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.

Hai Tran

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Land Taking Conflict in East Asian Postsocialist Countries as The Misapplication of Institutional Reform
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: phuchai.tran@mail.utoronto.ca

Hai Tran is a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Law. He holds a dear interest in the historical evolution of land law, and property rights in general. His doctoral thesis is the explanation of the unique and turbulent property rights compromise between socialist and free market legal norms in postsocialist East Asia. With his research, he seeks to solve the welfare question for the public regarding land redistribution and de-escalate the new ideological cold war of the 21st century. This is tied to his broader investigation of the developments of legal institutions in developing countries which are often ideologically nonconforming and self-contradicting.

Beyond his academic endeavor at the University of Toronto, he is an active member of social activism. He has been involved with the feminist HeForShe project in Japan; CPRE for the protection of the English countryside; Power For People and Repowering London to campaign for and build the capacity of community energy groups in the U.K.

Education
S.J.D University of Toronto (2023-present)
LL.M. King’s College London, United Kingdom (2021-2022)
LL.B. Nagoya University, Japan (2017-2021)
Awards and Distinctions
Best undergraduate thesis, Nagoya University Graduate School of Law (2021)
JASSO Honors Scholarship for Privately Financed International Student (2020-2021)
Selected Publications
Tran, Phuc Hai. “Vietnam’s Land Law Evolution” East Asia Forum, March 13, 2024. https://eastasiaforum.org/2024/03/14/vietnams-land-law-evolution/.
Research Interests
Civil Law
Comparative Law
Environmental Law
Law and Globalization
Legal History
Political Philosophy and Theory
Property Law
Supervisor
Mariana Mota Prado
Committee Members
Larissa Katz
Kerry Rittich
External links
Academia.edu

Basema Al-Alami

SJD Candidate
Thesis title:
Inside the Courtroom: Litigating Islam and Muslimness in Canadian Entrapment Trials
Office in Falconer Hall
84 Queen's Park
Toronto, M5S 2C5
Email: basema.al.alami@mail.utoronto.ca

Basema Al-Alami is a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, specializing in the intersection of counterterrorism, entrapment law, and anti-Muslim bias in Canada’s legal system. Her research examines systemic issues in national security practices, particularly the litigation and over-policing of Muslims in post-9/11 Canada. Basema has presented her work at national and international conferences, and she is currently teaching Constitutional Law at Windsor Law.

 

 

Education
Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) Candidate, University of Toronto Faculty of Law (Present)
Master of Laws (LL.M.), University of Toronto Faculty of Law (2022)
Juris Doctor (J.D.), Osgoode Hall Law School (2020)
Honours Bachelor of Arts (HBA), University of Toronto (2017)
Awards and Distinctions
University Of Toronto Fellowship - Law (2022-2025)
Nathan Strauss Q.C. Graduate Fellowship in International Law (2022-2023)
Nathan Strauss Q.C. Graduate Fellowship in International Law (2021-2022)
Benjamin Laufer Prize in International Law (2019-2020)
The Honourable N.W. Rowell Prize (2019-2020)
The Honourable N.W. Rowell Prize (2018-2019)
Dean's Graduation Award, University of Toronto (2017)
Joseph Alfred Whealy In-Course Scholarship (2016-2017)
University Of Toronto Scholar - Beatty (2015-2016)
The Erindale Admission Scholarships (2013-2014)
University Of Toronto Scholar (2013-2014)
Professional Affiliations
Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies, University of Toronto
Canadian Association for Forced Migration and Refugee Studies
Other information

Conferences, Workshops, and Presentations (Selected)

Today’s Totalitarianism: Mobilizing Knowledge against Totalitarian Trends (SSHRC grant), hosted by the University of British Columbia (July 2024). 

Legal Contradictions: Identifying Iterations of Us versus Them, hosted by the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto (September 2023).

Interrogating Islamophobia in the ‘war on terror’ after two decades, hosted by the 12th National Conference of Critical Perspectives / Criminology & Social Justice in Ottawa (May 2023). 

United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee delegation visit to Canada, hosted by the Committee (February 2023). 

9/11 and the Canadian Settler Colony Conference, hosted by Windsor Law (October 2022). 

University of Toronto - Humboldt University Workshop, hosted by the Institute of Islamic Studies (September 2022).

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Taskforce, hosted by Humber College (July 2022).

 

 

Selected Publications

Basema Al-Alami, “Entrapped: John Nuttall, Amanda Korody, and Canada’s Counterterrorism Crisis“ (October 2024) Today’s Totalitarianism, online: <https://www.todaystotalitarianism.com/entrapped-canadas-counterterrorism-crisis>. 

Basema Al-Alami, "Is Canada finally taking far-right extremism seriously? Latest arrests are a positive sign" (6 June 2024), online: The Conversation <https://theconversation.com/is-canada-finally-taking-far-right-extremism....

Basema Al-Alami, "Israel isn’t complying with the International Court of Justice ruling — what happens next?" (6 February 2024), online: The Conversation <https://theconversation.com/israel-isnt-complying-with-the-international....

Basema Al-Alami, "The global call for accountability in Germany, Namibia, and Canada" (25 January 2024), online: The Hill Times <https://www.hilltimes.com/story/2024/01/25/the-global-call-for-accountab....

Basema Al-Alami, "The humanitarian crisis in Gaza: a cry for humanity" (18 October 2023), online: Toronto Star <https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/the-humanitarian-crisis-in-....

Basema Al-Alami. “Canadian law enforcement agencies continue to target Muslims” (12 July 2023), online: The Conversation <https://theconversation.com/canadian-law-enforcement-agencies-continue-t....

Lisa Forman, Basema Al-Alami & Kaitlin Fajber, “An Inquiry into State Agreement and Practice on the International Law Status of the Human Right to Medicines” (2022) 24:2 Health Hum. Rights 125.

Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Titilayo Adebola & Basema Al-Alami, “Viewing the International Labour Organization’s Social Justice Praxis  through a  Third World Approaches to International Law Lens: Some Preliminary Insights”, in George Politakis, et al. eds, ILO 100: Law for Social Justice (Geneva: International Labour Organization, 2019), online: <https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---jur/documents/p....

Nathan Innocente, Basema Al-Alami, Amanda Borthwick, Alfred Pepushaj, & Harmehr Sekhon. 2018. “The Teaching Opportunity Program: Integrating Undergraduate Students in Course Design, Assessment, and Teaching.” Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education annual conference, Sherbrooke, QC, June 19-22.

Research Interests
Canadian Constitutional Law
Charter of Rights
Criminal Law 
Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law
International Law
Law and Religion
Legal History
National Security Law and Anti-Terrorism Law
Supervisor
Anver Emon
Committee Members
Kent Roach
Vincent Chiao
External links
LinkedIn
Twitter

What Happy the Elephant’s Legal Case Tells Us About the Future of Animal Rights: Professor Angela Fernandez

Friday, June 17, 2022

In article for Slate magazine, published June 17, Justin Marceau, a law professor at the University of Denver, and U of T Law Professor Angela Fernandez, explain an important case for the future of animal rights law:

Inaugural Animal Law Fundamentals presentation by U of T Law Professor Angela Fernandez

Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Animal Law Fundamentals, a free resource from the Brooks Institute, is a documentary-style series of video presentations and scholarly papers on the fundamentals of animal law by North America’s notable animal law scholars. The goal of this series is to make the fundamentals of animal law accessible to the public from premier subject matter experts.

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