The Legal Intersection Between Sexuality and Race
What do Sikh immigrants to B.C. almost a century ago have to do with gay issues? Everything. Or, maybe nothing. On Oct. 24, 2008 I saw a film, Rex vs Singh, a 20-min. short film…
Civil Rights
Closure to the Free Speech Debate?
We are fairly confident that many of our readers are well aware that the CIC v. Maclean’s case has been officially closed (at least at this point in time; an appeal is still a legal…
Pearl Eliadis Defends Human Rights Commissions
With the recent decision of the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal in the popularly known Maclean’s Magazine case looming in the midst, and with its final pronouncement sure to rehash frenzied and vociferous chatter over…
Rae: Canada Has Its Own Voice on the International Scene
Hon. Bob Rae spoke this morning at the University of Western Ontario Law School on A Changing World: New Directions for Canadian Foreign Policy. What follows are notes (not a transcript) from his talk. Law…
Top Twelve Contemporary Hate-Mongers
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) have released a report on the top twelve hate-mongers in the American media. Given the substantial American media content in Canada, there is direct relevance to civil rights here…
I Spy with my Little Eye Something that is a Tort
The B.C. Supreme Court has awarded damages to a Vancouver woman whose landlord installed, without notice, a hidden video camera in the hallway outside of her suite. According to the ruling judge, Justice Paul Walker, at…
Admissibility of Wikipedia
A recent American case, Badasa v. U.S. discussed the use of Wikipedia by a Homeland Security official. John Timmer at ArsTechnica provides background, References to information at Wikipedia have shown up in various inappropriate places,…
B.C. C.A. Upholds Controversial Abortion Clinic “bubble-zone law”
B.C.’s highest court has dismissed a constitutional challenge to the province’s Access to Abortion Services Act, which restricts protesters around abortion clinics to a distance of 30 meters. The law was enacted by the provincial legislature in…
Racial Profiling in Coward v. Alberta
Linda McKay-Panos of UofA’s UofC’s ABlawg reviews the case in Coward v. Alberta (2008) that came out this summer. Mr. Coward was approached by the police and searched on the basis that he was black. …
One-Stop Shop Legal Services in Ontario
The Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario announced today a new website and hotline to provide legal information. Information is available on: Finding a lawyer Tickets and fines Lawsuits and disputes Family and criminal…
President of Pakistan Resigns
The NY Times reports, Facing imminent impeachment charges, President Pervez Musharraf announced his resignation on Monday, after months of belated recognition by American officials that he had become a waning asset in the campaign against…
Colour Conscious Justice: Towards a Colour Blind Justice System
Is the justice system blind to colour? Jim Rankin and Betsy Powell of the Toronto Star pose this question in an article that is part of the newspaper’s series on Crime and Punishment. The series…