Law Commons^™

Accle Past, Present, And Future: Reflections From Accle’S Board Presidents, Martha Simmons, Doug Ferguson, Lisa Cirillo, Gemma Smyth

Journal of Law and Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Accle And Bill C-75: Implications For Student Legal Clinics & Communities In Canada, Jillian Rogin, Gemma Smyth, Johanna Dennie

Journal of Law and Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Confronting Accessibility In Clinical Legal Education: Human Rights Law And The Accommodation Of Law Students With Disabilities In External Placements, Roxanne Mykitiuk, C. Tess Sheldon

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Canadian law students with disabilities confront barriers in applying to and working in clinical placements. The article is motivated by practical questions about the scope of the duty to accommodate law students with disabilities in clinical education placements. It offers a legal analysis of the human rights accommodation framework in relation to clinical legal education placements. It also proposes criteria for a policy governing the accessibility of clinical legal placements.

Home, Precarious Home: A Year Of Housing Law Advocacy At A Saskatoon Legal Clinic, Sarah Buhler, Catriona Kaiser-Derrick

Journal of Law and Social Policy

This article discusses the impacts of housing law advocacy by clinical law students at Community Legal Assistance Services for Saskatoon Inner City (CLASSIC) through an analysis of CLASSIC’s 2017 closed housing law files. Our analysis shows that law student advocacy at the Office of Residential Tenancies (Saskatchewan’s housing law tribunal) is often associated with decisions in favour of tenants. This is consistent with studies that show that full legal representation is associated with improved litigation outcomes for clients. But our analysis also demonstrates the numerous limits to individual advocacy in housing law contexts. Our study contributes to the literature about …

A Snapshot Of The Law In The Streets: Reflections Of A Former Parkdale Academic Director, Sean Rehaag

Journal of Law and Social Policy

In this reflective essay, an Osgoode Hall Law School professor and former Academic Director at Parkdale Community Legal Services attempts to model the sort of critical self-reflection expected of law students enrolled in the Intensive Program in Poverty Law at PCLS. The essay does so by drawing lessons from a brief interaction that the author observed in the streets of the community served by PCLS and from the author’s responses to that interaction. The essay aims to highlight the value of reflection in experiential education pedagogies, in community lawyering practices, and in learning about law in context.

Just Clinics: A Humble Manifesto, Sarah Marsden

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Student legal clinics are poised at the intersection of the crisis in the availability of legal services and pressure on law schools to produce practice-ready graduates. In a neoliberal policy environment, which emphasizes market-based outcomes, commodifies services, and obscures the structural roots of inequality, it is tempting to measure the work of student legal clinics in terms of their efficiency in providing services to large numbers of clients. In this article, I argue that law school clinics should instead be recognized as sites of justice, moving beyond the construct of “numbers served.” Using the idea of “access to actual justice” …

Becoming And Building Community In Toronto: 1980 To Present, Bernadette Thomas

Journal of Law and Social Policy

I left Grenada in December of 1980 to visit Canada. Like many other Caribbean immigrants, when I first came up to Canada I was shocked by the cold and unsure of what my life would look like. Forty years later, I look back at the life I’ve built in Canada and see how my community experiences led me to be a community leader.

This is my story, but it is the story of many others as well. I reflect here on the role of women as leaders, the difficult conditions for immigrants, the history of domestic work, and on housing …

“All Arabs Are Liars”: Arab And Muslim Stereotypes In Canadian Human Rights Law, Reem Bahdi

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Stereotypes exclude, stigmatize, and burden Arabs and Muslims in Canada. This article examines three prevailing Arab and Muslim stereotypes: the conviction that Arabs and Muslims have a culturally ordained propensity towards violence; the belief that, regardless of their citizenship status, Arabs and Muslims remain foreigners who threaten Western values and; the notion that Arabs and Muslims are dishonest. The analysis rests on the facts found and conclusions reached in nine claims filed by Arab or Muslim applicants before the British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec or Canadian human rights tribunals. The tribunal decisions reveal that the terrorist profile requires the other two …

How Affirmative Action Context Shapes Collegiate Outcomes At America’S Selective Colleges And Universities, Amy Lutz, Pamela R. Bennett, Rebecca Wang

Journal of Law and Social Policy

During the 1990s and early 2000s, the affirmative action context in the United States changed. Affirmative action in higher education was banned in several states, and the Supreme Court ruled in Grutter (2003) that affirmative action, while constitutional, should be implemented via holistic evaluation of applicants. In this article, we use two datasets to examine how affirmative action context relates to academic outcomes at selective colleges and universities in the United States before and after the Grutter decision and in states with and without bans on affirmative action. Underrepresented minority students earned higher grades in the period after the Grutter …

Measuring Correctional Admissions Of Aboriginal Offenders In Canada: A Relative Inter-Jurisdictional Analysis, Andrew A. Reid

Journal of Law and Social Policy

It is widely recognized that Aboriginal peoples are overrepresented in Canada’s criminal justice system. A review of recent statistics documenting the extent of overrepresentation in Canada’s sentenced custody population, prompted the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to call upon federal, provincial, and territorial governments to take action. In anticipation of advancement toward the Commission’s “Calls to Action”, it is important to have comprehensive baseline information to which progress may be measured against in the future. Aside from basic statistics that document over-incarceration, however, little research has explored patterns of representation among Aboriginal offenders in other segments of the correctional system. Nevertheless, …

State Redress As Public Policy: A Two-Sided Coin, Stephen Winter

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Monetary redress programs that respond to injuries suffered by survivors of out-of-home care are increasingly common and very expensive. This article’s distinctive contribution is to approach these redress programs as a form of social policy. Both survivors and states have interests in the operation of redress programs. Some of those interests are mutually compatible, but there are obvious conflicts as well. The article concludes by advocating a strategy for resolving an illustrative conflict.

Racism And Relief Distribution In The Aftermath Of The Halifax Explosion, Mark Culligan, Katrin Macphee

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Popular and academic histories have romanticized the Halifax Explosion. In most retellings, the Explosion united Haligonians, in suffering and in reconstruction. This article presents evidence from the Halifax Relief Commission’s Records that points to a different conclusion: African Nova Scotia claimants were discriminated against during Relief distribution efforts and pre-existing racial inequalities were reinforced. Relief workers treated the claims of African Nova Scotians with enhanced skepticism, expended minimal effort to locate those with claims, and ultimately provided less by way of compensation. Moreover, the decision of the Relief Commission to prioritize the compensation of lost property, not lost wages, systemically …

Issue 2: How We Can “Bell The Cat”: African Canadian Perspectives Of The Canadian Child Welfare System, Isaac Yoryor

Journal of Law and Social Policy

I am very grateful to Canada for what it has done for impoverished people, refugees, and immigrants from all over the world; as a Christian refugee who has benefited from this country’s generosity, I feel an obligation to give back in my own special way. It is my hope to describe a refugee parent’s perspective of Canada’s child welfare system.

Throughout the world, Canada is held in high esteem for its social services and respect for cultural differences, often making it an ideal refuge. Many newcomers have experienced suffering and deprivation before immigrating to Canada, and many believe they can …

Issue 2: Tax, Race, And Child Poverty: The Case For Improving The Canada Child Benefit Program, Jinyan Li, Jacklyn Neborak

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Existing literature reveals that Black and Indigenous children are overrepresented in the child welfare system, that poverty is among the key factors producing this overrepresentation, and that child poverty is racialized. As such, tackling poverty and its racialization is an important component of an overall strategy to address overrepresentation. As the income tax system provides support to families with children, including through the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) program, this article investigates its role and effectiveness in reducing child poverty in general and racialized poverty in particular. Our main conclusions include the following: the CCB is arguably the best anti-child poverty …

Issue 2: Imagining A Community-Led, Multi-Service Delivery Model For Ontario Child Welfare: A Framework For Collaboration Among African Canadian Community Partners, Jennifer Clarke, Julian Hasford, Leyland Gudge, Sonia Mills-Minster

Journal of Law and Social Policy

This article imagines a new model for child welfare in Ontario, specifically for African Canadian children, youth, and families. Throughout the article, we discuss both what needs to be changed and how those changes can be achieved, including the development and implementation of community-led organizational structures, programs, and services, and the restructuring of government-community relations and funding allocation, to enable African Canadian community-based agencies to deliver preventative, culturally relevant, family-centred supportive services to African Canadians. The article outlines the development of a community-led, multi-service delivery model for Ontario child welfare, and the potential challenges and opportunities for the delivery of …

Issue 2: A Human Right To Self-Government Over First Nations Child And Family Services And Beyond: Implications Of The Caring Society Case, Naiomi Walqwan Metallic

Journal of Law and Social Policy

On 26 January 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal released a watershed decision in First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada et al v Attorney General (Caring Society), finding that the Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs’ (INAC) design, management, and control of child welfare services on reserve, along with its funding formulas, cause a number of harms to First Nations children and families that amount to discrimination. A full appreciation of the workings and harms of INAC’s First Nations Child and Family Services Program (the FNCFS Program), paired with the two key propositions from the tribunal’s decision—that, …

Issue 2: Reimagining Child Welfare Systems In Canada, Janet Mosher, Jeffery Hewitt

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Contributions to volume 28:1 of the JLSP offered poignant insights into the root sources of the overrepresentation of Indigenous and African Canadian children and families in state child welfare systems, highlighting the role of poverty, racism, discrimination, and ongoing colonial violence. The contributions to this volume, 28:2, offer insights to deepen our understanding of the roots of overrepresentation, as well as concrete strategies with the potential to dramatically improve outcomes for children, families, and communities. As with volume 28:1, the contributions here arise from a symposium, Reimagining Child Welfare Systems in Canada, held 21 October 2016 and co-hosted by the …

"I'Ve Always Been Outspoken On What I Think Can Be Improved": An Interview With Dr. Garry J. Smith, Fiona Nicoll, Mark R. Johnson

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Dr. Garry J. Smith has spent many years at the forefront of critical gambling research in Canada. In this interview he talks about the genesis of the Alberta Gambling Research Institute, how sociology brings a different lens to gambling studies than psychology, why he speaks out against certain aspects of commercial gambling, the relationship between fun and fairness, and the critical gaps in research that need to be added to address the inherent conflicts of interest that occur with self-regulated gambling.

The interview was conducted by academics Fiona Nicoll and Mark R Johnson on 29 November, 2017. A transcript of …

Ongoing Debates About Gambling Regulation In Brazil: Between Current News And Prospective Laws, An Uncertain Future Ahead, Maria Luiza Kurban Jobim

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Brazil, one of the countries covered by the Bingo Project, has been travelling an intricate path towards gambling regulation. When we presented our completed research at the final Bingo Project conference in 2016 , we mentioned the existence of two simultaneous processes towards gambling regulation, one initiated in the Senate and the other in the Chamber of Deputies. Unsurprisingly, when this volume went to print, both drafts were still in the Congress, waiting for further discussions and final approval.

Playing Bingo With Mum - And Dad!, Ruth Cherrington

Journal of Law and Social Policy

This is a personal account of playing bingo with my parents at various stages of our lives at our local working men’s club in Coventry – the Canley Social Club and Institute. I know these memories will resonate with those who have any experience of club life. They also touch upon wider issues such as the local community that used the club and the rules, both official and unofficial, related to bingo and other forms of low-level gambling in social clubs.

Fifty Years Of Legal Gambling In Canada: So What?, Colin S. Campbell

Journal of Law and Social Policy

As most of my published papers on gambling in Canada have tended to declare at the outset, a 1969 amendment to the Canadian Criminal Code opened the door to a major transformation in the legal status of gambling in Canada. Prior to this amendment, pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing at race tracks was the only form of gambling legally permitted. Nonetheless, other forms of gambling such as charitable bingos and raffles for the purpose of raising funds for worthy community causes were operated in a grey and fuzzy area of criminal law. Thus, policing authorities through the 20th century often …

First Nations Gaming In Canada: Gauging Past And Ongoing Development, Yale Belanger

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Canada's First Nations gaming industry, now entering its third decade of operations, includes sixteen for-profit casinos operating in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario (two charity casinos also operate in Ontario) and eleven Nova Scotia First Nations operating just under six hundred Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) annually generating approximately one billion dollars gross revenues. Each of these sites was constructed with the goal of generating revenue for economically struggling communities, but in most cases, they quickly became the lightning rod of a complex sovereignty discourse underlined by First Nations claims that they possessed the inherent right to control on-reserve economic …

All About That Place: The Curious Case Of Bingo Liberalisation In Brazil, Toni Williams

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Bingo is a form of gaming that is often associated with good works, social services, low stakes entertainment, and working-class sociality. In many parts of the world bingo halls are the province of charities, veterans’ clubs, older women, and families: But not in Brazil. Commercial bingo grew rapidly in Brazil during a decade of legality that ended in 2004. Legal bingo halls employed tens of thousands of people and the game was widely played by middle-class and well-educated Brazilians as well as older working-class women and men. However, the game, or more precisely the bingo halls in which it was …

Beyond The Figure Of The Problem Gambler: Locating Race And Sovereignty Struggles In Everyday Cultural Spaces Of Gambling, Fiona Nicoll

Journal of Law and Social Policy

As gambling has become a ubiquitous feature of many neoliberal capitalist societies, the problem gambler has become a familiar cultural figure, invoked in regulation, popular culture and everyday life. This article brings critical research on governmentality together with cultural studies and critical Indigenous scholarship on whiteness, race and sovereignty to understand the racial biopolitics of gambling beyond the individual subject of problem gambling. I argue that, for settler-colonial states, gambling plays a role in maintaining tropes of cultural representation and securing legal and political power within an overarching system of white racial entitlement. An investigation of cultural spaces and products …

Online Gambling, Regulation, And Risks: A Comparison Of Gambling Policies In Finland And The Netherlands, Alan Littler, Johanna Järvinen-Tassopoulos

Journal of Law and Social Policy

The purpose of this article is to compare the different regulatory approaches taken by Finland and the Netherlands in response to the pressures of European Union law, unlicensed gambling, and the harmful effects which can arise from gambling. The two Member States represent two different models of gambling regulation. According to Kingma, the models refer to different attitudes and concerns towards gambling in different timeframes. We argue that Finland fits the “alibi model” of gambling regulation, whereas the Netherlands aligns with the “risk model”. Both countries have decided to restrict the cross-border movement of gambling services, even though Finland has …

A Tale Of Two Casinos: Unequal Spaces Of Local Governance, Alexandra Flynn

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Local actors, including resident and business associations, do not simply influence decision-makers, but can also reshape the purportedly neutral governance model within which decision-making takes place. In big cities like Toronto, this reshaping exacerbates the existing geographic and socio-economic unevenness. The work of James Scott, Mariana Valverde, and Cheryl Teelucksingh helps to explain how local actors interface with seemingly neutral governance bodies to have their interests heard, particularly in relation to locally undesirable land uses. The paper considers two case studies detailing the governance practices at work in differing decisions about casinos in the City of Toronto. A 2012-2013 debate …

Law, Judges And Authorized Gambling In Italy: A Tale Of Contradictions, Nadia Coggiola

Journal of Law and Social Policy

To date, notwithstanding the large number of scholarly investigations into the legal implications of gambling, little attention has been paid to the interaction between contract law, and the negative moral or social labelling which traditionally affects gambling contracts in many Western countries. The purpose of this article is to investigate how Italian civil courts have applied Civil code and Consumer code rules on abusive clauses to cases involving authorized gambling and betting contracts. These rules should apply to authorized gambling and betting contracts, which generally involve an individual player and a professional service provider, either because the player adheres to …

Risk, Charity, And Boundary Disputes: The Liberalisation And Commercialisation Of Online Bingo In The European Union, Donal Casey

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Land-based bingo has traditionally been perceived as a low-risk social form of gambling. The game is often run for purposes of charitable fundraising, and in many countries bingo is associated in good causes and community rather than risk or profit. These distinguishing characteristics have shaped bingo’s regulation in many jurisdictions. However, technological advances have changed the nature of the game as it moved online and challenged traditional approaches to regulation. In this paper, I document the evolution of online bingo regulation in order to explore what we can learn about the changing ways in which states govern speculative play through …

Regulation And Resistance In Canadian Bingo Halls: A Socio-Legal Account, Kate Bedford

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Bingo is a key lens through which to explore how regulation shapes (or fails to shape) different meanings of gambling, and by extension the different meanings attached to speculation in everyday life. In Canada, bingo is played in a highly distinctive gambling environment that is now being subjected to more standardised rules, often drawn from casinos. In this article, I consider how workers and players in Canadian bingo halls are affected by shifting landscapes of provincial bingo regulation. By exploring smoking bans and new rules on touching cash, I ask: what is happening to bingo and its distinctive player demographic …

Keeping Chance In Its Place: The Socio-Legal Regulation Of Gambling, Kate Bedford, Donal Casey, Alexandra Flynn

Journal of Law and Social Policy

In the winter of 2010, driving through a blizzard to a research interview outside of Ottawa, one of the co-editors of this special issue—Kate Bedford—slid and spun off the road in her rental car. The interviewee—an 80-year-old man who organized a small weekly bingo game—helped dig her out. Sitting in the community centre with him afterwards, thawing, there was ample opportunity for Bedford to reflect on the diverse meanings attached to gambling and the complex ways in which it is regulated. The interviewee talked about ‘use of proceeds’ forms and validating expenses payments for volunteers, describing a gambling landscape that …