RSS FeedPrisoner’s copyright
Inmate rights are a lost cause for an average politician. If anything, legislators are more likely to push for harsher sentences, more hurdles to parole, and less money for rehabilitation. Of course, history knows prisoners who survived jail through spirituality or by creating works of arts. But one Canadian court case shows that the state may deprive prisoners even of their rights to intellectual property created in the slammer.
John Hawley was sentenced to ten years in prison for armed robberies committed in his mid-twenties. After he was released on parole, John started a “successful commercial art and design studio in Toronto” (Hawley v. Canada, [1990] F.C.J. No. 337). When he served a part of his sentence in Frontenac Institution, a minimum security prison, he created a large painting entitled “Mount Whymper.” This work of art became the subject of a lawsuit he brought against the federal government claiming copyright in “Mount Whymper.”
The Federal Court denied his claim. It found that John was an employee of the Crown at all material times. The judge looked at some of the traditional factors showing supervision and control of John’s work by the prison authorities. He found that John had a work supervisor and that he painted as part of his prison employment. Section 13(3) of the Copyright Act is unambiguous in denying an otherwise strong protection of the creator in cases of works produced in the course of employment. The employer is the IP owner, period.
But was John really a federal employee? According to the court, if you’re in prison, you are, at least for the purposes of IP ownership. It ultimately doesn’t matter that your employment is forced and that your spare time is artificially limited and controlled. To quote the judge: “Frontenac Institution policies, as found in similar institutions, provide only circumscribed conditions under which an inmate can profit or gain from his own labours exerted during leisure hours.” It looks like the flip side of prison rehabilitation is coerced federal employment and consequent government ownership of any works of art created by the inmate.
Oscar Wilde wrote De Profundis in gaol. Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn composed poems in the Gulag. If they did it in Canadian correctional institutions, would our federal government claim copyright in their works too?
(Post sponsored by AdviceScene)
(Another) Law School Podcast
The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) has a new law school podcast. And unlike our podcast, it looks like they actually talk about law school instead of legal issues.
You can check it out on Law School Tech Talk. Hat tip to Connie Crosby on Slaw.
The long road to call to the Ontario Bar
Guest post by Linelle S. Mogado, Esq.
Linelle Mogado
Welcome to the beginning of your law career in Canada! I am pleased to provide you with this guide to the process I went through to obtain my license to practice in Ontario.
Let me be clear: I’m a U.S. law grad from Toronto, and spent a few years in practice in California. This description is specific to my experience. Many of you will have years of experience in other countries, or will be fresh graduates from schools in the U.K., New Zealand, and other fine places in the Commonwealth and beyond. There are constant changes happening in this process as well, so you’re wise to get the latest and greatest info out there. I share this info in the spirit of sharing our collective knowledge so that we can reduce the pain for our international colleagues who follow!
I attended law school in Boston, at Northeastern University School of Law and graduated in 2004. I was “admitted to the California Bar” in 2005. I will be “called to the bar” in Ontario in January 2011. All in all, it will have taken me two (did I mention long?) years and over $6,000 (and that’s on the cheap!) to get admitted to practice in the Ontario Bar.
So get ready! You will have to become familiar with another alphabet soup that will become important in your life: FLSC, NCA, and LSUC.
Be prepared for lots of waiting! And find creative, productive ways to fill your time (and brain) while you wait.
LSAT Logic and “Ground Zero Mosque” Arguments
The LSAT Blog has a great post, LSAT Logic and “Ground Zero Mosque” Arguments.
See Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.
The Donkey and the Carrot: Why Law May Not Be So “Cool” After All
For the class of 2013 (or 2014 in my case), the end of summer signals the beginning of law school. Buoyed by hopes of success and spurred by the prospect of good paying jobs at the end of it all (or the metaphorical carrot on a stick), many of us are getting ready to settle in and start what will no doubt be a challenging but personally fulfilling year. In the same spirit, I eagerly packed my bags and headed to Montreal propelled by the well wishes of friends and family members. “You’ll do great,” they said. “There’s a B curve at McGill.” I replied. “Don’t worry about it,” they said. For months I had been complaining about paying tuition (side note: I know McGill’s Faculty of Law has one of the lowest tuitions in Canada. Don’t stone me…), and I was saddled with my own fears and apprehensions. But my friends and family reassured me: “It’ll all be worth it in the end.” “Go out and make those big bucks,” they said. So I pranced off to law school.
Shortly upon my arrival, I was in the McGill bookstore looking for my law textbooks when I randomly ran into and finally met fellow Law is Cool contributor Siena Anstis. We lamented over the dollars that we would inevitably have to shell out in the next few weeks, but Sienna reminded me that, “It will all pay off in the end. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway…”
A few days later, I went back to the bookstore to purchase my first set of law textbooks (yes, they are so heavy that I will have to buy them in instalments). There, I bumped into another fellow 1L. Although we exchanged no words, our countenances did the talking as we exchanged depressed glances, and I made my way to the cashier to pay for my textbooks. At the cash, I let out a heavy sigh, still decrying the amount of money that these textbooks were going to cost me. The cashier replied, “Don’t worry. You’ll make it all back by the end of [law school].”
If I had a dollar for the number of times I was told that…
Most of us are going to law school with the ulterior motive of making some “good money” (admit it…) at the end of it all. No one pays upwards of $60 000 for the heck of it. After all, many of us go to law school desperately hoping that the stereotype rings true: “lawyers are stinking rich, or at least can live comfortably” and “job prospects abound for those with a law degree.” However, as if to add insult to injury, the following excerpt from a blog post puts the stereotype into question:
The Real Value of a Legal Education
By John Farmer Jr.
America’s law schools begin the 2010-2011 academic year facing one of the greatest challenges to legal education since the rise of the modern law school at the end of the 19th century.
On one hand, the job market for law school graduates has rarely been worse than the past two years, and the class of 2011 is facing an equally daunting paucity of opportunities. As The Star-Ledger reported last week, some recent law school alumni who have had a difficult time navigating the job market have become embittered, claiming that the legal academy induced them to borrow large amounts of money by dangling a career prospect that has proven illusory.
On the other hand, interest in legal education has never been higher. Record numbers of qualified college graduates are applying to law schools, which are not hesitating to enroll them. This, in turn, led some members of the bar, meeting recently at the American Bar Association convention in San Francisco, to question the motivation of the law schools. How, they wonder, can they continue to admit thousands of students when their career prospects are so uncertain?
The struggles of recent law school alumni, coupled with the apprehensions of the bar, should give pause to those of us who are involved in educating the next generation of lawyers. …
In the short term, students should embark upon a legal education with their eyes open; the job market is difficult, and likely to remain so. Legal education is not, as the comments of some would suggest, an entitlement program.
…In retrospect, we were spoiled by the prosperity of the large law firms, and the easy career pipeline and high salaries they offered. Tuitions could be raised without fear of compromising the students’ futures; the debt students were forced to incur would be easy to manage with the high salaries recent graduates were commanding. As a consequence, many law schools became “cash cows” supporting programs in their larger university communities. The focus shifted to revenue; economic issues came to dominate.
But the real value of legal education is not, and never has been, primarily economic. It’s not about money; it’s about freedom.
Legal education gives students what 99.9 percent of humanity yearns for but is denied: control over one’s own life….”
I can’t help but wonder, however, how much control one can exert over one’s life when one is broke and thus at the mercy of loans, the leviathan that is the state and the monster that is capitalism. We all know that job prospects for new law grads are not as great as they used to be (to say the least) – after all, there’ve been numerous posts and articles about this subject on numerous law blogs and sites. But what am I to expect as a law graduate in 2014? This year alone was one of the worst for articling students… Can we – should we – expect better in a few years? If so, there are no worries. If not, however, it would behove the class of 2013 to start law school with, not only the end, but reality in mind.
Society? It lied to me. My friends and family? Maybe they were wrong. It is quite possible that law school will not pay off in the end, or at least not without some elbow grease and elapsed time. The reality is that, in some ways, many of us law students will be like donkeys with that illusive (or, depending on how you think of it, elusive) carrot dangling in front of us – motivated to work because of and for the carrot but forever running after something we may never realistically obtain.
Do Your Driving Convictions Really Disappear After 3 Years?
Records of Convictions for Provincial Charges in Ontario
Do your driving convictions really disappear after 3 years? Simon says, “No!” Keep reading to find out more about how the government keeps provincial offence records and what happens to them after three years.
Background Information on Provincial Offence Records
First some background information on provincial records. The Ministry of the Attorney General in Ontario keeps records of individuals’ convictions for all provincial charges, the most common Acts being the Highway Traffic Act (HTA), the Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act (CAIA), and the Liquor Licence Act (LLA). However these records are kept on an antiquated system, known as ICON, and are not easily searchable by police officers in the course of their regular duties. These records are primarily for the courts to maintain and use. ICON records are kept longer than three years.
This means that police officers aren’t likely to know about your underage drinking or public intoxication tickets when they run your name, unless you are dealing with the service that issued you the ticket, then they will probably have record of it on their own computer system.
MTO Records of HTA and CAIA Charges
The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) also keeps a records system, known as PARIS (Plate and Registration Information System). PARIS is accessed through the CPIC (Canadian Police Information Center) software, which is readily available to all police officers.
PARIS keeps track of individuals through their driver’s licence number and only deals with driving related provincial offences, namely Highway Traffic Act and Compulsory Automobile Insurance Act charges. It also keeps records of any driver’s licence suspensions, regardless of what they were from (i.e. medical, unpaid fines, racing, criminal conviction, etc). The PARIS record is what people are referring to when they speak of their “driving record”.
When a police officer runs (checks) your driver’s licence number, they will see your licence status and your convictions on PARIS, as well as any points you have accumulated from those convictions. Police services in Ontario (with the exception of the OPP and MTO enforcement officers) only have access on PARIS to the last three years worth of convictions and demerit points (although points actually regenerate after only two years).
The Three Year Myth
The fact that most officers can only see the last three years worth of convictions, coupled with the fact that insurance companies usually only ask about your last three years, has led to the myth that driving convictions are wiped off your record after three years. This is not the case! PARIS keeps records of your convictions indefinitely, it’s just that most officers can’t see them. The OPP and the MTO, however, can. So remember this the next time you are asked if you’ve had any tickets in the past!
From my blog: Simon Says, Category: Police Myths
Call for Participation: Cyber-Surveillance in Everyday Life: An international workshop
Call for Participation
Cyber-Surveillance in Everyday Life: An international workshop
May 12-15, 2011, University of Toronto, Canada
Digitally mediated surveillance (DMS) is an increasingly prevalent, but still largely invisible, aspect of daily life. As we work, play and negotiate public and private spaces, on-line and off, we produce a growing stream of personal digital data of interest to unseen others. CCTV cameras hosted by private and public actors survey and record our movements in public space, as well as in the workplace. Corporate interests track our behaviour as we navigate both social and transactional cyberspaces, data mining our digital doubles and packaging users as commodities for sale to the highest bidder. Governments continue to collect personal information on-line with unclear guidelines for retention and use, while law enforcement increasingly use internet technology to monitor not only criminals but activists and political dissidents as well, with worrisome implications for democracy.
This international workshop brings together researchers, advocates, activists and artists working on the many aspects of cyber-surveillance, particularly as it pervades and mediates social life. This workshop will appeal to those interested in the surveillance aspects of topics such as the following, especially as they raise broader themes and issues that characterize the cyber-surveillance terrain more widely:
- social networking (practices & platforms)
- search engines
- behavioural advertising/targeted marketing
- monitoring and analysis techniques (facial recognition, RFID, video analytics, data mining)
- Internet surveillance (deep packet inspection, backbone intercepts)
- resistance (actors, practices, technologies)
A central concern is to better understand DMS practices, making them more publicly visible and democratically accountable. To do so, we must comprehend what constitutes DMS, delineating parameters for research and analysis. We must further explore the way citizens and consumers experience, engage with and respond to digitally mediated surveillance. Finally, we must develop alliances, responses and counterstrategies to deal with the ongoing creep of digitally mediated surveillance in everyday life. Read more
Blawg Review #278
Blawg Review is a blog carnival that rotates to a different law site every week, usually emphasizing a specific theme. Last week’s review was by R. David Donoghue.
August 23 is the “International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition,” established in 1997 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) during the 29th session of the General Conference (Volume 1).
The purpose of the day is to examine:
- the historical study of the causes and workings of the transatlantic slave trade,
- the clarification of the consequences and interactions to which it gave rise, and
- the contribution of the project to the establishment of a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence between races and peoples.
This year UNESCO has developed a documentary for this day Slave Routes: A Global Vision.
A companion document has has been released with the film, and will be referred to periodically throughout this post.
The Causes and Workings of Transatlantic Slavery
The origins of the Transatlantic slave route go back to the Iberian wars, between the Christian and Muslim kingdoms of Spain and Portugal. Both sides engaged in the enslavement of captives of war. As Slave Routes notes, the institution of slavery existed well before the Transatlantic route, both internally within Africa and to the Near East. But something different began with the European enslavement of Africans from the 15th c. onwards.
The first known African slaves sold in markets of recognizable European states was in Lisbon, Portugal in 1441, obtained from what is now Mauritania. The Portuguese had good reason for attempting to circumvent the Atlas Mountains and raiding the West African coast. In 1086 a black African dynasty originating from this area known as Al-Murabitun (Almoravids in English) provided military support and temporarily halted the expanse of the Christians. Soon after, Pope Alexander II provided the papal standard (vexillum sancti Petri) and an indulgence to the Christians in the conflict in 1063, making it officially a holy war that would culminate centuries later in the Spanish Inquisition.
The motivation for European slavery of Africans was therefore initially military, as an extension of the Western Crusades known as La Reconquista, or the reconquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Christians. In reality this term was probably too broad and an exaggeration, as many of the diverse peoples in the Muslim kingdoms of Spain and Portugal included native Iberians who had adopted the Islamic faith.
A permanent Portuguese fort was established at Arguin in 1448, and the 1452 Dum Diversas papal bull of Pope Nicholas V specifically authorized Alfonso V of Portugal,
…full and free permission to invade, search out, capture, and subjugate the Saracens and pagans and any other unbelievers and enemies of Christ wherever they may be… and to reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.
This established the basis for a racialized slavery, hereby unknown to Africa or any region engaging in African slave trade. As the motivations for slavery shifted from military goals to economic incentives, sheer greed resulted in a complete and utter destruction of African civilization and society. This is what made the Transatlantic slavery exceptionally devastating and worthy of particular scrutiny.
Web resources on the subject are expanding, archiving historic documents for amateur historians looking to deepen their knowledge on the subject. J.L. Bell has a post on Boston 1775 announcing American Slavery Debate, a new database of primary source documents.
Marco Randazza thinks slavery would be a pretty good alternative to some judicial punishments out there.
In some ways we’re all a slave to something. Those of us starting out in our legal careers are often a slave to the billable hour, or a slave to making partner. Norm Pattis is eying some of the pro bono work big firms are doing and wondering if they can spare him a partnership. Ronda Muir gives some tips to young lawyers on how to be a better lawyer by improving specific behaviours. Social media might boost a career, but Adrian Dayton cautions on a guest post at Above the Law that it takes time and dedication to get true returns.
If we don’t make it seems like we’re all likely to move back in with our parents. Stephanie West-Allen discusses these millennials on IdeaLawg. Scott Greenfield just sort of bashes them. Jordan Furlong thinks law firms should pay more attention to a workplace trend:
…a daydream about the courage to quit a job that treats you with less respect than you deserve… As Daniel Gross explains in a Newsweek commentary, “the poor labour market and workers’ antagonism toward employers and customers are actually connected”
Slavery means different things to different people. James T. Harris quotes Alan Keyes, who describes the experience of slavery as a guarantee of shelter, clothing and a job. “Socialism,” and Obama, is a form of slavery, if you buy the Keyes line that government-dominated largess is an infringement on freedom. Blunt Politics gives us more black Republicans who claim that real freedom comes through independence from the state, which they liken to the slave plantation,
This is not the land of guarantee, it’s the land of opportunity… but when you say racism is the problem, you put the power for your future in someone else’s hand.
My take is that the modern descendants of slaves are more likely to find guaranteed food, shelter and clothing in prison. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world, and African-Americans are disproportionately affected for a variety of reasons. I always wonder why Keyes doesn’t talk more about that, because it seems like race is the problem. Or part of it, at least. If nothing else it makes confidence and belief in the system difficult for minorities in the U.S. Abdul Hakim-Shabazz has his own doubts about police on the Indiana Law Blog after the David Bisard case, where an intoxicated on-duty officer struck and killed a biker and somehow had the charges dropped.
Law enforcement is not always right. James Morton thinks Col. Patrick Parrish is wrong about Omar Khadr. Confessions are only valid if they are free and voluntary. Threats of gang rape in prison usually vitiate that consent.
Eric Lipman reminds us about Terry Nichols in prison, not notable for being African-American, but rather for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing. Seems he’s not too happy with his food in prison due to the lack of insoluble fibre which doesn’t give him regular bowel movements. Seems the judge doesn’t give a…
Consequences and Interactions of Transatlantic Slavery
The most immediate consequence of the Transatlantic slavery was the dominance of European powers in the world. Western civilization as we know it today would not be possible without the hundreds of years of free labour, and the continued exploitation of natural and human resources. Operation Black Vote said,
The UK reaped huge profits for the despicable trade financing the developments associated with the industrial revolution. Britain made unprecedented profits and benefited enormously for the bloody trade. The legacy of racism remains with us some 400 years later.
Transatlantic slavery also created a system of oppression that places people of European ancestry on a higher level in a hierarchy maintained by what Slave Routes refers to as europhilia, ethnophobia and endophobia. It resulted in a far greater polarization of cultures in the world, as those attempting to restructure this hierarchy or seeking independence through an anti-colonial stance invariably adopted a counter-European philosophy. We see this pattern not just across Africa, but all of the colonized world, including the Middle East, across Asia, and Latin America.
August 23 was selected by UNESCO because it corresponded with the Haitian revolution, a major landmark in the resistance against colonialism and slavery. Slave Routes points out,
In the United States, the North America historian, Herbert Aptheker, has estimated that approximately 250 acts of sedition in all were organized by Afro-Americans to free themselves from slavery during the history of that “particular institution” in that country.
These revolts existed throughout the Caribbean and the Americas, and were a far more compelling reason for abolitionism than any humanitarian or compassionate grounds. For more on the Haitian revolution and slave revolts, see Blawg Review #249.
Although the direct domination of the developed world by European powers has largely ceased, the exploitative relationship continues to this day and is a major source of civil unrest and political tensions in the world today.
I came across this poster the other day on Queen Street West stating that “Slavery wasn’t abolished in 1834,”
It’s an advertisement from The Body Shop, who have raised over a million dollars to fight sex trafficking through partnerships with ECPAT USA (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking) and The Somaly Mam Foundation. The greatest consumers of modern sex trafficking continues to be wealthy European and North American citizens.
The Morning Quickie shares a review of Not Natasha, a photo book documenting the lives of survivors of sexual slavery in Moldova.
The key thesis behind Siddarth Kara and Devin T Stewart’s Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery is not that different from the Transatlantic slavery,
…the enormity and pervasiveness of global sex trafficking is driven by the ability to generate immense profits at almost no real risk.
They suggest the most effective way to address the profitability of modern slavery is to elevate the risk.
Not For Sale | Cambodia from Not For Sale Campaign on Vimeo.
Michael Platzer of the U.N.’s Center for International Crime Prevention said,
…200 million people are victims of contemporary forms of slavery. Most aren’t prostitutes, of course, but children in sweatshops, domestic workers, migrants. During four centuries, 12 million people were believed to be involved in the slave trade between Africa and the New World. The 200 million — and many of course are women who are trafficked for sex — is a current figure. It’s happening now. Today.
The Not for Sale Campaign has a slavery map tracking incidents near you revealed largely through law enforcement. The campaign focuses on more than just sexual slavery, and in their 2010 “Stop Paying for Slavery Tour” uses supply chain monitoring programs and looks at various forms of exploitation and economic dependence that result in a de facto rather than de juris forms of slavery.
Or as Jason Mustian recently put it,
Ron Soodalter at the Huffington Post talks about The Slave Next Door, and reaffirms that slavery is alive and well today. He’s calling for California to pass the Transparency in Supply Chains Act. A Heart for Justice reviews the same book.
Bruce Reilly visits the Modern Slavery Museum focusing on agricultural workers. Actually, the museum visited him, because it’s on wheels,
Farmworkers in this country have been the most exploited group of folks since the Abolition in slavery in 1865. As one farm owner puts it, “Before, we used to own the workers. Now we just rent ‘em.”
Faces of Slavery from David Hepburn on Vimeo.
Those interested in learning more might want to attend the Global Forum on Human Trafficking in Yorba Linda, CA on Oct. 14-15, or a number of workshops being held in the UK by UCL.
My Fight Planet gives us an edited version of highlights from “Fight Traffic,” a Mixed Marital Arts (MMA) event raising funds to abolish slavery and human trafficking. Maybe we can do something like that over here, because MMA fights are coming to Ontario.
Not all sports are so philanthropic. Tom Kirkendall is following the Roger Clemens case. Meanwhile, Howard Wasserman is cheering speech at the Sports Law Blog. Lilian Edwards comments on the case of the anonymous star of BBC’s racing show Top Gear trying to reveal his true name to cash in on an autobiography. (Sorry, no hockey here this time).
A Culture of Tolerance and Peaceful Coexistence between Races and Peoples
Michael Lynk, one of my former profs at UWO and currently Associate Dean, has the 2009 Rand Memorial Lecture on SSRN, Labour Law and the New Inequality. The premise behind the paper is that poor labour practices that stem from global inequity leads to instability and civil strife, limiting both social capabilities economic potential of these communities. UNESCO is currently mobilizing a response for the Pakistan floods, an issue of global concern to avoid radicalization, militancy and religious extremism in the region.
An obvious prerequisite for the horrors of Transatlantic slavery was the development of racial ideology. Slave Routes notes one of the major obstacles to political independence in Latin America was persistent and divisive racial ideologies. The Human Genome Project and countless scientific studies in recent years indicate the biological impossibility of human “races,” yet the resurgence of eugenics around the world is quite disturbing.
But genes can be used in good ways too. The Innocence Project announces that after 30 years DNA evidence has proven a Virginia man is innocent of rape charges due to the pro bono work of lawyers at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP. Another recent exoneree, Michael Anthony Green, wants to become a paralegal to help others wrongfully accused.
Speaking of wrongfully accused, Christine Corcos reports that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was charged in Sweden for rape and molestation charges. Not so quick though, seems those charges were dropped in a hurry. Other charges of espionage against Assange are contemplated by Kenneth Anderson, but Julian Ku on Opinio Juris says in true spy form that they have to catch him first.
The most effective approach to peaceful coexistence might simply be for people to get to know and understand each other, a variation of the contact hypothesis used in sociology. But sociologists know that contact alone is not enough.
Eugene Volokh thinks Islamophobia is not quite irrational, citing a Time article indicating 46% of Americans believe Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religions. Maybe, after several centuries of slavery and colonialism justified through religious practices, to restore some balance or equilibrium in global power. But sometimes, as Simon Fodden points out on Slaw, patience can be just as effective in the face of intolerance.
Volokh does note however that the accommodation laws invoked by many American Muslims today were intended for all religions and have primarily benefited Christians. And although Islamophobia is not a typical form of racism, it does rely on classic Social Darwinism thought.
By the way, Obama is not a Muslim, even though his middle name is Hussein (Can we get over this already?).
Slave Routes rejects the premise that racism is based on xenophobia or ignorance,
Racism can be defined as a process of suppression of the human being, based on socially selected phenotypical traits. This system classifies people according to their external physical characteristics and establishes a hierarchy of groups. In the long run, one of those groups defined as the superior race and the others are placed in inferior positions on the scale. Racism, therefore, is not a product of ignorance, the result of fear or concern over the ‘other’ or a natural phenomenon. [emphasis added]
Racism is more than a word, according to Marco Randazza. One word by a Dr. Schlessinger is what a lot of people are talking about right now. I’ll let you guess the word, but Norm Pattis weighs in too. One of his readers doesn’t agree though,
That someone as smart as yourself would join the oh so ignorant and completely off base “young black men say nigga, why can’t an old white woman say nigger?” team I hope speaks only to a generational divide and a complete lack of understanding of the context in which nigga is used and that it is a different word than nigger.
Where we do typically see racism manifested today is with immigration. Kevin Johnson at the Immigration Prof Blog discusses the 14th Amendment, which gives citizenship to the children of immigrants born in the U.S. Instead of repealing it, the real solution he proposes is immigration reform. Daniel Cubias points out how difficult it is to repeal an Amendment, and the unlikelihood of it happening, while J.E. Robertson considers it an attack on all Americans. Hegemomy notes that repealing the 14th Amendment used to be the talk of the fringe-right, and calls it the rise of the “Old South.” They heavy-handed tactics used in places like Arizona inevitably spill over into the general population, as evidenced by a case presented to us by Scott Greenfield.
What is needed is for group to have meaningful interaction with each other in a shared space and common goals to overcome deeply ingrained stereotypes and prejudices. It’s very difficult to hate others when you have extensive and nuanced encounters with a group that demonstrate the diversity found within them. For example, Martha Minow raises concerns that charter schools in the U.S. have the potential to create self-segregation.
Maybe that’s what the opponents of a new community center in lower Manhattan are really afraid of, that others won’t harbour the same hatred and animosity towards other that they do. Originally Park51 was appropriately called Cordoba House, invoking the city in Spain that was once a Muslim capital of a flowering multicultural and multi-religious literary civilization, extinguished by the same movement that led to the Transatlantic slavery.
Or maybe, as Jon Stewart suggests, Fox News is a terrorist command center (see here in Canada). Randazza doesn’t have much to say about it, aside from invoking through Sam Seder bull-size helpings of Terry Nichols’ favorite prison past-time:
Daniel Luban just calls it “The New Anti-Semitism,”
While activists like Pam Geller have led the anti-mosque campaign and the broader demonization of Muslims that has accompanied it, leaders like Abe Foxman have acquiesced in it. In doing so they risk providing an ugly and ironic illustration of the extent of Jewish assimilation in 21st-century America. We know that Jews can grow up to be senators and Supreme Court justices. Let’s not also discover that they can grow up to incite a pogrom.
It was through Cordoba that toothpaste and under-arm deodorant were introduced to Western Europe, and where literary works were translated freely between Arabic, Hebrew, Latin and Greek. It was in Cordoba that the Golden Age of Judaism flourished, giving birth to rabbinic scholars such as Maimonides.
Despite being one of the most tolerant and inclusive societies on Earth today, and all the lofty constitutional and human rights ideals, the United States has yet to accomplish the same culture of tolerance and coexistence that once briefly existed – in Cordoba.
Perhaps that’s something though we can all aspire to in Park51, if we’re willing to open our minds to it.
—————–
Charon QC has his own little law review going on, and Jordan Furlong has six for the road. Next week’s Blawg Review is by Mirriam Seddiq, a criminal defence and immigration lawyer who posts on Not Guilty. Blawg Review has information about next week’s host, and instructions how to get your blawg posts reviewed in upcoming issues.
There is No Ground Zero Mosque
Since 9/11, Muslims have been at far greater risk of terrorism in the United States than have non-Muslims.
Rocking the Boat: A Brief History of Anti-Migrant Hysteria in Canada
They’re at it again.
In November, 76 Tamil refugees escaped Sri Lanka on a rusty freighter. They arrived in Victoria, where they were met by RCMP and Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) officials, who promptly jailed them for three months on allegations of terrorism. It would be fully half a year before the CBSA would admit that it had never had any evidence.
By then, however, it was too late: anti-Tamil and anti-refugee hysteria had spread like wildfire. Now, mere weeks after that most tepid of mea culpas from the CBSA, the hysteria greeting the Tamil MV Sun Sea passengers is worse. As with the Ocean Lady, these migrants will be detained in Maple Ridge jails before their refugee claims are considered. The Conservatives have begun to create new rules to treat refugees who arrive by boat differently from others. Meanwhile, Paul Fromm, the infamous neo-Nazi, has been receiving uncritical coverage in mainstream media with his demands that the migrants be sent back.
As the paranoia grows ever more heightened, it becomes increasingly important that we resist it. The universal rights of safety and mobility must be upheld, not only for the Sun Sea migrants, but for all people fleeing violence.
The Glass Ceiling is Breaking! Umm…kind of…
“…[P]robably the most exciting day was the day I found out I became dean. And I remember the person who phoned me said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ And I said, ‘No.’ And the person said, ‘Well, you are about to make history.’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, my God.’ [I]t was scary, of course, but really, really incredible because I was the first woman.” – Dean Mayo Moran
I am encouraged.
Elena Kagan isn’t the only one getting a promotion this year. Recently, Kimberley Brooks and Camille A. Nelson were appointed as deans at the Schulich School of Law (Dalhousie) and Suffolk Law School, respectively.
The last year alone has seen the appointment of quite a few female law scholars to the rank of dean in Canadian law schools, namely the aforementioned Professor Brooks, Jinyan Li, Odette Snow and Lorna Turnbull. In fact, of the fifteen law schools in Canada, a record breaking eight of them (more than half!) were very recently or are currently headed by women:
- Kim Brooks (Schulich – Dalhousie)
- Jinyan Li (Osgoode) Interim dean (2009-2010)
- Mayo Moran (U of T)
- Beth Bilson (Saskatchewan) Acting dean
- Maryann Bobinski (UBC)
- Donna Greschner (Victoria)
- Lorna Turnbull (Manitoba) Acting dean
- Odette Snow (Moncton)
- Marie-France Albert (Moncton)
It is interesting to note, however, that all of the deans of the law schools in Quebec are Caucasian and male. I suppose change is slower in some parts of the country…
Camille Nelson deserves special mention, not only because is she a Canadian appointed as a dean at an American law school (Suffolk School of Law to be exact), but because she is a woman of colour — the first woman and the first person of colour to hold the position of dean in the 104-year history of the law school. Although not recent news, it should also be noted that it is a woman who currently heads one of the top law schools in the States; Martha Minow is currently the dean at Harvard Law School.
Now, this is news. This is ground-breaking. I am so used to reading articles and blogs bemoaning the lack of diversity and upward female mobility in the legal profession, but I write this article on a happier and (slightly) more optimistic note. One can only hope that the trend will continue. I can finally see cracks in the glass ceiling (even if only in academia) and as a female law student and a minority, I am encouraged.
Careless Driver Convicted After Boasting Online: Issues Surrounding Internet Statement Evidence
From my blog: Simon Says, Category: Police and Law News.
CTV News: Careless Driver Convicted After Boasting Online
Issues Surrounding Internet Statement Evidence
The gist of the story is that Vladimir Rigenco, a 19 year old man from Vaughn, Ontario pled guilty to Careless Driving in a Provincial Court and received a six month driving prohibition, 1 year probation under the Provincial Offences Act, and a $1000 fine. He was charged after he posted comments on a car enthusiast forum about how he had driven his 2006 BMW M5S at speeds of more than 100 km/hr over the speed limit.
This case raises some interesting issues surrounding electronic “statement evidence” and the anonymity of the internet. The issues were not brought before a court in this case, because it was resolved by way of a plea bargain and not a trial, but obviously the crown believed they had enough evidence to proceed with charges.
The primary issue that arises with electronic statement evidence (usually someone admitting or boasting of a crime on the internet or making threats against someone electronically) is that of identity. Just because something originates from a specific account, does not mean that the registered owner or user of that account was the person at the keyboard when the statement was made.
It is a simple enough defence to say that other people than the registered owner have access to the account, either with permission or without. In fact, in my opinion (and the opinion of most police officers I know and worked with), this defence is so common sense that it prevents an officer from forming reasonable grounds that the owner of an account is the one who committed the offence.
A parallel issue surrounding identity is how the actual identity of the real person who owns/uses an account is determined. Most people don’t use their real names on their internet accounts and, even if they do, there is no mechanism in place to determine if someone inputting the name Simon Borys is actually the real Simon Borys. (Would the real Simon Borys please stand up!?)
In order to determine the identity of the person behind an account, police usually have to write Production Orders for the companies that own the servers that host the website or forum in question to get the IP address that the statements originated from (unless they are publicly available). They then have to write a Production Order for the Internet Service Provider of that IP address to determine the actual name and location of the registered owner of the account.
That still only gets them to the house or building the statements came from, which can assist with providing corroborative evidence if the police already believe it was Simon Borys who made the statements and the IP address is registered to Simon Borys’ father at the house Simon Borys lives at. But there still might be a defence that it was someone else in the house who made the post, especially if it’s a public building or something like a student residence.
This type of investigation is time and resource consuming and does not even guarantee the identification of a suspect. However, it can be useful when other investigative avenues exist. In this case, if police had the address which the post originated from, they would have been able able to search Ministry of Transportation records for all the people residing at the house to determine if anyone there owns a 2006 BMW M5S.
A second issue of fundamental importance with respect to electronic statements is whether there is any corroborating evidence at all. Someone can, and people often do, make false claims on the internet (or elsewhere) for any number of reasons. In this case, perhaps Rigenco just wanted people to think he was cool. The bottom line is that if there is no evidence other than a statement, I would suggest that is not sufficient evidence to lay a charge.
The belief that a statement alone is sufficient evidence, when taken to its logical extreme, ends in absurdity. If I say I smoked marijuana can I be arrested for possession? If I say parked in a no parking zone can I be given a ticket? It’s just not logical to think that an unsupported inculpatory statement meets the threshold of reasonable grounds. Where is the evidence? I don’t know if there was additional evidence in this case, but the issue remains.
I hope that after reading this people have a little better understanding of the complexity and difficulty of internet related investigations and keep in mind that police are unlikely to undertake this type of investigation for all but the most serious offences.
