Law Commons^™

Environmental Impact Assessment For Oil And Gas Projects: A Comparative Evaluation Of Canadian And Nigerian Laws, Omolola Anuoluwapo Fasina

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a tool mandated by regulatory authorities to prevent environmental degradation and foster a sustainable environment. Procedural rights to access information and participate in decision-making are understood as key components of good environmental governance. This research compares the EIA laws in Nigeria and Canada and identifies areas of improvement in the EIA processes of both countries with regards to oil and gas activities, in light of existing international norms and, with a focus on public participation and climate change.

The research reveals that Canada, a developed country, has a more rigorous and effective public participation process …

Laying The Foundation For Copyright Policy And Practice In Canadian Universities, Lisa Di Valentino

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Due to significant changes in the Canadian copyright system, universities are seeking new ways to address the use of copyrighted works within their institutions. While the law provides quite a bit of leeway for use of copyrighted materials for educational and research purposes, the response by Canadian universities and related associations has not been to fully embrace their legal rights – rather, they have taken an approach that places emphasis on risk avoidance rather than maximizing use of materials, unlike their American counterparts. In the U.S., where educational fair use is arguably less flexible in application than fair dealing, there …

Regulating For Resilience: Principled Flexibility And Environmental Co-Management In The Mackenzie Valley, Heather L. Potter

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The author examines the environmental regulatory regime in the Mackenzie Valley region of the Northwest Territories which includes the regulatory structure established by the Mackenzie Valley Resource Management Act and the private contractual instruments of environmental agreements, impact benefit agreements and socio-economic agreements. The author concludes that these instruments work together to form a complex regulatory system that is sometimes maladapted to the adaptive management framework necessary for effective regulation in an increasingly unstable arctic environment. The author argues that effective environmental management in the Mackenzie Valley requires a regulatory approach grounded in principled flexibility and shared environmental goals across …

Theory And Theoretical Approaches To Wto Law, Chios Carmody

Law Publications

This article examines the role of theory in relation to the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and more broadly, international economic law. It posits that an absence of agreement about an underlying theory of WTO law can be traced to lack of clarity about what a ‘theory’ is as well as the fact that the current vogue for interdisciplinary approaches to law means that WTO law, in particular, is analyzed through non-normative frameworks that are removed from the law’s legality. The article goes on to examine three theoretic frameworks – textual, political, and economic – that have been …

Directors And Standards: The Problem Of Insufficient Guidance, Nikolas Sopow

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis identifies two areas within Canadian corporate law where the case law has provided insufficient guidance, and tests the usefulness of an American theory of director liability as an aid to understanding this case law and the legislation it interprets. This theory has been termed the “implied contract approach”, and was developed by Robert J. Rhee. The two areas concern: if and when directors must consider the interests of stakeholder groups, otherwise known as the “stakeholder debate”, and when directors should be protected from personal liability when acting in the course of their duties.

Resolving Dilemmas In Canadian Class Actions By Reconsidering Private Law Principles, Stephanie Sugar

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Class actions cases illuminate the theoretical underpinnings of private law in a way that traditional two-party litigation does not. Many class actions deal with plaintiffs who have not suffered a large loss (or a quantifiable monetary loss at all), or the defendant has made profits that are disproportionately greater than the plaintiffs’ compensable loss (if any). Applying orthodox principles of private law and negligence to these cases results in barring plaintiffs from recovery despite their rights being violated and defendants not disgorging profits made from wrongdoing. The solution resolving these dilemmas should not be to create separate law only applicable …

Accommodating Complex Disabilities: Chronic Pain Disorders In The Canadian Workplace, Maia Abbas

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The duty of accommodation has enabled great progress in Canadian human rights law for persons with disabilities, particularly in the workplace. However, persons with chronic pain disorders have faced greater challenges in accessing the accommodation duty’s promise of equality, which is demonstrated through caselaw analysis. To assess the efficacy of the accommodation of persons with chronic pain disorders, we must answer three questions: (1) what is the theoretical understanding of disability and chronic pain disorders; (2) how are chronic pain disorders accommodated practically (using the workplace as our social illustration); and, (3) what happens after accommodation fails. A hierarchy of …

Real Estate Investment Trusts In Canada, Samita Pachai

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Canadian real estate investment trust (REIT) industry began in the early 1990s and, over the past twenty years, the legislative landscape governing REITs has changed dramatically. This dissertation examines how REIT legislation has progressed in Canada and the effects it has had on the industry as a whole. After examining the basic characteristics of a REIT, an overview of the legislative evolution is presented. This thesis argues that recent legislation has been successful in allowing REITs to flourish, with 48 public equity REITs now trading in Canada comprising a market capitalization of over CAD 50 billion. A thorough examination …

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 …

The Patented Medicines (Notice Of Compliance) Regulations: An Examination Of The Decision Making Patterns In These Cases At The Supreme Court Of Canada, Jason D. Newman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Abstract

Generic drug approval cases involving Canada’s Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations are adjudicated at the Federal Court through the judicial review process. The European Union alleges that this abbreviated process is unfair to litigants who hold patents on medicines, since it does not encompass all of the features of a trial, nor is it an actual suit for patent infringement. In addition, the process has unequal appeal rights for the patent holder and the patent challenger, where the generic challenger can appeal a decision at Federal Court, but the patent holder cannot.

When examining the pattern of decision …

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 …

The Copyright Board And Tribunals Process: Users In The Balance, Louis J. D'Alton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The wholesale adoption of copyright collective management as public policy tool has had an extraordinary impact on the information landscape. The unfettered expansion of collective rights organizations throughout the 20^th century has resulted in increased social costs and a burgeoning bureaucracy surrounding the collective use of rights.

This thesis considers the role of copyright tribunals within that process, and more importantly within a critical historical frame. While some work has been done with respect to copyright tribunals and their role in the policy process, none of it has considered the tribunals within a critical frame. This thesis considers those …

Licensing Parents In International Contract Pregnancies, Andrew Botterell, Carolyn Mcleod

Law Publications

The Hague Conference on Private International Law currently has a Parentage/Surrogacy Project, which evaluates the legal status of children in cross‐border situations, including situations involving international contract pregnancy (or ‘surrogacy’). Should a convention (or other legal instrument) focusing on international contract pregnancy emerge from this project, it will need to be consistent with the Hague convention on Intercountry Adoption. The latter convention prohibits adoptions unless, among other things, ‘the competent authorities of the receiving State have determined that the prospective adoptive parents are eligible and suited to adopt’ (Article 5a). Included in it, therefore, is a parental vetting or licensing …

Tate & Lyle: Pure Economic Loss And The Modern Tort Of Public Nuisance, Andrew Botterell, Jason Neyers

Law Publications

Professor Lewis Klar criticizes the Canadian approach to the tort o f public nuisance for being illogical and incoherent. The authors agree with Klar's assessment o f the current state of public nuisance law, but argue that insights drawn from the House o f Lords decision in Tate & Lyle Industries Ltd. v. Greater London Council offer a way forward. By conceptualizing the tort o f public nuisance as a cause o f action that protects subjects from suffering actual loss that is consequential on the violation of their passage and fishing rights over public property, Tate & Lyle offers …