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DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260116
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20260117
DTSTAMP:20260405T105429
CREATED:20251118T185303Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260114T180744Z
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SUMMARY:Re-Opening the Door: Litigating Positive Rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
DESCRIPTION:Litigating Positive Rights Symposium\n📅 Friday\, January 16\, 2026 · 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (ET)📍 Henry N. R. Jackman Faculty of Law\, University of Toronto (Room P120) \nOverview\nJoin leading scholars\, practitioners\, and emerging voices for a one-day symposium exploring how positive rights — rights that require governments to act — can be meaningfully advanced under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. From housing and healthcare to climate and digital regulation\, the symposium examines whether Canadian constitutionalism is ready to “re-open the door” first left ajar by the Supreme Court of Canada in Gosselin v. Québec. \nAbout the Symposium\nCo-chaired by Cheryl Milne\, Executive Director of the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights\, and Professor David Schneiderman of the University of Toronto Henry N.R. Jackman Faculty of Law\, this event brings together experts from across Canada and abroad to address both the theory and practice of litigating positive rights claims. \nThe Symposium KEYNOTE address will be given by Prof Aoife Nolan\, (School of Law\, University of\nNottingham)\, titled Enforcing Positive Social Rights in an Anti-Democratic Era. \nPanel discussions will explore: \n\nThe conceptual divide between positive and negative rights\nLitigation strategies for social\, environmental\, and economic rights\nEvidence\, remedies\, and practical challenges in Charter claims\nComparative and international perspectives on positive obligations\n\nPlease find the AGENDA for the program here: Asper Centre Symposium Litigating Positive Rights – Agenda and the FULL PROGRAM HERE (with bios and Abstracts). \nWhy This Matters\nClimate justice\, housing insecurity\, healthcare access\, and rapidly evolving digital systems are testing the limits of a Charter framed primarily around negative rights. Rethinking positive obligations is fundamentally about imagining what kind of constitutional community Canada aspires to be — one that simply prevents state intrusion\, or one that supports human dignity through collective responsibility. \nThis symposium will inform the third volume in the Asper Centre’s publication series with Lexis Nexis Canada\, following:📘 Public Interest Litigation in Canada (2018)📘 Litigating Equality in Canada (2023) \nA modest registration fee will apply\, with reduced rates for full-time students.CPD accreditation will be sought for this program. \nMore information and Registration Here
URL:https://aspercentre.ca/event/re-opening-the-door-litigating-positive-rights-under-the-canadian-charter-of-rights-and-freedoms/
LOCATION:P120 Jackman Law Building
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260127T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260127T140000
DTSTAMP:20260405T105429
CREATED:20251203T155009Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251215T013455Z
UID:9802-1769517000-1769522400@aspercentre.ca
SUMMARY:Constitutional Roundtable with Professor Richard Moon
DESCRIPTION:The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights’ Constitutional Roundtables are an annual series of lunchtime discussion forums that provide an opportunity to consider developments in Canadian constitutional theory and practice.  The Constitutional Roundtable series promotes scholarship and aims to make a meaningful contribution to intellectual discourse about Canadian constitutional law. \nWe are pleased to be hosting Professor Richard Moon for a lunchtime Constitutional Roundtable on January 27\, 2026. \nTitle:  “The Limits of State Neutrality in Religious Matters” \nAbstract: In their early Charter of Rights judgments\, the Canadian courts described religious freedom as a liberty that has two dimensions – the freedom to engage in religious practice without state restriction (unless necessary to advance the public interest) and the freedom from state compulsion to perform a religious practice. However\, in later cases the courts have said that the freedom does not simply prohibit state coercion in matters of religion but requires also that the state remain neutral in religious matters. Religion then must be separated from politics and treated as a private matter that falls within the sphere of personal/communal life rather than the political/civic sphere. \nThe courts\, however\, have not applied the neutrality requirement in a clear or consistent way. Behind the courts’ partial or inconsistent application of the neutrality requirement lies a complex conception of religious commitment in which religion is viewed as both an aspect of the individual’s identity and as a set of judgments or beliefs made by the individual about truth and right. The challenge for the courts is to find a way to fit this complex conception of religious commitment and its value into a constitutional framework that relies on a distinction between individual choices or commitments that should sometimes be protected as a matter of liberty\, and individual attributes or traits that should sometimes be respected as a matter of equality. The constitutional framework (and perhaps more deeply\, our conception of rights) imposes this distinction\, between judgment and identity\, on the rich and complex experience of religious commitment. \nBiography:  Richard Moon is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Windsor. His most recent books include The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression (U of T Press\, 2024)\, Freedom of Conscience and Religion\, 2nd ed.  (Irwin Law/ U of T Press\,  2024)\, a co-edited collection\,  Indigenous Spirituality and Religious Freedom (U of T Press\, 2025)\,  and a co-edited Open Access Constitutional Casebook\, CanLii Platform (2025)(involving 43 contributors) https://canlii.ca/t/7jt2q . \nAll are welcome * No RSVP Required * Light lunch provided
URL:https://aspercentre.ca/event/constitutional-roundtable-with-professor-richard-moon/
LOCATION:Flavelle FL219 – John Willis Classroom
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260204T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260204T140000
DTSTAMP:20260405T105429
CREATED:20251213T192223Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260121T150547Z
UID:9831-1770208200-1770213600@aspercentre.ca
SUMMARY:Constitutional Roundtable with H. Scott Fairley
DESCRIPTION:The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights’ Constitutional Roundtables are an annual series of lunchtime discussion forums that provide an opportunity to consider developments in Canadian constitutional theory and practice.  The Constitutional Roundtable series promotes scholarship and aims to make a meaningful contribution to intellectual discourse about Canadian constitutional law.\n\nWe are pleased to be hosting H. Scott Fairley (partner at Cambridge LLP) for a lunchtime Constitutional Roundtable on February 4\, 2026 about his new book\, “Foreign Affairs in the Canadian Constitution” (UBC Press\, 2025). \n\n\n\n\nTITLE: The making of a foreign affairs power within the four corners of the written and unwritten Constitution of Canada (some thoughts Foreign Affairs in the Canadian Constitution and why they matter in these uncertain times). \nABSTRACT: This book challenges previously siloed understandings of treaty-making (federal) and treaty implementation (federal or provincial depending on subject matter regardless of the international context) with a view to bringing them together under a single subject as its title suggests. However\, it does so\, mindful that Canada remains a diverse federal state spread over a vast territory. My account does not seek to drive a cart and a horse through constitutionally allocated provincial powers. What I do say\, however\, is that the “international” makes the “local” of national interest and importance for purposes of federal competence to act comprehensively for that purpose\, both at the executive level and through Parliament as a key part of federal residual powers for the Peace\, Order and Good Government of the Nation or POGG for short. Federal trade and commerce cases have also been very helpful in conveying a similarly principled message. There are chapters on both. In this I am perhaps a little ahead of the Supreme Court of Canada on point\, but that court is not far behind. We might even go so far as to say that our current government is leading with its chin in this area in seeking new allies to augment or replace our now mercurial neighbour to the south and trying to pull off grand projects in the national interest\, in part\, to nurture those relationships. \nBIO: Scott Fairley\, Partner\, Cambridge LLP.\, A.B.\, LL.B. (Queen’s U. at Kingston)\, LL.M. (NYU)\, S.J.D. (Harv.) has a diverse civil litigation and arbitration practice\, a significant portion of which involves public law and international law issues. He was lead counsel in bringing a reference case to the Federal Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court of Canada which established the current governing test for the commercial activity exception to sovereign immunity under Canada’s State Immunity Act\, has acted for private and foreign government clients on sovereign immunity cases and  in domestic Crown immunity cases in provincial jurisdictions within Canada\, and has appeared as amicus curiae counsel and as an expert witness in U.S. federal courts the A former academic\, Scott has continued to publish widely in the fields of  public and private international and constitutional law. \n\n\n\n\nAll are welcome * No RSVP Required * Light lunch provided
URL:https://aspercentre.ca/event/constitutional-roundtable-with-scott-fairley/
LOCATION:Flavelle FL219 – John Willis Classroom
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260303T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260303T140000
DTSTAMP:20260405T105429
CREATED:20251213T194533Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251213T194533Z
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SUMMARY:Constitutional Roundtable with Justice Colin C.J. Feasby
DESCRIPTION:The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights’ Constitutional Roundtables are an annual series of lunchtime discussion forums that provide an opportunity to consider developments in Canadian constitutional theory and practice.  The Constitutional Roundtable series promotes scholarship and aims to make a meaningful contribution to intellectual discourse about Canadian constitutional law. \nWe are pleased to be hosting Justice Colin C.J. Feasby for a lunchtime Constitutional Roundtable on March 3\, 2026. \nAll are welcome * No RSVP Required * Light lunch provided \nTitle: Exploring the Margins of Constitutional Protection for Democracy \nAbstract: Courts play an important role as the referees for democratic competitions.  The democratic rights in the Charter guarantee that courts may fulfill the referee function for federal and provincial elections.  Charter democratic rights do not extend to municipal elections\, school board elections\, band council elections\, and referendums.  The Supreme Court of Canada also resisted the use of Charter s 3 concepts to protect lower order democratic processes under the aegis of freedom of expression in Toronto (City) v Ontario (Attorney General).   Accordingly\, the ability of courts to perform a referee function in relation to lower order democratic processes is limited\, and those processes are vulnerable to predation by higher levels of government.  Justice Feasby’s presentation will question if there are different ways to look at democratic rights\, fundamental freedoms\, and lower order democratic processes that might afford more constitutional protection for such democratic processes. \nBiography: Justice Colin C.J. Feasby graduated from the University of Alberta Faculty of Law in 1998.  He later attended Columbia University where he earned an LL.M and J.S.D.  He practiced at Osler for over 20 years\,  serving the Managing Partner of Osler’s Calgary Office for four years.  As a lawyer\, Justice Feasby had an active trial and appellate practice acting for corporate clients as well as a significant pro bono public interest practice.  He appeared before many courts across the country\, including the Supreme Court of Canada several times.  He has written extensively on constitutional law subjects\, particularly concerning democracy issues.  He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2020 and then to the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta in 2021.  In his time as a justice\, he has written many significant decisions including concerning Medical Assistance in Dying\, the constitutionality of changes to regulations governing opioid prescription\, the constitutionality of the Personal Information Protection Act\, and the secession of Alberta from Canada.
URL:https://aspercentre.ca/event/constitutional-roundtable-with-justice-colin-c-j-feasby/
LOCATION:Flavelle FL219 – John Willis Classroom
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260326T163000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260326T180000
DTSTAMP:20260405T105429
CREATED:20260317T162935Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260325T115258Z
UID:9966-1774542600-1774548000@aspercentre.ca
SUMMARY:Asper Centre Police Guide launch
DESCRIPTION:The Asper Centre has developed a Police Complaints Guide for Ontario — a practical resource designed to help community members understand and navigate Ontario’s police complaints and oversight systems. To support accessibility across communities\, the guide is available as a downloadable PDF in English\, French\, and Oji-Cree (Anishininiimowin / ᐊᓂᐦᔑᓂᓃᒧᐏᐣ). \nThis project grew out of research identifying significant barriers to accessing police accountability mechanisms — particularly for communities most impacted by systemic racism\, discrimination\, and over-policing\, including Indigenous\, Black\, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities. It responds to calls for accountability\, justice\, and reconciliation\, including those articulated by the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. \nOn Thursday March 26th\, 2026 we are hosting an event to help promote the guide and give thanks to the many students and stakeholder partners who worked on the guide and/or reviewed its contents. We are grateful to the Law Foundation of Ontario for funding this project. \n👉 LINK to the guide here: www.tinyurl.com/AsperPoliceGuide \nIf you wish to attend the launch event\, please RSVP with your full name and affiliation to tal.schreier@utoronto.ca \n \n 
URL:https://aspercentre.ca/event/asper-centre-police-guide-launch/
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Toronto:20260331T123000
DTEND;TZID=America/Toronto:20260331T133000
DTSTAMP:20260405T105429
CREATED:20260206T145023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260327T150226Z
UID:9928-1774960200-1774963800@aspercentre.ca
SUMMARY:Clinic Information Session (for enrolment in Fall 2026)
DESCRIPTION:Clinic Information Session – for U of T Law upper year students (including rising 2L’s) \nThis information session\, for University of Toronto Faculty of Law upper year students\, will provide details on how to enroll in the for-credit clinical programs at the faculty including the Asper Centre Constitutional Rights Clinic\, Downtown Legal Services\, and the International Human Rights Program for Fall 2026. \nThe following Directors will present at the information session and there will be an opportunity to ask questions: \nPrasanna Balasundaram\, DLS\nCheryl Milne\, Asper Centre\nSandra Wisner\, IHRP
URL:https://aspercentre.ca/event/clinic-information-session-for-enrolment-in-fall-2026/
LOCATION:Jackman Law Room P115
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