Why We Should Continue to Inquire Into Jury RepresentationOver the last year, CIAJ has hosted four Roundtables that brought together actors of the justice system to talk about the under-representation of Indigenous Peoples on criminal juries. The study of systemic discrimination in the context of juries and jury selection is not new, and the problem persists.
Creatures of Statute: Born Free, Bound in Chains. A Unifying Principle of Administrative Law?Imagine. You are a dog. A small dog with big attitude. You are out for a walk in the park, minding your own business. You head for the spot you always go for. As you run, all of a sudden SNAP! The leash becomes taught, the collar tightens, and you can’t breathe. You fall to […]
COVID-19: First Nations Communities May Have the Most to LoseWhile Canadians take measures to protect against COVID-19, First Nations communities may have the most to lose. Protecting vulnerable populations has been a paramount concern across Canada during the COVID-19 crisis, and this holds especially true for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities. The vulnerability of these communities has been emphasized by Canada’s Chief Public […]
CIAJ’s Judicial Internships Across Canada: A McGill Student’s Experience Alongside a Chief JusticeThis past August brought me back to New Brunswick for a week at the Court of Appeal. After living in Montreal, Fredericton appeared even more bucolic than I remembered, especially in the late-summer tranquility before university students enliven the streets. The timing of my visit was for less congenial reasons: Chief Justice Marc Richard decided […]
How Privacy Rules Can Prevent DiscriminationIn a job interview, there are several things that potential employers are prohibited from asking job applicants. Think of rules precluding from asking about an applicant’s age, disabilities, marital status, or intention to have a child. The logic behind these rules is that decision-makers will be unable to discriminate if they lack the sensitive information […]
We Can Run and Hide, But Should We?As human beings, with innate compassion and empathy, we are obviously not immune from the connectivity that comes with the proliferation of social media, email and the internet. Conversations have opened up about the appropriate ways we should engage with these digital communication platforms.
Emojis and Judicial Law: A Few Challenges (2)Part 2: And That Emoji, How Do You Write It? In Part 1, one could read, “For those peppering their text messaging with them, emojis are small pictograms used as an illustration or to express an emotion.” For a computer system, however, an emoji is one of many characters.
Emojis and Judicial Law: A Few Challenges (1)Part 1: When You Write “👿🐙💮” What Do You Mean Exactly? This is how the microblog “Tweeting case law as emoji (badly)” summarizes the 1665 decision of Scot and Scot v. Fletcher. The case did deal with intellectual property rights in books, and indeed “the question was touching what was necessary to be proved in [some] summons.” It does not refer to basketball, or any sport, really.
Three Reasons Why Canadians Should Know About Deepfakes NowOn September 5, 2019, Facebook’s current Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer broke the news that the company will be participating in the launch of a challenge to detect deepfakes. What are “deepfakes”? You may have heard about them in the last two years because Nicolas Cage’s face has begun appearing in clips of movies and […]
The Jury’s Own VoiceThe jury is said to be the conscience of a community (R v Sherratt). As the representatives of the public and the arbiters of culpability, jurors democratize criminal trials. Given the importance and authority accorded to that body, any changes to the law that determines how the jury is composed demands attention. In anticipation of […]
