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Full-Text Articles in Law

Identifying Pathways To And Experiences Of Street Involvementthrough Case Law, Suzanne Bouclin Oct 2015

Identifying Pathways To And Experiences Of Street Involvementthrough Case Law, Suzanne Bouclin

Dalhousie Law Journal

This research explores what can be learned about the experiences of streetinvolved people by reading cases that deal with people characterized on the record as "homeless." The author builds on existing empirical research by reading a large body of cases to discuss pathways to and experiences of street involvement. She proceeds to more closely explore cases regarding people (1) who are identified in the cases as homeless, and (2) find themselves before the courts for having engaged in income generating activities. The author argues that cases constitute knowledge about street involvement in ways that may take us beyond what we …


Wired Identities: Retention And Destruction Of Personal Health Information In An Electronic World, Elaine Gibson Oct 2015

Wired Identities: Retention And Destruction Of Personal Health Information In An Electronic World, Elaine Gibson

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article examines the issue of the retention and destruction of personal health information. While legislation in Canada shows some attention to the issue of retaining health records, very little consideration has been given to their destruction. As technological advances have made indefinite retention feasible, serious privacy issues are now being raised by the lack of a standard related to the destruction of health records. The author argues that this issue needs to be explicitly addressed. The author analyzes this problem by looking at issues of autonomy, public good, inequality, and privacy as a social good before offering thoughts on …


Identity, Law, And The Right To A Dream?, Robert Leckey Oct 2015

Identity, Law, And The Right To A Dream?, Robert Leckey

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper engages critically with the new orthodoxy holding that individuals have a "right" to know their genetic origins and that such knowledge is crucial to realizing their identities. It examines two case studies: the Pratten litigation under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms regarding anonymous donor conception and scholarship approving a reform to Quebec's adoption law. It addresses the supposed "identity gap" between those who are adopted or donor-conceived and those who are neither Arguments for law reform exaggerate that gap, opposing the incomplete, insecure identity of the adopted or donorconceived to the ostensibly complete, secure identity of …


Protecting Identity By Ignoring It? A Critical Look At The French And Rwandan Paradoxes, Frédéric Mégret Oct 2015

Protecting Identity By Ignoring It? A Critical Look At The French And Rwandan Paradoxes, Frédéric Mégret

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article seeks to critically examine political and legal practices of "racial blindness" by comparing two countries that have most enthusiastically embraced it as an official policy and even ideology: France and Rwanda. By highlighting the differences but also the significant commonalities between the two, it seeks to dynamically emphasize their explicit and implicit construction of race and ethnicity The case for racial blindness is first presented in the terms in which it is largely understood in those countries, and taken seriously as an effort to deal with their unique legacies and political circumstances, notably as part of a desire …


Defining Metis People As A People: Moving Beyond The Indian/Metis Dichotomy, Brenda L. Gunn Oct 2015

Defining Metis People As A People: Moving Beyond The Indian/Metis Dichotomy, Brenda L. Gunn

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article argues that the legal definition that defines Metis people in opposition to Indian detracts from the goal of recognizing the Metis as a distinct people. The article argues that we ought to de-couple the definitions of Metis and Indian to more strongly recognize Metis as a distinct people. This article considers three intertwined concerns that arise from this dichotomous approach to Metis identity The first concern is about the "hard line" created in the definition between Indian and Metis, forcing one to be either Indian or Metis. The second concern is that changes to the definition of Indian …


Agonizing Identity In Mental Health Law And Policy (Part I), Sheila Wildeman Oct 2015

Agonizing Identity In Mental Health Law And Policy (Part I), Sheila Wildeman

Dalhousie Law Journal

In this two-part paper, the author explores the significance of identity in mental health law and policy In this as in other socio-legal domains, identity functions to consolidate dissent as well as to effect social control. The author asks: where do legal experts stand in relation to the identity categories that run so deep in this area oflaw and policy? More broadly, she asks: is "mentalhealth" working on uson the mental health disabled, legal scholars, all of us-in ways that are impairing our capacity for socialjustice? In the first part of the paper, the author considers the Foucauldian exhortation to …


Who Are We?: The Quest For Identity In Law, Colin Jackson, Kim Brooks Oct 2015

Who Are We?: The Quest For Identity In Law, Colin Jackson, Kim Brooks

Dalhousie Law Journal

Scholars from Haraway to Foucault to Freud, from Bourdieu to Erikson to Scarry have theorized identity across continents and among disciplines. Despite the rich material available, however, interrogations of identity in law have remained isolated within substantive areas of law (those working on identity in evidence law have not necessarily met issue with those exploring identity in constitutional law, for example), and have been more limited in scope and imagination than the interrogations undertaken in other disciplines.


Criminal Law And The Counter-Hegemonic Potential Of Harm Reduction, Alana Klein Oct 2015

Criminal Law And The Counter-Hegemonic Potential Of Harm Reduction, Alana Klein

Dalhousie Law Journal

Harm reduction approaches to drug use have been lauded for saving lives, being cost-effective, elevating pragmatism over prohibitionist ideology, being flexible in tailoring responses to the problem, and for their counter-hegemonic potential to empower people who use drugs. This article examines the legal systems engagement with harm reduction, and, in particular,recent cases that incorporate harm reduction s focus on empirical evidence in policy making into Canadian constitutional rights jurisprudence. It argues that harm reduction approaches in this venue may hold promise as a bulwark against some of the marginalizing features of traditional criminaljustice approaches. However, the article also warns of …


Inequality And Identity At Work, Jennifer Koshan Oct 2015

Inequality And Identity At Work, Jennifer Koshan

Dalhousie Law Journal

A clinic at the University of Calgary law school in 2014 worked with unions and workers'rights groups to develop constitutionalchallenges to the historic exclusion of farm workers from labour and employment legislation in Alberta. After exploring arguments under sections 2(d), 7 and 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we concluded that, based on the existing jurisprudence, the equality rights arguments under section 15 were the weakest. This article explores what is lost when we fail to recognize the identity-based harms that flow from government violations of equality rights. It considers the nature of these harms, why they …


Canadian Constitutional Identities, Eric M. Adams Oct 2015

Canadian Constitutional Identities, Eric M. Adams

Dalhousie Law Journal

Constitutions are stories nations tell about themselves. Despite the famous declaration in the Constitution Act, 1867 that the "Provinces ofCanada...Desire...a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom," most of Canada's constitutional history can be understood as the search for a distinctly Canadian constitutional identity Canadians have always looked to their constitutional instruments to both reflect and produce a particular vision of the nation and its citizens. This article focuses on the search for Canada s constitutional identity during its first century as a nation, from Confederation until the 1960s. Drawing on a varied array of sources and …


Indigenous Lawyers In Canada: Identity, Professionalization, Law, Sonia Lawrence, Signa Daum Shanks Oct 2015

Indigenous Lawyers In Canada: Identity, Professionalization, Law, Sonia Lawrence, Signa Daum Shanks

Dalhousie Law Journal

For Indigenous communities and individuals in Canada, "Canadian" law has been a mechanism of assimilation, colonial governance and dispossession, a basis for the assertion of rights, and a method of resistance. How do Indigenous lawyers in Canada make sense of these contradictory threads and their roles and responsibilities? This paper urges attention to the lives and experiences of Indigenous lawyers, noting that the number of self-identified Indigenous lawyers has been rapidly growing since the 1990s. At the same time, Indigenous scholars are focusing on the work of revitalizing Indigenous law and legal orders. Under these conditions, Indigenous lawyers occupy a …


Queering Indigenous Legal Studies, Emily Snyder Oct 2015

Queering Indigenous Legal Studies, Emily Snyder

Dalhousie Law Journal

A handful of scholars have examined sex, gender, and sexuality in relation to Indigenous laws; yet their work is infrequently taken up in the field, and there is a broader need for conversations about what it means to "queer" Indigenous legal studies. In this paper, I centre and examine work that contributes to this queering so as to promote inclusive critical legal education and engagement. I also discuss the implications of not attending to sexuality and develop preliminary propositions for queering Indigenous legal studies.


A Defence Of The Principled Approach To Tax Settlements, Saul Templeton Apr 2015

A Defence Of The Principled Approach To Tax Settlements, Saul Templeton

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Canadian Minister of National Revenue is responsible for administering and enforcing the majority of tax legislation in Canada. Where disputes arise with particular taxpayers over the correct amount of tax owed, the taxpaying public ought to have confidence that the Minister has a principled basis in law for settling disputes for less than amounts previously assessed. Yet opponents of the principled basis for settlement consistently call for reform, arguing that compromise settlement should be permissible. This paper responds to arguments raised for compromise settlement by reconciling the jurisprudence on the authority of the Minister to settle tax disputes. It …


Unlimited Liability In The Modern Context: An Examination Of Shareholder Liability In Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Companies, Sarah P. Bradley Apr 2015

Unlimited Liability In The Modern Context: An Examination Of Shareholder Liability In Nova Scotia Unlimited Liability Companies, Sarah P. Bradley

Dalhousie Law Journal

For over 30 years, unlimited liability companies have been ubiquitous in USCanadian M&A transactions. Typically interposed between a US parent company and a Canadian operating company, these entities quietly function to make such structures more tax efficient. They are facilitated by Nova Scotia's venerable Companies Act, which has allowed for the incorporation of corporations with unlimited liability for over a hundred years. Unlimited liability of shareholders is the singular defining characteristic of the ULC, but the precise nature of ULC shareholder liability was apparently regarded as something of a technicality and rarely, if ever, closely examined in the professional or …


Self-Represented Litigants, Active Adjudication And The Perception Of Bias: Issues In Administrative Law, Michelle Flaherty Apr 2015

Self-Represented Litigants, Active Adjudication And The Perception Of Bias: Issues In Administrative Law, Michelle Flaherty

Dalhousie Law Journal

This paper advocates for a more active role for adjudicators, one in which they provide direction to parties and actively shape the hearing process. Active adjudication can be an important access to justice tool. Without some direction and assistance from the adjudicator, growing numbers of self-represented litigants cannot meaningfully access administrative justice. Importantly, however, as the role of the adjudicator shifts, so too must our understanding of the notion of impartiality If it is unfair to expect self-represented litigants to navigate the hearing process without adjudicative assistance and direction, it is also unfair to insist on a vision of impartiality …


The Contract Of Employment At The Supreme Court Of Canada: Employee Protection And The Presumption Of Employer Freedom, Gillian Demeyere Apr 2015

The Contract Of Employment At The Supreme Court Of Canada: Employee Protection And The Presumption Of Employer Freedom, Gillian Demeyere

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article critically examines the Supreme Court of Canada's treatment of the contract of employment in its wrongful dismissal jurisprudence over the last 25 years, with the aim of challenging the view that only by exempting the contract of employment from the ordinary workings of contract doctrine or by resorting to public policy considerations can the common law of dismissal provide adequate protection for employees. The Court's jurisprudence reveals a commitment to what this paper calls the presumption of employer freedom, a view of the contract of employment which has its origins in the status-based master and servant relationship and …


Moving Beyond Rhetoric: Working Toward Reconciliation Through Self-Determination, Brenda L. Gunn Apr 2015

Moving Beyond Rhetoric: Working Toward Reconciliation Through Self-Determination, Brenda L. Gunn

Dalhousie Law Journal

The settlement of the residential school system class action and the creation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada have renewed discussions on the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the Crown as part of achieving reconciliation. This article argues that promoting reconciliation in Canada requires addressing the underlying issue that led to the residential school system: the unilateral impositionofcolonial law with the goal of assimilating Indigenous peoples. The best way to prevent such actions in the future requires realizing Indigenous peoples right to self-determination. The U.N. Declaration, with its recognition of Indigenous peoples' right to self-determination, provides a framework …


The Attorney General As Lawyer (?): Confidentiality Upon Resignation From Cabinet, Andrew Flavelle Martin Apr 2015

The Attorney General As Lawyer (?): Confidentiality Upon Resignation From Cabinet, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Dalhousie Law Journal

The unique role of the attorney general raises several special issues oflegal ethics. This paper addresses one previously unaddressed: whether it is appropriate for the attorney general to publicly announce his or her reasons for resighing from Cabinet. Unlike other ministers, the attorney general is almost always a practicing lawyer and thus bound not only by Cabinet solidarity and Cabinet confidentiality, but also by the lawyer's professional duty of confidentiality and by solicitor-client privilege. The paper begins by canvassing a hierarchy ofreasons for a principled resignation and the rare historical examples where these have occurred. It then turns to the …


Keeping Up With The Joneses: A Model Systemic Risk Reporting Regime For The Canadian Hedge Fund Industry, Andrew Mcgarva Apr 2015

Keeping Up With The Joneses: A Model Systemic Risk Reporting Regime For The Canadian Hedge Fund Industry, Andrew Mcgarva

Dalhousie Law Journal

The purpose of this paper is to suggest a regulatory model by which Canadian securities regulators may monitor the systemic risk contributed to by the Canadian hedge fundindustry The bases for this modelare recent regulatory reform initiatives adopted in the U.S. and Europe. There, securities regulators have adopted Form PF and AIFMD, respectively, to monitor the systemic risk contributed to by hedge funds. However, the features of those regimes are not necessarily appropriate for the Canadian industry. The appropriateness ofthe features of Form PFandAIFMD for the Canadian hedge fund industry is evaluated on two criteria: the average industry fund size, …


Environmental Assessment As Planning And Disclosure Tool: Greenpeace Canada V. Canada (Attorney General), Martin Zp Olszynski Apr 2015

Environmental Assessment As Planning And Disclosure Tool: Greenpeace Canada V. Canada (Attorney General), Martin Zp Olszynski

Dalhousie Law Journal

In Greenpeace Canada v. Canada (2014), the applicants successfully challenged the adequacy of the environmental assessment report prepared in relation to a proposed nuclear power plant. In assessing that report, the Federal Court described environmental assessment as an "evidence-based and democratically accountable" decision-making process. In this comment I suggest that this characterization represents the most significant-if perhaps also long overdue development in Canadian environmental assessment law since the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Friends of the Oldman River Society v. Canada. I also discuss some of the implications of this characterization, including the extent to which environmental effects must be …


Judgment And Opportunity: Decision Assignment On The Mclachlin Court, Peter Mccormick Apr 2015

Judgment And Opportunity: Decision Assignment On The Mclachlin Court, Peter Mccormick

Dalhousie Law Journal

The workload of the Supreme Court of Canada is shared among the Court's nine members, but is this sharing equal with respect to the writing of judgments? A simple count does not provide an answer because not all cases are equally important. This paper develops an objective measure of case importance-the Legal Complexity Index-and applies it to the cases decided by the McLachlin Court. It demonstrates that judgment-delivery opportunities for significant cases have not been shared equally, either overall or with respect to any of the major subdivisions of the caseload. Some judges enjoy the spotlight, while others are relegated …