Asper Centre Constitutional Roundtable with Prof Margot Young

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights’ Constitutional Roundtables are an annual series of lunchtime discussion forums that provide an opportunity to consider developments in Canadian constitutional theory and practice.  The Constitutional Roundtable series promotes scholarship and aims to make a meaningful contribution to intellectual discourse about Canadian constitutional law.

Asper Centre Panel on Indigenous Child Welfare & Self-Government

Speakers

  • Professor John Borrows, The Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law, U of T Faculty of Law 
  • Professor Maggie Blackhawk, NYU Law
  • Sara Mainville, Partner, JFK Law LLP

Background

Over the past few years, both Canadian and American courts have decided cases that impact Indigenous Nations' ability to care for Indigenous children.

Florence Robert

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Revitalizing the Ilnu Legal Order and Reclaiming Jurisdiction over Child and Family Services
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: florence.robert@mail.utoronto.ca

Florence Robert is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto with research interest in Indigenous legal orders, pedagogies and methods. Florence is a 2021 graduate of the LL.L. program at the University of Ottawa where she received the University Gold Medal for Civil Law for the highest cumulative grade point average in the entire civil law program and the Dean of the Civil Law Section’s Prize in recognition significant contributions made to the law school community. In 2022, Florence completed a judicial clerkship at the Federal Court under Justice Martine St-Louis and was called to the Québec bar in 2023. Following her clerkship, Florence completed her Master of Laws (LL.M.) thesis at the University of Toronto on Indigenous legal pedagogy and the decolonization and Indigenization of Canadian legal education under the supervision of Professor John Borrows. Her SJD thesis seeks to document the values, principles, rules, and processes that govern group regulation and conflict resolution related to children, youth, and families within the Ilnu legal order.

Since 2022, Florence is a Part-Time Professor (Long Term Nomination) at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law, where she teaches transsystemic courses in constitutional law, property law, family law and Indigenous legal orders.

Education
Licentiate in Law - University of Ottawa (2021)
Master of Laws (Long Thesis) - University of Toronto (2024)
Awards and Distinctions
2023-2024 Ontario Graduate Scholarship Recipient
University Gold Medal for Civil Law (2021)
Dean of the Civil Law Section’s Prize (2021)
Prix du Barreau du Québec de la Faculté de droit de l’Université d’Ottawa (2021)
Francine Lefebvre-Landry Prize (2021)
Cain Lamarre Prize (2021)
Dean’s Honour list (2018 – 2021)
Professional Affiliations
Member of the Quebec Bar
Selected Publications

Sophie Thériault, Eva Ottawa & Florence Robert, “L’enseignement des traditions juridiques autochtones à la Section de droit civil de l’Université d’Ottawa : entre opportunités et défis pour une formation juridique décolonisée” (2024) 15 Cahiers Portalis (to be published). 

Sophie Thériault, Eva Ottawa & Florence Robert, “First Nations, COVID-19, and the Implications of Spatial Restrictions in a Settler Colonial Context” in Colleen M. Flood, Y.Y. Brandon Chen, Raywat Deonandan, Sam Halabi & Sophie Thériault, eds, Pandemics, Public Health, and the Regulation of Borders: Lessons from COVID-19 (England: Routledge, 2024) 89 (Book Chapter).

Florence Robert, “Pierre Rousseau, Une véritable justice équitable, décolonisée, par et pour les peuples autochtones. Québec : Presses de l’Université Laval, 2023, 220 pp” (2023) 38:2 Canadian Journal of Law and Society / La Revue Canadienne Droit et Société 292 (Book Review).

Aimée Craft, Florence Robert & Caitlin De Simone, “The Canada Water Agency as an Opportunity to Decolonize Water Governance” in Marie-France Fortin, Alexandre Lillo, Éric Champagne, Lauren Touchant & Thomas Burelli, eds, Canada Water Agency: Multisectorial Issues of Law and Governance (Montréal: LexisNexis, 2022) 39 (Book Chapter).

Research Interests
Aboriginal Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Comparative Law
Family Law
Indigenous Legal Traditions
Supervisor
John Borrows
Committee Members
Angela Fernandez

Brandon Montour

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Duty to Council: Haudenosaunee Law as a Framework for Colonial Relations under the Covenant Chain
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Tel:
(514) 895-2726
Email: brandon.montour@mail.utoronto.ca

Brandon is Kanien’kehá:ka and a citizen of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy from the Mohawk Territory of Kahnawà:ke. Before joining the S.J.D program in 2024, he completed his Master of Laws (LL.M) at the University of Toronto, for which he was awarded a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship. His thesis, supervised by John Borrows, argued for the resurgence and contemporary application of Haudenosaunee legal principles within existing governing structures in Kahnawà:ke. Building upon his LL.M research, Brandon's doctoral research will focus on the role that the resurgence of Haudenosaunee law can play in advancing reconciliation with the State. 

Brandon has experience as a consultant and advisor in both the private and public sectors. As a summer student at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Toronto, he assisted the litigation team with a historic class proceeding that resulted in an $8 billion settlement to address water infrastructure issues and long-term drinking water advisories on First Nations reserves. Brandon has also worked in the Office of the Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations as a Legal Affairs Advisor to the Honorable Gary Anandasangaree. In his community of Kahnawà:ke, Brandon was unanimously appointed by the elected Chiefs of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke to serve as Chairperson of the Kahnawà:ke Cannabis Control Board, a regulatory board for the purpose of regulating, enforcing, and administering Kahnawà:ke's sovereign and independently-enacted Cannabis Control Law. 

Education
LL.M (Long Thesis), University of Toronto (2024)
J.D / B.C.L, McGill University (2023)
B.A (Political Science) with Great Distinction, Concordia University (2020)
Awards and Distinctions
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's (U of T, 2024)
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Indigenous Scholars Award (U of T, 2024)
June Callwood Program in Aboriginal Law (U of T, 2023-2024)
Gualtieri-Doran Award (McGill, 2023)
Bank of Canada Scholarship Award (McGill, 2022-2023)
Robert L. Katz and Christina H. Otto Entrance Scholarship (McGill, 2020)
Other information

Presentations, Lectures, and Workshops 

Conversations and Solutions Surrounding National and Global Challenges, 17th Annual Graduate Legal Studies Association Conference, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, 29 May 2024.
Presentation: LL.M Thesis, Resurging to Reconcile: Peacemaking in Kahnawà:ke through Haudenosaunee Law.

Borden Ladner Gervais LLP Student Research Conference, Paul-André Crépeau Centre for Private and Comparative Law, Montreal, Quebec, 18 March 2024.
Presentation: LL.M Thesis, Resurging to Reconcile: Peacemaking in Kahnawà:ke through Haudenosaunee Law.

United Nations, 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal, Quebec, 7-19 December 2022.
Delegate, Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

United Nations, 27th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, 6-18 November 2022.
Delegate and Panelist, Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

Selected Publications

“The Aboriginal Right of Self-Government in the Era of the Indigenous Child Welfare Act” (2024) 18:1 Journal of Parliamentary and Political Law 105.

Research Interests
Aboriginal Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Critical Legal Theory
Indigenous Legal Traditions
Legal History
Supervisor
John Borrows
Committee Members
Douglas Sanderson

Asper Centre releases anniversary episode of Charter: A Course

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights recently celebrated 15 years at their special anniversary event on November 15. As part of the celebration, the Centre convened a special live recording of the hit podcast Charter: A Course.

Asper Centre 15th Anniversary Celebration

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is celebrating 15 years of advocacy, research, and education with a special anniversary event taking place on November 15th, 2023. 

Oliver Chan

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Laying the Administrative Foundations for a Constitutional Right to Adequate Housing in Canada
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: oliver.chan@mail.utoronto.ca

Oliver is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law with research interests in public law, political and legal theory, and comparative legal studies. His thesis explores the interpretation and enforcement of positive rights globally as well as the moral purposes of public law and the administrative state. He argues that the constitutional rights to life and equality place obligations on the state to provide safe and affordable housing. Oliver is a graduate of the combined BCL/JD program at McGill University where he received a Lieutenant Governor's Youth Medal from the Honourable J. Michel Doyon for his high academic standing and his work towards improving access to justice in the greater Montréal community. Prior to joining the Faculty of Law, Oliver completed an LLM at Queen's University and worked as the Director of Research for a legal information clinic in Montréal.

Education
LLM, Specialization in Political and Legal Thought: Queen’s University (2023)
BCL & JD: McGill University (2022)
BA (First Class Honours) Political Science & Philosophy: McGill University (2018)
Awards and Distinctions
The Mary And Louis Anisman Fellowship In Law And Fairness (2023-2024)
Lieutenant Governor of Québec Youth Medal (2022)
Fern Gertrude Kennedy Prize in Jurisprudence (2021)
Allan Neil Assh Memorial Award in Business Associations (2021)
Michael L. Garmaise Prize in Political Science (2018)
Maldoff Family Arts Research Internship Award (2017)
Research Group on Constitutional Studies Student Fellow: Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds (2016-2019)
Research Interests
Administrative Law
Canadian Constitutional Law
Charter of Rights
Comparative Law
Judicial Decision-Making
Legal Theory
Supervisor
Richard Stacey
Committee Members
Christopher Essert
David Dyzenhaus

Parliament is not forced by the courts to legalize MAID for mental illness : Law Professors' Letter to Cabinet

Trudo Lemmens
Thursday, February 2, 2023

Justice Minister David Lametti announced today the introduction of a bill which would delay by one year, until March 2024, the scheduled implementation of MAID for sole reasons of mental illness. Until today, the federal government had repeatedly suggested it was bound by 'the courts' to expand MAID and to make MAID also available for persons whose sole underlying medical condition is mental illness. Minister Lametti even stated in an interview for a recent investigative documentary of CBC's The Fifth Estate, which revealed troubling components of the current MAID practice, that the Supreme Court had recognized 'a right to suicide' and that MAID was a 'species of suicide'. He made similar statements in an interview for a podcast with Althia Raj of the Toronto Star. With some colleagues of other law faculties, we drafted a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau, Ministers Lametti, Duclos, Qualtrough and Bennett, to challenge this problematic and in our view unfounded rhetoric of 'our hands are tied by the courts'.

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