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Full-Text Articles in Law
Introduction & Table Of Cases, Innis Christie, A Paul Pross
Introduction & Table Of Cases, Innis Christie, A Paul Pross
Dalhousie Law Journal
Commissions of inquiry have been popular mechanisms with Canadian governments. Despite a widespread view that they are used principally to delay action while removing embarrassment from the immediate vicinity of governments, it is a fact that commissions of inquiry have repeatedly - and often highly successfully - served as vehicles for analyzing policy, for evaluating outworn or failed policy, for identifying a consensus about policy and for building support for new policy directions. They have brought facts to light both about specific incidents and about matters of policy concern; facts as diverse as what actually happened at a given time …
Reflections On Commission Research, Alan C. Cairns
Reflections On Commission Research, Alan C. Cairns
Dalhousie Law Journal
This paper explores the role of research in royal commissions. It is based primarily on my experience as one of three research directors for the Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada, popularly known as the Macdonald Commission. Since royal commissions appear in many guises, much of what I say may not apply to other commissions. In general, my remarks are more applicable to those commissions that give advice on significant public policy matters than to more narrowly investigative commissions set up in response to allegations of corruption or scandal in government or to determine the …
Comment On Inquiry Management, J G. Godsoe
Comment On Inquiry Management, J G. Godsoe
Dalhousie Law Journal
I think whether the commission is a policy commission or an investigative commission or both, as the case was with the Ocean Ranger Inquiry, a commission almost inevitably is drawn into an adversarial context. I think in the case of an investigative commission, the parties, who have interests at stake that are being investigated and adjudicated upon, will tend, over time, to start to question the validity of the commission. Likewise, a policy commission frequently is criticized as soon as it is announced or, as in the case of the MacDonald Commission, even before it was announced as being a …
Commissions Of Inquiry And Public Policy In Canada, Frank Iacobucci
Commissions Of Inquiry And Public Policy In Canada, Frank Iacobucci
Dalhousie Law Journal
Most Canadians attach a great deal of importance to commissions of inquiry. When commissions of inquiry are appointed and when they report, great public attention is usually focussed on the substantive and serious issues discussed.
The Role Of The Commission Counsel, John Sopinka
The Role Of The Commission Counsel, John Sopinka
Dalhousie Law Journal
Commissions of inquiry have been prominently featured in this country for decades. For instance the Durham Report on the 1837 Mackenzie- Papineau Rebellion was the product of a public inquiry. As well, other inquiries have played a pivotal role in the development of our public and economic life. We had, for example, the Rowell-Sirois Commission on Dominion-Provincial Relations, the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, the McDonald Commission on the Economy, the Dubin Inquiry on Aviation Safety and the Estey Inquiry on Bank Failures to mention a few. In 1979, the Law Reform Commission of Canada estimated that there had …
The Rights And Obligations Of Those Subject To Inquiry And Of Witnesses, David Wayne Scott
The Rights And Obligations Of Those Subject To Inquiry And Of Witnesses, David Wayne Scott
Dalhousie Law Journal
There are questions raised from time to time as to the desirability of continued utilization of the public inquiry as we know it. These questions ordinarily arise in the context of a consideration of the issues outlined in this paper, that is to say, the rights and obligations of those subject to inquiry. In a classic description of the public inquiry Mr. Justice Middleton observed as follows: It must not be forgotten that this is an inquiry directed by the government into the affairs of its own creature, a Children's Aid Society, with the view of ascertaining if it is …