RSS FeedAbdelrazik seeks justice
Spy watchdog to probe CSIS conduct in Abdelrazik case
The probe pulls the agency closer to the centre of the Abdelrazik controversy. A federal judge, in ordering Ottawa to bring Mr. Abdelrazik home from Sudan, concluded CSIS was “complicit” in his detention. Mr. Abdelrazik has offered chilling accounts of his treatment by CSIS agents in Canada and during his imprisonment in Sudan.
Who will protect us from absurdities
‘Canadian refugee’ a Nairobi celebrity
He said incidents of Somali expats being arrested, detained and thrown into jail by Kenyan officials have escalated in the past few years.
Their stories have been discussed threadbare by people, but what has sustained interest in Mohamud’s case is the absurdity of it all, said Mohamed Busuri, editor of the Somali Canadian Times. “It’s unbelievable (they) stopped her because her lips didn’t match (those in her photo),” he said.
“People are talking about her and her son everywhere.”
The Schreiber-Mulroney affair
Karlheinz Schreiber optimistic he’ll remain in Canada
Schreiber told the Star last week he will use every legal means at his disposal to avoid being extradited, insisting that if he were tried in Canada on the charges he faces in Germany, the whole case against him would be thrown out.
Victim’s mother demands punishment for insane
A year later, no end to bus nightmare
McLean’s mother, Carol deDelley, said in a victim impact statement read out at Li’s Criminal Code review board hearing she can’t sleep, can’t eat and can no longer earn a living driving a school bus.
She is now pouring her energy into fighting for changes so people who are found not criminally responsible for a crime still serve time in jail.
Carleton U fires Lebanese prof after B’nai Brith statement
Carleton prof fired for alleged terror role
“This shows a total disregard for the presumption of innocence until proven guilty – and of academic freedom and due process. We’ve never seen anything like this at a Canadian university,” said Jim Turk, executive director of the Canadian Association of University Teachers, which condemned Carleton’s move yesterday. …
Carleton sociology chair Peter Gose called Diab’s abrupt dismissal “appalling, a terrible injustice and fundamental breach of natural justice to terminate a contract without notice or consultation.”
A B’nai Brith statement said “Canadians should be extremely concerned that an alleged terrorist … will be teaching our youth at a leading Canadian university.”
There are Ponzi schemes in Canada too
Financier out on bail as bilked victims fume
Jones is accused of defrauding up to 200 investors, many of them elderly, of between $30 million and $50 million in what Quebec’s financial securities regulator believes was an intricate Ponzi scheme.
Lucrative careers: fare collection
An article in the Star about stealing by TTC station collectors led us to a fascinating publication: Public Sector Salary Disclosure 2009. It lists Ontario public sector employees with salaries over $100,000 per year. Look at Municipalities and Services, and then search for “Station Collector.” And we were wondering whose luxury cars were often parked on subway station grounds.
UPDATE: and check out this long list of Ontario public sector organizations with NO salaries of $100,000 or more to disclose. It includes small town hospitals, women’s shelters, mental health, disability, immigrant, aboriginal, and other social services organizations, retirement homes, hospices, sexual assault survivors centres, etc.
Too harsh or too soft?
Life for teen in Rengel murder
What if you don’t “look like” your passport photo?
Woman held in Kenya gives up DNA samples
What is known for certain is that no Canadian official has checked Mohamud’s story in Toronto with her best friends, neighbours, employer, ex-husband, 12-year-old son or the son’s babysitter, Boulakia said.
Torys LLP Goes Viral on YouTube
This is what I’ve been waiting for.
A major Canadian law firm now has an established YouTube channel, with professionally produced videos using real articling students, sharing their experiences at the firm.
Social media and viral videos are no longer for small firms or solo practices, as this recent move by Torys LLP proves.
This project shows that the firm understands that students want a human face to firms that often appear intimidating. Students appreciate firms that try to meet them half way.
You can check out the Torys LLP videos on their YouTube channel. This video speaks about applying to the firm, featuring recent grads from my school, Adam Banack and Adrienne DiPaolo.
Update
Although Torys LLP produced a social media release for these videos, this entry still ranks much, much higher on Google. On August 6, 2009, it was even above the fold.
Religious freedom and driver licenses
In wake of court ruling, Hutterites contemplate leaving Alberta
Access to justice and elected judges
Every once in a while, a big legal case takes over the press. Murder, corruption, shareholder disputes, and Canadians stuck abroad eventually come before our courts. And when judges hand down their decisions, some people take issue with the outcome of the case. A common protest, especially among non-lawyers, is that the judges are unelected. How can the judge find that bus killer not criminally responsible? He is unelected! Or something like that.
If we take critics of the current judicial appointment system at face value, electing judges will ensure justice better. Presumably, it will work because judges will reflect values held by the majority. In the exercise of their discretion, judges will be more likely to apply those values and standards instead of principles alien to the majority of people. Access to justice, therefore, will increase because more cases will be decided justly.
According to Merriam-Webster, justice is the “maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.” The law determines what is just, but sometimes a judge must use his or her discretion. In many cases, the law is ambiguous. A judge then has to choose one interpretation of the law. With so much discretion, the impartiality mentioned in the dictionary definition is crucial to justice.
If justice requires impartiality, no justice is possible without judicial independence. If somebody can influence a judge, a bias is possible, and the judge is not impartial any more. A simple example is bribing the court, and a more complex one is paying the court’s salary. The courts should be independent from any party including the government or its agents. A more interesting question is whether the courts should be independent from the Parliament, provincial legislatures, and even the opinion of the majority of Canadians.
(to be continued)
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