Canadian Constitutional Law

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Studies is welcoming Breese Davies, Class of 1998, as its Constitutional Litigator-in-Residence for 2017. The following Q & A was first posted on the Asper Centre website.

In an analysis in Policy Options magazine, Prof. Kent Roach and University of Ottawa professor Craig Forcese conduct a detailed assessment of Bill C-59, An Act respecting national security matters, recently introduced by the federal government to reform Canada’s national security law ("A report card on the national security bill," June 22, 2017).

In a commentary in the Globe and Mail, Prof. Kent Roach argues that a Senate committee's recommendation that Parliament remove stays as a remedy for violating the Charter right to a trial in a reasonable time is a flawed proposal ("Legislation to end stays is not the answer to court delays," June 21, 2017).

Read the full commentary on the Globe and Mail website, or below.

The Faculty of Law’s David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is pleased to announce that lawyer Breese Davies, LLB 1998, will be the Asper Centre’s Constitutional-Litigator-in-Residence for the fall of 2017.

By Patrick Enright

Patrick Enright is a second-year JD candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and was a student in the Asper Centre half time clinic in the Winter 2017 term.

In a commentary in the Globe and Mail, Prof. Kent Roach analyzes Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall's use of the notwithstanding clause and the constitutional judicial decision about funding Catholic schools that triggered it ("Is Brad Wall really defending school choice with his use of the notwithstanding clause?", May 2, 2017).

Read the commentary on the Globe and Mail website, or below.

Humility and humanity are important virtues for judges to have in an evolving world

By Peter Boisseau / Photography by Oliver Salathiel

Judges should demonstrate “humility and humanity” when dealing with court cases involving Indigenous peoples, Ontario Chief Justice George Strathy, told a Faculty of Law audience at the Morris A. Gross Memorial Lecture.

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is pleased to announce a new issue of Constitutional Forum constitutionel e-journal on "The State of Canada's Constitutional Democracy." This special issue of the Forum is a compilation of articles presented at a symposium held at the University of Toronto in February 2016 with the same title.