Journal des étudia nt-e-s en d roit de l ’université M c Gill

McGill Law’sWeekly Student Newspaper

Vo l u m e 3 4 , n o 1 61 9 m a r s 2 0 1 3 | M a r c h 1 9 t h 2 0 1 3

QUIDNOVI

Student-led SeminarsSpecial Edition

WHAT’S INSIDE? QUEL EST LE CONTENU?

WANT TO TALK? TU VEUX T’EXPRIMER?

ÉDITO 3JE SUIS CELA QUI BRUTALISE 4STUDENT SOCIAL CAPITAL INTO CURRICULA: TO TEACH IS TO LEARN6LES DROITS LINgUISTIQUES AU CANADA : SÉMINAIRE 8FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS WEIgH IN ON STUDENT-LED SEMINARS 8INTERNET LAW : FIELD TRIPS TO CYBERSPACE INCLUDED 9WHY THIS AgAIN? 10BLACk LETTER BEDLAM 12ON SEMINARS AND STUDENT INPUT 13AN ExCERPT FROM “kALEIDOSCOPES OF kNOWLEDgE” 14WINTER TERM ExAM SCHEDULE 17SUggESTED APPROACHES TO MCgILL LAW BILINgUALISM 18LETTER IN SUPPORT OF STUDENT-INITIATED SEMINARS 19SO YOU MISSED THE DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR OCIS 20MBLA CARES - A 2012/2013 INITIATIVE 21THANk YOU TO THE DEAN’S DISCRETIONARY FUND 21INTRODUCINg THE ALUMNI MENTORSHIP PROgRAM 24CURRICULUM COMMITTEE TOWN HALL 25CALL FOR APPLICATIONS : LEgAL CLINIC COURSE 26THANk YOU DDF! 28THINgS I LEARNED IN BOSTON 29MCgILL ARBITRATION SOCIETY: RELIgIOUS ARBITRATION 30SPEAk UP! - NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LAW STUDENTS CONFERENCE 32AN UPDATE ON THE LAW TEACHINg NETWORk 33INNOCENCE MCgILL’S ANNUAL FINANCES 34ENFANCE_01 34LUNCH WITH THE ExPERT – RACHEL BENDAYAN 35JUSTICE FRAMED - LAW IN COMICS AND gRAPHIC NOVELS 35CRITICAL RACE THEORY 37OVERHEARD AT THE FAC 39

Envoyez vos commentaires ou articles avantjeudi 17h a l’adresse : quid.law@mcgill.ca

Toute contribution doit indiquer le nom del’auteur, son année d’étude ainsi qu’un titrepour l’article. L’article ne sera publie qu’a ladiscretion du comite de redaction, qui

basera sa decision sur la politique de redaction.

Contributions should preferably be submitted asa .doc attachment (and not, for instance, a“.docx.”).

The Quid Novi is published weekly by the students of the Faculty of Law at McGill University. Production is made possible through the direct support of students. All contents copyright 2013 Quid Novi.Les opinions exprimees sont propres aux auteurs et ne refletent pas necessairement celles de l’equipe du Quid Novi. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the McGill LawStudents’ Association or of McGill University.

Vo l u m e 3 4 , n o 1 61 9 m a r s 2 0 1 3 | M a r c h 1 9 t h 2 0 1 3

J o u r n a l d e s é t u d i a n t - e - s e n d r o i t d e l ’u n i v e r s i t é M c G i l l

M c G i l l L a w ’s W e e k l y S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r

QUID NOVI

3661 Peel Street Montreal, Quebec H2A 1X1

http://quid.mcgill.ca/

EDITORS IN CHIEFJérémy Boulanger-BonnellyAaron Fergie

LAYOUT EDITORSXiaocai FuKai Shan HeGabriel Rochette

ASSOCIATE REVIEWERSKatherine Abarca Eliza CohenKai Shan He Charlotte-Anne MalischewskiAudrey MayrandLana McCreaAngèle Périllat-AmédéeDan SnyderAnne-Sophie VilleneuveSusanne Wladysiuk

STAFF WRITERSLudovic BourdagesDavid GrovesMichael Shortt Warwick WaltonDerek Zeisman

QUIDNOVI

É D I T O

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 3

JÉRÉMYBOULANGER-BONNELLY

C o - E d i t o r i n C h i e f

SÉMINAIRES ÉTUDIANTSET BRUTALISATION

Les séminaires étudiants et la brutalisation: deux thèmes quipourraient à prime abord sembler plutôt éloignés, voire totale-ment étrangers l’un à l’autre. Et pourtant, en recevant les arti-cles cette semaine, j’ai constaté qu’un lien intéressant pourraitles unir et fournir une des pistes de réponse que nous cher-chons depuis plusieurs semaines.

LA BRUTALISATION

Le débat sur la brutalisation fait rage dans nos pages depuismaintenant près de deux mois, signe de l’intérêt manifestequ’au moins une partie de notre faculté lui porte. Les opinionsdivergent en partie, plusieurs reconnaissant l’existence duproblème, et un autre auteur suggérant qu’il n’en est rien.

Cette semaine, le sujet refait surface, soulevé cette fois par unprofesseur de notre faculté. Vincent Forray déconstruit lephénomène pour mieux l’expliquer et surtout mieux le com-prendre.

Encore une fois, il est difficile d’identifier des pistes de solutionprécises, vu la nature diffuse du problème. Cependant, un cer-tain consensus semble se dégager des textes que nous avonspubliés à l’effet que la brutalisation est un problème qui doittout d’abord être reconnu, pour pouvoir ensuite être réglé,éventuellement.

Le texte du Professeur Forray est en ce sens une lueur d’espoir,reflétant la reconnaissance du problème au sein d’au moinsune partie du corps professoral. Le doyen aurait égalementsoulevé la question dans un de ses derniers “townhalls”.

Et pourtant, toute lueur reste faible tant qu’elle n’est pas nour-rie. Espérons donc que d’autres membres du corps professoralou même de l’administration de notre faculté saisiront la balleau bond et partageront leur perspective sur ce débat.

LES SÉMINAIRES ÉTUDIANTS

Par ailleurs, cette édition est consacrée en partie au sujet chauddes séminaires étudiants. Comme vous le lirez dans lesprochaines pages, les étudiants de la Faculté foisonnent d’idéesplus ingénieuses les unes que les autres pour mener de telscours.

Les sujets qu’ils se proposent d’aborder explorent d’ailleursplusieurs lieux moins communs du droit, à l’image de la forma-tion qui nous est offerte dans notre faculté. Adoptant la plupart

du temps un angle critique, ces séminaires semblent repousserles frontières de la classe traditionnelle.

Hélas, la faculté semble réticente à plusieurs de ces projets. Laprésente édition se veut donc un plaidoyer en faveur de l’im-plantation de davantage de séminaires étudiants. Elle contientdes propositions précises, mais également des articles à teneurplus générale expliquant les fondements et les bénéfices de cesinitiatives.

Nous avons décidé de faire place à un tel sujet dans le Quid, carnous croyons nous aussi que la faculté et ses étudiants retir-eraient beaucoup à voir le nombre de séminaires étudiantsaugmentés.

LES SÉMINAIRES : UNE PISTE DE SOLUTION AU PROBLÈME DELA BRUTALISATION ?

Un des bénéfices des séminaires étudiants pourrait justementêtre d’amenuiser les effets brutalisateurs de notre formation.

En effet, les séminaires sont donnés sous une forme d’en-seignement souvent moins brutalisatrice que les cours magis-traux. Le dialogue qui leur est propre laisse encore plus deplace au développement de la pensée critique et à l’initiativedes étudiants, minimisant ainsi l’effet de brutalisation décrié aufil des dernières semaines.

Il est certain que de tels séminaires ne sont pas l’unique moyende régler le problème, mais parions que s’ils étaient acceptésen plus grand nombre, moins de nos étudiants sentiraient lapression des études en droit. Bref, c’est une piste de solutionqui vaut la peine d’être explorée !

-------------------------------

NB 1 : Vous aurez peut-être remarqué que le site web du Quidest désormais hébergé sous mon nom de domaine. Non, cen’est pas un caprice narcissique de ma part ! C’est plutôt quenotre site web “.mcgill.ca” a été attaqué par quelqu’un qui y ainjecté un virus. Vu le manque de coopération total des serv-ices informatiques de Mcgill, et l’absence d’autre hébergementdisponible, c’était la seule solution restante. En espérant quetout ça se règle prochainement !

NB 2 : Notre dernière édition de l’année sera le 9 avril prochain,si nous recevons suffisamment de textes. Préparez vos articles !

4 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

Suis-je brutal ?

La question me tourmente depuis plu-sieurs semaines. Elle se pose même demanière plus incisive : comment suis-jebrutal ? Car si quelque chose se dessineau fil des articles du Quid qui ont récem-ment abordé le thème, c’est que l’ensei-gnement du droit dans notre Facultéimplique une « brutalisation » des étu-diants. Il ne s’agit donc pas de savoir sicelui qui enseigne participe, oui ou non,à cette « brutalisation ». Mais plutôt desavoir, lorsque celle-ci est ressentiecomme telle, dans quelle mesure il yparticipe, avec quels moyens et selonquels processus.

Il y aurait une forme de brutalité inévita-ble dans l’enseignement du droit. Mon-sieur Brosseau, madame Gibbs,messieurs Saucier Calderón et Boulan-ger-Bonnelly convergent sur ce point.Monsieur Shortt, quant à lui, rejettel’idée. Plus précisément, il estime queles éléments constitutifs de la « brutali-sation » alléguée se trouvent contreba-lancés par la flexibilité des méthodesd’enseignement et la diversité despoints de vues caractéristiques de notreFaculté. De sorte que cette « brutalisa-tion » n’a pas lieu. Je comprends alorsque le principe de la « brutalisation »pourrait demeurer mais que ses effetssont neutralisés à McGill.

Le problème ne serait pas tant que l’ap-prentissage du droit suppose de subir, etd’infliger, certaines violences. Celles-ciconstitueraient un mal nécessaire àl’étude. Le problème viendrait du sur-plus de violence. C’est, en particulier, lathèse soutenue par Saucier Calderón :l’enseignement du droit est suffisam-ment brutal par lui-même, pas la peine

d’en rajouter. Or à McGill, inconsciem-ment ou non, on en rajouterait. De sorteque l’institution est interrogée sur lamanière dont elle entend répondre desdommages infligés à certains de nos étu-diants en raison de ce surplus de bruta-lité. Ce « supplément d’origine ».

Je n’entends pas revenir sur cette parti-tion, tant elle me paraît indiquer unvécu auquel je ne me sens pas le droitde me rapporter. Je ne suis pas étudiantet ne saurais par conséquent faire l’ex-périence de la « brutalisation ». Decelle-ci, je ne dois pouvoir connaître quece que j’inflige. Je n’entends pas nonplus me pencher sur les méthodes d’en-seignement du droit à McGill étant, pourainsi dire, un nouveau venu.

Je voudrais brièvement indiquer ce quime semble le plus troublant dans cetteaffaire. À savoir la conscience d’une bru-talité intrinsèque, indiscutable, qui feraitcorps avec l’enseignement du droit.Dont chacun convient, à demi-mot, qu’ilfaut en prendre son parti pour devenirjuriste. Ou, au minimum, l’existenced’une brutalité dont on juge qu’elle n’estpas si brutale.

Cela me trouble d’autant plus que je re-levais, jusqu’à peu, d’un monde acadé-mique (les facultés de droit françaises)dans lequel la brutalité m’apparaît avoirété souvent institutionnalisée, canaliséeau service de l’enseignement dogma-tique dit « de masse » dans la forme du« cours magistral ». Lequel est impitoya-ble pour ceux qui n’acceptent pas d’en-caisser une telle violence ; et dont on apourtant pas démontré qu’il fait des ju-ristes plus agiles. Bref : la faculté dedroit, c’est pas pour les mauviettes (ni

pour les poètes).

Je suis donc très reconnaissant aux au-teures et auteurs Brosseau, Shortt,Gibbs, Saucier Calderón et Boulanger-Bonnelly d’adresser à tous une questiondont la forme finale me heurte et quimérite qu’on s’y arrête :

Quel est mon rôle dans cette inévitable« brutalisation » des étudiants qu’im-plique l’enseignement du droit ?

Chacun peut voir le problème. A partirdu moment où l’éducation juridique à laFaculté requiert des modes de « brutali-sation », de « re-socialisation », de «mutilation » ou de « transformation »,quel que soit le terme employé, il y aviolence — feutrée, enveloppée, méta-

phorique peut-être — mais violence toutde même. Il entrerait alors dans la fonc-tion du professeur de droit d’organiserl’exercice de cette violence. Ou bienc’est que l’acte même d’enseigner ledroit engage inconsciemment celui quile pratique dans une forme de brutalitéà l’égard des étudiants.

On ne saurait, évidemment, se conten-ter de répondre qu’il y a là quelquechose de normal, sans lequel l’enseigne-ment, quel qu’il soit, ne pourrait avoirlieu. Le seul fait que des gens commeBrosseau, Shortt, Gibbs, Saucier Calde-rón et Boulanger-Bonelly aient pris lapeine d’écrire désamorce ce genre de ré-ponse.

Je prendrai donc pour acquis qu’un cer-tain nombre d’étudiants souffrent desviolences qui sont par ailleurs jugés

JE SUIS CELA QUI BRUTALISE

VINCENTFORRAY

P r o f e s s e u r

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 5

comme constitutives de l’enseignementdu droit. Je me demande pourquoi ilssouffrent, pourquoi cette souffrance s’ex-prime et comment je contribue à cettesouffrance.

Je remarque d’abord, effectivement, quela violence constitue le phénomène juri-dique. Car la violence est d’abord la forcequi s’exerce (du latin vis). Il est possiblequ’à un moment, l’enseignement re-prenne à son compte la force du droit. Cemoment serait celui de la pratique de laquestion.

Sur les points élémentaires, fondamen-taux, sur les données techniques, sur ce «qu’on ne peut pas ne pas savoir », lequestionnement du professeur se faitplus vif, plus énergique, plus brutal, parcequ’il vise le droit tel qu’il est. Sur le com-plexe, l’incertain, le sensible, sur ce qui,dans le droit, est sujet à controverse ousoulève de graves enjeux sociaux, lequestionnement se fait moins pressant,plus doux, préparatoire d’une possibilitéde divergences. Peut-être que le ton sefait plus conciliant. Mais ce sur quoi l’er-reur est sanctionnée (puisqu’il y a unecertitude de la connaissance juridique)passe en force.

Par suite, la restitution correcte du droit— la réponse attendue, telle qu’elle est

sollicitée par la question — se doit de rap-peler en son sein la force du droit. Nous,les juristes, apprenons dans les facultés, àproduire un discours qui est d’autant plusjuridique qu’il rappelle (recall) la violencedu droit. Et la prise de conscience decette violence peut être terriblementbrutale.

Elle l’est d’autant plus lorsqu’elle se dou-

ble du sentiment de ce qu’une partie deson avenir professionnel dépend de sacapacité à restituer le droit correctement.A reconduire sa violence, à en accepter labrutalité, donc. Il faudrait se projeterdans la peau de ce personnage qui in-carne la force du droit. Celui dont la posi-tion dans le monde est liée à son habiletéà affecter la violence du droit. Brutal à lademande.

Ce n’est pas suffisant. Il y a autre chosede plus qui s’exprime dans l’idée de «brutalisation ». Une souffrance plusaiguë, plus singulière et, peut-être, plusidentitaire. Quelque chose qui s’alimenteà la racine de ce que l’on fait ici. Ce pour-rait-il que l’exigence théorique, critiquepluraliste et globale sécrète une forme in-nommée de brutalité ?

L’effort de compréhension des différentestraditions juridiques, la travail de dé-conceptualisation / re-conceptualisationdes données du droit, le souci de la diver-sité, l’extraordinaire bouillonnement in-tellectuel qui agite la communautéuniversitaire ici même provoquerait uncontrecoup douloureux. Au terme d’uneffet incontrôlable, plus l’enseignementprendrait au sérieux la nécessité d’ouvrirla texture du droit, plus ce contrecoup se-rait violent. Il s’agirait d’un choc en retour: plus on introduit de complexité dansl’enseignement, plus la simplification né-cessaire pour clore l’acte d’apprentissagesuppose l’investissement de la part decelui qui étudie. Et plus elle crée derisques de traumatisme.

D’où l’idée que la souffrance constitueraitla contrepartie nécessaire de l’éducationjuridique la plus raffinée et, paradoxale-ment, la plus ouverte.

Tout ceci n’est guère réjouissant.

Sauf à remarquer le motif de ce qui estune invitation à prendre conscience, àpenser, à avancer, donc. Le refus de toutecomplaisance me semble bien plus ré-jouissant, même s’il est lui-même dou-loureux, que la contemplation de nosmérites. Je crois que notre force vient denotre capacité à nous questionner et ànous réinventer.

L’emploi d’un mot aussi violent que «brutalisation », pour désigner une part del’activité d’enseignement du droit, et indi-quer une difficulté à gérer les consé-quences de certaines attitudesintellectuelles, est significatif. Il indiqueprécisément que la violence en questionn’a rien de naturel. Quelle n’est pas iné-luctable. Qu’il n’y a aucune raison queceux qui en souffrent n’aient d’autrechoix que de souffrir en silence. Que lepersonnage juridique reste à inventer.

Le fait qu’il y ait une violence intrinsèqueau droit ne veut pas dire que j’ai un rôle àjouer au soutien de cette violence. Maisque les points aveugles de ma pratiquequotidienne doivent être mis en cause.

Au-delà, le choix de madame Gibbs, demessieurs Brosseau, Shortt, Saucier Cal-derón et Boulanger-Bonnelly d’engager ladiscussion témoigne, à mes yeux, d’unevolonté de peser sur la construction dumonde académique, leur monde. Ainsique du refus de simplement s’insérerdans un espace social préconstitué et in-tangible. Je crois que c’est ce que la fa-culté de droit, et notre Faculté, peuventcontribuer à faire.

Je n’y vois pas un motif de défiance, maisun espoir.

The discussion surrounding student-led seminars is gaining mo-mentum. Many arguments in favour of such initiatives focus on theproposed seminars’ respective value in terms of subject matter,student interest, andrelevance to our unfolding future endeavors.It would be audacious to attempt a template of subject matterprioritization necessary in selecting the one lucky winner of thegrant – who can claim to say why a more focused study of SexualAssault, for instance, is more deserving than the study of Law andthe Internet or Critical Race Theory? The faculty administration isthus in the unenviable position in having to ascertain the criteriathat will need to eliminate all but one of the many proposed semi-nars. Theirs is the proverbial position tucked between the rock andthe hard place.

I aim to focus this piece on a proposal of an alternative: Why notallow them all? The main thrust of advocating for such experimentis the proposition that our faculty’s social capital can, not only be-nefit from student-initiated curricula, but also contribute to theacademic stock, fostering a co-production of knowledge, a fortifica-tion of peer bonds, and a transcendence beyond the systemic tea-ching-learning boundaries.

It may be a bold and unprecedented move – but when did breakingout of the box into the arena of innovation ever scare or discou-rage our law faculty?

I. Co-Production of Knowledge

In 1918, American educationist, John Franklin Bobbitt publishedthe first book on the subject of ‘curriculum.' The term was definedin accordance with its Latin roots as a ‘racecourse’ of deeds and ex-periences through which “children become the adults they oughtto be for success in adult society." This etymology runs in tandemwith the word ‘ēducātiō’, the act of bringing-up, rearing. This iswhy we have ‘courses’ of specialized subjects relevant to our juridi-cal formation. What dictates our ‘courses’? The legal field dictatesour courses. The traditional curricular structure can be thus seenas a production-consumption model: we, the students, consumewhat scholars produce in order to mature academically and profes-sionally.

Scholars carefully survey the field, seeking out truths, critically ne-gotiating their merits, and transmitting analyses to our hungryminds. We consume, and when called upon to draft a researchpaper, we try-on the scholar-role of deepening our understandingand reaching our own interpretations. We turn these in and re-trieve a grade. The thrilling moment in knowledge-productionusually ends with this climax. I often wonder if some of my prouderresearch papers ever affected their readers beyond proving dili-gently discussed and abiding by the rules of thought-organization. Ilike to imagine that ideas so laboriously sought, arrived at, and arti-

culated, had some miniscule impact beyond cluttering my profes-sors’ desks.

On the other hand, I am endlessly curious about my classmates’writing. I fight the urge to ask because I fear that the curved, com-petitive ethos of law school sees student papers warily guarded;knowledge unshared. In this traditional model, we learn, but weremain the childlike consumers of knowledge. Of course, we mayaspire to earn our academic adulthood by building up to a “magis-ter” or “doctor” level. But until then, our knowledge is pretty muchself-contained.

II. Peer-to-Peer: Horizontal Learning

What if, then, we could construct a forum for sharing of our res-pective academic finds? Indeed, many presentations of paper-to-pics or other course-relevant, independently researchedsubject-matter find their way into the classroom. I revel in theseopportunities. However, there is a caveat. I can only speak subjecti-vely, but my main target audience for all presentations is the pro-fessor and my main objective for presentation remains the ‘grade.'To further hamper the experience, my classmates’ presentationsare also received in a tainted manner. The better and more interes-ting they are, the greater the sense of pressure: after all, their per-formance and knowledge-mining affect the evaluation of my own. Icannot describe the extent of my antipathy for the ‘curve’ and I amhappy that the smaller seminar courses aim to assess students inabsolute rather than relative terms. However, there is always theunderlying vestige of academic envy and only a pure horizontalknowledge exchange without a grade-point hierarchy can promotea true appreciation of the substance of our discoveries rather thana sense of one-upping our peers.

One may ask: Why not share the information and educate eachother through the many informal avenues extra-curricula open?Reading groups, student clubs, and conferences are among themany alternative channels of learning from peers that span beyondthe classroom. There is much to be gained from such interactive,deinstitutionalized modes. But there are undeniable obstacles toembracing such opportunities fully: there is just too little time togo deep. A law school course-load, other extracurricular commit-ments necessary for self-enrichment, or (in many cases) résumé-padding, compounded with part-time jobs, leave students withdear little time and energy to delve into in-depth research, ana-lyses and meetings. There is something to be said for learning withcredit. Organization of, and participation in, such endeavors is dedi-cated, hard work and credit should be given where credit is due. Itis also important to mention that, while student-led, credit semi-nars profit from professorial supervision. Along with the benefits ofstructure, the presence of credit and professor guidance, the stu-

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PATRICIANOWAKOWSKA

L a w I I

STUDENT SOCIAL CAPITAL INTO CURRICULA:TO TEACH IS TO LEARN

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 7

dent-led seminar acquires the merits of discipline and diligence.

III. Transsystemia 2.0

A critical reader may point to the seeming paradoxes: we want tobe co-producing knowledge for its own sake, but we ask for thecredit; we want to share information and learn from each otherlike academic ‘adults’, but we want a professorial lifeline; we wantorganic, deinstitutionalized approaches through collaborative edu-cation, but we want them within the confines of our institution. Toreconcile the paradoxes, all we need to do is break out of an ac-cepted systemic vision of education: To teach and to learn doesnot need to create two different experiential camps- by taking onthe roles of teachers we stand to discover new vicissitudes of lear-ning.

Once upon a time, in a fever to gain a proper understanding oftranssystemia, I found an article by Prof. Jukier entitled “WhereLaw and Pedagogy Meet in the Transsystemic Contracts Class-room.” It was a revelation. I am filled with a particular McGillianpride whenever I reread it, specifically the passage:

The goals of legal education under the transsystemic programmehave expanded. No longer is it seen as adequate to teach, no mat-ter how well, distinct systems of llegal thought in separate silos.The goal now is to create minds so agile and creative that they can

think open-mindedly within alternative systems of thought, nimblymoving across and, as need be, transcending the boundaries ofthese systems. p. 795.

Of course, the systems referred to above concern juridical tradi-tions not just pedagogy as pedagogy in and of its self. If we expandthe definition of ‘systems’ beyond the substance of what we learnand into the greater modus operandi we employ in studying it,isn’t there something deliciously transsystemic about student lea-dership and collaboration in seminar development? Does the ex-periment not promise a multiplicity of perspectives andapproaches that draw on the great diversity of our students’ aca-demic and cultural backgrounds? Does our ardour not reveal asense of pedagogical innovation sprouting from the ground up?

I hope the faculty notices that our agility and creativity necessaryto advocate for student leadership in seminar development arebeautiful monsters of their own making. I want to applaud thelevel of consultation McGill has afforded us and their respect forour vocalization of curricular concerns. We want to break out ofthe dichotomy between learning and teaching and morph the twointo a gallant centaur. We implore the Faculty to trust us and guideus in this course to academic maturity. We invite the challenge ofthis responsibility. After all, what legal professional would everdeny that her/his role is anything but that of an eternal studentand teacher of law?

Avocats | Agents de brevets et de marques de commerceHeenan Blaikie S.E.N.C.R.L., SRL

heenanblaikie.com

Heenan Blaikie

À la fine pointe

de la créativité

8 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

Avis à toutes/tous les adeptes de diversitélinguistique!

Are francophones in British-Columbia entit-led to present evidence in French in thecontext of civil proceedings? Should know-ledge of both official languages be a requi-rement for all judges sitting on the benchat the Supreme Court of Canada? To whatextent should First Nations have access topublicly-funded education in their nativelanguages? How can Québec reconcile theobjective of protecting the French lan-guage with that of fostering the develop-ment of a multicultural and multilingualsociety (or must it do so)? If you have pon-dered these types of questions and areeager to further your knowledge of the re-levant case law, we are convinced youwould enjoy this student-lead seminar!

Dans le cadre de ce séminaire (et en plusdes questions mentionnées ci-dessus), lesétudiants aborderont diverses probléma-tiques, dont notamment l’accès aux ser-vices publics dans l’une ou l’autre des

langues officielles, les remèdes disponiblesen cas de violation d’un droit linguistiqueainsi que le bilinguisme législatif, entre au-tres.

À cet objectif académique se rajoute unobjectif de promotion : ensemble, les par-ticipants devront entreprendre un projetde sensibilisation à l’égard d’un enjeu d’ac-tualité affectant une ou plusieurs des com-munautés de langue officielle en situationminoritaire au Canada. Des projets poten-tiels incluraient : la soumission d’un mé-moire portant sur une réforme législative(fédérale ou provinciale) affectant ces com-munautés, comparution devant un comitéparlementaire, organisation d’un colloquepour le congrès de l’Association franco-phone pour le savoir (Acfas) ou publicationd’un article dans une revue juridique.

Ayant constaté qu’aucun cours offert à laFaculté de droit de McGill ne traite defaçon approfondie de la situation des com-munautés de langue officielle en situationminoritaire au Canada, l’idée de proposer

ce séminaire nous est venue.

Ce séminaire permettrait à la faculté deréaffirmer son engagement quant au bilin-guisme, tout en permettant aux partici-pants de débattre d’enjeux d’actualité enmatière linguistique et de produire un tra-vail qui reflètera leur passion pour cethème fascinant. De plus, Professeur Ro-bert Leckey a gracieusement accepté dejouer le rôle de conseiller académique au-près des étudiants qui s’inscriront. Curieux,intéressés, passionnés…tout le monde estle bienvenu!

We heartily encourage you to write toLianne Barski (lianne.barski@mcgill.ca) inorder to signal your interest for our stu-dent-lead seminar proposition. Any and allsupport would be greatly appreciated.

Sincèrement,

Au nom des membres du comité Droits lin-guistiques McGill – Linguistic Rights McGill

LES DROITS LINGUISTIQUES AU CANADA PROPOSITION DE SÉMINAIRE POUR L’AN-NÉE ACADÉMIQUE 2013-2014 – 2 CRÉDITS

PIERRELERMUSIEAUX

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STEPHANIEHEWSON &

LEAH GARDNERFIRST-YEAR STUDENTS WEIGH IN ON

STUDENT-LED SEMINARS

We are 1L students and we support Student-Led Seminars (SLS).We believe that they are a valuable part of the McGill course offe-rings and fill important gaps in our curriculum.

The student-led seminars proposed for next year include AboriginalLaw, Restorative Justice, Sexual Assault and Critical Race Theory.These courses provide an “outsider” perspective on the law that isoften overlooked in our core classes [1]. They challenge the neutra-lity of the law and allow opportunities for critical thinking that arecrucial to educating the kinds of lawyers and scholars that McGillwants to train.

Given the value of student-led seminars and the gaps they fill inour curriculum, we are concerned with the fact that students canonly take or organize one SLS for credit during their law degree. Wehope that there will be a diversity of seminars offered next year.

As we continue our legal education at McGill, we hope to see moreof these kinds of valuable learning experiences, not fewer of them.

1. Term borrowed from “Counting Outsiders: A Critical Explorationof Outsider Course Enrollment in Canadian Legal Education” (2007)Osgoode Hall Law Journal, 45(4), 667-732.

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QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 9

PAULHOLDEN

INTERNET LAW : FIELD TRIPS TO CYBERSPACE INCLUDED

Vous rappelez-vous de1435 C.c.Q.? C'est l'articlequi parle des clauses ex-ternes dans les contrats.Mais qu'est-ce qu'uneclause externe dans uncontrat qui vous est trans-mis à partir du Web? Est-ce qu'un lien vers uneclause externe suffit à sa-tisfaire la condition d'être“...expressément portée àla connaissance duconsommateur...”? Etqu'est-ce qu'un lien? Cesont des questions exis-tentielles que la Cour su-

prême a dû considérer dans l'arrêt Dell c. Union desconsommateurs. Et à mon avis, ils n'ont absolument pas comprisce qu'est un lien, mais ça c'est une autre histoire.

If contract law is not your bag, there are plenty more existentialquestions awaiting your consideration where the law collideswith cyberspace. Questions that jurists everywhere are strugglingwith. The consequences of getting it wrong could have a seriousnegative impact on online commerce or online speech. In 1996,when Internet access first started to become available outsidemilitary and educational institutions, the US Congress enactedthe Communications Decency Act. Cyberspace was a terrifyingplace back then and parents wouldn't let their teenage childrenonline without constant supervision. The purpose of the Act wasto eliminate all indecent content from cyberspace. The troublewas, nobody knew what “indecent” meant, and there was a realrisk that one person's “indecent” was a another person's “poli-tics” and that this could go very wrong very fast (Incidentally, atthe time, President Clinton's sex life was the focus of all Republi-can politics.) Fortunately, the US Supreme Court understood theproblem and struck down the Act.

L'été dernier, dans A.B. c. Bragg Communications, la Cour su-prême a considéré la question de l'anonymat dans un procès dediffamation. A.B., une adolescente qui a été victime d'harcèle-ment sur Facebook, voulait intenter un procès en diffamation,mais voulait rester anonyme devant la cour. A.B. habite dans unepetite communauté en Nouvelle-Écosse, et ses parents crai-gnaient une nouvelle vague d'harcèlement si son nom était sou-mis devant la cour. La cour devait ainsi considérer les craintesparticulières d'une adolescente, et en même temps elle devaitrespecter les principes de droit commun sur la diffamation et la

liberté d'expression. Parmi les intervenants, il y avait d'un côté laB.C. Civil Liberties Association, et l'Association canadienne des li-bertés civiles de l'autre. Ces questions ne sont pas faciles.

Is WordPress a private publishing platform, analogous to a news-paper? If your blog contains subject matter offensive to the ow-ners of this online “press”, does the owner have the right to takedown the post or delete your blog entirely? What's the meaningof “public space” in cyberspace and if we rely on private publi-shing platforms to express ourselves online, what's our recoursewhen our platform is shut down?

This is why a number of 2Ls have submitted a proposal to the fa-culty to offer a student-led seminar entitled “The Law & Cybers-pace”. Wherever the events of daily life unfold, the law inevitablycomes into play. As more of life happens online, understandinghow the law will apply online becomes increasingly important.We'll be taking a broad look at law and cyberspace, looking forthe analogies that apply most appropriately in cyberspace. Wewill take conventional and well-understood problems of real lawin the real world, and try to figure out how they can be solved incyberspace.

The seminar will include typical in-class discussions, presenta-tions, and short essays. Besides the subject, one novel thingabout this course will be participation. The course will include ananonymous online forum for discussions outside of class. Stu-dents' identities will be unknown to each other and the world.This unusual foray into cyberspace will help us explore the some-times controversial ideas of identity and anonymity as well astheir limits.

Topics covered in the course will include: the line between onlinecivil disobedience and criminal activity or acts of war, how to pro-tect online platforms for free speech when those platforms areprivately owned, and how to protect privacy rights in cyberspacewhere the potential invasions of privacy are more numerous thanever before and the reasonable expectation of privacy is not easyto define. We'll be talking about contracts and what it means toconsent in online transactions as well as cyberspace analogies intort law, for example defamation and trespass to chattels.

What now? La faculté a reçu des soumissions de six groupes pouroffrir des student-led seminars l'an prochain. Les étudiants ontproposé plusieurs très bonnes idées, et c'est dommage que la po-litique de la faculté ne permette d'en offrir qu'un seul par année.On attend toujours la réponse de la Vice-Doyenne. McGill has areputation for being at the forefront of legal education in Canada.Here's hoping it will continue the trend in its offering of student-led seminars.

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10 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

ERINMOORES WHY THIS AGAIN?

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This is the situation, a bit oversimplified.Students in our faculty want to initiateand create courses, called student-initia-ted seminars, on topics that interestthem. These students are proposing waysof both filling curricular gaps and explo-ring certain topics in-depth in a student-directed, collaborative manner. Andthey’re meeting some resistance from thefaculty.

It’s nothing new in the world, and nothingnew to me personally. I’m a former stu-dent of the University of Waterloo’s Ba-chelor of Independent Studiesprogramme, the only undergraduate pro-gramme in Canada whose students walkin the door on day one with virtually com-plete control over what they learn andhow they learn it; where, if a studentchooses, every single “course” s/he pur-sues can be self-directed with guidancefrom faculty supervisors. No exams. Noassignments - except for the ones you as-sign yourself. No marks.

The fact that it’s the only undergraduateprogramme of its kind shows in and of it-self just how much resistance there is inour culture to student-directed education.Moreover, I’ve encountered a lot of resis-tance from people to this concept of anindependent studies program - everythingfrom “Sounds like a joke” to “How do youknow what you need to learn?” to one ofthe most common responses from peoplewho had never had the opportunity to beeducated in this way, “I could never dothat.”

At McGill, the resistance to self-directededucation comes in various forms. Oneeasy example is that first-year studentshave virtually no choice of courses. Ano-ther is the limit on the number of student-

led seminars a student can take to one intheir entire degree - the limit is one. Wordon the street is that the faculty will onlyaccept one student-led seminar next yearfrom several different proposals on topicslike restorative justice and sexual assaultlaw.

I have no doubt there are financial andadministrative constraints that contributeto this resistance. And the Barreau duQuébec is not shy about telling lawschools what courses their students musttake in order to admitted to the bar. Thereare certainly factors that are out of the fa-culty’s control. But I also notice somethingmore, the same thing I’ve noticed allalong, since I was a student at Waterlooand since I started studying educationaltheory and alternative education: likemost educational institutions, the fa-culty's attitude towards student-directededucation isn’t one of encouragement orpride. It’s tolerance.

I’ve often wondered why this is so. Inother realms, student-initiated activity isvalued, both at McGill and at educationalinstitutions in general. You’ll find theschool more or less boasting about thenumber of student clubs and organiza-tions that exist on campus and using themas a selling point for the “campus life”facet of their promotions. Faculties anduniversities make no secret of beingproud of their students for all this. Moreo-ver, within university curricula, many un-dergraduate students are encouraged oreven required to complete some sort ofself-directed study to complete their de-gree. At our faculty, the term paper is thebest example. It’s really a way for a stu-dent to explore, in a self-directed way, aspecific interest in an area of law that isnot covered in-depth in their traditional

courses. And of course, at the graduatelevel, self-directed study is actually thenorm.

And yet, when it comes to students wan-ting to design their own courses and ef-fectuate them in our undergraduateprogram, we resist it. We shouldn’t.Others make the important point that stu-dent-initiated seminars can offer studentsa way to fill gaps in the curriculum. But Iwould go further to say that the generalidea of having student-initiated seminarsoffers us much more than this.

I know this because my undergraduatedegree wasn’t a joke, and it wasn’t some-thing that most students could never do.It was an environment of collaboration,not competition; of passion, not disillu-sionment; of exploring, not following; ofcreativity, not memorization; of unlear-ning as well as learning. When a student isresponsible for not just the outcome oftheir learning but the process by whichthey learn it, the overall learning in-creases exponentially. What emergedover and over again for me was that whenI had responsibility for both aspects, itwas the process - of creating the course,of tweaking the methods of learning andevaluation, of reasoning my choice of ap-proach and resources - rather than theoutcome that allowed me the most andbest opportunity to develop my intellect,creative thinking and ability to synthesizecomplex information.

This is what makes the resistance to stu-dent-initiated seminars so perplexing.What faculty wouldn’t want to create aspace like that for its students through of-fering a significant number of options forself-directed and student-initiated study?Why would a faculty tolerate student-ini-

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 11

tiated courses rather than take pride inthem, rather than actively encouragethem by offering students credit for un-dertaking this extra challenge? What is itthat would happen if we shifted ourperspective to one that welcomes creati-vity and initiative of students within thecurriculum framework as well as outsideof it? The only way that the negative ef-fects of student-initiated seminars couldoutweigh the positive effects is if the fa-culty keeps under-appreciating themand refusing to recognize their distinctpower as a dynamic and exciting tool foracademic and personal development - atool that is at least as valuable as anyother.

For all the ‘boldness’ in transysstemia,the faculty is otherwise as traditional as

any other law school in North America inthat it decides how its undergraduatestudents learn and how they learn it.You might think my Independent Studiesexperience was an extreme form of edu-cation, but it has allowed me to see thetraditional pedagogical approach embo-died by our law faculty and by most edu-cational institutions in Canada as onethat is also extreme - it’s just at theother end of the spectrum. What if wewere to find somewhere to meet in themiddle, a place where the knowledgeand expertise of the faculty in shapingsome of our learning was respected, butwhere the tool of student-initiated studywas appreciated as complementary, asoffering something that standard facultycourses can’t?

What might happen is the same thingthat happened to me when I initiated myown courses at Waterloo, and what Isaw happen to other students. We weredisoriented for a moment, because atfirst it seemed like having the bounda-ries taken away meant being in a no-man’s land with nothing to hang on to.But it didn’t. All it meant was that ins-tead of doings things the way they’d al-ways been done, we’d now givenourselves the freedom to do everythingelse.

12 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

When I've wandered across the line between idle musing andpointless pontification in the earshot of my mother, she will sayto me “oi Meena, sadey layee kala akhar bhains barabar”. Shewon't tell me that I've wandered off into the realm of the inex-plicable, but rather that she couldn't possibly understand whatI'm saying due presumably to her humble (or sarcastic) as-sumption of her own limitations. “Kala akhar bhains barabar”is a punjabi idiom that translates (more or less) as "a black let-ter looks the same as a black buffalo [to the one who doesn'tknow the difference]". It's a not entirely politically correct refe-rence to illiteracy, and more generally, to lack of education.

At some level I've taken “kala akhar bhains barabar” to heart:I've come to think of the process of educating as starting withdiscerning sign from signified, between the letter on the pageand its representation in the world. As we progress in our edu-cation our ability to discern is sharpened. The world becomesincreasingly about the haze of grey between contrasts. As ju-rists, I think we take that art of subtle dissection very seriously,particularly when attempting to cleave a decision to distinguishfrom it or cling to it. Those of us with the dubious privilege ofappearing before judges get the added delight of trying toargue that we’ve made the distinction correctly and consis-tently with the guiding principle of the day.

One of the early distinctions that I can recall learning about inthe first year of legal education is the core/penumbra divide.I’ve struggled with this in the same fashion with many of theideas I learned in my time at the law faculty: the core/penum-bra concept inverted and disturbed my own thinking on margi-nality that I had brought with me to my further education.Politically, one can understand marginalization in a number ofways. Law’s way of looking at the penumbra mirrors the un-derstanding of marginalized individuals as those who have not(yet) gained entry to the privileges of the core; who have notyet settled and become firm and clear.

There is no “settling” if you think from the position of the lumi-nal. The concept of easy, understandable, collectively unders-tood truths is exactly what subversives stand to subvert; thesettled understanding of Canadian multiculturalism and raciali-zed people, for example, is something that we would not beable to leave intact if we are having a discussion about racism.On that level, the understanding that some legal concepts are

settled makes the world more understandable and workable,but also entrenches the settled ideas of our past.

When thinking about course selection, the requirements ofwhat is understood and normatively enforced to be key compo-nents of a standard legal education would understandably beat the forefront of curriculum planning. There is understood tobe a core set of courses and concepts that we need to engagewith if we are to be legally educated. I found (in my experienceat least) that McGill’s student-led seminars are a venue for sa-tisfactorily disrupting the core/margin division. Many of thecourses proposed and offered have either become standard ordeal with “black letter” law. At the same time, these courses,being on the margins of the curriculum and not formalized intostandard teacher-taught lectures, are in a position to changeour expectations about our learning experience.

I had the opportunity to help organize the first sexual assaultlaw seminar at McGill. Being on the “other side” of curriculumplanning, even for a brief moment, changed the way that Ithought about my education. In our particular iteration of thecourse, we engaged with social and critical theory and thought,legal history, and took that with us to our “black letter” analy-sis. Being informed and mindful of the cesspool we were wa-ding in was rather like walking through mud in boots asopposed to sock-footed. There was some insulation from thesense that we were only to examine things dispassionately, andat the same time, a sense of sure-footedness in knowing that(as far as I could tell) our teacher-student-colleagues were lear-ning the core concepts.

I am not saying that we can’t have valuable experiences in tra-ditional classrooms. Rather, I hope to have emphasized thatthere is something valuable and unique in the experience ofparticipating in a student-initiated seminar. Personally, it wasthe turning point in my legal education, and it probably contri-buted to my not dropping out and not (yet) leaving the legalprofession. My experience taught me that we can learn tothink about law differently (and I don’t think I’m alone, as evi-denced by a number of students, former and current writing inthis issue of the Quid).

MEENA K.GUPTA BLACK LETTER BEDLAM

B C L / L L B 2 0 1 1

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GARRETTZEHR

ON SEMINARS AND STUDENT INPUT

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At the LSA AGM in October we passed a resolution ad-vocating for a substantial role for students in decisionsabout course offerings and course content. The resolu-tion recognized that it is students who are among themost affected by these decisions and who are in a verygood position to know the courses that will be mostuseful for their future careers and personal develop-ment.

The resolution called on the Curriculum Com-mittee LSA reps to consult students and develop waysfor students to have a substantial role in both courseofferings and the content of the courses themselves.Last month the Curriculum reps held a townhall aboutthe subject. In addition to providing better understan-ding of some of the mystery over how these decisionsare made, there were some great ideas about studentinput that came from the discussion. I look forward tohaving these ideas conveyed to the LSA, the Curricu-lum Committee, and Faculty Council and to see conti-nued consultation and advocacy on these issues.

A process that in a limited way already ad-dresses some of the issues around student input is thestudent-initiated seminar. Indeed the AGM resolutionaffirmed the important role of the seminar in McGill’scurriculum and called on the LSA to advocate that stu-dents be allowed to take more than one seminar forcredit (as is currently the case) and that seminars thatare held repeatedly, such as Critical Race Theory andSexual Assault Law, should be given the necessary fa-culty resources to become regular courses.

I see multiple benefits of the seminar, many of whichare being put forth by others in the Quid pages thisweek. I would like to address some of the reasons forresistance to the seminar that I’ve heard over the pastcouple of months.

Some people have suggested the seminars shouldserve only a pedagogical role that allows students or-

ganizers the opportunity to develop skills such as curri-cular development and teaching. While there is valueto these experiences, the vast majority of people I’vespoken to who are interested in organizing or takingthese seminars are doing so because of gaps they seein the curriculum. If this is indeed the purpose, thenthere is no need to limit the number of seminars a stu-dent can take over the course of his/her degree (as weare allowed to write multiple term papers), or to notapprove multiple seminars each semester.

Another concern has been about academic ri-gour. From my understanding, other pass/fail credits,such as journals, clerkships or clinics, have qualitycontrol measures in place that are similar to the semi-nar. My anecdotal evidence also suggests that studentsleave these seminars learning more than they takeaway from many other courses.

A final concern I have heard is about a lack offaculty resources. This claim I also find unconvincing.Professors who agree to supervise the seminars do sowithout receiving any kind of workload reduction.While this is problematic and concerning and shouldbe rectified (as should other ways that work is valuedin the Faculty such as $12/hour wages or asking stu-dents to pay tuition for credits when acting as TLs orGAs), the argument cannot then at the same time bemade that the seminars are taking up significanthuman or financial resources.

I look forward to the continued discussionabout the role of the student-initiated seminar atMcGill. I hope the seminar can continue to play a va-luable role in our broader calls for more significantinput from the student body on course offerings andcourse content.

14 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

MANPREETDHALIWAL

AN EXCERPT FROM “KALEIDOSCOPES OF KNOWLEDGE: A LAW STUDENT’S REFLECTIONS

ON PROCESSES OF INJUSTICE AND (RE)COLO-NIZATION PRODUCED BY LEGAL EDUCATION”

Student-Led, Student-Initiated CriticalRace Theory (CRT) Seminar

The universities were places for self-per-fection, places for the highest educationin life. Everyone taught everyone else. Allwere teachers, all were students. Thesages listened more than they talked; andwhen they talked it was to ask questionsthat would engage endless generations inprofound and perpetual discovery.

The universities and the academies werealso places where people sat and medita-ted and absorbed knowledge from the si-lence. Research was a permanent activity,and all were researchers and appliers ofthe fruits of research. The purpose was todiscover the hidden unified law of allthings, to deepen the spirit, to make moreprofound the sensitivities of the individualto the universe, and to become morecreative.

- Ben Okri, Astonishing the Gods, 1995

A cold shiver runs from my right collar-bone down my spine as I read this. This iswhat I had wanted when I came to lawschool, this is what I had been looking for.During my three and a half years atMcGill, I have witnessed a serious en-croachment on academic options. Empha-sis of what’s important and what’s not hasshifted, evidenced by the decline of femi-nist law offerings, absence of CRT offe-rings and limited Aboriginal law offerings.What is taught and what isn’t indicateswhat the Faculty deems important andwhat students ought to think is important.Last year, Business Associations became amandatory course. Only 90 minutes of thecore curriculum over three and a halfyears are dedicated to “issues” such ascritical race theory and access to justice,

however. Two Criminal Law classes at bestwill be devoted to sexual assault law andlittle, if any, time will be devoted to disa-bility law. None of these “issues” havebeen deemed worthy of constituting man-datory “subjects,” though some are occa-sionally offered as electives or student-ledseminars.

In my second year at McGill, I collabora-ted with three other students to proposea student-led, student-initiated seminar tothe Dean. Recognizing gaps in the curricu-lum and the need to incorporate a morecritical dialogue about structural racism inour work and classrooms, as well as theneed to intervene and actively change theculture of our Faculty, we proposed a Cri-tical Race Theory course (CRT). Our pro-posal was accepted and we spent a yearorganizing guest speakers, recruiting stu-dents, developing a reading list andagreeing upon methods of evaluation. Allparticipants in the seminar acted as “stu-dent-teachers and teacher-students” tocreate dialogue and collectively share res-ponsibility to achieve the course goals.Each class was be led by a student-facilita-tor except when members of the judiciary,professors or community organizers guestlectured. Students were evaluated on thebases of four criteria, each of which wasgiven equal weight and was pass or fail: aclass facilitation/presentation, generalparticipation, a creative response and re-search paper.

One woman came to the class with thehope of finding a space to exhale. Whyam I here [in the CRT class]? Part of myreason for co-organizing this class was myneed for a space where people would un-derstand or want to understand me, theother part was the need to develop a vo-

cabulary - a linguistic arsenal - that wouldallow me to articulate these thoughts inacademic spaces...I’m looking for peoplewith whom I can envision a better, moreequal and just future. I have felt voicelessand my lived experiences have been deva-lued. I want to bring more of who I am tothis space (3L). The CRT class held spacefor dialogue and group learning but mostimportantly, it valued participants’ expe-riences. Feminist pedagogy has always re-cognized the importance of experience inthe classroom. Experience changes thecenter of knowledges produced and avai-lable to the classroom. The politicizationof students’ experiences serves to ‘autho-rize’ marginal experiences and createsspace for multiple, dissenting voices in theclassroom. The authorization of expe-rience is thus crucial for empower-ment(1).

In this class, we believed in employing andseeing through a variety of frameworks ofoperation. We worked hard not to imposeour vision of the norm by having differentstudent facilitators, each of whom taught,facilitated and fostered dialogue diffe-rently. We explicitly laid out ground rulesfor communication. We named inequali-ties in the classroom, moments when wefelt we could not share and the realities ofsocial interaction. Students came in withthe desire to learn together and from oneanother; new knowledges were created.Students facilitated learning processes ra-ther than teaching one another. The fearof sharing something and sounding “stu-pid” or “irrelevant” in the eyes of the pro-fessor did not exist. No one claimed tohave greater authority or knowledge thananyone else even though some had morefamiliarity with the subject matter than

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others. Students transcended the impo-sed consciousness of legal culture; wefound a space in which we could exit theself-enclosed and self-perpetuating uncri-tical immersion of the pedagogical statusquo (2).

We are looking at section 9 of the Chartertoday. The student facilitator wants us toexplore spaces and moments where racialprofiling occurs. Before analysing the legalarticles, we speak from our own expe-riences, and it is powerful. I break the iceby telling a story about my 19-year-oldcousin. He sometimes pops his hood upwhen he drives by the cops because heknows they will stop him. He did it lastsummer; as anticipated, they stoppedhim. They searched his entire car. Heknew they would. “It’s only Friday night,”he told them, “And I don’t have school tilMonday, so take your time.”

Another student shares a story. Someyears back, her black 7-year-old brothercarried a tv home from a garage sale. Hewas stopped by the police because theythought he had robbed a house. Anotherstudent tells us that her mother gave herand her brother Jewish names so thatthey wouldn’t automatically be excludedwhen applying for jobs; that they would atleast be able to reach the interview pro-cess. The stories keep coming. Twowomen echo keeping their reusable bagsfar away from their items when shoppingin fear of being stopped arbitrarily, be-cause they know they are more heavilysurveyed. The external structures causean internal detainment. This internalizeddetention as a result of external struc-tures and institutions is psychological; in-tangible to others, it is a discursive loop.

When the inner histories and experiencesof students are central, critical reflectionof the everyday experience can occur anddaily relations of domination can be unco-vered (3). By opening space for voices tra-ditionally suppressed in the legalclassroom, the CRT class resisted repro-duction of the status quo. Access to andspace for multiple experiences offered dif-

ferent ways of understanding the issue athand and because it emphasised learningthrough the senses. By exposing studentsto unfamiliar problems and situation, theclass made space to build new competen-cies and to understand that s. 9 of theCharter only makes sense from a particu-lar viewpoint. Such realizations enablesstudents to operation both within thatlegal framework and then shift out of itfor the purposes of critique and analysis,as well as personal growth and emotionaldevelopment (4).

The student then asked how we protectourselves in those spaces and moments ofracial profiling. One student responded,“We dress nicely”: self-presentation as aform of protection. We are conscious ofhaving marked bodies but cannot hide it.One woman tells us about what black mo-thers have to teach their children aboutinteracting with the cops: it’s not “whatare your rights” but “will you come out ofthis interaction alive.” Another womantells us about being hassled by the copswhen she and four black family memberswere waiting on the sidewalk while theircousin used the restroom in a restaurant.The stories demonstrated how brown bo-dies in the room were not allowed intothe national body because they wereconstantly stopped and asked. The Char-ter could perhaps protect them in some ofthe situations, but it could not take awaythe internal detainment, processes and in-justice that result from the persistence ofthe external. The stories raised a questionin the hearts and minds of all students inthe room – white students and those ofcolour: what does equal citizenship looklike?

In our discussions and exploration of legalconcepts, we created a counter-hegemo-nic pedagogy to combat attitudinal, plura-listic appropriations of race anddifference. This involved a dynamic ba-lance between the analysis of experienceas lived culture and the reiteration of ex-perience as textual and historical repre-sentation. In this class, we saw thelimitations of the law while also unders-

tanding in what spaces it could operate toprotect racialized individuals. We acknow-ledged where students came from, thechallenges they faced and the positivityflowing from their lives. We found spaceto exhale. We gained an intellectual, sen-sory and shared understanding of inequa-lity. In sharing our stories, we beganremembering ourselves and reorientingourselves from the disorientation.

Multiple consciousness as a jurispruden-tial method requires more thanconsciousness-shifting, however, it re-quires searching for a pathway to a justworld (5). To find the pathway to a justworld, there must be space and safety forthe imagination. Imagination requiresself-reflexivity: the ability and space to ob-serve oneself within a space and to ima-gine acting differently within that space.Self-reflexivity offers a “mirror which wecan penetrate to modify our image,” boththe image that we carry of ourselves andalso the images we have constructed ofthe world (6). This new spatial order al-lows for the materialization of a thirdspace – one of possibility, one that ex-tends a multiplicity of practical actions ra-ther than one rational path.

(1) Chandra Mohanty, Feminism withoutBorders: Decolonizing Theory, PracticingSolidarity (Durham: Duke University Press,2003) at 202.

(2) See Charles Paine, “Relativism, RadicalPedagogy and the Ideology of Paralysis”(1989) 50 College English 6 at 558. .

(3) Sherene Razack, Looking White Peo-ple in the Eye: Gender, Race, and Culturein Courtrooms and Classrooms (Toronto:University of Toronto Press, 1998) at 42-3.

(4) See Mari Matsuda, “When the FirstQuail Calls: Multiple Consciousness as Ju-risprudential Method” (1989) 11:7 Wo-men’s Rights Law Reporter at 10.

(5) Ibid.

(6) Augusto Boal, Rainbow of Desires,translated by Adrian Jackson (London:Routledge, 1995) at at 23, 29.

Please join the CRT Student Initiated Seminar for a Poster-Presentation and discussion analyzing a variety of legal issues from a critical race

perspective. The Presentation will be followed by a reception in room 310.

Where: New Chancellor Day Hall, Room 312 When: April 10th from 11:30 14:30 am

McGill University - Student Initiated Seminar

CRITICAL RACE THEORY

16 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 17

McGill University - Faculty of Law

(G) Graduate courses April 17 - 30, 2013 March 15, 2013

Wednesday Contractual OBS (Jukier, Dedek) Common Law Property (Lametti)April 17 ST 16 European Union Law II (Semmelmann) Droit international public (Atak)

Environment & the Law (Opalka)

Thursday Jurisprudence (Fox-Decent) Complex Legal Tranactions (Hedaraly)April 18 Trial Advocacy (Kalichman)

Friday Propriété intellectuelle (Moyse) Bankruptcy (Atlas)April 19

Monday Extra-Contractual Obs/Torts (Saumier, VanPraagh) JICP (Glenn) April 22 Ex/délits (Khoury) Droit de la famille (Tremblay)

Government Control of Business (Semmelmann)Tuesday Droit pénal (Nadon) Restitution (Rabinovitch)April 23 The Adminstrative Process (Kong)(Term essays due)

Wednesday Preuve civile (Ferland) Civil Law Property (Godin, Moyse)April 24 Successions (Piccini Roy) Droit de biens (Emerich)

Thursday Employment Law (Goloff) Common Law Property ( Foster)April 25

Friday Constitutional Law (Kong, Narain) Advanced Civil Law Obligations (Khoury)April 26 Law of Space Applications GR (Jakhu) Droit international privé (Saumier)

Monday Droit des sûretés (Emerich) Advanced Common Law Obligations (Lametti)April 29 Evidence (Criminal Matters) (Klein) Business Associations (Muniz-Fraticelli)

Tuesday International Law of Human Rights (Mégret) Judicial Review of Admin Action (Fox-Decent)April 30

FIRST YEAR TAKE-HOME EXAMINATIONS

UPPER YEAR TAKE-HOME EXAMINATIONS

Advanced Common Law Obligations (Adams), Advanced Criminal Law (Healy, Israel, Paquin), Business Associations (Muniz-Fraticelli),Droit des affaires (Barbeau), Droit judiciaire (Bachand), Evidence Civil Matters (Grossman), Extrajudicial Dispute Resolution (Bachand),Intl Business Law(Walsh) GR

Droit constitutionnel (Gelinas), Obligations contractuelles (Forray)

*Available as of April 17th 9am and must be submitted latest by April 30th at 5pm*

Subject to Change

Examination ScheduleWinter Term 2012-2013

DATE 9:30 14:30

http://www.mcgill.ca/law-studies/information/exams

18 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

SUGGESTED APPROACHESTO MCGILL LAW BILINGUALISM

COMITE DESLANGUES

OFFICIELLES

As many of you know, the Official Lan-guages Committee has been engaged inconsultations over the past year in view ofdrafting a new linguistic policy for the Fa-culty of Law. A linguistic policy, if it seemsthat one should govern issues of languages,can be, as we see it, a statement of princi-ple that describes our linguistic context andforms the basis of its evolution. Tel a éténotre point de départ, et le constat du dé-calage entre la politique linguistique en vi-gueur depuis 1992 et la situationlinguistique actuelle à la Faculté a jeté lesbases, il y a un peu plus d’un an, d’un projetde mise à jour du document.

Au cours des derniers mois, beaucoupd’étudiants ont partagé leurs impressionsdu bilinguisme à la Faculté. Le bilinguismeest sans aucun doute une des expériencesmarquantes que tous sont appelés à vivreen étudiant à cette faculté. C’est une créa-ture étrange qui est régie par des règles quine sont pas forcément apparentes.

Le 20 janvier 2013, le Comité des languesofficielles a organisé une réunion « TownHall », pour solliciter les commentaires desétudiants à l’égard du bilinguisme à la Fa-culté. Nous avons présenté aux participantsune liste des « Approches suggérées au bi-linguisme à la Faculté de droit de McGill »qui, selon nous, devrait former la based’une nouvelle politique. Nous sommestrès heureux d’avoir reçu des commentairespositifs et des suggestions relatives à ceprocessus de la part des étudiants lors decette réunion.

Plus récemment, le Comité a rencontré ànouveau le Doyen, pour réfléchir à la formeet à la mise en œuvre d’une nouvelle poli-tique linguistique. Nous espérons qu’unenouvelle politique sera l’objet de discus-sions (et, espérons le, d’un consensus) àune réunion du Conseil de la Faculté avantla fin de cette année scolaire. Les profes-seurs Evan Fox-Decent et René Provost ontaccepté de nous assister et de nous guiderdans ce processus et nous en sommes trèsreconnaissants. Mais comme d’habitude,

nous avons également besoin de votre ré-troaction!

In hope of stimulating more discussion, in-terventions, debate, and dialogue, we arethus very pleased to present to you our“Suggested Approaches to McGill Law Bilin-gualism”. These suggested approaches willinform the drafting of a new policy, and welook forward to your continued input in thisprocess.

Should you have any questions or com-ments on our “Suggested Approaches”please do not hesitate to contact us di-rectly.

***

1. Le comité recommande qu’une nouvellepolitique linguistique soit rédigée dans sonentièreté.

2. The Committee recommends that a newpreamble contain statements recognizing:

o that English is the primary language ofinstruction at McGill University,

o that the Faculty of Law has a long historyof teaching and scholarship in English andFrench,

o that the Faculty is located in Montreal,the largest francophone city in North Ame-rica, that is also home to many languagesand cultures,

o that the Faculty offers courses in a uniquebilingual environment,

o that the Faculty is the only educationalinstitution in Quebec that offers courses incivil law in English,

o that the comprehension of both Englishand French is an important element of theFaculty’s transsystemic program, and

o the equality of both linguistic communi-ties and of both the English and French lan-guages at the Faculty.

3. The Committee recommends that a newpolicy contain explicit statements affirming

that both English and French may equallybe used in all Faculty settings, and that theEnglish and French versions of all communi-cations made by the Faculty are equally au-thoritative.

4. Le comité recommande que les agentsde l’institution, terme défini de manière ap-propriée, soient encouragés, et non obligés,à répondre à un interlocuteur dans lalangue officielle choisie par celui-ci.

5. Le comité recommande qu’une nouvellepolitique linguistique requière que les dis-cours prononcés par les agents de l’institu-tion ainsi que les présentations ou lesséances d’information données par ceux-cisoient composées d’une proportion signi-ficative de français et d’anglais, sauf s’iln’est pas approprié de le faire compte tenude la nature de l’évènement.

6. The Committee recommends that a newpolicy specify that certain documents orcommunications products be publishedwith the complete text available in bothEnglish and French.

7. Le comité recommande qu’une nouvellepolitique linguistique spécifie que les étudi-ants soumettant des travaux écrits enfrançais peuvent bénéficier d’une limite demots supérieure que celle permise pour lestravaux écrits en anglais.

8. The Committee recommends that a newpolicy specify that examination questionsfor bilingual courses be set so that bothEnglish and French are used in significantproportions.

9. Le comité recommande que les coursbilingues soient offerts de façon à ce quel’enseignement soit dispensé en faisant unusage proportionnellement significatif dufrançais et de l’anglais.

10. The Committee recommends that allcompulsory courses, based on demand, beoffered in both official languages.

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 19

DROITS LINGUISTIQUES McGILL PRÉSENTELINGUISTIC RIGHTS McGILL PRESENTS

‘Bilingualism at the Supreme Court of Canada : Réflexions constitutionnelles, juridiques et législatives’INVITÉ SPÉCIAL // SPECIAL GUESTYvon Godin, député fédéral, Acadie-Bathurst (New Democratic Party)*other guests TBC*

Mercredi, le 20 mars 2013, de 11 h à 13 hMaxwell Cohen Moot Court, McGill University Faculty of Law

LETTER IN SUPPORT OF STUDENT-INITIATED SEMINARS

BLSAM

The Black Law Students Association ofMcGill (BSLAM) would like to express itssupport for Student Initiated Seminars(SISs). Students use SISs to highlight topicsand recognise gaps in the current McGilllaw curriculum. We believe that SISs areimportant and should be valued by the Fa-culty of Law. The University of British Co-lumbia currently offers a similar initiativecalled the Student Directed Seminars(SDS), which is indicative of how relevantthese initiatives are in law schools acrossCanada.

SISs provide a space for students to en-gage with the faculty about what they

need from their legal education. The stu-dent-initiated Critical Race Theory semi-nar demonstrates this point byhighlighting that race should be better ad-dressed in our courses and curriculummore broadly. The interest in the coursehas been overwhelmingly positive. Fur-thermore, during Black History Month, aninteractive board in the atrium asking stu-dents to think about ‘why I need race lite-racy’ further highlighted the importanceof critical race theory in the faculty's curri-culum.

For students of colour, marginalization isa fact of life in the greater Canadian politi-

cal social world as well as at McGill's lawfaculty. Initiatives such as the Critical RaceTheory SIS allow student input for pro-gressing forward, particularly in the areasof hiring and curriculum reform.

McGill's policy of promoting diversity andequity led to the creation of SISs and iscrucial for its continued existence. Wewould like to appreciate McGill Faculty ofLaw for its unwavering support for SISs. Itis thanks to this policy that we can conti-nue to provide students with an academicplatform to express their needs to the fa-culty.

20 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

Did I get your attention? Good. Read on toavoid such a fate.

On-campus interviews (OCIs) are a popularoption for students interested in New York,Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver summeropportunities. This summer and fall, em-ployers will be recruiting for summer 2014positions.

Not all employers in these jurisdictions par-ticipate in organized recruitment. Some fol-low their own recruitment timelines.However, you will find that many of the bigand medium-sized players participate, whe-ther they are firms or government organi-zations. It is worth noting that a fewemployers will be recruiting for outside ofthese cities (for example, the California of-fices of one American firm and all Ontariooffices of Legal Aid Ontario.)

OCI deadlines fall during the summer, so donot let them sneak up on you. Here is whatyou should do in the following weeks:

1) Check your eligibility for OCIs (US, To-ronto, Calgary, Vancouver)

You will need to be in your second-to-lastyear (or last year or semester) of the regu-lar B.C.L./LL.B. program next September.This means 3rd year of the 3.5 or 4 yearprogram OR 2nd year of the 3 year pro-gram.

Second-year students in the 3.5 or 4 yearprogram are not eligible for OCIs.

2) Learn more about the requirements andusual participants for each city

In order to determine if you’re interested inparticipating, visit the CDO website(www.mcgill.ca/cdo) in the “Organized re-cruitment” section (login required) andcheck the relevant tab for each city that in-

terests you. Dates and participants do notvary drastically from year-to-year.

We update our website as soon as OCIdates are finalized, in collaboration withother universities, relevant law societiesand service providers.

3) Join the relevant distribution list(s) onmyFuture

And just how will you know that the web-site has been updated with this year’sdates and participants? How will you learnabout deadlines, tips, links, lists, employerevents, related CDO events (CV Clinics,Mock interviews), updates and more? Byjoining the relevant distribution list on my-Future, of course:

• Events/CDOWorkshops/Panels/Events/“US OCI Distri-bution List”

• Events/CDOWorkshops/Panels/Events/“Van/Cal OCIDistribution List”

• Events/CDOWorkshops/Panels/Events/“Toronto OCIDistribution List”

Sign up now! No need to wait until you re-ceive your grades. Mme Jobs, our belovedbimonthly newsletter, does not flood allstudents with information and remindersabout specific recruitment processes – thatis why you must sign up for your OCI pro-cess of choice. (Please refer to the title ofthis article again!)

4) Plan ahead

We can’t stress this enough: OCIs will re-quire you to research employers, write do-cuments, and submit applications duringsummer.

In the case of US OCIs, you will actuallyhave to attend interviews during the sum-mer, too! So you should plan on being inMontreal starting in mid-August. The OCIswill be held on either August 21st or 22ndand Interview Prep Day will take place theweek before. (Yes, this may interfere withyour summer plans… time to prioritize!)

• For students who will be in the GTA thissummer, we will send info to the Torontodistribution list about all of the differentevents at firms.

• Also, we have a networking and interviewpreparation workshop planned on March20th with recruiters from New York, inclu-ding 3 OCI participants and 1 resume col-lection participant. Eligible studentsinterested in applying to these firms willneed to demonstrate their sincere interestshould they get an interview, so we stron-gly suggest they participate in this event asevidence!

• As of January 2015, candidates will needto have completed 50 hours of Pro Bonowork between the beginning of their lawstudies and the time they apply to the NewYork Bar. This includes activities such aslegal clinics and clerkships. Keep this inmind if you're graduating in December2014 and think you would like to take theNew York Bar.

5) Be patient

Relevant information will be added to theCDO website and sent to the distributionlists as soon as it becomes available.

We look forward to working with youthroughout these processes should youhop in. If not, we want to remind you thatwe are also available if you want to discusscareer options that fall outside the OCI pro-cess.

MARYSECHOUINARD

SO YOU MISSED THE DEADLINE TOAPPLY FOR OCIS

C D O

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 21

MBLA MBLA CARESA 2012/2013 INITIATIVE

HOWARDCOHEN

THANK YOU TO THE DEAN’S DISCRETIONARY FUND

L a w I I

The McGill Business Law Association (MBLA) is one of the Faculty of Law’s largest student-run clubs. It provides a productiveand effective forum for McGill law students and law firms to get acquainted. Through hosting conferences at Montreal’s leadinglaw firms and at the faculty, students can learn about topical business law issues and the practice of corporate law from expertsin the field as well as develop a professional network.

This year, we wanted to expand the MBLA’s mission and use this platform to give something back to the community. To thisend, we founded MBLA Cares. Through hosting a Movie Night, Valentine's Day Cupcake Sale, and various law firm sponsoredevents, the MBLA raised just under $2,000 for numerous charities during the 2012/2013 academic year. Proceeds from our fun-draisers benefit the Alexandra Dodger Fund, the Montreal Children’s Hospital Foundation, Dans la Rue, and the Segal CancerCenter of the Jewish General Hospital.

We thank all of you for your generosity. We hope our MBLA Cares initiative, in some small way, has made a difference and thatthis mission will be continued in future years, making it part of a tradition of giving.

Your MBLA team

Howard Cohen, Wayne Burke, Tanya Nakhoul, David Plotkin, Erica Sanders & Kadriye Merve Bilgic

Over the holiday break, I represented our Faculty, McGill and Canada at the World University Public Speaking and DebateChampionships in Berlin, Germany. I would sincerely like to thank the Dean’s Discretionary Fund for their financial support.

At this event, seasoned debaters and public speakers from universities around the world congregated for several intense daysof competition. It was a multi-cultural and eye-opening experience as the tournament hosted 1,400 participants from 82 coun-tries who shared a passion for constructive dialogue. All topics were fair game, with issues ranging from law to international af-fairs to finance.

Most of our time was devoted to the competition, but who could resist the temptation of touring a European city? I visited theBrandenburg Gate, Checkpoint Charlie and the Holocaust Museum. And who could forget the German pretzels, beer and sau-sages! But the real meat was in those debate rooms, where speakers clashed about the European debt crisis, white collarcrime, intellectual property rights and more.

After months of intense preparation, I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to represent our Faculty, McGill and Canadain the World Public Speaking Finals. Thank you, Dean’s Discretionary Fund, for giving me this opportunity.

22 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

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24 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

MATHIEULETENDRE

VERBA DOCENT, EXEMPLA TRAHUNT: INTRODUCING THE ALUMNI

MENTORSHIP PROGRAM

L a w I I I

Good news, everyone! While you were enjoying last summer inexotic locations, the beautiful view from the NCDH 4th floor officesinspired a wonderful idea to the hardworking folks at SAO andCDO. Why not offer a mentorship program tailor-made for law stu-dents? Several months have passed and the idea has now blosso-med into the brand new Alumni Mentorship Program. Soundsinteresting? Wait until you hear all about it!

Enough with the Latin

For those of you who have resisted using your smartphone to lookup the meaning of the phrase in the title, here is the translation:WORDS INSTRUCT, EXAMPLES LEAD. In my opinion, this proverbcorrectly summarizes the raison d’être of the Program. Some thingsare better taught outside of a classroom, and the best teachers areoften those who have once stood where students are standingright now. Hence, mentoring is an ideal means of complementingformal legal education.

Une nouvelle avenue de développement professionnel et person-nel

Grâce à la nature bijuridique et bilingue de leur formation juri-dique, les diplômés de la Faculté de droit de l’Université McGillsont confrontés à une gamme impressionnante d’options de car-rière. Faute de conseils appropriés, certains peineront à trouverleur voie dans le monde du travail. Le Programme de mentorat desanciens vise à établir des ponts entre les générations présentes etfutures de professionnels issus du milieu juridique dans le but decréer une communauté vivante et rayonnante où mentors et men-torés pourront croître sur les plans professionnel et personnel. Enpartageant leur expérience, les anciens guideront les étudiants ac-tuels dans leurs choix académiques, leurs activités de réseautage etleur exploration de carrière.

The Program is inspired by those running in several other Canadianand American law schools, as well as by the Mentor Program offe-red by CaPS, McGill’s own Career Planning Service.

Matching

You must all be wondering: how much effort will I have to put to-wards getting an alumni to mentor me? The answer is surprisingly:very little! Matches will be made using your academic and profes-sional background and interests as well as your diversity affiliationsbased on a form you will have to fill out as well as on your résumé.There will be no interview, no letter of intent and no alumni-stal-king on your part.

Notre première cohorte

L’inscription au Programme sera ouverte aux étudiants de premièreannée à la session d’été afin que le mentorat commence dès le pre-mier semestre de leur deuxième année. Cela signifie que les étu-diants admis en septembre 2012 seront les premiers à pouvoirparticiper. J’entends déjà grogner mes collègues de 2e, 3e et 4e an-nées. Pourquoi limite-t-on ainsi la participation au Programme?

Eh bien, il faut garder en tête que le Programme en est à ses dé-buts; aussi voulons-nous être en mesure de bien coordonner les re-lations mentorales. De plus, nous sommes d’avis que la deuxièmeannée est le moment le plus propice au mentorat. En effet, les étu-diants ont alors une certaine familiarité avec le droit. Ils sont parcontre souvent indécis quant à leur choix de carrière. Pour plu-sieurs, avec la Course aux stages, il s’agit d’un point tournant. C’estdonc un moment où les étudiants ont des questions et cherchentdes réponses. Voilà pourquoi nous avons dû trancher. Bien que celasoit une maigre consolation pour les étudiants qui auront alors ob-tenu leur diplôme, nous comptons offrir le Programme à tous lesétudiants d’ici quelques années si cela s’avère réalisable.

Mentorship for Dummies

We can’t overemphasize the importance of being proactive as amentee. Having a mentor is not a panacea to all your academic,professional and personal doubts and ills. Mentors are not acade-mic advisors, nor are they psychologists, therapists or tutors. Inorder to help you, they need to know about you and to feel thatyou are committed to your objectives. They are not friends you canjust call when you are blue. They are not life coaches paid to pickyou up and get you going. To wit, a study labeled lack of clear goalsand absence of motivation as the number one turnoffs for mentors(1) . Think about it before you sign up.

Once a mentor is assigned to you, you must take the helm. You areresponsible for the relationship. Your mentor has a heap of know-ledge he or she is ready to share with you. In order to get access tothat precious know-how, you will need to think about your perso-nal and professional goals. We have prepared materials specificallydesigned to help you plan the relationship ahead. Everything willbe made available to you at the time of registration.

So, where do I sign?

This article is merely a teaser. Students in their first year will beable to register in the summer semester via an online form availa-ble on the SAO website.

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 25

À partir d’aujourd’hui, vous avez environ deux mois devant vouspour mettre la table de votre relation mentorale. Réfléchissez àvos objectifs. Assistez aux ateliers de formation pertinents. Com-mencez à réseauter avec vos collègues par les clubs et les asso-ciations. Saisissez les occasions de rencontrer des anciens et desprofessionnels du milieu juridique. Somme toute, profitez biende votre premier été à la Faculté.

Keep an eye on your emails to find out when the program will belaunched. We are looking forward to counting you as a memberof the first cohort of mentees this coming September. Make usproud!

Cordialement,

Mathieu Letendre , Alumni Mentorship Program Coordinator(Summer 2012)

For questions, comments or information, you may contact

alumnimentors.law@mcgill.ca.

(1) RP Schlee, “Mentoring and the professional development ofbusiness students” (2000) 24 Journal of Management Education322.

CURRICULUM COMMITTEE TOWN HALL

On Feb 20th, the Faculty’s Curriculumcommittee student representatives helda Town Hall session to discuss issuessuch as course offerings, administration-student body communication and stu-dent-led seminars. À l’aide d’un délicieuxdîner pizza, la salle 100 (Moot court) aété le théâtre de discussions très enri-chissantes en compagnie d’étudiantschaleureux et engagés.

The Town Hall session was organised as aresponse to a resolution passed at lastOctober’s LSA Annual General Meeting,in which it was agreed that the commit-tee’s student representatives were tocanvas students’ opinions on course offe-rings and improvement of student inputin the Faculty’s curricular decisions. Itwas also a great opportunity for us toshare a bit of what the Curriculum Com-mittee has been up to so far this year,from approving a new course proposal todynamic exchanges on student-led semi-nars’ raison d’être.

Les étudiants participants nous ont no-tamment signifié leur désir de voir plusde transparence au niveau de la procé-dure entreprise pour recueillir des sug-gestions pour l’offre de cours. Ainsi, dessuggestions telles qu’un sondage, à ef-fectuer plus tôt dans l’année pour identi-fier plus tôt les cours en demande

accrue, des consultations publiques plusfréquentes et une période désignéed’avance pour soumettre ses demandes,ont été avancées. Celles-ci complémen-teraient les rencontres qui ont déjà lieuentre les représentants de l’AÉD et l’as-sistante doyenne académique au mo-ment de se pencher sur l’offre des courscomplémentaires.

In addition, because student-initiated se-minars are currently a topic of discussionat Curriculum Committee and studentsgenerally have shown much interest, wesought feedback to best understand andrepresent student opinions in the on-going discussions.

We heard support for a robust presenceof student-initiated seminars in the curri-culum as a valuable space for studentvoices and engagement in a particulartopic – including topics that have tendedto be marginalized. It was raised thatthese seminars can help maintain a di-versity of subjects and voices withoutexhausting limited Faculty resources.

Certains étudiants ont aussi exprimé undésir que les professeurs et les étu-diants-organisateurs soient davantagereconnus pour leurs travaux; actuelle-ment les professeurs qui supervisent cesséminaires le font gratuitement, et les

étudiants qui organisent reçoivent lesmêmes 3 crédits que pour la simple par-ticipation au séminaire en tant qu’étu-diant enregistré.

Reprenant un thème récurrent, les parti-cipants à l’assemblé nous ont communi-qué un fort désir pour de la clarté et dela transparence lors du processus de sé-lection des séminaires qui seront offertspar la faculté. Les critères sont actuelle-ment vagues et imprécis; la rédactiond’une application est alors difficile à rédi-ger.

The Curriculum Committee is in the pro-cess of establishing a clearer set of rulesfor how student initiated seminars are tobe administered, and clarifying the des-ired role of these seminars in the broa-der curriculum. We will be bringing thestudent interests raised at the town hallinto the committee's discussions andwelcome any further feedback.

Thank you again for coming!

Marc Roy, Rosel Kim, Alexandra Belley,your Curriculum committee student re-presentatives

26 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS/APPEL DE CANDIDATURES: MCGILLLEGAL CLINIC COURSE 2013-14 & INFORMATION SESSION ONMARCH 13 at 12:30 pm.

Attention 2Ls and 3Ls! Community Legal Clinics in Montreal arenow recruiting students for the Summer 2013, Fall 2013, andWinter 2014 semesters.

Les étudiants doivent avoir complété au moins quatre (4) ses-sions en droit avant le commencement de leur participation aucours de Clinique juridique.

Application deadline for ALL semesters is Wednesday, March27rd, 2013 at 3 p.m via email to mlcc.law@mcgill.ca. Please seethe updated Legal Clinic Course application booklet for more in-formation on the SAO website: http://www.mcgill.ca/law-stu-dies/.

Date limite pour poser votre candidature pour TOUS les cours(été, été-automne, automne, hiver, année universitaire): Mer-credi le 27 mars 2013 à 15h00.

The Legal Clinic Course (LCC) gives students an opportunity toenrich their legal education through practical work experience inlaw-related fields. Students work in various community organiza-tions and legal clinics providing legal information and assistanceto socially disadvantaged individuals and groups.

The course promotes a deeper understanding of the legal sys-tem’s response to poverty and inequality. Students are confron-ted with the social reality of access to justice and theinterrelationship between legal concerns and economic, psycho-logical, ethical and other social problems. The course also allowsstudents to pursue work in organizations devoted to promotingand researching public interest law.

Depending on the choice of organization, students will be expo-sed to a variety of legal areas. These areas typically include fa-mily, consumer, criminal, income security and social welfare,landlord-tenant, worker’s compensation, unemployment insu-rance, immigration, environmental and human rights.

Si vous avez des questions, n`hésitez pas à contacter Kirby Smith,la coordinatrice du Cours clinique juridique par courriel :mlcc.law@mcgill.ca. Merci beaucoup de votre intérêt!

KIRBYSMITH

CALL FOR APPLICATIONSLEGAL CLINIC COURSE

L E G A L   C L I N I C C O U R S E C O O R D I N AT O R

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 27

Interested in immigration or

refugee law?

Come to the Human Rights Working Group’s annual

Speed Meet! MARDI, LE 26 MARS

18h00 – 20h00 Dans l’atrium

Special thanks to the CDO for sponsoring this event!

RSVP to immigrantandrefugeerights@gmail.com by March 23

Venez rencontrer des praticiens qui travaillent dans différents secteurs du droit de l'immigration et des réfugiés, tels que le gouvernement et les grands

cabinets, ainsi que des praticiens indépendants.

28 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

ARIANEH. SIMARD THANK YOU DDF!

From February 14 to 17, sixteen McGill law students embar-ked on an adventure to Boston to defend McGill law’s ho-nour at the Harvard National Model United Nationsconference. Unabashed by the unfavourable bias of being aHarvard newcomer and the traditional antipathy betweenMcGill’s MUN and Harvard organisers, the McGill Law ModelUN team nonetheless established its presence as small butresourceful Cameroon. Perhaps even paving the path for aMcGill-Harvardtruce, our delega-tion paid tributeto the reputationof McGill Lawthrough nume-rous PR sessionsand intense diplo-matic debates.

Although we didnot earn one ofthe very fewawards this year,it is safe to saythat MLMUNachieved smallvictories within itscommittees. Inthe Disarmamentand InternationalSecurity committee, amongst others, our delegates put theirlawyerly discourse skills to good use by presenting thought-provoking speeches that made Cameroon a central player inthe committee.

In the Global Health Committee (GHC), our delegate repre-senting the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (a USAfederal agency) not only started a committee crisis by fun-ding Middle-Eastern mullahs to support its initiatives, thusprovoking Middle-eastern riots and hostage-taking of theGHC, but was actively involved in the Return of the GoodMullah/Mullah Awakening Initiative 2 resolution which ulti-mately passed.

In the Special Political and Decolonization committee, Came-

roon headed two resolutions. Although the committee didnot pass a resolution in the end, Cameroon worked hard inconvincing the African Union of its national position, whichwas reflected in the preferred resolution.

All in all, the McGill Law team left its mark in each commit-tee. Harvard was a challenging experience, for many themost demanding Model UN conference yet. An extremely

realistic insightinto the diplomacyaspect of Interna-tional Law, Har-vard NationalModel UN was forall a valuable pre-paration for po-tential careers inPublic Internatio-nal Law. We hopeto continue ex-panding the teamin order to allowmore students thisopportunity.

A great thank youfor this wonderfulexperience isowed to the

Dean’s Discretionary Fund. Without its precious financialsupport, our team would not have been able to attend thisextraordinary albeit costly conference. The contribution ofthe DDF allowed us to pay the price of travelling to Boston,thus enabling us to make priceless gains in new-found know-ledge and memories.

Participants: Alexander Sculthorpe, Antoine Grondin-Cou-ture, Alexandra Bornac, Arad Mojtahedi, Ariane Simard,Aude Florin, Catherine Le Guerrier, Julia Blais-Quintal, JustinFisch, Kyle Best, Marie-Laurence Basque, Marvin Coleby,Marwan El-Attar, Sarah Kettani, Weihe Feng, Xiaocai Fu

( some members missing from picture)

M C G I L L L AW M O D E L U N

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 29

Vous trouverez reproduit ici, vraisembla-blement tout près de cet article, lecompte-rendu officiel du voyage à Bostondu club Model UN, rédigé par notre mer-veilleuse collègue et VP finances Ariane. Sije seconde chaque mot de sa déclaration,il reste que son article ne semble pas re-fléter toute la diversité de l’expérienceque moi et mes co-délégués avons vécu àBoston.

This is understandable, as she is writingher article in order to comply with the re-quirements associated with receivingsome funding from the Dean’s Discretio-nary Fund. I, luckily, have no such require-ments to respect, and am writing this forthe sheer pleasure of sharing with you.Hopefully, this gesture won’t taint ourvery respectable adventure with such ridi-culousness as to cost us aforementionedfunding for the years to come...

1. Comment porter un veston.

Ce voyage a réussi à me pousser à un ni-veau de sérieux qu’en toute une vie d’en-trevues et de rencontres fort sérieuses jen’avais jamais auparavant atteint. J’aiacheté un veston, et j’ai écouté avec at-tention les instructions données par levendeur sur comment le porter, avecquoi, et lors de quelles occasions. Thankyou Boston. I am now employable.

2. You can wear your Mom’s shoes to for-mal events. No one will notice.

Because I couldn’t afford buying shoes aswell as a classy vest. Not only was I notshunned by the female half of the ModelUN conference for wearing sort of squareshoes rather than nice round ones, I recei-ved compliments for those shoes. And mytoes weren’t killing me, because Moms(or at least my Mom) like comfort.

3. I don’t know all the countries in the

world.

Where the heck is Tonga?

4.L’accent de Boston est merveilleux.

Malheureusement, je n’ai pas eu lachance d’entendre beaucoup de natifs deBoston s’exprimer. Après avoir comprisque toutes les indications qu’ils allaientnous donner allaient être chiffrés en milesplutôt qu’en kilomètres, nous avons aban-donné la plupart de nos tentatives decommuniquer avec eux. Reste que cinqjours passés à Bawstun fournissent unebelle excuse pour faire semblant que nousle maîtrisons.

5. Mcgill Law isn’t really that competi-tive.

Never, within these faculty walls, had so-meone insisted in meeting me at 9:00 AMin order to “prepare” for a meeting takingplace at 1:30 in the afternoon. Never inmy life had the word “prepare” been usedto mean “put together the 8 to 10 pageseach of us will have spent the night draf-ting separately”. This definition being im-plied, of course. Why be explicit about thework expected? Who thinks nights are forsleeping anyways?

6. If you make your policy into a coolacronym, no one will reject it.

I mean, who could disagree with creatingthe Arab League Against Defamation andDiscrimination International Network?

7. On ne peut désapprendre le droit.

Un gardien de sécurité est entré dansl’une de nos chambres sans avertissementparce qu’il trouvait que l’on faisait trop debruit? Il a violé notre attente raisonnableà la vie privée. Point barre.

8. Marshalls over Winners. Anyday.

Not that I could testify personally. But ha-ving seen more Marshall bags than UNDraft Resolutions being carried around bymy co-delegates, I believe I must simplyincline before this apparently universaltruth I was asked to transmit.

9. Les taxis de Boston sont quasi-iden-tiques aux voitures du SPVM.

Jamais je ne reverrai mes collègues declasse-chauffeurs respecter les limites devitesse avec autant de zèle.

10. What Cardozo looks like.

Granted, I could have Googled that one.Still, nothing beats the experience of fin-ding a bronze bust of this notorious judgewhile wandering around the Harvard Lawlibrary. I was so eager to take a picturewith it I almost knocked it off its pedestal.

11. People in the Bahamas drive on theleft.

This I discovered as our beloved driver at-tempted to engage on the obviously one-way exit belt of a highway. We all love youMarvin. But never do that again.

12. Don’t be ashamed to suggest playingvocabulary-oriented games to your class-mates. They’ll love it.

Being aware that not all young adultsconsider a board-game night to provide asmuch fun as a party, I tend to hide fromothers the fact that, well, I do. But facingthe threat of a six-hour drive devoid ofany source of entertainment beyond wat-ching our pilot and co-pilot fight like anold couple, I dared to teach my road-tripbuddies a little game. Which we playedfor 3 straight hours. And kept every one ofus awake for the entire drive. So, don’thide your inner nerd. It makes you forgetthat others too might believe that contactis the best game ever.

CATHERINELE GUERRIER

THINGS I LEARNEDIN BOSTON

M C G I L L L AW M O D E L U N

30 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

KE-JIACHONG

MCGILL ARBITRATION SOCIETY:RELIGIOUS ARBITRATION

L a w I I I

On February 26, 2013, the McGill Arbi-tration Society and the Institute ofComparative Law held a panel discus-sion on religious arbitration featuringspeakers Rabbi Michael Whitman spea-king on Jewish (Talmudic) law and Pro-fessor Ahmed Ibrahim speaking onIslamic law, moderated by Professor Na-tasha Bakht from the University of Ot-tawa. The event was well attended bystudents from within and outside thelaw faculty, as well as individuals in thecommunity.

Professor Bakht discussed the contro-versy of religious arbitration, whichbegan in Ontario in 2004, where agroup of Muslims in Toronto decidedSharia law could be used to resolve fa-mily matters as per the choice of lawprovision in the Ontario Arbitration Act.Sharia was seen as an automatic dero-gation of women’s rights despite, asProfessor Bakht explained, the multipleinterpretations of Sharia and feministinterpretations of Sharia. The uproar re-sulted in amendments to the Act ma-king explicit that arbitration is allowedas long as the law of a Canadian juris-diction is chosen. According to Profes-sor Bakht this allows for much flexibilityand religious arbitration is not actuallyoutlawed.

The panel discussed the interaction bet-ween religious divorces and Canadianlaw. Section 21.1 of the Divorce Act re-quires litigants to remove religious bar-riers to remarry if they are to get a civildivorce. When a Jewish man does notgive a Jewish divorce to his wife, this re-sults in the woman becoming an agu-nah, a chained woman, who cannotremarry. Rabbi Whitman discussed thatsection 21.1 allowed for an 85% reduc-tion in abuse of Jewish divorces without

infringement on constitutional rights ordisruption of public interest. The pro-blem is that this section is not consis-tently applied by judges and lawyers.

Rabbi Whitman said a halachic prenup-tial agreement which requires the hus-band to give a get would solve theproblem of agunah. If the husband is re-calcitrant, then since Jewish law obli-gates the husband to support his wifefinancially and he still holds on to thismarriage, he must give maintenance – afinancial amount per diem. Secularcourts in the US have been able to im-pose this financial payment. However,Rabbi Whitman has been advised that aCanadian version of the agreementwould not allow for a financial compo-nent. He believes that both Jewish lawand Canadian law can work together toprevent further tragic situations ofwomen unable to get a Jewish divorce.

The panel expanded on the interactionbetween religious contracts and thelaw. A mehr in Islamic law is a dowergiven by the husband to the wife as pro-mised in their marriage contract andpayment is deferred until the couple di-vorces. Professor Ibrahim cited a Kansascase where anti-Sharia legislation impo-verished the woman. The woman get-ting a divorce due to domestic violencewas able to get a divorce but not thedower, worth over half a million dollars.In another case in New York, a doweragreement between an American Mus-lim and Egyptian Muslim was enforcedsince there was no anti-Sharia legisla-tion.

Following the Supreme Court of Ca-nada’s decision in Bruker v Marcovitz,the matter of religion in contractual in-terpretation would seem to be settled.

However Professor Bakht argues thatthe question now is whether thecontract must meet the heightened re-quirements of a marriage contract, orsimply that of an ordinary contract. Aswomen and children are often left inpoverty when a marriage is dissolved,she believes the dower is another im-portant tool to combat poverty and thatcourts should make it as easy as possi-ble for women to receive this amountthrough an ordinary contractual stan-dard.

One audience intervention raised thecritique that many groups that promoteapplication of other laws may beconservative, and therefore protectionis needed against this. In response,Rabbi Whitman said that it was impor-tant for there to be differences in opi-nion in the community for activism tobring out the best solutions in the end.Professor Ibrahim did not consider reli-gious law to be a threat to Canada andthat judges would, in any event, providesafeguards by overruling anythingagainst public order.

Professor Bakht raised several impor-tant points: during the Ontario debate,some feminist organizations wereconcerned about vulnerable parties,and many Muslims felt that family arbi-tration was not of interest to them. Ho-wever, others felt that by labeling themas a vulnerable party, there is the impli-cit assumption that women cannotmake these agreements for themselves,despite being educated, born andbrought up in Canada, and wanting tolive their lives religiously. It is unfair toassume that a woman would be dupedand cannot consent.

Moreover, family law allows for opting

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 31

out of the default regime, and courts do not question this. Within provincial regimes, property by default would be split 50/50 but a do-mestic contract, separation agreement or prenuptial could provide for a 70/30 split simply because the parties chose it to be this way,or because one person brought in more property. Courts have upheld these splits and there is not a question of fairness of the contentso long as the process was fair: that parties were voluntarily entering the agreement and received independent legal advice. ProfessorBakht expressed concern of over-policing religious couples when society does not do so for other couples.

The McGill Arbitration Society thanks the Law Student Association for helping to fund the event.

32 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

SIMONESAMUELS &NADIA TONGE CHERNAWSKE

SPEAK UP!NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LAW STUDENTS

CONFERENCE

C L S A

““Speak up for those who cannot speakfor themselves, for the rights of all whoare destitute. Speak up and judge fairly;defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

Proverbs 31:8-9

On February 14, over 30 students from asfar west as the University of Alberta andas far east as the University of New Bruns-wick descended on the Faculty of Law atMcGill for the National Christian Law Stu-dents Conference hosted by the ChristianLaw Students’ Association at McGill andthe Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF). CLFis a national not-for-profit, charitable or-ganization with a membership consistingof law students, lawyers, judges, and lawprofessors. Among other functions, CLFexplores the complex interrelationshipsbetween the practice and theory of lawand Christian faith. This was the first timethe conference was held in Quebec.

This year’s chosen theme was “SpeakUp!” highlighting the unique platformthat lawyers have in society. Ours is anever-changing world fraught with moraldilemmas and issues that challenge ourfaith. The education that we receive aslaw students gives us a privileged placeand position in society and an opportunityto speak up and speak out – an opportu-nity which we must not – cannot – passup.

The conference kicked off with a “wel-come session” with food and games atThomson House. For the next two days,students were saturated with knowledgeabout how to integrate their faith in theirprofession and use law as ministry to“Speak Up!” Pastor Omar Jarvis of theNorwood Seventh-day Adventist Churchkicked off the conference with a sermonentitled, “The Sound of Silence.” Heboldly suggested that “God is silent be-cause we are not speaking.”

The roster of speakers and panelists could

only be described as impressive. BarryBussey, Vice-President Legal Affairs, Cana-dian Council of Christian Charities expoun-ded on the theme, giving wisdom aboutspeaking up in public and anecdotal ad-vice. Simone Samuels, a law student atMcGill, led in an animated discussion onmental health strategies for law students,and Russell Browne, executive director ofCLF, spoke about mental health andclients. Grace Mackintosh, legal counselfor the Seventh-day Adventist Church inCanada, spoke about religious liberty is-sues in elementary school curricula andSoorena Noori spoke about the Iranianchurch and the persecution of religiousminorities in the Middle East. After Pro-fessor Margaret Somerville spoke aboutthe legal issues and concerns regardingeuthanasia, Me. Bob Reynolds, who ser-ved as an intervener for CLF in the GinetteLeblanc assisted-suicide case, expoundedon the jurisprudence. André Schutten,Ontario Director and Legal Counsel, Asso-ciation for Reformed Political Action,spoke about abortion policy.

We learned about defending and sharingour faith in the law faculty by McGill lawalumnus Stephen Wishart, prosecutor forthe Barreau du Quebec, who told us that“faith is never divorced from reason.”

Karen Henein, a noted lawyer, author, andspeaker, taught us how to practice withpurpose, while Hovsep Afarian, a lawyerat McCarthy Tétrault, taught us how to begood stewards of our time, talent, andtreasure. He said that “stewardship is theact of organizing your life so that God canspend you.” We also discussed the cur-rent possibility of having a Christian lawschool with Dr. Janet Epp-Buckingham, As-sociate Professor at Trinity Western Uni-versity and Director of the LaurentianLeadership Centre. There was also muchemphasis on fellowship and prayer.

On Friday night, students and lawyers

took advantage of Montreal’s food sceneand travelled to Schwartz Hebrew Delica-tessen for some smoked meat sand-wiches, while other students went to LaBanquise for poutine. On Saturday eve-ning, conference participants attended agala evening at the Best Western VilleMarie where Hon. David Kilgour, retiredMember of Parliament, delivered a rou-sing keynote speech entitled “Christianityin Today’s World,” giving examples ofChristians who, often in the face of abjectpersecution and death, stood up for theirbeliefs and the well-being of those aroundthem. On Sunday, we worshipped toge-ther at the People’s Church Montreal be-fore each person began their journeyhome.

The CLSA is indebted to its sponsors andthe support of the Faculty (in particularthe McGill Law Students’ Association, theCareer Development Office and Dean Da-niel Jutras), without whom, none of thiscould have been possible.

President Barack Obama once said, “Onevoice can change a room, and if one voicecan change a room, then it can change acity, and if it can change a city, it canchange a state, and if it change a state, itcan change a nation, and if it can change anation, it can change the world. Yourvoice can change the world.”

Here’s hoping that our voice as lawyersand law students, united in faith, willchange this world and usher in the worldto come.

In His Service and at Yours,

Simone Samuels and Nardia Tonge Cher-nawsky

Co-Presidents

Christian Law Students’ Association atMcGill/Association des étudiants chré-tiens en droit à McGill

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 33

HOIKONG

AN UPDATE ON THE LAW TEACHING NETWORK

P r o f e s s e u r

Cette année à la Faculté de droit, les professeursont fait progresser, en collaboration avec le Servicedu soutien pédagogique, le programme du « LawTeaching Network ». On a créé quelques regroupe-ments de professeurs ayant comme objectif le par-tage des pratiques et des idées d’enseignement.Notamment, l’un de ces regroupements vise à don-ner l’occasion aux professeurs de comparer leursstratégies pédagogiques. Several professors haveintroduced changes to their courses as a direct re-sult of feedback they have received in this forum. Inaddition, professors have begun to experiment withvisiting one another’s classrooms in order to ex-change observations about teaching. The programhas also supported initiatives in individual coursesthat have provided students with active learning ex-periences, ranging from field trips to visits fromspeakers who share on-the-ground insights aboutspecific areas of law.

At the level of Faculty-wide initiatives, the Ad HocCommittee on Curricular Reform, which includestwo student representatives, is rethinking the un-dergraduate program and the Clinical Legal Educa-tion Working Group is engaged in continuingreflections about how to disseminate information tostudents about the experiential learning opportuni-ties offered by the Faculty.

En outre, nous avons organisé deux ateliers qui por-tent sur certaines des priorités de la Faculté en ma-tière d’enseignement et d’apprentissage : à savoir,les traditions juridiques et l`interdisciplinarité. Ence qui concerne le premier, nous avons eu le plaisird’inviter la professeure Val Napoleon de la Faculté

de droit de l’Université de Victoria qui a présentéson texte intitulé « Indigenous Law in the World :Research, Pedagogy and Application ». Sa présenta-tion a suscité une vive discussion à propos de lapossibilité d’enseigner le droit des autochtonesd’une manière trans-systémique. Quant audeuxième, il aura lieu au mois de mai. Noussommes ravis d’accueillir le professeur Josh Cohende l’Université Stanford et la professeure JulieHaack de l’Université d’Oregon. Le professeurCohen fera une présentation sur le programme « Li-beration Technologies » qui réunit plusieurs disci-plines, dont le droit, la science politique etl’informatique. La professeure Haack fera un ex-posé portant sur le programme du « Green ProductDesign Network » dans lequel des étudiants et pro-fesseurs de plusieurs disciplines examinent des ap-proches innovatrices de conception durable desproduits. Nous espérons que ces deux programmespourront servir de source d’inspiration pour créerdes cours interdisciplinaires semblables à McGill.

The Law Teaching Network aims to keep McGill onthe cutting edge of pedagogical practices. Thisyear’s program reflects the ongoing commitment ofprofessors and the administration to ensuring thatour students are the beneficiaries of the very bestlegal education possible.

If you would like to read reflections by individualprofessors on teaching and learning, please seehttp://www.mcgill.ca/law/teaching and for a fulllist of student committee representatives, pleasesee http://www.lsa-aed.ca/about/committees.

34 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

INNOCENCEMCGILL

INNOCENCE MCGILL’S ANNUAL FINANCES

As per article 83 of the LSA By-law 12 on Student Initiated Fees,Innocence McGill (IM) provides this brief summary of its activi-ties, financial and otherwise, during the 2012-2013 academicyear. During the fall, IM recruited new members, prepared forthe referendum on student fees, continued to work on ourclients’ files, prepared for and began an outreach campaign, andprepared for our February 2013 conference. During the Winter2013 semester, we have continued our regular work on ourclients’ files, hosted a successful conference with David Milgaardand Peter Edwards on February 12, 2013 and continued our ou-treach efforts. Our conference was paid for by IM funds (all ofwhich came from student fees collected each semester since2006, with the exception of the Fall 2012 semester) and with agenerous donation from the Dean’s Discretionary Fund whichhelped us cover the transportation and hotel costs involved withbringing our speakers to Montreal. The majority of our spending

this year was on the conference. The rest of our spending consis-ted of outreach efforts (printing IM brochures), office supplies(computer paper, printer ink, etc.) and mailing costs. Given ourclients are incarcerated, we must communicate with them by re-gular mail. On March 11, we were notified by the LSA that ourstudent fees from this semester had finally come through and wecollected our cheque for $2665. This money will go towards fu-ture IM conferences, outreach efforts, office and mailing sup-plies, and other expenses deemed reasonable by futureInnocence McGill members and directors. Thank you to the lawschool student body for their support of IM. For those interestedin becoming a member of IM, sometimes we take on new mem-bers in the summer. Email innocence.law@mail.mcgill.ca in earlyMay if interested in summer opportunities. For those interestedin becoming a member in September, please check Notice Boardand the hallways next fall.

peau café latté cheveux dorés robe

blanche dès lors la mer voulait tout les

vacances d’été à la plage vaste

infinie comme nos secrets hors de

l’univers je te dis l’incendie de

juillet c’était nous et un vent si fort

te rappelles-tu ces arbres brisés

sur le bord de la route de campagne

où nous faisions du vélo comme dans

les mauvais films français à la télé

JONATHANBROSSEAU ENFANCE_01

L a w I I

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 35

JEAN-FREDERICHUBSCH

LUNCH WITH THE EXPERT – RACHEL BENDAYAN

L a w I I

On March 20, 2013, under the auspices ofthe McGill Arbitration Society, a group ofabout 25 students had the pleasure of aninformal lunch session with Rachel Ben-dayan from Norton Rose Canada. A McGillalumna, Ms. Bendayan spoke about her ex-perience in litigation and in international ar-bitration, as well as her recruitmentexperiences as a student at the Faculty.Below are a few takeaways from her talk.

Have litigation experience – Many firmshave their arbitration groups in their litiga-tion sections. This makes sense, as in bothforms of dispute settlement counsel mustargue their case and present relevant lawand documentation. Indeed, it is importantto have litigation experience for arbitration,and doing smaller litigation files as a juniorassociate develops pleading skills which area must for international arbitration, which

tend to be large-scale and have lots ofmoney at stake.

Arbitration involves a lot of writing – Thereis an enormous amount of writing in inter-national arbitration (e.g., 100 page briefs).Contrary to regular court proceedings,where there is relatively less paper asjudges are familiar with the law at hand, ar-bitrators must be given everything theyneed to understand the arguments, any ex-pert reports, and the applicable law. Arbi-trators are named from all over the worldwhere different laws are applicable and maynot be trained in the law applicable in agiven case. And while there are severalcommon frameworks for international arbi-tration and some arbitrators may have ex-pertise in the applicable law, counsel in anarbitration will want to use briefs to explainlaw to the others to avoid any potential pre-

sumptions or biases.

Interviews are sales pitches – When ap-plying for jobs, such as during course auxstages, Ms. Bendayan’s main advice was toremain open to general litigation to helpwith an eventual move into internationallaw (M&As, arbitration, etc.). Everyone saysthey want to do international law, so beopen to experiencing everything and seewhat comes of it. Having both common lawand civil law remains an advantage. Just re-member, the interview is for you to sellyourself. Make sure you get to say every-thing you want to say about yourself as aselling point.

The McGill Arbitration Society thanks theLaw Students Association and the CareerDevelopment Office for helping to fund theevent.

IANDAHLMAN &LUIS G.ROMERO

JUSTICE FRAMED - LAW IN COMICSAND GRAPHIC NOVELS

L a w I I I & P o s t D o c

“I love you, but why must you love the law?‘Tis plain for all to see that she's awhore...that virtuous persons have no needto woo; that villains screw, then studiouslyignore.”

-Alan Moore, V for Vendetta

It is with great pleasure that we announcethe launch of volume 16 of Law Text Culture- an interdisciplinary, trans-continental legaljournal based out of the University of Wol-longong - entitled "Justice Framed - Law inComics and Graphic Novels." Comics andgraphic novels are gripped by issues of law,legality, order and justice. However legalscholarship, even in the emerging field oflaw and popular culture, has yet to returnthe obsession, studiously ignoring the in-sight and opportunity comics provide for il-

luminating, developing and critiquing law.The goal of volume 16 was to begin to rec-tify this villainous oversight, and we feelthis fantastic collection of essays, which wehad the pleasure of co-editing, has accom-plished just that.

We owe a debt of gratitude to the Facultyof Law at McGill and our colleagues for theexceptional support we received. First, thefunding provided by the LSA and Dean's Dis-cretionary Fund allowed us to both have acreative submission contest, the winner ofwhich is published in the issue, and procurethe necessary licenses to actually reproduceframes from discussed comics in the journalitself. A journal about comics without co-mics would have been a sad thing indeed;thank you for bringing colour and vibrancyto our pages. Second, many McGill profes-

sors served as peer reviewers for the essaysin this issue; an immense thank you to Pro-fessors Desmond Manderson, WendyAdams, Frédéric Mégret and Shauna VanPraagh for their time and acumen. A thankyou and congratulations also goes out toProfessor René Provost for his phenomenalpiece "Magic and Modernity in Tintin auCongo (1930) and the Sierra Leone SpecialCourt," a must-read for Tintin and interna-tional law enthusiasts alike. Finally, Ianwould like to take this opportunity to thankProfessors Desmond Manderson and MarkAntaki, who provided invaluable feedbackon his piece "The Legal Surrealism ofGeorge Herriman's Krazy Kat," which alsoappears in the volume.

The journal is available freely on the web athttp://ro.uow.edu.au/ltc/. Enjoy!

36 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

QN • MARCH 19 2013 • 37

NANCYZAGBAYOU CRITICAL RACE THEORY

L a w I I

Critical Race Theory (CRT) was originally areaction the Critical Legal Studies (CLS) Mo-vement, which severely criticized the fivebasic tenets of Legal Liberalism: the rule oflaw, formalism, neutrality, abstraction andindividual rights. Although CRT embracedthe CLS’s skepticism of Legal Liberalism, itaimed to provide a medium to analyze“race and racism in the law and to providea critical understanding of law.” Although,CRT is often misunderstood as an Americancritical movement, CRT scholars have publi-shed extensively in the Canadian Context.This essay analyses the visible “minorityconcept” from a CRT perspective. TheMcGill curriculum currently does not in-clude a course on Critical Race Theory, butchanges in the legal landscape show thegrowing importance of race literacy.

+Visible Minority: A necessary legal fic-tion?

Despite the colorblind ethos prevalent inCanadian society, the often unspoken le-gacy of discrimination continues to adver-sely impact 'visible minorities' today. In2007, the United Nations Committee on theElimination of Racial Discrimination critici-zed Canada for it's use of the term 'visibleminority' and issued a non-binding recom-mendation calling for the term to be remo-ved from usage as it allegedly contradictedwith the aims and objectives of the Interna-tional Convention on the Elimination of AllForms of Racial Discrimination ratified byCanada in 1970 . The committee arguedthat the term 'visible minority' seemed tosuggest that whiteness was the normativestandard and races differing from this normwere visible, thereby promoting discrimina-tion. The Canadian government respondedthat it had no plans of changing the stan-dard usage of the term as "'visible minority'[…] is a key component of Canada’s anti-dis-crimination policy" .

The term 'visible minority' is a legal conceptfound in Canadian legislation and it has nocomparable meaning outside of the Cana-

dian context. According to Statistics Ca-nada, the term 'visible minority' is specificto the administration of the EmploymentEquity Act (Act) and refers to "persons,other than Aboriginal peoples, who arenon-Caucasian in race or non-white incolor". The Act, which came into force in1996, aims to "achieve equality in the work-place so that no person shall be denied em-ployment opportunities or benefits forreasons unrelated to ability and [...] to cor-rect the conditions of disadvantage in em-ployment experienced by women,aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilitiesand members of visible minorities." TheAct, which creates statutory rights outsideof the constitutional equality framework,establishes both negative rights protectingmembers of the fours specific groupsagainst employment discrimination, andpositive rights giving members of identifiedgroups preferential treatment in order toimprove their employment opportunitiesand remedy their historical employment di-sadvantages. Is the concept of 'visible mi-nority' ill suited to refer to the group thelegislations aims to protect or is it simply alegal fiction that should instead be evalua-ted based on how well it achieves its objec-tives?

The UN criticism of the term seems to echothe critical race theory idea that the law isnot neutral, as it perpetuates the marginali-zation of people of color with its rhetoric ofwhite dominance. The discomfort with theuse of a lexicon that seems to promote theracial power imbalances it claims to remedyhighlights a larger problem articulated byJennifer Nedelsky when she explains that"the ongoing problem of defining the termremains". When it comes to questions ofrace, power and law, the experiential know-ledge informed by the personal experiencesof the oppressed is often discounted infavor of legal abstractions that often reflectracial hierarchy. Patricia Williams expressedthe same sentiment when she stated in afootnote, "I don't like the word "minority"[...] because it implies a certain delegiti-

macy in a majoritarian system."

Even if the concept of 'visible minority' is apure legal fiction, something assumed inlaw to be fact irrespective of the accuracyof that assumption, it is important to re-member that the law is speaking to the ex-perience of a particular group to avoidbeing blind to the negative unintendedconsequences on the object of the legisla-tion. Canadian critical race theorists haveencouraged the use of the term “racializedcommunities” instead of “visible minori-ties” in contexts where it considers theterm to reflect an erroneous socialconstruct involved in perceptions that per-sons or groups who share a given ancestryare different and unequal. The deliberatedecision of the Canadian government tocontinue using the term 'visible minority'may be seen as a refusal to acknowledgethe validity of the critical race theory criti-cism or an assertion of national sovereigntyby rejecting the scrutiny of an internationalentity in its internal affairs.

Although the textual argument againstusing a term that semantically seems topromote a certain racial hierarchy has somemerit, it is important to remember that the'visible minority' concept was establishedto be used as a tool to achieve employmentequity. As Mari Matsuda noted in her talkpresented at the Yale Law School Confe-rence on Women of Color and Law in 1988,"it would be absurd to reject the use of anelitist legal system, or the use of theconcepts of rights, when such use is neces-sary to meet the immediate need of [a di-sempowered constituency]." Although theterm 'visible minority' is contested, it wouldbe absurd to forgo the opportunity to use itas a tool to achieve employment equity. Es-meralda Thornhill reiterate this idea whenshe says, "though in matters of racism andracial discrimination we in Canada have ex-perienced the law too often as a sword ofoppression and so seldom as a shield ofprotection, law nevertheless remains tooprecious a tool for Black people to aban-don".

38 • 19 MARS 2013 • QN

Remedial measures are important in theCanadian legal context as they serve toaddress the consequences of a legacy oflegal discrimination. The polemic arosebecause the Act establishes positive statu-tory rights calling for preferential mea-sures to ensure the employment equity of'visible minorities'. Critics of preferentialmeasures argue that employment equityfor 'visible minorities' creates reverse dis-crimination against members of the majo-rity group, benefits certain minorities whodo not require preferential treatment, de-value the contributions of 'visible minori-ties' and focus on representation insteadof addressing the underlying problem ofdiscrimination. Responding to this argu-ment, critical race scholars argue that inthe absence of preferential treatment forvisible minorities, white males will conti-nue to benefit from the effects of the ori-ginal discrimination.

In addition, "formal equality, or a vision ofequality premised on equal treatment ofindividuals, was rejected in favor of asubstantive concept of equality in An-drews v. Law Society of British Columbia."Employment equity for 'visible minorities'is justified under substantive equality as"it [is] no longer possible to assume thatdifferential treatment constitutes discri-mination and that sameness of treatmentconstitutes equality [...] as discriminationhas to be assessed in terms of the harmfulor disadvantaging effects of laws and poli-cies." Further more, the Canadian Charterof Rights and Freedom expressly states ins 15(2) that equal protection under thelaw (s 15(1)) does not "preclude any law,program or activity that has as its objectthe amelioration of conditions of disad-vantaged individuals or groups includingthose that are disadvantaged because ofrace."

The term 'visible minority' seems to lumptogether minority groups who continue tobe severely disadvantaged and affluentgroups of newly immigrants who may nothave socially suffered from legacy of dis-criminatory laws. Nevertheless, thesegroups are still experiencing the cost ofbeing members of a racialized communityin a society that has not done away withwhite privilege. Although the question ofwho should be included in the 'visible mi-nority' group is a societal decision, the

idea that some groups are reaping the be-nefits without having bared much of thecost highlights an important limitation ofthe 'visible minority' concept.

Unlike the American concept of affirma-tive action, employment equity in Canadadoes not impose quotas leaving the de-tails of devising preferential measures tothe employers thereby mitigating theunintended consequences of the 'visibleminority' representation paradigm. Ulti-mately, "the solution to systemic discrimi-nation in employment cannot consistmerely of measures that increase the re-presentation of minorities in the work-place [...], the solution must also includemeasures designed to change traditionalattitudes and stereotypes about the em-ployment of minority groups, whetherthese attitudes take the form of prejudice,paternalism, or inhibitions."

Speaking to her experience as a ‘visibleminority’, Patricia Williams explained: "I[...] was raised to be acutely conscious ofthe likelihood that, no matter what de-gree of professional or professor I be-came, people would greet and dismiss myblack femaleness as unreliable, untrust-worthy, hostile, angry, powerless, irratio-nal and probably destitute." Although theterm 'visible minority' itself can be seenas reaffirmation of white dominance, pro-ponents of equality rights do not simplysee the term ‘visible minority’ as a neces-sary legal fiction, but as a tool to combatemployment discrimination against 'visi-ble minorities'.

Critical Race Theory at the McGill Law Fa-culty:

The Critical Race Theory student-initiatedseminar was started in the winter term of2012 by students to signal the importancerace literacy and to highlight a need forthe faculty to adopt a more comprehen-sive CRT approach to its legal curriculum.Often, students only encounter criticalrace theory in a very limited context,usually relegated to one lecture duringthe Foundations of Canadian Law. Courseslike “Feminist Legal Theory”, “Law and Po-verty” and “Social Diversity and the Law”have also included some CRT elementseven thought the inclusion of CRT was left

to the discretion of the professor. Thereneeds to be a more integrated and com-prehensive approach that does not simplymarginalize CRT as one discrete classtopic, but rather an ongoing intersectionalinquiry that asks: what is the best way toachieve equality in Canadian society fordiverse racialized groups? A continued in-terjection and race literacy in all aspectsof law is needed. McGill law faculty’s stu-dent-initiated seminar on Critical RaceTheory is currently being facilitated by Vi-viane Albuquerque, Rosel Kim, AlexandraOlshefsky, Ngozi Okidegbe, and NancyZagbayou.

---

Aylward, Carol. Canadian Critical Race Theory: Ra-cism and the Law.Winnipeg, MB, CAN: Fernwood Pu-blishing, 1999 p 29 at p30.

National Post, Canada Ready to Spar with UN overvisible minorities, July 5 2011 <http://news.national-post.com/2011/07/05/canada-ready-to-spar-with-un-over-%E2%80%98visible-minorities%E2%80%99/>

Government of Canada, Nineteen and twenty re-port June 2005 – May 2009, International Conven-tion on the Elimination of all forms of racialdiscrimination < http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pdp-hrp/docs/cerd/rpprts_19_20/19-20-eng.pdf>

Statistics Canada <http://www.statcan.gc.ca/concepts/definitions/mi-nority-minorite1-eng.htm>

Lubomyr Chabursky, "The employment Equity Act:An Examination of its Development and Direction"(1992) 24 Ottawa L Rev at 321.

Jennifer Nedelksy, "Reconceiving Rights as rela-tionship" (1994) 1 Rev. Const Stud at 4.

Patricia J. Williams, "Alchemical notes: Reconstruc-ting ideals from deconstructed rights" (1987) 22Harv CR-CLL Rev at 404.

Mari Matsuda, "When the First Quail Calls: MultipleConsciouness as Jurisprudential Method. A talk pre-sented at the Yale Law School Conference onWomen of Color and the Law, April 16, 1988" (1989)Women's Rts L Rep 11:7 at 8.

Esmeralda M. A. Thornhill, "So Seldom for Us SoOften Against Us: Blacks and Law in Canada", Journalof Black Studies (2008) 38:321.

Colleen Sheppard, "Constitutional Equality: Chal-lenges and Possibilities", chapter of a book that hasnot yet been published at 38.

Ibid at 39.

Canadian Constitution Act, 1982, c 11. CanadianCharter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ibid Chabursky at 18.

Ibid Williams 407.

Prof. Moyse, to student who just answered question posed inclass: I'm not saying you're wrong... but please, do not misleadthe class.

Prof. [REDACTED], en cours de droit international privé : Ce test a8 critères. N’importe quel test qui a 8 critères est un test qui nefonctionne pas!

Prof. [REDACTED], toujours en droit international privé : Le Juge

LeBel est le nouveau La Forest : mais LeBel est aussi obsédé deprévisibilité que La Forest l’était. Cette approche en 8 facteurs,vous pouvez vous imaginer que le juge LeBel s’arrachait lescheveux!

Me. [REDACTED], at Oral Advocacy Workshop: Having enoughcopies of your documents at court will kill a lot less trees than anappeal.

OVERHEARD AT THE FAC

SKIT NITE !