October 31, 2014
La GRC collecte des données personnelles sans rendre de comptes
Publication: Le Devoir
Le Commissaire à la protection de la vie privée du Canada dénonce le manque de transparence qui entoure depuis quelques années la collecte de renseignements personnels, sans mandat, menée par la Gendarmerie royale du Canada (GRC) auprès d’entreprises de télécommunication. Selon Michel Drapeau, Faculté de droit, « C’est un constat très pénible. Le droit à la vie privée est un droit constitutionnel fondamental. La GRC devrait défendre cette valeur avec un peu plus de rigueur. »
Health-care spending projected to grow at slowest pace in 17 years
Publication: Globe and Mail
In the last three years, spending on health has actually slowed down. Colleen Flood, Common Law Section explains that the government “has made it clear that this is all really a provincial responsibility and all they are going to do is hand over some dollars from time to time.”
Government health care spending, and how much seniors account for
Publication: Globe and Mail
The Canadian Institute for Health Information report found that the aging of the population is only a modest cost driver, expected to be responsible for 0.9 per cent of the health-care spending increase this year. “It’s popular in the media to be really worried about the grey tsunami, but it’s not like this massive spike that hits the system at any one time,” said Colleen Flood, Common Law Section.
Bourque faces precedent setting sentence for Moncton shootings
Publication: Macleans
The Crown is seeking the maximum sentence (75 years without eligibility to apply for parole) for Justin Bourque who shot and killed 3 Mounties earlier this year, but the judge in Bourque's case is not bound by the recommendations from the Crown and defence, said Carissima Mathen, Common Law Section. "There's been a belief for many years that very long sentences don't necessarily serve social interests. ... The federal government clearly views that as being soft on crime and perhaps not fully recognizing the gravity of multiple convictions for offences that are similar."
Why don't victims or bystanders report sexual assault?
Publication: Global News
This article pertains to the reporting of sexual violence. “There’s good reason for women to question whether they should report—women usually do it, if they do, to protect other women…acting in the public interest at huge personal cost,” said Elizabeth Sheehy, Common Law Section.
Straight Talk with Adrienne Batra
Publication: Sun News Network
Michel Drapeau, Faculty of Law, discusses possible responses to a terror threat. "Before we jump in overnight, within a week we've now decided now to do something and to go further, I think we need not only to demonstrate the need for it, but demonstrate in fact that the regulations and current provisions in the law are ineffective," he says.