Law Commons^™

Indigenous Peoples Under International Law: An Asian Perspective, Tashi Phuntsok

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis analyzes Asian understandings of the definition of indigenous peoples in international law. The rights of indigenous peoples have emerged strongly in the international domain, culminating in 2007 with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Yet, the question of definition and identity of indigenous peoples remains uncertain and indeterminate, at least from an Asian perspective. Traditionally indigenous peoples are understood to be those who were victims of European colonial settlements. It is the aim of this research to find out whether indigenous peoples exist in Asia by analyzing the approaches taken by select Asian states …

Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Regulations: Up In Smoke, Carolynn Conron

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted the constitutional principles entrenched in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to mean that everyone in Canada has a constitutional right to access necessary medical treatment without fear of criminal sanction. The latest research suggests cannabis (marihuana) provides a unique medicinal benefit that, for some individuals, is necessary. The federal criminal prohibition of cannabis deprives many individuals of a potentially beneficial medicine and stigmatizes them with a criminal record.

Without a valid medical cannabis access system, the criminal prohibition is invalid. The current Marihuana Medical Access Regulations were recently struck down. Parliament …

Directors' Duties To Creditors - Mapping The Twilight Zone, Mehreen Rehman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines Canadian corporate law to analyze whether its legal mechanisms (e.g., duty of loyalty, duty of care, derivative action, oppression etc.) are sufficient to protect creditor interests, their shortcomings and possible solutions. It argues that the risks to which creditors are exposed in Canada at the hands of directors when a company is financially distressed or insolvent demand more clear protection. It reviews available legal mechanisms under the English and Delaware corporate law to see if Canada could import anything to improve its lax creditor protection. The thesis suggests adopting wrongful trading provisions modeled on English legislation. The …

The History Of Animal Welfare Law And The Future Of Animal Rights, Marie Blosh

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Animals were included within the protection of the law in the early nineteenth century. Why have there been so few advances since then? Discussion about this question tends to focus on the moral and legal status of animals. That is undoubtedly an important issue, but it stems from a tradition that looks for the singular trait that distinguishes humans from all other animals. This thesis uses an historical approach to explore the tension between the humane impulse to alleviate animal suffering and the sense of human superiority that permits animal exploitation. The conclusion is that animal rights theory could build …

An Insightful Study Of The Oppression Remedy Under South African And Canadian Corporate Law, Natasha A. Abbey

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

A new perspective is provided on the South African company law through the comparative analysis of a shareholders’ remedy known as the Oppression Remedy under section 163 of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 and section 241 of the Canada Business Corporations Act. Despite the introduction of the new Companies Act 71 of 2008, the statute still remains unclear as to the rights, duties and powers of each individual within a company. In an aim to address this lack of clarity, this thesis takes a “back-to-basics” approach by discussing the fundamental principles of corporate personality and majority rule. This …

“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 …

Electronic Health Record Regulation In Canada: What The Patient Experience Reveals About The Pursuit Of Legislative Harmonization, Patricia M. Goodman

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This thesis examines Canadian provincial and territorial personal data protection legislation as it relates to electronic health records (“EHRs”). The research categorizes Canadian jurisdictions’ approaches to EHR regulation and three models are identified. Using five criteria, the patient experience when interacting with each of the three models and a combination of the models is described, analyzed and reconciled. A fictional patient scenario is used as a tool to analyze patient interaction with the Canadian jurisdictions and the models. It is shown that, although Canadian jurisdictions use one of three separate modes of incorporating EHR-specific rules into legislation, the outcome of …

Trademarks And Geographical Indications: Conflict Or Coexistence?, Melissa A. Loucks

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Both trademarks and geographical indications are legal devices which regulate communication to markets about a product. Trademarks indicate the commercial origin of a good or service while geographical indications signal the geographic origin. Both tools also legally grant exclusive rights to certain uses of a word or symbol. Tension arises when the tools overlap on the same subject matter. The thesis asks: is coexistence between the devices in the TRIPS Agreement possible? Are the concepts of trademarks and geographical indications related? If so, how? If not, how? Does the marketing literature of business recognize both registered trademarks and geographical indications …

The Codex: Labelling Of Food Derived From Modern Biotechnology, Sowmya Latha Hemanahally Vishwanatha

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international organisation tasked to develop global food standards. In 1993, it decided to develop standards for labelling food derived from modern biotechnology. Despite demands to discontinue its work and an inability to achieve consensus, the “Compilation of Codex texts relevant to labelling of food derived from modern biotechnology” was adopted in 2011. The Compilation accepts different approaches to labelling and comprises ten guidelines that need to be adopted in national labelling policies.

Two models of labelling are prevalent. The voluntary model of labelling allows corporations the choice to label. The mandatory model provides more …

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 …

Architectures Of The Veil: The Representation Of The Veil And Zenanas In Pakistani Feminists' Texts, Amber Fatima Riaz

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

My dissertation, which works at the intersections of feminist theory, architectural theory and postcolonial literary theory, examines the spatiality of the zenana and the burqa as represented in Pakistani literary and cultural texts. I propose that the burqa creates a portable closet, an interstitial, liminal, “third space” that allows Pakistani (secluded and veiled) women to not only traverse the borders between the private (female, domestic) and public (male) spaces, but to also signal chastity and religiosity while in the public, and semi-public spaces of the cities and villages of Pakistan. I argue that the dupatta, the chador and the hijab …

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 …