Deadline: Call for Papers – September 30, 2013

Constitutional Remedies: Are They Effective and Meaningful?

Faculty of Law, University of Toronto, St. George Campus – February 28, 2014

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights invites papers for its upcoming conference examining in detail the remedies available in constitutional litigation.

The Centre invites papers that stimulate and develop an ongoing dialogue on the effectiveness of remedies. The goal is to thoroughly examine the available remedies pursuant to s.24 and s.52 of the Charter as well as remedies for the violation of Aboriginal and treaty rights under the constitution. Key themes include the following.

· Will the promise of the Ward Charter damage claim be realized? Issues related to the quantum of damages in relation to the costs and risks of litigation; the interaction between Charter and tort claims and the role of Charter damages and class actions.
· The role of injunctions and declarations: Would/should the Supreme Court affirm supervisory jurisdiction as it did in Doucet Boudreau if it heard the case today; are injunctions necessary or will declarations suffice including in litigation with respect to conditions of confinement and positive rights? What can be learned from comparative experiences?
· Remedies for violations of Aboriginal and treaty rights: What are the remedies for breach of the duty to consult and are they meaningful and effective?
· Remedies for unconstitutional legislation: Are the courts employing the soft remedies of reading down and suspended declarations of invalidity too much?

Other conference themes may include issues such as the evidence necessary to justify a particular remedy; remedies in the criminal law context; the remedial role of costs awards; interlocutory injunctions in the constitutional context; and jurisdiction to award Charter remedies.

The papers will be utilized as the central themes on various panels across the one day conference and selected conference papers will be considered for publication as part of a special issue of the National Journal of Constitutional Law. Authors of papers chosen for presentation will be notified by October 31, 2013. Final (for the conference) papers are due by January 31, 2014.

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is a centre within the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law devoted to advocacy, research and education in the areas of constitutional rights in Canada.

For those interested in participating, please send an abstract (max: 250 words) of your intended paper with a 1-2 paragraph biography to: Cheryl Milne at cheryl.milne@utoronto.ca

Deadline for Submissions: September 30, 2013