Law Commons^™

Intimate Partner Violence, Social Support, Mastery, And Mental Health, Alice Pearl Sedziafa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Background: Despite the growth in research on intimate partner violence (IPV) as a chronic stressor, including studies on the negative mental health impacts of IPV, limited attention has been given to understanding the stress process in terms of the direct impact of IPV on mental health and the simultaneous mediating effects of social support (emotional or practical assistance from one’s network) and mastery (a sense of personal control) on the relationship between IPV and mental health [Depression symptoms and Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms]. These mechanisms are also poorly understood in the context of the concurrent effects of age, mothering, …

The Ambiguity In International Law And Its Effect On Drone Warfare And Cyber Security, Amina Khan

MA Major Research Papers

Drone warfare and artificial intelligence have considerably shaped cybersecurity and international law over the years. The rapid growth of technology has slowly forced entry into the international and domestic affairs of states. How countries conduct surveillance and practice defence does not look the way it did many years ago. One must observe how the rule of law is affected by technological advancement at the international level where many complexities are seen to rise to the surface. Balancing domestic and international law comes into question when drones and artificial intelligence become key components in state affairs that transcend geographical borders. This …

Community Development Agreements: The Hardening And Evaluation Of A Norm, Luka G. Petrusevski

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Large scale mining projects generate highly variable outcomes. Proponents of mining cite benefits including job creation and revenue generation, while critics point to adverse social and economic impacts borne by mining-proximate communities. Community-based concerns about mining operations have raised ethical and social justice considerations relating to human-rights and consent. Community development agreements (CDAs) have emerged as an increasingly common tool to address such concerns and facilitate the delivery of tangible benefits from mining operations to affected communities. The effectiveness of CDAs, however, varies widely depending on the negotiated provisions and their implementation. This work contributes to the understanding of CDAs …

An Epidemic Amidst A Pandemic: A Critical Policy Analysis Of Supervised Consumption Sites, Vanisa Ezukuse

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study's primary purpose is to critically appraise current federal and provincial policies regarding supervised consumption sites (SCS), noting intended and unintended consequences; and how these policies could impact SCS users. This study's secondary goal is to compare current policies related to SCS in Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec to provide critical insight and suggestions for ongoing policy development. Carol Bacchi’s (2009) “What is the Problem Represented to Be?” framework was applied to the Canadian policy document with a focus on SCS. Four themes are proposed: Public Health versus Criminality, Presumptions versus Assumptions, Policy Unaccountability, and Policy Duality. It …

Neither Seen Nor Heard: Surviving Children Of Domestic Homicide, Alexis Winfield

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Domestic homicide is a critical human rights issue that continues to impact women, children, and families in Canada. Between 2010-2018, 662 individuals died as a result of domestic homicide, many of whom were mothers who left surviving children behind. This study examined the experiences of surviving children prior to, during, and in the aftermath of domestic homicide through quantitative and qualitative court and media document analyses. It was found that 136 children in Ontario experienced domestic homicide between 2010-2017. Domestic homicide impacted surviving children in all domains of functioning and was often associated with long-term adverse outcomes. Court documents revealed …

Cannabis For Therapeutic Purposes: Older Adult Perspectives, User Characteristics And Motivations For Use, Lean Fiedeldey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Use of cannabis among adults 55 years of age and older is increasing. In Q4 of 2018, slightly over half of cannabis users used for therapeutic purposes at least once, where many reported using for both medical and non-medical reasons (mixed use). Research on older adults regarding the use of Cannabis for Therapeutic Purposes (CTP) is fragmented and there are no comprehensive or in-depth studies on their perceptions or self-reported motivations. Understanding in these areas is important to inform policy that takes the protection of public health and safety as central aims. Does policy affect one of, if not both, …

Faithfully Negligent: Religious Implications For Criminal Negligence Cases, Supreet Kaur Bath

Master of Laws Research Papers Repository

Do the actions of parents in withholding medical treatment from their children due to religious influence show wanton or reckless disregard for the safety and lives of their children? This project investigates the morally and legally complicated issue of the influence of religious beliefs in criminal negligence cases. My MRP is animated by the idea that similar cases in the past have been treated with leniency and ought to be given stricter punishments.

I focus in particular on cases in which parents opt for alternative remedies or faith healing for ill children in ignorance or defiance of available medical treatments. …

Privacy And Surveillance In The Workplace: Closing The Electronic Surveillance Gap, Christina Catenacci

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation argues that there is an electronic surveillance gap in the employment context in Canada, a gap that is best understood as an absence of appropriate legal provisions to regulate employers’ electronic surveillance of employees both inside and outside the workplace. This dissertation aims to identify and articulate principles and values that can be used to close the electronic surveillance gap in Canada and suggests that, through the synthesis of social theories of surveillance and privacy, together with analyses of privacy provisions and workplace privacy cases, a new and better workplace privacy regime can be designed. This dissertation uses …

Pilot And Adaptation Of A Social-Emotional Learning Program In Youth Justice Settings, Amanda J. Kerry

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Interventions for youth offenders should aim to reduce risk factors and promote protective factors. Social-emotional learning (SEL) programs aim to enhance intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive competencies. Research demonstrates that SEL programs reduce antisocial behaviours and improve prosocial skills; however, to date, SEL programs have been primarily implemented in schools. This integrated-article dissertation explored the feasibility and preliminary outcomes of implementing a SEL program in youth justice settings. The first paper proposes the implementation of SEL programs in youth justice settings and identifies unique programming and implementation considerations for this population.

The second paper presents a two-phase study examining the feasibility, …

Police Prevention Of Domestic Homicide: Missed Opportunities And Barriers To Change, Michael D. Saxton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This integrated-article dissertation focused on the critical role of police in responding to domestic violence (DV) and recognizing the potential risk of adult and child homicides. The first study examined the police role in domestic homicide through an analysis of cases reviewed by the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee in Ontario, Canada. Homicide cases with police contact were found to have 1.6 times more risk factors compared to those without police contact. Cases also show an overall scarcity of formal risk assessments, even when there was prior police contact. The second study was a national survey on the types of …

The Politics Of Wounds, Jonathan Nash

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

What configuration of strategies and discourses enable the white male and settler body politic to render itself as simultaneously wounded and invulnerable? I contextualize this question by reading the discursive continuities between Euro-America’s War on Terror post-9/11 and Algeria’s War for Independence. By interrogating political-philosophical responses to September 11, 2001 beside American rhetoric of a wounded nation, I argue that white nationalism, as a mode of settler colonialism, appropriates the discourses of political wounding to imagine and legitimize a narrative of white hurt and white victimhood; in effect, reproducing and hardening the borders of the nation-state. Additionally, by turning to …

Assessing The Perceptions Of The Use Of A Courthouse Facility Dog Program With Child And Youth Witnesses, Melissa Glazer

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study evaluates the use of a courthouse facility dog program as a testimonial aid for children and youth testifying in court to help reduce secondary trauma. Court officials’ perceptions of the use of a courthouse facility dog program were assessed through a structured interview and a short self-report measure. A total of seven court officials participated in the study. Results indicate that court officials perceive the use of a courthouse facility dog to be beneficial for children and youth who are experiencing challenges testifying in court. In addition, results show that some respondents perceived a degree of bias against …

Comorbid Depression And Substance Abuse In Perpetrators Of Domestic Homicide, Casey Oliver

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Globally up to 38% of murdered women are victims of domestic homicide. However, research has yet to examine comorbid depression and substance abuse in domestic homicide, despite comorbid mental health conditions being associated with homicide in the general population. A retrospective case analysis approach was performed using domestic homicide cases that had been reviewed by the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee of Ontario. Group comparisons were made by compiling cases into groups based on perpetrator mental health status: a no mental illness group, depression only group, substance abuse only group, and comorbid depression and substance abuse group. Statistical analyses compared …

"I Feel Like I Just Need To Be More Careful, You Know?": Gay And Bisexual Post-Secondary Students Contemplate The Job Market, Kyle Carmelo Militello

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Through a qualitative lens, this research explores the concerns sexual minority students have about making the transition to full-time employment and examines how experiences of adversity shape concerns and anxieties. Unlike the previous generations before them, the students who participated in this study share the privilege of entering a labour market that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual identity. With the aim of complementing and advancing existing literature, the study is motivated by the following research question: despite being a protected class, do post-secondary gay and bisexual students hold anxieties about joining a potentially heteronormative workforce? To answer this …

The Relationship Between Federal Citizenship And Immigration Policies And The Internationalization Of Higher Education In Canada, Rashed Al-Haque

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Using Actor-Network Theory (ANT) as a way to do Critical Policy Analysis (CPA), this instrumental case study explores the relationships between citizenship and immigration (CI) policies and the internationalization of Canadian higher education. By utilizing a critical-sociomaterial approach, the research exposes actors and actor-networks that are otherwise overlooked in these policy areas. Moreover, this lens underscores the impacts and consequences of policy and how the enrollment and/or exclusion of actors in actor-networks enables certain actors to exert control, power, and primacy over others.

While most research on internationalization identifies the academy as the site for internationalization policy enactment, this research …

Elusive Peace, Security, And Justice In Post-Conflict Guatemala: An Exploration Of Transitional Justice And The International Commission Against Impunity In Guatemala (Cicig), Daniel W. Schloss

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Guatemala has, until today, struggled to achieve security and justice following the end of nearly half a century of civil war in 1996. One specific institution, the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG), has been implemented to rectify many of the Guatemalan state’s difficulties in establishing and maintaining the rule of law. In this thesis, I look to better explain CICIG’s role in Guatemala relative to security and justice in a post-conflict setting: I define CICIG as an institution potentially capable of building societal trust, and I explain how the inclusion of procedural justice within transitional justice can help …

Ontario College Of Teachers Cases Of Teacher Sexual Misconduct, Taryn Mototsune

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Teacher sexual misconduct in Ontario was examined by using cases reviewed by the Ontario College of Teachers between 2000 and 2013. Despite the impetus by key stakeholders to develop appropriate policies to circumvent teacher-student sexual relationships, this phenomenon is still not well understood. The current study found that around 92 percent of perpetrators are men. The results indicate that male perpetrators who abuse elementary school-aged males are more likely to have multiple victims and longer offending careers. This study found less intrusive sexual behaviour, fewer multiple victim perpetrators, and shorter offending careers in more recent cases. This suggests that the …

Explaining The Establishment Of The Independent Prosecutor Of The International Criminal Court, Laszlo Sarkany

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The aim of this dissertation is to discern and explain why states established the International Criminal Court (ICC) with an independent Prosecutor with the aid of theories of international relations. The theories utilized were neorealism, neoliberal institutionalism, historical institutionalism, constructivism and liberal-pluralism. In order to complete the above-stated task, two supplemental questions were asked: first, how may one able to explain policy formulation in regards to the ICC; and second, what accounts for the victory of the supporters. The comparative case study method of the ‘method of agreement’ was employed. Canada and the United Kingdom – from among the supporters …

Policing Cyber Bullying: How Parents, Educators, And Law Enforcement Respond To Digital Harassment, Ryan Broll

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Some prior research has emphasised how adults ought to address cyber bullying, yet little is known about how they actually prevent and respond to digital harassment. This study addresses this gap in the literature by exploring the formal and informal “policing” of cyber bullying by a network of security actors: parents, teachers and school administrators, and the public police. Data were collected through a mixed methods research design consisting of semi-structured qualitative interviews with eight parents, 14 teachers, and 12 members of law enforcement (n = 34) and quantitative surveys completed by 52 parents.

Drawing upon nodal governance theory as …

Psychopathy And Sentencing: An Investigative Look Into When The Pcl-R Is Admitted Into Canadian Courtrooms And How A Pcl-R Score Affects Sentencing Outcome, Katie Davey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Little is known about how and when the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) is being introduced into Canadian Courts or how it affects sentencing outcomes. Using the Lexis-Nexis Quicklaw Academic Database to retrieve judge’s sentencing decisions, all 274 cases with PCL-R information for Canadian courts were included in this study. It was hypothesized correctly that PCL-R information would most often be introduced in Long Term Offender (LTO) and Dangerous Offender (DO) applications as well as sentencing cases for murderers and sex offenders. The 274 cases were then reduced to 37 cases in order to focus on sentencing without Dangerous Offender or …

“Winds Of Change”: Explaining Support For Wind Energy Developments In Ontario, Canada, Chad Jr Walker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis addresses a major gap in the wind turbine and risk assessment literatures. It explains local support for wind energy in some areas in spite of vocal opposition in others. Findings from Port Burwell and Clear Creek, Ontario indicate that social and contextual forces may help explain much of the difference in opinion between the two communities. The case study was focused through 21 in-depth interviews. The interviews were analyzed verbatim using NVIVO 9 software. The findings were found to be consistent with Kasperson’s theory of the Social Amplification of Risk and seem to explain why Port Burwell is …

Communicating Crimes: Covering Gangs In Contemporary Canadian Journalism, Chris Richardson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

In this integrated-article dissertation, I examine representations of gangs in Canadian journalism, focusing primarily on contemporary newspaper reporting. While the term “gang” often refers to violent groups of young urban males, it can also signify outlaw bikers, organized crime, terrorist cells, non-criminal social groups, and a wide array of other collectives. I build on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical framework to probe this ambiguity, seeking to provide context and critical assessments that will improve crime reporting and its reception. In the course of my work, I examine how popular films like West Side Story inform journalists’ descriptions of gangs. Though reporters have …

Intellectual Property And Its Alternatives: Incentives, Innovation And Ideology, Michael B. Mcnally

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This dissertation examines the ability of intellectual property and its alternatives to both facilitate and impede innovation. The thesis begins by positing that a more detailed and nuanced understanding of alternatives to intellectual property is required so that such alternatives can be effectively used to mitigate the problems of the expansionary intellectual property regime. The thesis is that substantive alternatives to intellectual property utilize a broader range of incentive structures to encourage the production and distribution of intellectual goods, facilitate greater access to such goods and their informational content and engender innovative outcomes that go beyond the narrow, instrumentalist goals …

Parental Relocation: Factors Present In Judges’ Decisions, Emily A. Reddick

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

The present study examined multiple factors that may account for Canadian judges’ decisions in relocation cases where one parent contests a move away by the other parent and children after separation. The decisions were collected from a stratified random sample of judgments consisting of 50 cases where the relocation was approved and 50 where it was denied. The cases reviewed took place between 1996 and 1999 and followed the highly criticized Supreme Court decision in Gordon v. Goertz.

Cases were analyzed to determine the extent to which child, parent, judicial, move, and legal factors predicted court outcomes. All identified …