved in the Asper Centre’s work through volunteering with one of our Working Groups.
For information on how to apply to lead a Working Group read the Proposal Requirements below.
If you would like to apply but need some ideas, contact Cheryl Milne or Tal Schreier by email.
This year, in addition to Working Group ideas developed by students, the Asper Centre invites and welcomes proposals from students who would be interested in leading a children’s rights working group, or a social media working group that would assist the Asper Centre in developing web-based and social media based material focused on constitutional issues.
Call for proposals for 2018/19 Asper Centre Working Groups

Asper Centre and IHRP Student Working Group Information Session
2018-09-11 12:30 - 14:00
JD students in all years can volunteer with one of the Asper Centre student working groups, that are led by upper year students. Working groups prepare policy briefs, organize workshops, and conduct research on emerging constitutional issues.
This year, there are three Asper Centre student working groups:

The Refugee and Immigration Law working group
The Indigenous Rights working group
Police Oversight working group

There are also four student working groups with the International Human Rights Program:

Mapping Global Health Rights
Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Country-Conditions Reports
Making Women’s Human Rights Resources Accessible Globally
Digital Verification Corps

Find out more about these working groups at the information session on September 11, 2018 at 12:30PM in J250 in the Jackman law building.
To be eligible to sign up for one of the above working groups, you must attend this important info session.
Bring your own lunch!

Application Deadline for Work-Study Position
2018-09-14 12:00
Work-Study Position with Asper Centre
The Asper Centre is looking for a student to provide research, writing and technical support for the Centre’s website and social media (Facebook and Twitter). The position involves some research and drafting for content to be uploaded to the Centre’s website related to Canadian constitutional law and the activities of the Centre (primarily case summaries). Some support for Asper Centre events will also be expected. Training will be provided in respect to the website; therefore, in-depth knowledge of website development, maintenance and design, although helpful, is not required. Apply by September 14th 2018 at 12:00 p.m. through the University’s Career Centre page: http://cln.utoronto.ca (Job No. 125724).

Above the Law? The proposed Better Local Government Act constitutional challenge and Premier Ford's use of the Notwithstanding Clause
2018-09-20 16:30 - 18:00 | J250 Jackman Law Building
See EVENT POSTER here.
On September 10, 2018 Superior Court Justice Edward Belobaba ruled that Premier Doug Ford’s Bill 5 – the so-called Better Local Government Act – to reduce Toronto’s city council from 47 wards to 25, breached s. 2(b) of the Charter and was therefore unconstitutional. Shortly thereafter Premier Ford announced that not only was his government going to appeal the court’s decision, but he was going to invoke the Constitution’s “notwithstanding clause” for the first time in Ontario’s history to override the judge’s decision. The revised Bill has been introduced in the legislature with debates lasting into the late night; while a stay application, pending the appeal of the court decision, has been scheduled for Tuesday, September 18th.
The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is convening a moderated panel discussion in order to unpack the various legal issues involved in this unprecedented case. Panel members will include two of our faculty’s Constitutional Law Professors Lorraine Weinrib and Yasmin Dawood, and litigator Steven Barrett of Goldblatt Partners LLP.
Please join us on Thursday September 20, 2018 at 4:30pm-6:00pm in J250 Jackman Law Building, for this timely event.
Email tal.schreier@utoronto.ca for information.
No Registration Required.

Your Right to Know: an Access to Information Workshop for Legal Research and Advocacy
2018-09-26 12:30 - 14:00 | J140 Jackman Law Building, 78 Queen's Park Cres, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5, Canada
Your Right to Know: an Access to Information Workshop for Legal Research and Advocacy
Every Canadian has the right to request information from federal, provincial/territorial and municipal governments. Access to information from our government underpins society’s most important democratic ideals, including government accountability, freedom of expression and press freedom. Many organizations even characterize access to information as a fundamental human right.
We are convening a lunchtime panel on September 26th 2018 at 12:30 – 2:00 in J140 focused on the use of ATI (Access to Information) and FOI (Freedom of Information) requests.
This moderated panel will focus on the importance and uses of ATI and FOI requests, best practices for filing ATI requests, and limitations/challenges with the ATI regime in Canada. A Q & A period will follow the panel. Panel members will include:
Dara Lambie, Legal Counsel for the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner/Ontario
Alex Luscombe, PhD student in the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto and a Junior Fellow at Massey College, works to advance the use of FOI requests as a method of data production in the social sciences. With Prof Kevin Walby, he has written about FOI and theory, FOI and standards of validity/reliability, FOI and comparative research, and FOI and research ethics.
Michael Power, Toronto Lawyer and Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, author of Halsbury’s Laws of Canada, Access to Information and Privacy and Sailing in Dangerous Waters: A Director’s Guide to Data Governance.
A light lunch will be provided. No Registration Required.
Please note: A longer “hands-on” session will be held later in the year, where law students, faculty members and other scholars can bring their draft access to information requests or research questions for assistance. Date TBD.
Email tal.schreier@utoronto.ca for further information

Asper Centre's 10th Anniversary Celebration
2018-10-17 17:00 - 19:00 | Jackman Law Building, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, 78 Queens Park
View the event photo gallery
Read our “Celebrating 10 Years” Magazine
Read the Asper Centre’s 2017 – 2018 annual report
Watch the video of the event on YouTube
It’s been a full decade since the Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights opened its doors!
To celebrate 10 years of dedicated advocacy, education and research, former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Thomas Cromwell will moderate a conversation between Mary Eberts and Joseph Arvay, two of our former Constitutional Litigators-in-Residence
on October 17, 2018 at 5:00pm
Reception to follow
The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell, C.C. received law degrees from Queen’s and Oxford, practised law in Kingston and Toronto and taught law at Dalhousie University. During his time at Dalhousie, he was active as a labour arbitrator and served as Vice-chair of the Nova Scotia Labour Relations Board. After serving as Executive Legal Officer to the Chief Justice Canada from 1992 – 1995, he was appointed a judge of the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal in 1997, serving there until his appointment as a judge of the Supreme Court of Canada in 2008. Mr. Cromwell was the first recipient of the Canadian Bar Association’s Louis St. Laurent Award of Excellence and is an honorary fellow of Exeter College, Oxford and of the American College of Trial Lawyers. A holder of four honorary doctorates in law, he has also had an award established in his name at the Queen’s Faculty of Law, The Honourable Thomas Cromwell Award for Public Service. He is the chair of the Action Committee on Access to Justice in Civil and Family Matters, a director of the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice and of Access Pro Bono British Columbia. He retired from the Supreme Court of Canada on September 1st, 2016. A member of the Bars of Nova Scotia, Ontario and British Columbia, he now serves as senior counsel with Borden Ladner Gervais LLP in Ottawa and Vancouver. He is a recipient of the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice’s Justice Medal and of the Medal of the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law. In 2017, was named a Companion of the Order of Canada for his “illustrious service as a Supreme Court justice, and for his leadership in improving access to justice for all Canadians.” In 2018, he was named by the Canadian Lawyer Magazine as of one Canada’s most influential lawyers.

Mary Eberts received her legal education at Western and the Harvard Law School, and is a member of the Bar of Ontario. She joined a Bay St. law firm after several years of teaching at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, and was a partner at that firm until opening a small firm specializing in Charter and public law litigation. From this base in Toronto, she has appeared as counsel to parties and interveners in the Supreme Court of Canada, Courts of Appeal and Superior Courts in Ontario and other provinces, the Federal Court and Court of Appeal, and before administrative tribunals and inquests in Ontario and other provinces. She was active in securing the present language of section 15 of the Charter, and was one of the founders of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF). Since 1991, she has been litigation counsel to the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC). Mary held the Gordon Henderson Chair in Human Rights at the University of Ottawa in 2004-2005 and the Ariel Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the College of Law, University of Saskachewan in 2011 and 2012, where she taught courses in test case litigation. Mary was the Constitutional Litigator in Residence in 2014-15 and a McMurty Fellow at Osgoode Hall Law School in 2015-16. Recognition of her work includes the Law Society Medal, the Governor-General’s Award in Honour of the Persons’ Case, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and several honourary degrees. In 2017, Mary was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. She is currently a Senior Fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto.
Joseph Arvay, who co-founded the firm of Arvay Finlay Barristers in 1990 with offices in Vancouver and Victoria, is recognized as one of this country’s most highly respected lawyers. His practice emphasizes constitutional and administrative law matters, as well as Indigenous rights litigation.. He has been counsel in scores of important Supreme Court of Canada cases. His exceptional commitment to human rights in this country has been recognized with numerous awards and tributes. He was awarded honourary doctorates of law from both York University and the University of Victoria. In 2017 he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada as well as a Member of the Order of British Columbia.

Information Session for UTLaw students wishing to work at the Asper Centre
2018-11-12 12:30 - 14:00 | J140 Jackman Law Building, 78 Queen's Park Cres, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5, Canada
For University of Toronto Faculty of Law 1L and 2L JD Candidates ONLY
On Monday November 12, 2018 at 12:30pm in J140, the Asper Centre will take part in an Information Session about the Faculty’s hiring process.
This will be an opportunity for students to learn about the work positions available at the Asper Centre, amongst other organizations.
Students will also hear about the application, and interview process, which takes place in the winter term.
Kindly RSVP for this program via UTLC, as space is limited.

Constitutional Roundtable with Professor Mark Tushnet
2019-01-23 12:30 - 14:00 | J130 Jackman law building, 78 Queen's Park, University of Toronto, Faculty of Law, Jackman Law Building Atrium, Toronto, Canada
On January 23, 2019, visiting Professor Mark Tushnet presented an Asper Centre Constitutional Roundtable on “Interpreting Unwritten Constitutional Norms: Court-Packing in the United States as a Case Study,” with University of Toronto Faculty of Law Professor Yasmin Dawood as discussant. This Roundtable is based on a chapter of Professor Tushnet’s forthcoming book (see chapter abstract below).

Professor Tushnet is a leading scholar of constitutional law and legal history and the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School and served as a law clerk to Justice Thurgood Marshall, and he specializes in constitutional law and theory, including comparative constitutional law. His research includes studies examining (skeptically) the practice of judicial review in the United States and around the world. He also writes in the area of legal and particularly constitutional history, with works on the development of civil rights law in the United States and (currently) a long-term project on the history of the Supreme Court in the 1930s.

Professor Dawood, J.D. (Columbia), Ph.D. (Chicago), is the Canada Research Chair in Democracy, Constitutionalism, and Electoral Law, and an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. She is cross-appointed in the Department of Political Science. Professor Dawood specializes in election law, comparative constitutional law, and democratic theory. She has testified before Parliament as an election law expert, and been interviewed on election law issues by CBC Radio, The Agenda, and Power and Politics. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto.

Abstract
This is a draft of a chapter in a forthcoming book, written for a general audience. The book’s overall argument is that the 2020 elections are likely to be an inflection point in American political development, ending what the book (and this Chapter) refer to as an interregnum after the decay of the Reagan Revolution. The 2020 elections may move the nation along a “Trumpist” path or a more strongly social democratic path than recent Democratic leaders have followed.
This chapter deals with the latter possibility. A prior chapter argues that the Supreme Court will be an obstacle to the programs that would be developed along the “social democratic” path (because it will remain dominated by conservative Republican justices), and that Democrats should prepare responses to that problem.
Chapter 13 outlines some of those responses, the most important of which is Court-packing. It addresses the argument that there is now a constitutional convention against Court-packing, suggesting that there may be no such norm, but only a practice of non-expansion because there was no need to expand the Court earlier. It then deals with the claim that Court-packing would undermine judicial legitimacy, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court might not have much legitimacy (understood as deference to judicial decisions simply because they emanate from the Court) and that any marginal effect on legitimacy is likely to be small.

Constitutional Roundtable with Professor Kent Roach
2019-02-05 12:30 - 14:00 | J140 Jackman Law Building, 78 Queen's Park Cres, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5, Canada
On Tuesday, February 5, 2019, University of Toronto Faculty of Law Professor Kent Roach presented a Constitutional Roundtable titled “Canadian Justice, Indigenous Injustice: The Gerald Stanley/Colten Boushie Case.”
In this Constitutional Roundtable, Gerald Stanley’s trial for the killing of Colten Boushie, a 22 year old Cree man, will be examined in its broader historical, political and legal context with attention to the role of equality rights in jury selection and trial procedures. The jury selection reforms proposed in Bill C-75 will also be examined as will the role of the RCMP and other policing services.
BIO
Kent Roach is Professor of Law and Prichard-Wilson Chair of Law and Public Policy at the Faculty of Law. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and Yale University, and a former law clerk to Justice Bertha Wilson of the Supreme Court of Canada. He has served as research director in multiple inquiries, and represented Aboriginal and civil liberties groups in many interventions before the courts. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 2013 he was one of four academics awarded a Trudeau Fellowship.
No registration required. Light Lunch provided.

Constitutional Roundtable with Assistant Professor Y.Y. Chen
2019-02-28 12:30 - 14:00 | Jackman Law Building Room J140, 78 Queen’s Park
On Thursday February 28, 2019, Professor Y.Y. Chen presented a Constitutional Roundtable titled “Toward a Substantive Understanding of Citizenship in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” considering how “citizens” should be interpreted in the Charter context and whether “immigration status” should be considered a protected ground under s. 15 of the Charter.
BIO
Y.Y. Brandon Chen (SJD candidate, MSW, JD, University of Toronto; BSc, Emory University) is an Assistant Professor at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. A lawyer and social worker by training, Professor Chen’s research program examines laws and policies that contribute to health inequities and marginalization, particularly among noncitizens and racialized minorities. His published work has touched on such topics as health rights litigation, refugee health care, social determinants of health, health care solidarity, and medical tourism. Professor Chen currently teaches in areas of public law, constitutional law, health law, and immigration and refugee law.
ABSTRACT
Many long-term residents of Canada are legally categorized as non-citizens. The fact that non-citizens constitute a marginalized population whose interests are prone to be overlooked or compromised by governments has been recognized by the Supreme Court of Canada. Notwithstanding this, Canadian courts have so far adopted a relatively conservative stance when interpreting the applicability of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to non-citizen residents. Particularly, courts have construed the Charter’s reference to the term “citizen” in a purely legalistic fashion, limiting the guarantees of voting rights, mobility rights and language rights to only those meeting the requirements stipulated in the Citizenship Act. In the same vein, under s 15 of the Charter, although courts have accepted citizenship as an analogous ground of protection against discrimination, case law shows that governmental distinction between different groups of non-citizens will generally not attract constitutional scrutiny. Such case law constrains non-citizens’ participation in society and deprives them of important legal recourse in cases of rights infringement despite their contribution and subjugation to the social cooperation process. Given these concerns, this paper advocates for an understanding of citizenship in the Charter context that is independent from its statutory definition. Specifically, drawing on a thriving body of social science literature on the subject, the paper argues that for the purpose of the Charter, citizenship should embody a non-binary, multi-dimensional conception of national membership that takes into account a person’s social ties, societal engagement and self-identification. As the Canadian society becomes ever more pluralistic, the adoption of this more nuanced understanding of citizenship represents a logical growth of the constitutional “living tree” and a more adequate constitutional safeguard of non-citizens’ rights.

No registration required. Light Lunch provided.

Immigration Detention Symposium
2019-03-15 09:00 - 15:00 | J140 Jackman Law Building, 78 Queen's Park Cres, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 2C5, Canada
On Friday March 15th 2019 the Asper Centre convened a one-day Immigration Detention Symposium focused on advancing litigation and advocacy strategies to address the challenges within Canada’s immigration detention system. This Symposium highlighted immigration practitioners’ and civil society’s current advocacy efforts, recommendations and resources for achieving meaningful solutions to the challenges.
The main objective of this Symposium was to bring together the relevant legal, research and advocacy partners who are focused on improving the serious deficiencies in the immigration detention system in Canada. We hope to help highlight some of the important responses and strategies currently being developed and implemented in this area, and that this opportunity for sharing and collaboration will encourage continued strategic litigation collaboration and coordinated advocacy efforts amongst the immigration bar and beyond.
View Symposium SCHEDULE here

Symposium RESOURCES
Panel I: Immigration Detention External Audit, IRB and Audit Response Report: Recommendations and Next Steps

Click on above image to VIEW a recording of this panel (captioned)
IRB External Audit
IRB Chairperson Guideline Detention, effective April 1 2019
Joint audit response report – forthcoming

Panel II: Habeas Corpus Best Practices

Anstis, Will, & Blum – Separate but Unequal
Habeas Procedure in Ontario by Jared Will
SCOTLAND – Notice of Application
HOQUE – Notice of Application
SCOTLAND – Court Order to Appear
SCOTLAND – Index and Covers

Panel III: CARL Toolkit and a Compendium of Relevant Case-Law for Immigration Detention Practitioners

CARL Immigration Detention TOOLKIT, March 2019
CARL Symposium Powerpoint Presentation March 15 2019
Asper Centre Federal Court Caselaw Compendium, August 2019
Asper Centre students, PowerPoint Presentation March 15 2019

Indigenous Family Law: A Panel Discussion on the Beaver v Hill case
2019-03-21 12:30 - 14:00 | J125 Jackman Law Building
The Asper Centre Indigenous Rights student working group is pleased to present a lunchtime panel discussion on Thursday March 21, 2019 at 12h30.
Brittany Beaver and Ken Hill are Haudenosaunee parents to a ten-year-old son. She is a student; he co-founded a successful cigarette company and earns millions of dollars each year. Their relationship ended in 2013, and Mr. Hill has since argued that Haudenosonee, not Ontario law, should guide his spousal and child support payments.
Three constitutional and family law practitioners will be discussing the case and related issues, including which families’ Indigenous legal systems should apply, and whether Indigenous self-governance can be an individual right or only a collective one.
Panelists are Scott Byers (Martha McCarthy & Co.), Jessica Orkin (Goldblatt Partners) and Judith Rae (Olthuis Kleer Townshend).
Professor Carol Rogerson will be moderating.
No registration required and light lunch will be provided.
