Faculty in the News

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.

How the Jian Ghomeshi scandal marks the end of shame 
Publication: Macleans
In this article pertaining to the Jian Ghomeshi case, Carissima Mathen, Common Law Section, discusses the fear of reporting sexual assault. With the advent of social media, one of victims' biggest fears rests with how they’ll be treated in the world at large. “They feel it is virtually impossible to keep your identity secret, especially in a case where people have a connection with the defendant. The negative experience [of reporting sexual assault] is now being perceived to exist completely outside the criminal justice system.”

New security law must also heed our freedoms; Review and oversight must be strengthened 
Publication: Ottawa Citizen
In this Op-Ed, John Packer, Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, Roch Tassé and Alex Neve discuss the Maher Arar case and mentions the Arar +10: National Security and Human Rights a Decade Later conference which took place at the University.

Stopping Ebola 
Publication: CBC Ottawa
This article discusses a conference on The Ebola Crisis and its Impact on Children’s Rights, held by the Faculty of Law on October 22nd. 

What can Israel learn from Canada's override clause? 
Publication: Jerusalem Post
In this op-ed, Adam Dodek, Common Law Section, discusses the override clause. He states that "Israelis will have to judge for themselves whether they want to enact an override clause in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Freedom. But proponents of that law should not base their arguments on the Canadian override. It has not proven particularly successful or popular in Canada."

Kent Roach and Craig Forcese: Putting CSIS surveillance on a firmer legal footing 
Publication: National Post
In this op-ed, Craig Forcese, Common Law Section, explains why Bill C-13 is a good legal initiative. He says it will "put CSIS extraterritorial surveillance on a more clear legal footing. It clearly acknowledges a judge may violate international and foreign law in authorizing this surveillance, and that will protect CSIS sources."

New counterterrorism powers already coming in cyberbullying bill 
Publication: Globe and Mail
The RCMP Commissioner called for police to have easier access to peace bonds – which allow them to monitor suspects they haven’t actually charged – as well as a lower evidence thresholds for court orders. Michael Geist, Common Law Section, said “they already do get much of this [in C-13]," adding that he'd "be interested to hear Commissioner Paulson, or others, point to what they think should be in C-13 that isn’t.”

Ottawa eyes deeper security overhaul 
Publication: Globe and Mail
The federal government is tabling new CSIS legislation to provide the organisation with more power. Experts said the CSIS legislative changes can be considered constrained, given the circumstances. “In the wake of last week’s events, I feared they’d bring out all the more controversial ideas,” said Craig Forcese, Common Law Section.

Canada pushes for new anti-terror laws 
Publication: Arab Times
In regards to the federal government possibly implementing better anti-terror legislation, Errol Mendes, Common Law Section, comments  "The thing the authorities need however more than anything else is far more resources."

Case closed on lawyers in Mike Duffy-Nigel Wright affair 
Publication: Toronto Star
In November 2013, Amir Attaran, Common Law Section, filed complaints against two lawyers for their alleged role in the Senate Wright-Duffy affair. Attaran said he wanted to probe the effectiveness of the law societies responsible for protecting the public.

Why we need to resist quick fix anti-terrorism measures: Geist 
Publication: Toronto Star
In this Op-Ed, Michael Geist explains that Canada should be cautious about looking to more laws as the primary means to prevent a repeat of this week’s tragic events and ensure that any reforms that emerge be accompanied by effective oversight and accountability.
 
Early Arrival For New Canadian Anti-Terror Laws? 
Publication: Huffington Post
The federal government is expected to give police and spies new tools to fight terrorism as early as next week. Craig Forcese, Common Law Section, said he hopes the government doesn't "rush to introduce a series of new bells and whistles" that don't actually achieve what they should.

Security changes expected as Parliament reopens to public 
Publication: CTV News
Security is expected to be heightened as Parliament Hill reopens to the public following the events of October 22. "I think one of the big lessons learned is there has to be some kind of perimeter beyond the front doors of Centre Block," says Errol Mendes, Common Law Section.

Opinion: So Ebola becomes a 'crisis' when a handful of westerners become infected and return home? 
Publication: The Courier Mail
Steven Hoffman, Common Law Section, compares restrictions imposed during other outbreaks to the ones proposed for the Ebola outbreak. “After the arrival of H1N1 swine flu in 2009, some countries imposed travel restrictions on flights going to and coming from Mexico, resulting in a 40 per cent decrease in overall travel volume. A study looking at this event found it ‘only led to an average delay in the arrival of the infection in other countries (i.e. the first imported case) of less than three days.’ So again, reduced travel delayed but didn’t stop disease spread.”

Élections municipales d'Ottawa : Cinq enjeux marquants de la campagne 
Publication: La Rotonde
Cet article mentionne le débat sur le bilinguisme officiel. Gilles Paquet, Centre d'études en gouvernance, Linda Cardinal, École d'études politiques, François Larocque, Section de common law et Pierre Foucher, Section de droit civil, sont aussi mentionnés.

Sneaky software faces new rules under anti-spam law 
Publication: CBC
Canada's anti-spam law has forced businesses to change how they communicate with consumers by email. Early next year, the law will also start targeting software makers. "We are regularly installing, or being asked to install, huge numbers of software programs — sometimes on a daily basis — and very often we are unaware of what is happening," says Michael Geist, Common Law Section.

Canada shooting exposes possible security problems, experts say 
Publication: Al Jazeera America
uOttawa experts comment on the attack of October 22 that left one soldier dead. “Going back to 2012, Canada’s auditor general said that the security of the Parliamentary district was inadequate,” said Michael Kempa, Department of Criminology. “…Because we’re not used to it, we didn’t assume the worst. In the United States, there have been so many instances like this that everyone immediately asks ‘How many have been shot?’ But we, rightly or wrongly, assumed that it was contained” said Penny Collenette, Common Law Section.

How Canadian business chilled patent-troll reforms 
Publication: Toronto Star
In this Op-Ed, Michael Geist, Common Law Section, discusses how the Internet Association recently released a policy paper on how Canada could become more competitive in the digital economy. The report’s recommendations on tax reform generated some attention, but buried within the 27-page report was a call for patent reform. 

Maclean’s on the Hill: Thomas Mulcair, Justin Trudeau and Chatelaine 
Publication: Macleans
(19:40 - 22:23) Carissima Mathen, Common Law Section, discusses the Supreme Court’s considerations regarding assisted suicide. She said that after evaluating evidence, a BC trial judge concluded that "an absolute ban is simply no longer justified."

Canada to boost spy agency powers citing terror threat 
Publication: Russia Today
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) will be able to track homegrown terror suspects abroad and have the identity of informants concealed according to draft amendments to the country’s 30-year-old law on surveillance. According to one of the new amendments, CSIS would be allowed to track Canadian citizens abroad, including via information obtained with the help of their allies. Craig Forcese, Common Law Section, comments.

Experts cautious about boost in powers for spy agency 
Publication: Ottawa Citizen
The federal government reportedly plans to introduce legislation to give its spies more legal powers. “They’re going to have to be fairly careful in how they draft this. The devil’s in the details in terms of what’s in the bill,” said Craig Forcese, Common Law Section.

Don Cayo: B.C. has saved a bundle on generic drugs, yet we still pay way too much 
Publication: Vancouver Sun
This article pertains recent study on drug prices coauthored by Amir Attaran, Common Law Section and how it applies to the province of B.C.

Publication: CTV News
Carissima Mathen, Common law Section, discusses the Supreme Court case on the right to a medically supervised or assisted death. She said the court seemed open and prepared to consider the issue.

Publication: Macleans
This article discusses the risks of Ebola spreading. According to Amir Attaran, Common Law Section, the Ebola vaccine developed in Canada could be more effective than its competitor, as it requires only one dose.