Digital Commons Network^™

Abolishing Canadian Crown Copyright: Why Government Documents Should Not Be Subject To Copyright, Emily Benton

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

Section 12 of the Canadian Copyright Act, which assigns the government copyright ownership over all documents produced by the federal government for a period of fifty years, has remained virtually unchanged since being introduced into Canada’s copyright legislation in 1921. This provision is known as Crown copyright, and its continued existence serves as a barrier to the reuse of public sector information by the public, despite the fact that said documents were produced by government employees whose salaries are paid for by the taxpayers. This paper looks at Crown copyright through a global and Charter lens, evaluating how s.12 fits …

Conceptions Of Sovereignty, Paul Hansen

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

This paper explores conceptions of sovereignty held by Canada’s Indigenous and Western cultures. It seeks to determine what sovereignty entails and how the Crown- Indigenous relationship is affected by the judgments of Canada’s courts. The study makes no attempt to compare the relative merits of Indigenous and Western sovereignty conceptions. Similarly, it does not examine nor attempt to reconcile sovereignty-related tensions that may exist between the Crown and Indigenous peoples.

The research is framed by a two-part question: (1) What are the defining characteristics of Indigenous and Western conceptions of sovereignty; and (2) what impact do the sovereignty-related judgments of …

The Supreme Court’S Use Of Narratives In Issuing Advisory Opinions, Andrea Lawlor

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

This major research paper looks at how Canadian Supreme Court justices view their role in adjudicating reference questions. Comparing the texts of 21 Supreme Court advisory opinions across two eras of the Court (Chief Justice Laskin: 1973-1984 and Chief Justice McLachlin: 2000-2017), the study examines the use of four narratives – the Guardian of the Constitution, Umpire of Federalism, Institutional and Public Will – to determine how the Court positions its role vis-à-vis the constitutional order and the other branches of government. I use a mixed-method approach that incorporates an empirically oriented content analysis of each decision, complemented by four …

Myths And Misogyny: The Legal Response To Sexual Assault, Rose Mary Lynn Ubell

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

Sexual assault is a persistent form of violence against women that is rooted in gender inequality. It violates the sexual integrity of the victim and can have lasting psychological and emotional effects on both victims and their families. Sexual assault is a significant social and cultural problem within Canadian society. This paper presents an examination of the problems with the legal response to sexual assault that are still prevalent within the Canadian justice system despite the many positive changes in law that have come about in the last three decades. It is divided into three main chapters. The first draws …

Visioning Legalized Consensual Adult Sex Work In Canada, Laurie Hayman

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

On December 6, 2014, Parliament enacted new criminal law addressing prostitution related offences in response to the 2013 decision at the Supreme Court in the matter of Bedford v Attorney General of Canada. This major research paper focuses on the criminal law concerning prostitution and sex work and the impact of the law on people who work in the sex trade. This major research paper analyses the new criminal law, and its stated purpose by critically examining the research materials used to help inform those who drafted the law, to conclude that the law is flawed. Parliament has ignored …

A Comparison Of Ontario's Accessibility For Ontarians With Disabilities Act And The Canadian Copyright Act: Compliance, Enforcement, Risks, And The Implications For Ontario Community Colleges, Meaghan Shannon

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

The Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act [AODA] confers rights of accessibility by detailing how individuals and organizations offering goods and services should comply and monitoring compliance through the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario. By contrast, the federal Copyright Act confers rights upon authors and other rights owners without detailing how users of works and other materials can achieve compliance with the Act and without establishing an administrative body to monitor compliance. This research, through a case study of a community college, compares and contrasts the implications of the two different legislative styles in terms of the risks borne by affected …

Extending Graham's Interpretive Theory Into Common Law: A Multiple-Case Study, Chris Hayes

Master of Studies in Law Research Papers Repository

What determines the outcome of judicial decisions? A traditional answer to this question is that it involves a complex application of rules derived from the reasons for judgment of analogous common law decisions and applicable statutes under the doctrine of stare decisis. This answer is problematic. One significant problem of this answer is its inability to explain the outcome of cases where the judgment does not appear to be based on these traditionally recognized sources. An alternative answer, provided by a particular field of legal scholarship, Legal Realism, posits that “other” factors make a significant impact on the outcome …