Ultra Vires Vol 21 Issue 5 — February 2020

ULTRAVIRES.CA

February 28, 2020

VOL. 21, ISS. 5

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO FACULTY OF LAW

LAW FOLLIES: DEAN EDWARD IACOBUCCI (LEFT) AND BEN MAYER-GOODMAN (RIGHT). PHOTOS BY JILLIAN ALBERT AND NOAH REEVES

Twisting in the Wind

Cowboys, Arias, and Scalding Hot Tea

Lack of Administrative Transparency Mars Counselling Program

AVNEE PARANJAPE (2L) In late January, students receiving mental health counselling services at the law school were dealt a blow with the news that the position of the only remaining on-site counsellor, Salima Jadavji, had been eliminated. The email offered little indication of any certain future for the counselling program.

In an interview with Ultra Vires, Assistant Dean Alexis Archbold said that the staffing structure for mental health counselling would be changing from a counsellor hired and supervised by the law school to one from the University of Toronto’s central Health & Wellness department. According to Assistant Dean Archbold, “full-time counselling will resume, as it would have at the law school, in August of 2020.” This was framed as a commitment. With appointments with Salima ceasing at the end of March, if not earlier, this will leave students without an on-site counsellor during the exam period and into the spring. During this time, law students will, according to Assistant Dean Archbold, have priority access to the embedded counsellor at Hart House. The future of Yukimi Henry’s former role in terms of health promotion and programming will “probably” be announced in the summer.

terized the failure of the administration to proFor those keeping track, this means that stuvide a suitable replacement counsellor as “negdents seeing Salima will be transferred to anligent.” other counsellor for 2-3 months, and then preSLS representatives on the Dean’s Mental sumably back to another counsellor beginning Health and Wellness Comin August. This is, of mittee were similarly surcourse, no way to build a clinical relationship upon The issue may not just prised. One representative from each cohort sits on which mental health progbe availability of any this committee, and togethress may be established. counsellor, but access er they have the role of, in The loss of Yukimi, the to a stable counselling part, bringing student conlaw school’s full-time councerns to the administrasellor, last summer came as relationship with an A representative said a great surprise. For many, individual who is able tion. that at the end of the prior having a counsellor who to respond to the school year, they finished was both familiar with the law school system and lounique concerns of law committee meetings on the assumption that Yukimi cated at the law school was students. would be returning. It is a huge support. One 2L unclear when exactly the student* said having someadministration knew about Yukimi’s departure. one at the faculty “made me feel very safe.” AnBut for the representatives, “we were made other student found it helpful to “have someaware of it basically when she left, and have body who could relate” to their experience. A since then been trying to make sure that somestudent who had been seeing Yukimi said that, thing is replacing her.” After SLS representaupon hearing the news, “I was quite shocked, tives raised concerns, the administration reasand I was waiting with bated breath to see what sured them that they were working on it, but did the school would come up with in her absence.” not provide further details as it was an HR Yet, no replacement came. This student charac-

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

A review of Law Follies TOM COLLINS (3L)

L aw Follies took place 6 February 2020.  This year, for the f irst time ever, I attended Law Follies. I did attend the 2018 after-part y, but I never saw any of the show. In 2019, I had the f lu or a factum due—both, I think.

I share this information w ith you because I want you to understand that I had nothing on which to base my experience.

But they do say that the key to happiness is low expectations. A nd, sure enough, I had a wonderful experience. ( That was my tribute to Don R ick les.)

In truth, when L iam Thompson (3L) and Ror y Smith (3L) cast me in a Pepto Bismol commercial as John Sopinka and told me that I would get in for free, I knew that I had to go—not for me, you realize, for my public. Now, I am writing my own rev iew! You know, there is a Latin maxim

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RIGHTS REVIEW

HOW TO MAKE A CHARCUTERIE CHALET

UV SECRET ADMIRERS

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UV INDEX

EDITOR'S NOTE Happy Februar y!

84 Queen’s Park Crescent Toronto, ON M5S 2C5 Ultra Vires is the independent student newspaper of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. We provide a forum for diverse viewpoints on topics of interest to our readers. We aim to foster dialogue on academic and social issues between students, the faculty, and the broader legal community in Toronto, Ontario, and Canada. Our content does not necessarily ref lect the views of the Editorial Board. We print six issues per year. Ultra Vires is printed by Master Web Inc.

EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Melody Chan & James Flynn NEWS EDITOR Ernest Tam ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITORS Angela Gu & Sara Karma FEATURES EDITOR Claudia Shek ASSOCIATE FEATURES EDITOR Vivian Cheng OPINIONS EDITOR Tom Collins ASSOCIATE OPINIONS EDITORS Alexa Cheung & Mike Bertrand DIVERSIONS EDITOR Rory Smith EDITOR-AT-LARGE Vernon Lin SUPERNUMERARY EDITORS William Mazurek & Alina Yu LAYOUT EDITOR Alexandra Fox STAFF WRITERS Alisha Li & Adrienne Ralph

ADVERTISING If you are interested in advertising, please email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

BUSINESS MANAGER Daniel Gao ERRORS If you notice any errors, please email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

SUBMISSIONS If you would like to submit a tip, letter, or an article, please email us at editor@ultravires.ca.

Ultra Vires reserves the right to edit submissions.

Reading week has passed, another Valentine’s Day is over, and we are now over halfway through the Winter semester.

OPINIONS

NEWS Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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Statement Update David Lametti at U of T Law

3

In this issue, you’ll f ind stories on mental health cuts at the law school and the Yale Rebellious Law yers Conference, a selection of anonymous secret admirer submissions, and an opinion piece by Professor Jim Phillips on the 1L small group proposal. We hope you enjoy it.

Professor Anna Su on Human Rights 4

As always, if you have comments or stories to pitch, you can get in touch at editor@ultrav ires.ca.

Yale Rebellious Lawyering

Thanks for reading, — Melody Chan & James Flynn Co-Editors-in-Chief, Ultra Vires P.S. Special shoutout to Victoria Chiu at the Universit y of A lberta! Thanks for your letter!

Faculty Council Update 4

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FEATURES Observations from the Chair Girl

Tsinghua Exchange Program

13

Legally Blonde Review

13

On the Construction of the McGill Guide

14

Delgamuukw and the Wet’suwet’en

15

1L Small Group Proposal

16

5

Hearing

DIVERSIONS 6

Conference

Date Spots in the Law School 16

16

In Vino Veritas

6

Ryan’s Movie Corner

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RIGHTS REVIEW

How to Make a Charcuterie Chalet

7 8

An Interview with Rebecca Sutton

17

Anonymous Secret Admirers Cheap & Fun Things in Toronto

9

18

Follies Photo Spread

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Report and Photo Essay on Global Albinism Alliance

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NEWS

February 28, 2020 | 3

Student Consultation on EDI Statement ANGELA GU (1L) A student consultation meeting was held at lunch on Wednesday, January 29 as part of the effort to update the Faculty of Law’s equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) statement. The faculty’s Gender, Accessibility and Diversity (GAD) Committee has been charged by Dean Edward Iaccobucci to review and provide recommendations on the law school’s current EDI statement. Assistant Dean Alexis Archbold, who is the current GAD Committee chair, also chaired the consultation, and said that a lot has changed since the implementation of the current statement, including the style of EDI statements as well as the Faculty of Law as an institution.

Assistant Dean Archbold said the current statement was written about 15 years ago. It reads: Diversity at the law school will mean the creation of an environment that is welcoming to all, with particular sensitivity to women, visible minority students, Indigenous students, socio-economically disadvantaged students, disabled persons, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered students, mature students, students who are parents, immigrant students and students from various ethnic, cultural, linguistic and/or religious backgrounds, students from various regions of Canada and students from a wide range of academic backgrounds The GAD Committee formed an EDI statement sub-committee following Dean Iacobucci’s mandate letter. It is composed of students, staff, and faculty, and is also chaired by Assistant Dean Archbold. The sub-committee looked closely at the current statement and surveyed statements at other law schools, faculties, and post-secondary institutions.

The student consultation was held to gain feedback on how the selected themes and language resonated with students, ahead of draft-

ing a new EDI statement. These themes included: commitment to equity, diversity of people, diversity of ideas and opinions, diversity and our location in Toronto, inclusive learning environments, law as a force for good, and humility.

In the week leading up to the consultation, Assistant Dean Archbold had sent out two emails to the JD student body inviting all to attend and provide input “on this important project,” promising sandwiches. Students who were unable to attend were given the option to contact the Student Law Society representatives on the GAD sub-committee.

The consultation was held in the John Willis Classroom. Despite the importance of the project and the incentive of free sandwiches, there were only 16 attendees. A number of participants were sub-committee members, and the majority of student attendees were members of equity-seeking student groups at the faculty.

Participants were provided with an eightpage package containing the current EDI statement, the proposed themes, and excerpts of EDI materials from other universities, as well as the entirety of the University of Toronto’s overarching “Statement on Equity, Diversity, and Excellence.”

Of the 19 excerpts included, only three were from Canadian schools. They comprised two from U of T and one from Ryerson University.

16 were from American schools: six of the excerpts came from Stanford University (three from their law school and three from their provost) and four excerpts were from the University of Chicago Law School. Harvard and Duke were also among the institutions included. Participants were asked to review the materials and to share their thoughts.

A participant* asked for the reason behind drawing inspiration from such a limited range of elite schools, likening this process to looking to Queen’s University for a diversity statement.

A sub-committee member replied, saying that they had collected statements broadly and that the excerpts that remained were those that skillfully represented the selected themes.

Another participant asked about the purpose that such a statement would serve, whether it would be used as a recruitment tool, aspirational statement or a multi-purpose instrument. She also asked whether there would be other activities, training, and education that would accompany the statement.

Assistant Dean Archbold replied saying that the EDI statement will reflect the values of the Faculty of Law as an institution—“who we are now, and who we think we should be.” She also said that a new page of the law school website would be built to house the statement, as well as links to equity and outreach initiatives at the law school, and demographic survey results. A participant said she would want the statement to be not only aspirational but also a tool for education and awareness for the law school community.

The privilege of attending law school was mentioned, as well as the corollary professional responsibilities of lawyering, and even the responsibilities of law students as future practitioners. There was discussion of “lawyers for good,” analogized to doctors serving to confer benefits to society. One participant pointed out that the statement would have to be applicable to everyone in the law school community, including those who are not involved in practicing law.

A participant suggested that the statement should communicate a responsibility for everyone to work together regarding equity, diversity, and inclusion. Another participant pointed out the need to avoid placing the onus of making improvements on marginalized communities.

A participant said that it is not enough to just

bring in diverse groups of students, but to also cultivate allyship. One participant said that there were some politics around the terminology of “allyship” but that the idea of support by the broader community is helpful. Another participant said that “it would be great to see some straight white dudes here,” at the consultation table, “because we have quite a few of them” at the law school.

There was also discussion of whether or not “equity,” “diversity” and “inclusion” should be defined in the statement, and the need to operationalize the statement. One of the EDI themes was “diversity of ideas and opinions” and the materials included an excerpt about free expression from Stanford University’s Provost. A participant said that the words “free expression” are politically charged and should not be used in the law school’s statement. Another participant suggested substituting it with “respectful discourse.” It was pointed out that the University of Toronto uses “free expression” regarding diversity in its statement. Assistant Dean Archbold said that the law school’s statement would be complementary to U of T’s statement, being particular to the law school while not conflicting with broader university-stated commitments.

Mental health, tuition as a barrier to accessibility, and humility were also brought up in the discussion.

A few participants still had hands raised with comments to make when Assistant Dean Archbold drew the consultation to an end, having to leave promptly for another meeting.

The GAD Committee hopes to complete a draft EDI statement for presentation to the Faculty Council for input in March. The implementation of a new statement will not require a vote. *Ultra Vires has been requested to not name participants, to allow for free and honest exchange of ideas in such consultations.

60 Minutes with the Minister of Justice David Lametti talks mandate letters, MAID, and public service at the Faculty of Law AVNEE PARANJAPE (2L) Earl ier t h is mont h, M in ister of Just ice and Attor ney Genera l Dav id L amett i stopped by t he Facu lt y of L aw to g ive br ief remark s and answer students’ quest ions. For t he students and d ig n itar ies assembled (includ ing Ha l Jack man—yes, that Jack man— and Fran k Iacobucci), it was a un iquely int imate sett ing in wh ich to hear from a sitt ing Cabinet m in ister.

L amett i spent t he bu l k of h is hour at t he Facu lt y ta l k ing about h is l ife and career before pol it ics, as wel l as t he mandate letter he had been g iven by t he Pr ime M in ister just week s pr ior. L amett i revea led t hat, dur ing h is underg raduate deg ree at St. M ichael’s Col lege, he was a SNA I L as a reg u lar pat ron of a prev ious iterat ion of t he law l ibrar y.

He was a lso an Ox ford buddy of Dean Ed Iacobucci, who, in h is int roduct ion for L amett i, made reference to myster ious stor ies from t heir Ox ford days t hat were not to be told.

L amett i a lso spoke about some of h is pr ior it ies for t he upcom ing year. T hese include implement ing t he Un ited Nat ions Declarat ion on t he R ights ( U N DR I P) of I nd igenous Peoples by t he end of 2020 (an ambit ious dead l ine at best), bann ing conversion t herapy, cont inuing to develop t he jud icia l appoint ment system implemented by h is predecessor, and some d ig ita l in it iat ives, includ ing “protect ing t he ind iv idua l on l ine” and reg u lat ing on l ine hate speech.

L amett i a lso d iscussed, as one of h is most pressing pr ior it ies, updat ing t he Med ica l A ssistance in D y ing ( M A I D) leg islat ion. I n h is free and relat ively unrest r icted Parl iamentar y Secretar y days, L amett i was one of four L ibera l M Ps to vote aga inst t he M A I D bi l l as it was w r itten, cit ing its unconst itut iona l it y.

T h is was af f ir med by t he Quebec Super ior Cour t just t h is past Fa l l.

I n h is cur rent role, however, L amett i

was caut ious to spea k w it h any specif icit y about t he next steps for M A I D, aside from ad her ing to t he March dead l ine set by t he Quebec Super ior Cour t for t he prov ision’s amend ment, and plans for up com ing consu ltat ions on advanced d irect ives, access for mature m inors, and access for menta l hea lt h pat ients.

Students quest ioned L amett i w it h character ist ica l ly uncomprom ising v igour. Topics ranged from t he resur rected sexua l assau lt t ra in ing bi l l for newlyappointed judges to end ing t he ban aga inst men who have sex w it h men blood donors, to implement ing t he free, pr ior and infor med consent components of U N DR I P. L amett i’s answers may have been d isappoint ing for some, as he refer red on ly to conf ir med gover nment pol icy. T hough he wou ld on ly say t hat l ift ing t he blood ban was somet h ing t hat had been consid-

ered by t he gover nment in t he past, he of fered relat ively deta i led responses to quest ions of jud icia l independence ra ised by t he sexua l assau lt t ra in ing bi l l and dea l ing w it h consent for resource projects as par t of U N DR I P. W h i le he cou ld not spea k to t he ro bust ness of “socia l nor ms” as protect ive measures for ot her democracies, L amett i ex pressed conf idence in t he resistance of Canad ian socia l nor ms to deter iorat ion. L amett i was on ly as for t hcom ing about pol icy as one cou ld ex pect from a sitt ing Cabinet m in ister.

T he M in ister’s v isit ra ised many sign if icant pol icy and lega l issues to keep an eye on in t he upcom ing mont hs. During h is remark s, L amett i a lso made an impassioned ca l l for law students to consider publ ic ser v ice work, say ing t hat “ten students from t h is facu lt y on Bay St reet wou ld have a far sma l ler impact t han ten in t he House of Commons.”

NEWS

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Anna Su Discusses International Human Rights Law, AI ANGELA GU (1L) AND ANNECY PANG (1L) On Wednesday February 12, Professor Anna Su gave a talk at U of T’s Center for Ethics as part of its Ethics@Noon series. The talk addressed her upcoming paper about the benefits and drawbacks of applying international human rights law to artificial intelligence (AI) governance.

Professor Su’s research primarily concerns human rights and religion, but she was drawn to AI because of the excitement surrounding AI regulation on Twitter. In her paper, Professor Su reviewed and compared the ethical statements regarding AI from governments and organizations around the world. Some organizations call for regulations beyond domestic law and argue that the application of international human rights law is needed.

In her talk, Professor Su outlined three benefits and three drawbacks regarding the application of international human rights law to regulating AI. Benefits Human rights law provides a definition for

many of the terms used in national and regional statements about AI. These include terms like “privacy,” “fairness,” and “equality”, which carry different meanings depending on the context in which they are used. The human rights law definitions include voices and perspectives that may not be consulted in the ethics statements.

Human rights law addresses geopolitical inequalities and allows voices from the Global South to be heard. In a world of AI nationalism where the race for developing AI technology could end up akin to an arms race between the United States, China, and the European Union, the Global South may unwittingly become the laboratory for technological experiments.

Human rights law provides a ready-made framework for public-private accountability.

Much of the AI development in Canada and the U.S. has been in the private sector, and a lot of it is still voluntary in nature. There are efforts underway to make legally binding treaties to hold companies accountable for human rights violations.

Drawbacks Human rights law is often criticized for its lack of effectiveness because it relies on “naming and shaming” for accountability.

But it can also galvanize public opinion.

Civil society organizations can rely on human rights as a language of power and resistance to hold companies and governments accountable for their actions.

Human rights, as it is constructed now, focuses on the individual. This makes it diff icult to attach rights at the societal and structural level. AI transforms society in various ways, such as impacting the labour market, the delivery of healthcare, and the delivery of f inancial services.

Human rights law has an audit culture, with reporting and a f ixation on indicators and compliance. Now, AI becomes part of the audit. Companies can satisfy themselves with pursuing metrics, which can be mobilized as a paper trail.

It is an “exercise of comparison,” said

Professor Su in her presentation. While there are limitations to human rights law, their frameworks are still better than voluntary, corporate statements that provide a narrow view of ethics. International human rights law can also be a good “gapf iller” if there is a lack of robust local A I regulations.

Professor Su will be on sabbatical next year, and says that she is thinking of convening a panel on the topic of AI for good. “I think Toronto is a great place to organize these things because we’ve gotten that reputation of being an AI forerunner in this AI revolution” says Professor Su. However, Professor Su will be turning her academic focus back to religion, writing a historical book on how religion and the market came to be conceptualized as two separate things.

Professor Su says that the ability to choose her research topics is “part of what makes this job amazing—apart from teaching you guys, of course.”

Faculty Council Addresses Student Choice Initiative, Sessional Dates Awards office announces $300,000 of endowed funds SARA KARMA (1L) Dean Edward Iacobucci opened the fifth Faculty Council meeting of the academic year by thanking all who attended Law Follies the week prior, joking, “for those of you who missed it, I am indeed bald and my father was indeed a Supreme Court Justice.”

school who have made outstanding contributions to the TRC of Canada’s Call to Action #28.

All JD students will be able to nominate a professor for the award and will vote for their preferred recipient in March. The award will be presented at convocation.

Event attendance Dean Iacobucci noted the Faculty’s disappointment with student turnout at recent events, including the Law and Economics Colloquium on February 11th. The Dean partially attributed the poor attendance to the event’s 4:005:45pm time slot, which conflicted with many classes.

The Dean also noted that the question-andanswer session with The Honourable Justices Rosalie Abella and Nicholas Kasirer on January 28th had a disappointing attendance, considering its lunch time slot and the high profile guests*. Dean Iacobucci said the Faculty must consider the effort put into events if few students are interested.

Student Choice Initiative update SLS and Downtown Legal Services fees are once again mandatory this semester in the wake of the Ontario Divisional Court’s decision to strike down the Student Choice Initiative. The initiative, which was held to be outside the scope of provincial government power, permitted students to opt out of services deemed “non-essential.”

The Ontario government is currently appealing the decision. However, the University made the choice to make fees mandatory for the Winter semester.

SLS TRC Teaching Award Students’ Law Society (SLS) President Morgan Watkins (3L) announced an SLS partnership with the Indigenous Initiatives Office and the Indigenous Law Students’ Association to introduce a new teaching award. The new Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) teaching award seeks to recognize professors at the law

GLSA Updates Graduate Law Students’ Association (GLSA) vice-president Crystal Park (GPLLM) announced the GLSA’s Executive Roundtable program, which allows graduate students to discuss concerns and issues they face with professionals in the finance and technology sectors.

LAWS update Law in Action Within Schools (LAWS) executive director Eleonora Dimitrova also

gave an update on the program. LAWS supports high school students who face barriers to post-secondary education by providing exposure to legal issues. LAWS also uses legal education as a tool to encourage high school graduation and post-secondary education.

Last year, the program employed 2 fulltime staff members and 8 law students as temporary summer staff. The program partnered with 8 different Toronto District School Board schools with an enrollment of 459 Core Program Students.

Over 1,000 students were involved in LAWS in some capacity. LAWS also placed 82 high school students in full-time volunteer work over the summer at legal clinics and law firms. Eight law firms participated in mentoring programs that mentored 131 students.

Dimitrova concluded by sharing a statement from a 1L student at Osgoode Hall Law School who is a LAWS alumni. The student shared how grateful she was for LAWS programming.

Sessional dates Associate Dean, Curriculum and Research Albert Yoon revealed that classes for the 2020-2021 academic year are likely to begin on September 8th, 2020. Due to the later start of the term, the exam schedule will be more compressed and all first-year exams will be in one week.

To fit the 13 weeks of classes for first-year

students mandated by the Law Society, firstyear classes will finish by Thursday, December 10th. First-year final exams would then run December 14th-18th.

Yoon said the faculty is exploring the possibility of ending classes on Wednesday, December 9th to have an extra study day for first- year students, but that would require an additional deemed day of classes to be scheduled at a later date.

Yoon assured Faculty Council that this tight scheduling by the Records Office is manageable. The Faculty will also allow for individual responses from those concerned with their exam schedules. Legal Research and Writing will also be more uniform so that all first-year students are under the same time frame, noting that this year, different sections had varying deadlines. Legal Methods will also start one week later than its usual midAugust start.

Awards Wasila Baset from the Awards Office announced seven new awards totalling $302,500 of new financial aid bursaries for the law school. As per the Boundless Promise Program, the University of Toronto will match the amount gifted, resulting in an impact of over $600,000 on financial aid.

*Editor’s Note: Law Events reports that 30 to 40 guests attended this event.

FEATURES

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February 28, 2020 | 5

A Morning at Court with Chair Girl A follow-up to Decorum Schmecorum ANGELA GU (1L) AND ADRIENNE RALPH (1L) On Friday February 7, we visited the Old City Hall courthouse to see the 10am sentencing hearing of the infamous “Chair Girl,” Marcella Zoia.

Last year, Zoia pleaded guilty to mischief causing danger to life after throwing a patio chair off a 45th floor condo balcony in Toronto.

Equipped with Kristy Wong’s tips on courtroom decorum from the January issue of Ultra Vires and tasked with writing a reflection for our criminal law class, we were ready to be the best-behaved people in court.

When it comes to high-profile cases, however, we learned that the rules at Old City Hall can be a little different: Wear formal and business clothing.

Adrienne: I was actually surprised by how casual most people observing were dressed. Even the constantly-tweeting journalists seemed to be wearing sweaters and jeans, so wearing your best suit isn’t necessary, but probably leave the sweats at home.

Angela: There were also high schoolers courtroom-hopping on a field trip. They were dressed pretty casually. Chair Girl dressed formally for court, foregoing the bodycon outfits of her Instagram photos for a black blazer and black pants. Her style still shone through in the form of hot pink nails.

Bow when court is already in session and take a seat quietly.

Adrienne: I was also surprised by how few people

bowed. The most interesting part was that the journalists and suit-wearing professionals seemed to be least likely to bow, in contrast to more casual onlookers.

Attend court in the morning to catch the exciting cases.

Angela: But when you arrive at a courtroom before 10am, don’t tug on the doors and stomp away in a huff when they don’t open. We saw too many people try to open courtroom doors that were in fact locked.

Adrienne: Also be prepared to be there for a while if you want to watch the whole thing. We left around 1pm and the hearing still had not wrapped up.

Check the daily court lists.

Angela: Chair Girl, Marcella Zoia, was listed under her initials. Apparently initials are used if there is a publication ban at any point in the proceedings. (Initials are also used for youth under 18, and when a defendant’s name could reveal the identity of a complainant or witness in a sexual offence.) Also, trial and hearing locations can change—Zoia’s hearing got moved to a larger courtroom and the update was not reflected on the online docket.

Adrienne: But shout-out to the woman in the original courtroom who announced that “the Zoia matter” would be heard in a different room, prompting us to power-walk up the stairs

of Old City Hall.

Do not bring coffee or tea into a courtroom.

Angela: We packed light and also did not bring water bottles, thinking that there would be water fountains. We could not find any water fountains. There is a basement café but we did not make the trek down during the morning recess.

Adrienne: However, the bathrooms at Old City Hall are nicely stocked with small disposable paper cups. Hopefully the pipes have been replaced since the building opened in 1899, because I chugged down about five of these cups.

Do not leave the courtroom without bowing.

Angela: Some people left the courtroom without bowing. Those who bowed did so with varying degrees of tilt. The security guards opened the doors for some people to exit, but not for everyone. This door-opening did not correlate to whether or not they bowed.

Adrienne: Bowing rate was definitely higher for exit-ers than it was for enter-ers.

Do not leave the volume on your phone on.

Adrienne: Cell phones as well as laptops were fully out in play, and usually open to Twitter, although thankfully everyone had diligently set

theirs to silent. We spotted at least five journalists that we recognized from various news outlets, including one from a certain Toronto-based clickbait news site, breaking the no photos rule and sending some juicy gossip in massive font right in front of us.

Angela: On a side note, the Crown lawyer had her laptop up in full view and we could see her desktop background - there was the cutest picture of a French bulldog. I got distracted by the adorable pup.

Do not talk loudly in court.

Adrienne: Although there were no loud talkers in the courtroom, we did run into some interesting conversations elsewhere. While waiting in the hallway for the hearing to begin, a woman stood talking on the phone directly outside the doors to the hearing courtroom and loudly demanded orders for dozens of donuts of various flavours.

Angela: In addition to the live-tweeting reporters in the courtroom, there were also photographers who had left their cameras in a heap outside the courtroom doors. As the hours went on, a bunch of photographers decided to follow the proceedings from Twitter instead, sitting and chatting on a bench in the hallway. They were just waiting for the hearing to end so that they could follow Zoia and her lawyer out to take photos on the steps when they leave Old City Hall. Thanks to the hard work of live-tweeting journalists, anyone can follow the action of a high-profile court hearing from anywhere.

The Search for an Alternate Legal Path Yale’s Rebellious Lawyering Conference explores non-conventional law jobs MILITZA BOLJEVIC (1L) AND HANNAH LANK (1L) \What does a non-conventional law job look like? In 1L (and maybe even after) it can be difficult to see a path for yourself beyond Bay Street.

The search for an alternate legal path was what motivated us to attend the 26th Annual Rebellious Lawyering Conference at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

The conference, which refers to itself as RebLaw, “seeks to build a community of law students, practitioners, and activists seeking to work in the service of social change movements and to challenge hierarchies of race, wealth, gender, and expertise within legal practice and education”.

RebLaw is entirely student-run and the largest public interest conference of its kind in the United States.

We expected the conference to introduce us to like-minded law students from across the US and Canada, as well as to network with and learn from practicing public interest lawyers. We were also excited to visit the Yale campus and learn more about studying law at an Ivy League school.

The conference offers the helpful service of providing accommodation with a Yale Law student for visiting attendees, resulting in us being paired with a 1L who kindly let us sleep on her couch.

Although we hoped to forge a more meaningful connection with our host, we found that this was not the result—maybe it was because we were from Canada! Regardless, offering accommoda-

tion for visiting attendees, most of whom are students on a limited budget, is certainly an incentive to attend.

Upon arrival, we were given a program with a schedule of the weekend’s panels and events.

Many of them sounded exciting: Climate, Immigration, and Criminal Justice; Systemic Violence, Rights Abuses, and Animal Agriculture; and We Don’t Need Police in Reproductive Justice, to name a few. There were also two keynote speakers: Judge Carlton W. Reeves, appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi by President Obama, and Kerry Ellington, a freedom fighter, grassroots community organizer, and radical educator.

The conference was well-staffed with student volunteers from Yale Law School, and many of the attendees were also from Yale. We also met students from Vassar, NYU, Colorado, and McGill, to name a few.

We were most inspired by the keynote from Judge Reeves, who spoke of the importance of empathy in the law and his own experience as an African American law student and lawyer. His keynote, moderated by a Yale Law professor, was serious yet generated a few laughs. It was inspiring to see the kindness with which Judge Reeves practices law, writing judgments that demonstrate his ability to empathize with claimants who come from different backgrounds, such as with the is-

sues of same-sex marriage or abortion. Judge Reeves also spoke on the importance of seeing the humanity of every individual when he discussed how any judge who finds it easy to sentence someone to prison should take a step back.

The panels, while interesting and relating to topics that may not often find their way into the law school classroom, were not as relevant to Canadian law as we had hoped. The conference made it clear to us that some of the largest issues facing the American legal system are in fact quite different from some of the most pressing issues in Canadian law. For example, panels on the Schoolto-Prison pipeline, or Abolishing Immigrant Detention, are either non-existent in Canada or occur at a much smaller scale than in the U.S. Panels that we thought sounded like they would be relevant, like Systemic Violence, Rights Abuses, and Animal Agriculture, were also surprising in their specificity to the American system. We came armed with our notebooks, but each left with only half a page.

On Saturday, we attended a breakout session, which was in the format of a small group lunchtime discussion that aimed to “provide a space for people to discuss how more narrow concerns inform and challenge their approach to social justice and lawyering.” These sessions ranged in topic from Free Speech to Climate Justice to National Security to Queer Liberation, and attend-

ees could choose any one of the topics listed to attend. The discussions were moderated by Yale law students.

While we expected this to be a productive time to discuss pressing issues with our fellow attendees, we found that the way the discussion was moderated did not encourage attendees to challenge their existing opinions or approaches to rebellious lawyering. Instead, people whose opinions conflicted with the majority were viewed as diverting the conversation.

For example, we found the discussion supported the view that being less visibly queer invalidated one’s personal queer identity and ability to speak on the topic. Those in the room who did not identify as queer were not encouraged to speak or ask questions, and terms such as “Queer Liberation” were not explained. The discussion seemed uninterested in encouraging ally-ship, which is counterintuitive to the very concept of rebellious lawyering.

If anything, this conference illuminated to us the need for a Canadian equivalent, a student conference that applies the concept of rebellious lawyering to Canadian legal issues (of which there are many!) While we would encourage our Canadian law student peers to consider attending the RebLaw conference, we would also welcome any students interested in developing a Canadian RebLaw to reach out.

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In Vino Veritas California Love TOM COLLINS (3L) Valentine’s Day may have passed, but love remains in the air—and in the bottle. At In Vino Veritas, we have been swooning over California wines. California’s unique soils and climates have a reputation for producing some of the world’s f inest wines. Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are perennial favourites. Their popularity often leads to higher prices (i.e. relatively lower value), but it is good to indulge every so often. Share them with someone you love (including yourself.)

has a complex nose that hints at eggnog, buttered toast, ripe pineapple, banana and even a faint meatiness. The f lavour prof ile is equally rich. At once creamy and juicy, it reveals eggnog, vanilla, and lemon. Long f inish. This wine is full bodied, but it never feels heavy. The oak is subtle and bright acidity gives it lift.

Danica Bennewies

Ménage à Trois Silk Red Blend

St. Huberts The Stag Cabernet Sauvignon 2016 $24.95 at the LCBO This month’s theme was a bit of an adventure for me. I don’t drink much California wine. All I knew was that California produces a lot of Cabernet Sauvignon. I decided that I would pick the California Cab Sauv with the most interesting label, and this led me to St. Huberts The Stag. This is actually a Cab Sauv blend (82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 6% Petite Sirah, and 3% Tannat) and it is very bold and very dry. It is not for the faint of heart. The main f lavours I picked out were dark chocolate and dark berries (think cherries and blackberries), but there was also a subtle earthiness to it. I was not an instant fan of this wine, but once my palate adjusted, I found that it had quite a smooth f inish that tied all of the f lavours together. Since this wine is so full-bodied, I would pair it with food. I had it with a red pasta with goat cheese and it was delicious. Steak would also be perfect.

Tom Collins Angels & Cowboys Proprietary Red 2017 $34.95 at the LCBO I recognize that, at $35 per bottle, this is not the most accessible option for the student reader. But this is not just any bottle of wine.

It is, perhaps, the best bottle I enjoyed in 2019. This full-bodied Zinfandel blend opens to notes of ripe cherry, vanilla and caramel.

The cherry carries through to the taste, where it is joined by bright red strawberries and raspberries. A long f inish follows, with a lingering f lavour of tart, pink grapefruit, and a slightly waxy mouthfeel. This is a relatively alcoholic wine (14.8%), but the alcohol never overwhelms. The acidity is also pronounced, but nicely balanced, making this a versatile wine. Pair it with barbecue and sharp cheeses.

Rodney Strong Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2015 $31.95 at the LCBO Chardonnay is California’s most cultivated grape. This is an especially beautiful expression of it. I bought a bottle for a dinner party at which a friend and I were making a mixed mushroom risotto. I knew that I wanted something with enough acidity to handle the creaminess of the dish, but also with some buttery or nutty notes to compliment the mushrooms. This Chardonnay was ideal. It

Amy Lin $17.95 at the LCBO One of the many joys of Valentine’s Day, aside from binging on on-sale chocolates, is drinking the leftover wine from your roommate’s extravagant date night (shoutout to Kaija Sandberg). I never believed in soulmates, but I guess that was because I had never encountered a red wine that was as smooth as this bad boy: it was love at f irst sip.

This blend of Pinot Noir, Malbec, and Petite Sirah blossoms to reveal a soft palate of strawberries, raspberries, and cherries with a hint of f loral. The lingering f inish with just a bit of spice at the end rounds out the experience.

For those who are still new to reds and are hesitant to drink it on its own, this is a great place to start. Everything from its subtle sweetness to silky f inish might make you rethink your initial prejudice that this could only be a one-time rendezvous—maybe, just maybe, this is a wine that’s worth the commitment. But I’ll let you decide.

Stave & Steel Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon $19.95 at the LCBO If you are looking for a bold and seductive red to bring to your next dinner party or date night, then I recommend giving the Stave & Steel Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon a try. Advertised as the f irst barrel-aged 100% Cabernet Sauvignon to hit the market, this oaky red has notes of caramel and spice with a hint of tobacco. In addition to the bourbon inf luences, notes of juicy dark berries, plums and cherries are all noticeable on the palate. This is a complex and structured wine that would pair well with meat-based dishes. If you are feeling as adventurous as I was, grab a bottle of this wine and f ire up the stove for some homemade Korean BBQ. It will certainly make for a memorable evening.

Olivia Mazza J Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 $23.95 at the LCBO (also available in 375mL for $14.95) This is a great wine if you’re spending Valentine’s Day alone; for example, if your signif icant other lives 3800 kilometres away.

The reason is that it comes in a small, 375 mL size! At this size you don’t even have to feel guilty about f inishing the bottle—and this is easy to do, because Seven Oaks is an easydrinking and smooth Cabernet. There is a nice cedar aroma along with the expected dark fruits on the nose. Fruit forward with black currant and black cherry, along with

the classic oak and vanilla. A little bit of spice and maybe some hints of chocolate? A medium to full-bodied wine at a good price point.

It was nothing extraordinary, but it is a reliable choice for a classic Cabernet Sauvignon.

Pair with red meat.

Kimia Veisi Nezhad Sterling Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 $42.95 at the LCBO ($5 off until 1 March) I celebrated Valentine’s Day w ith this

excellent Cabernet from Napa Valley, and it stole my heart. The silver label on the bott le g ives it a unique, shiny look that caught my attention while w ine-shopping at the LCBO. “Bold, complex, smooth, and r ich” is how I would descr ibe this seductive w ine (and my ideal partner!) Dark pur ple in color and a great nose w ith dark fruits, vanilla and wet earth. Intensely f lavour ful, full-bodied, oaky, and spicy, w ith a hint of dark chocolate. I paired it w ith a charcuter ie board consisting of var ious spicy and smoked meats and cheeses, but it would also pair well w ith gr illed red meats.

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February 28, 2020 | 7

Ryan’s Movie Corner Love in Films

RYAN SHAH (1L) Romance is wel l-t rod ter r itor y for f i lms, and t hough it is not uncommon for some d irectors to rely on t ired romant ic t ropes, depict ions of romance on-screen can often ma ke for some of t he most passionate and mov ing moments of cinema. To assist you in d if ferent iat ing bet ween your r un- oft he-m i l l romcom and f i lms t hat ef fect ively and ear nest ly engage w it h love, t wo excellent f i lms t hat dea l w it h t he subject of ro mance are rev iewed below.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire Portrait of a L ady on Fire is an immersive per iod piece t hat depicts t he emerg ing ro mance of t wo women, a pa inter and her subject. I n late 18t h- cent ur y France, Marianne ( Noém ie Merlant) is comm issioned by t he mot her of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) to pa int a por t ra it of Héloïse. T he por t ra it is dest ined for Héloïse’s suitor whom Héloïse is loat he to mar r y. Mar ianne is t hus g iven t he d if f icu lt task of pa int ing Héloïse w it hout her k nowledge, obser v ing her dur ing t he day and pa int ing in t he even ing. Marianne is presented to Héloïse as a companion, who has been brought to t he Breton island where Héloïse l ives to accompany her on da i ly st rol ls. T hese st rol ls present Mar ianne w it h her on ly oppor t un it y to st udy Héloïse’s appearance, wh ich she must t ranslate to canvas from memor y.

T h is clandest ine operat ion not on ly d r ives t he plot for t he f irst por t ion of t he f i lm, but generates some ext remely refresh ing cinemat ic moments.

A s Mar ianne accompan ies Héloïse on her da i ly wa l k, t he camera places t he v iewer in t he perspect ive of a pa inter, subt ly cran ing her neck to obser ve her often shrouded subject. Director Cél ine Sciamma’s v ision sh ines t hrough in t hese scenes — v iewers can’t help but appreciate t he v isua l beaut y t hat Sciamma is able to produce t hrough t he ingen ious use of perspect ive. T he ar t fu l scene d irect ion is complemented by a wel l desig ned set t hat completely immerses v iewers in t he f i lm’s 18t h- cent ur y sett ing.

T hough t he f i lm is an incred ible v isua l accompl ishment, t he most engag ing aspect of t he f i lm is t he relat ionsh ip t hat develops bet ween Mar ianne and Héloïse.

T he depict ion of t he romance bet ween t hese characters is poet ic, t hought fu l, and ext remely mov ing. Portrait of a L ady on Fire car r ies on LGBTQ cinema’s ext remely st rong t rad it ion of depict ing on-screen ro mance in an emot iona l ly impact fu l way.

Unfor t unately, Portrait of a L ady on Fire d id not ma ke it to t he Oscars. Cl inch ing t he spot for France’s subm ission for Best Foreig n L ang uage Fi lm, instead, was L es Mi sérables. T hough L es M isérables was an inspired and engag ing f i lm in its ow n r ight, Portrait of a L ady on Fire is an incomparably st ronger f i lm and a must-see of 2019.

8/10

Uncut Gems Though Uncut G e m s is not a f ilm that will immediately strike viewers as “romantic,” a central component of the f ilm’s plot is the relationship between jeweller Howard Ratner (Adam Sandler) and his mistress Julia ( Julia Fox). Ratner is a heavily indebted jeweller who resolves to pay his debts through a series of high-stakes bets (4-way parlays, to be specif ic) on Boston Celtics games. His creditor and brother-in-law, a loan shark named Arno, pursues Ratner in an increasingly aggressive manner throughout the f ilm, making for an incredibly tense atmosphere that is intensif ied through directors Josh and Benny Safdie’s use of cinematography.

The f ilm is 135 minutes of pure anxiety.

Ratner makes consistently unwise f inancial decisions, and in doing so, risks both life and livelihood. The pacing and presentation of the f ilm’s plot is designed to make you feel this risk—this is one of Uncut G e m s’s major accomplishments. One of the most impressive feats of the f ilm is its ability to make viewers feel viscerally nervous during the scenes where Ratner makes his high stakes bets—scenes which consist, generally, of Ratner watching a basketball game on TV. Though one would think that this would make for a poor viewing experience, the genius of the Safdie brothers’ directing shines through in these scenes. This is accomplished with the help of an excellent soundtrack, an inspired performance on the part of Sandler, and creative camera-work.

Coinciding with Ratner’s descent into ever more precarious situations is the collapse of his marriage. This collapse establishes the basis for Ratner’s tumultuous relationship with his mistress, Julia. This relationship is as bizarre as it is entertaining —Ratner and Julia f ight and makeup throughout the f ilm in a way that coincides with the ebb and f low of Ratner’s luck, or lack thereof. Though the relationship is hardly complex or meaningful when compared with the relationship portrayed in Portrait of a L ady on Fire, its portrayal does an excellent job of reinforcing the visceral and emotional impact of the f ilm.

The f ilm is also interesting because of two somewhat unusual actors: Adam Sandler and Kevin Garnett. Sandler is extremely adept in his portrayal of Ratner, and is able to embody the superf icial charm of a manipulative, indebted jeweller who gambles away other people’s money. The success of this portrayal is rather remarkable given the type of role that Sandler typically portrays. Garnett, who plays himself, has an equally impressive performance. Garnett is obsessed with a rare black opal that Ratner has recently imported from Ethiopia and makes it his mission to acquire it throughout the f ilm. The scenes that portray interactions between Garnett and Ratner are some of the most interesting of the f ilm, not only because of how surreal it is to see Sandler and Garnett in their respective roles, but also because both put forward such strong performances.

8/10

How to Make a Charcuterie Chalet A gingerbread house made of crackers, cheese, and cured meats ANNECY PANG (1L) AND ANGELA GU (1L) P ict ure a g ingerbread house, but instead of g ingerbread and frost ing, it is made out of crackers, cheese, and cured meats. My fr iends and I are fans of eat ing sa lam i and havar t i wh i le pretend ing to be fancy. So, nat ura l ly, when we saw on t he I nter net a pict ure of a charcuter ie cha let, we k new we had to t r y it out. Below is a step -by-step account of our jour ney.

cured meats. I pick up a spicy sa lam i and a block of Red L eicester from a shop in t he St. L aw rence Market on one of my week ly g rocer y r uns. I watch “Professiona l Chefs Bl ind ly Taste Test Cured Meats” to lear n t he d if ference bet ween sa lam i and prosciutto.

1. Do some resea rch. We weren’t sure how to ma ke t he house-shaped base, so we t y ped “charcuter ie cha let” into Google and found a blog post t hat used crackers and cream cheese to const r uct t he base. It seemed l i ke a lot of work to assemble.

4. Rea l ize we forgot somet h i ng to be t he “glue”. I n t he blog post, t he cream cheese was used to connect t he crackers. We t hought we d id n’t need cream cheese because we d id n’t need to connect t he crackers. However, pro sciutto doesn’t nat ura l ly st ick to parchment paper because of g rav it y.

We had no means of ma k ing w indows or even a roof.

2. Fi nd a ready-made house i nstead.

We found a box of chocolates t hat was shaped in a box so we decided to use t hat as our base instead. We f ig ured we cou ld just cover it up w it h some parchment paper and it’d be f ine. It a l l goes dow nh i l l from here.

5. At tempt to assemble a ny way. We t r y to d rape t he prosciutto to for m a roof and wa l ls. We lean sl ices of cheese on t he house as a door. We scr unch salam i in an attempt to ma ke bushes, and lay crackers out as a pat h to t he aforement ioned door.

3. A ssemble t he i ng red ients. Each of us br ings a select ion of cheese and

6. Not h i ng is work i ng. It look s ver y ugly. T he cha let becomes a pi le of pro -

sciutto. We ta ke a photo to document our fa i lure.

7. G ive up a nd assemble a reg u la r cha rcuter ie boa rd. I don’t manage fa i lure wel l, so we remove t he pro sciutto, get r id of t he house, and rearrange t he mater ia ls in an attempt to sa lvage our pr ide. It ends up look ing a lr ight so we ta ke a photo to post on t he ‘g ram.

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Secret Admirer Survey

And now for the big reveal…

MIKE BERTRAND (1L) We asked, and you answered! T han k s to a l l who par t icipated in t h is year’s Secret Ad m irer sur vey. We read t hrough a l l of t he scanda ls, and we’re ready to share as many of your cr ushes and confessions as our publ ish ing budget a llows.

ed itors........ t hey are a l l soooo hot and a lso l iterate!”

8. “T han k you to t he Tor t feasors for being t he most inspir ing, suppor t ive, and h i lar ious g roup of people I ever hoped to meet at law school <3”

1. “Aust in R ay has such a cute sm i le :)”

9. “ M i ke Jan kowsk i is beaut ifu l.”

2. “A m it pa l Singh is an ever- enter ta in ing and helpfu l mentor whose t houghts on g rades/ar t/ph i losophy a lways f i l l me w it h opt im ism”

10. “To t he asian g uy who's 6 foot 4ish, you're so hot and ever y t ime I see you in t he ha l lway, I can't help but stare (up wards) and you've not iced me occasiona l ly too. I 'm too infat uated to say anyt h ing but maybe one day in t he fut ure”

3. “Joseph Mercado managed to ma ke Ca lgar y sound l i ke a leg it imately att ract ive place to l ive even when I cou ld n't wa it to get out of Ca lgar y. T h is man is an ef fect ive advocate.”

4. “Zack Green – Such a beaut ifu l man, stand ing over t here sipping h is vod ka cran. T hat rosy feel ing in t he a ir, when he g ives you a stare. So what do you say, w i l l you ma ke my day?”

5. “T E SSA L ATOWSKY, x 10 0 0”

11. “Benjam in Jones is l i ke a Greek stat ue and a rea l stand-up g uy!”

12. “Evan L inn provokes so many interest ing t houghts about Plato” 13. “A lanna h Sa fnu k l ights up ever y conversat ion w it h her g race and er ud it ion.

T he world seems more beaut ifu l after each t ime I spea k w it h her.”

6. “Cody M i l ler f inds t he best plot holes in T V shows and I t h in k it's cute <3”

14. “ X iny ue Chen has an amazing sense of humor and can ma ke you laugh unbearably in 2 lang uages”

7. “I have a secret cr ush on a l l t he U V

15. “Jonat han Hou is a g reat fr iend and

a lways a pleasure to ta l k to. I 'm g ratefu l for h is compassion and dow n to ear t h v ibe :)” “Teodora Pasca is a f ierce advocate who is just as engag ing wh i le exam in ing t r ia l ad w it nesses as g iv ing 0L's law school tours. She ma kes ever y t h ing sound interest ing wh i le ma inta in ing absolute r igor - an inspirat iona l mooter, t utor & beaut ifu l human being, inside and out” “L ogan Ha le consistent ly ma kes me st if le laughter in class from h is wel l-t imed sma l l g roup chat one-l iners” “ Wa leska Ver non from t he CDO had such compassion and empat hy for a rough spot I was going t hrough. I have so much respect for what she does and a l l her ef for ts to help st udents in autono my-suppor t ive ways. She ma kes t he law school ad m in ist rat ion seem l i ke it cares about our menta l hea lt h in add it ion to career prospects.” “ Viel at f inancia l a id is one of t he sweetest people I 've ever met. It a lways ma kes me happy to pass by her in t he CDO” “ Wi l l iam Rooney is incred ibly generous w it h h is t ime in spea k ing to 1L s who

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sought h im out for adv ice. H is insights and suppor t made t he summer fel lowsh ip process so much smoot her for me.

Such a wonder fu l and k ind human being.”

16. “ You know what makes wak ing up for Chiao’s 9:30am Cr im class TH AT much easier on Monday mornings? The sight of Maddie A- G’s glor iously ef fer vescent red scar f. A statement piece both in the classroom & and in the atr ium, that bold accessor y is the f ire that melts my cold, dead heart. We stan (& are order ing a ver y similar piece for ourselves r ight now.)”

17. “I 'd l i ke to profess my love to a l l of t he women profs at t h is school. Ever y class I 've ta ken t hat's been taught by a woman has been excel lent wh i le it's a h it or m iss w it h t he men. T hey a l l deser ve much more recog n it ion for t heir ser v ice to t h is school.”

18. “Sung A n has t he best hack s for f i x ing broken glasses” 19. “Greta oh my dear Greta. Cou ld anyone be more Great-a t han you?”

20. I ntersession is t he on ly t h ing I’ve ever t r u ly loved.

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Ten Cheap & Fun Things to do in Toronto Activities for your student budget ANGELA GU (1L) AND ANNECY PANG (1L) Toronto has plenty of interesting things to do in the summer, but that doesn’t mean that it’s boring in the winter. Escape the drudgery of studying in the library and the slushy weather by exploring the city that we call home. This is in no way a warranty, but we can confidently say that you are likely to have fun doing one of these activities, or at least enjoy reading this list.

Salsa & Bachata Dancing at Toronto Dance Fridays Annecy Never salsaed before? Don’t know how to pronounce “bachata”? That’s okay! There is a beginner salsa lesson at 8pm followed by the bachata lesson at 9pm. From 10pm onwards is the social dancing part, where you can practice the moves you just learned with strangers. Who doesn’t love spinning people or being spun around the dance floor? All that dancing for only $10! Perfect for a date night or a group outing with friends. Bring your ID because there’s a cash bar. The event happens every Friday night at either the Dovercourt House or Estonian House.

University of Toronto Art Centre and the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery Angela While the vast majority of the expansive collection is hidden away in underground vaults, some pieces are brought out in ever-changing exhibitions at the U of T Art Centre and at the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery. These two campus gallery spaces are just a five-minute walk away from the law school, which make them perfect for a study break. They also house visiting exhibitions so be sure to check out the artworks on display now. Admission for students is free, just show your TCard.

Year-Round Farmers Market at St. Lawrence Market Annecy If you’re as tired as we are of buying expensive produce at the nearby Independent City Market, you can head here every Saturday afternoon instead. The Farmers Market is located in a temporary building south of the actual market building on Saturdays from 5am-3pm. Pro tip: come around 2pm when everything goes on sale so you can support locally grown and seasonal foods AND save some bucks. After getting groceries for the week, head into the actual market building to Uno Mustachio to get your chicken parmigiana sandwich fix, and to Everyday Gourmet to grab a coffee and some beans roasted on-site. Productive procrastination at its finest.

Mundo Lingo Angela Are you actually fluent in French? Did you mention “conversational Italian” on your resume? Is it time to brush up on those language skills? Escape networking with lawyers to meet random people at Mundo Lingo and practice networking, but in another language so it’s extra awkward but extra fun. And good for you if you’re super proficient in your second, third, and

fourth languages. Everyone is welcome, no matter your fluency. Mundo Lingo takes place Thursday evenings at a bar on Queen West. Feel free to treat it as a pre-pre pre before Call To The Bar. Bata Shoe Museum Annecy So there was this one time I went to see a fashion exhibit at MOMA, only to find that half of the shoes on display were on loan from the Bata Shoe Museum. And as my LRW prof has taught me, it’s always better to go to the source. The museum has a vast collection of shoes that illustrate the changing habits, lifestyles, culture, and customs of people throughout history. My favourite exhibit is the one that features indigenous Arctic footwear but “The Gold Standard: Glittering Footwear from Around the World” is a close second. Regular student admission is $8, but the museum is pay what you can on Thursdays from 5-8pm.

The Toronto Reference Library Angela

SEATING AT THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO

You might know this dramatic red-and-white space from The Weeknd’s “Secrets” music video, but I know this library as the venue for the best book sale in the city. The Friends of the TPL South Chapter holds an annual clearance sale, with donated books as well as books withdrawn from library shelves. Prices range from 10¢ to $1 and proceeds go towards supporting library programs. This year’s sale is on Thursday, March 19. Bring your own bags! Oh, and what can you do there year-round? This library location hosts a series of literary events at the Appel Salon. It also houses the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection in what people like to call “the Sherlock Holmes room.” However, my favourite thing to do at the Reference Library is to sit with a book in front one of the light therapy lamps stationed around the library with a Calii Love smoothie and pretend it’s a nice stress-less summer day.

Comedy shows at Second City Toronto Annecy Forget about the pile of readings you’re supposed to be doing by laughing for over an hour straight. The Second City has a variety of shows and offers student discounts to (almost) all of them! Get student tickets ranging from $19-24 by using discount code STUDENT at checkout.

Seats are close to each other but there’s also a full bar and some finger foods you can munch on throughout the show. Want to learn how to be funny? Second City also offers a two-hour Improv Drop-In class every Monday, Friday, and Saturday for only $15.

Art Gallery of Ontario Angela My favourite part of the AGO is that secondfloor room with the Group of Seven paintings, of pristine snow-capped mountains and all that nature. Sure, the representation of Canada’s wilderness as unoccupied land free for the taking is problematic, but one can still enjoy the beauty of

ST. LAWRENCE MARKET

it all. There are also some quiet corners of the AGO that are great for doing readings, with natural light and good Wi-Fi. The aesthetic space can make the densest case bearable to read. The best part is that those 25 and under can get a free annual pass, and there are nifty $35 annual passes for those over 25. Admission is free from 6-9pm on Wednesdays, but I find that those evenings are too hectic and make the AGO feel like a zoo.

Free drop-in skating at the Varsity Arena Annecy Want to go skating but don’t want to trek to the crowded Nathan Phillips Square? Want to get the most use of your U of T athletics and recreation fees? Same. That’s why I go skating instead at the Varsity Arena where they have drop-

in skating four times a week. Bring your own skates or rent them for only $3 if you’re a UofT student ($5 otherwise). Afterwards, warm up with a hot chocolate at one of the many coffee shops nearby.

Gardiner Museum Annecy The Gardiner Museum is even closer to the law school than the nearest Starbucks, so there is no reason not to go! It is home to historic and contemporary ceramics, a beautiful restaurant on the top floor, and drop-in clay classes on Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday evenings. If you, like me, know next to nothing about ceramic art, the tour everyday at 2pm is a must! Student admission is $9, but entrance is free all day Tuesdays with a student card and free for everyone on Wednesdays from 4-9pm.

10 | February 28, 2020

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Follies 2020 Requiem for a Dean PHOTOS BY JILLIAN ALBERT AND NOAH REEVES

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OPINIONS

12 | February 28, 2020

Twisting in the Wind sue. Ultimately, “we didn’t get answers basically until Alexis sent that email out about Salima leaving.” Despite pushing for clarity at every committee meeting in the fall term, even SLS representatives were kept in the dark, along with the rest of the student body.

In response to both my questions and the concerns raised by SLS, the administration deferred, saying the decisions were “HR matters,” on which they could not comment. The SLS representative understands this reasoning—as keeping students out of hiring decisions is university policy—and agrees that students should not be part of those processes. However, they also commented, “Whether HR is just a euphemism for, ‘we don’t want you to be involved,’ is unclear.” The decision to remove Salima, and by extension, all on-site counselling services for six months, is not merely an HR issue. This termination has implications for all of the students who were seeing her, and the stability of their mental health treatment.

The administration’s lack of transparency is troubling, given that, according to Assistant Dean Archbold, these changes are the product of a “very thoughtful discussion that’s been going on for quite some time” involving “the law school and the broader university community.”

Evidently the discussion was not so thoughtful as to include student representatives in order to gauge the effect of multiple interruptions to counselling services. According to Assistant Dean Archbold, consultation was not warranted, because “the services we’re providing are going to be almost exactly the same, as far as students will experience them.” Yet the administration’s conclusions about the student experience of these changes were made without any input from students themselves. The issue may not just be availability of any counsellor, but access to a stable counselling relationship with an individual who is able to respond to the unique concerns of law students.

SLS pushed for answers for months after Yukimi’s departure. Yet, the administration gave little indication of what was to come next: “We were told that things were happening, but because they were HR issues, they weren’t things that students could be part of.” They were told that the administration had been trying to restructure the system, so that it could be more

integrated with broader U of T services. Their discussions indicated that integration would allow the counsellor to more easily refer students to additional resources like psychiatrists, and that the law school administration lacked the “professional capacity” to oversee a counsellor, as an “ethical concern.” However, it’s unclear why this did not arise over the ten previous years that the law school has been working on student mental health, a figure cited by Assistant Dean Archbold.

Regarding Salima’s termination and the subsequent service change, the administration revealed that the decision had been made at some point before December: “We were careful around the fact that we were in the exam period, and that announcing something in December during exams…didn’t really seem like a good idea.” An email sent by Assistant Dean Archbold on December 3, 2019, encouraged students to make appointments with Salima.

This was sent despite knowing that students who made appointments for the first time would not be able to build a long-term counselling relationship if needed, functionally setting them up for significant upheaval. Assistant Dean Archbold said, “We provided as long a runway as we possibly could…with at least two months’ notice.” However, as some students reported it taking several weeks to get an appointment with Salima, the notice was not as long as it seemed.

The question that remains is where this leaves students needing support. Students may have priority access to the Hart House counsellor, but this may not be sufficient. Some students have tried to access external counselling. However, the significant expense meant that some had to rely on family support to afford it, if they had the benefit of such support. Regarding the UTSU health plan, which covers only $100 per session for up to 15 sessions, one student said, “That will get me nothing, to be honest. Most good psychologists charge way more than that.”

Limiting coverage to 15 sessions also seems to contemplate an end to the regular and ongoing therapy that some students require.

Others may try to seek out services through the central Health & Wellness system. However, some have been dissuaded by negative prior experiences seeking medical care through U of T, which they found “an extremely difficult pro-

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cess,” and even resulted in misdiagnosis.

Furthermore, students have found that counsellors from central Health & Wellness cannot effectively respond to the unique needs of law students. One 2L student who went to such a counsellor felt dismissed, because she was not in a critical depressive condition, and felt that the counsellor could not understand her concerns about employment in a law school context.

With regards to central Health & Wellness counsellors, Assistant Dean Archbold focused on proximity, saying that Hart House is “not as convenient…but it’s a three-minute walk away.” However, this neglects the broader issue that SLS representatives have raised about speaking to a counsellor who “understands the context in which your problems are happening.” “We’ve really pushed hard on that,” they said, “to make sure they understand that it’s not just an issue of distance or laziness.”

Relying on the Peer Mental Health Program is not a viable long-term option. Students volunteering with the program felt that “[Yukimi] was supposed to be supporting it, but it ended up being a kind of replacement because she had to leave.” Furthermore, students lack the professional training to respond effectively to peers who need significant support. A 1L student feels like the administration is “pushing that responsibility onto other law students that also have a lot going on,” and feels uncomfortable approaching other students due to the lack of privacy.

Ultimately, some students have been left with no plan for their mental health treatment, as if the services didn’t exist at all. One student formerly seeing Salima said, “Currently I don’t have any mental health support, professionally.”

The interruptions in counselling services over the past year have led to some losing confidence in the administration entirely. “I’ve lost faith,” said a 2L student. In response to the administration’s claim that counselling would return in August, another student said, “That doesn’t seem like it will actually happen.”

It is clear that the lack of transparency on the part of the administration regarding the changes to the counselling program has left students feeling lost. For the administration to commit seriously to the faculty’s Mental Health Strate-

gic Action Plan, it must engage with students on these decisions not only in a reactive way, when pressed by students, but proactively, in a manner that does not hide behind the cloak of “HR matters.”

The SLS representative emphasized that the members of the Dean’s Committee have genuinely good intentions to support students. However, in this writer’s opinion, this cannot be come without a transparent process of engagement. This is particularly important when students are already facing the pressures of cutback student health plans—one wonders whether this is an appropriate time to allow multiple major upheavals in access to counselling.

If the administration finds my characterization of their plans inadequate in any way, I encourage them to take the leadership to clearly announce these changes themselves, rather than requiring a student writer to dig them out through an interview. Furthermore, if they are truly committed to that “healthy community” so proudly vaunted in the Action Plan, they must address the prevailing environment in which students will only speak out about their experiences with mental health services on condition of anonymity, out of fear of retaliation by the administration upon which their future career may depend. As one student said, “I don’t want the school to put me on their blacklist, like they did that [alumnus].”

No one who has had experience seeking mental health services could have devised this policy. Moving students from the on-site counsellor, to a Hart House counsellor, to a new counsellor in August, critically interrupts the clinical relationship in a way that may impede progress and cause further distress. Assistant Dean Archbold emphasizes, “We remain really committed to providing great services to our students”. She claims that these changes do not diminish their commitment to mental health. This is an opportunity for the administration to demonstrate their goodwill by moving forward with transparency and accountability. Their students depend on it. *Editor’s Note: Students in this piece have been anonymized for their privacy.

Cowboys, Arias, and Scalding Hot Tea continued from page 1 that goes, nemo iudex in causa sua . Unfortunately, I never studied Latin. A ll I know is that A lina Yu (2L) said that I was great. She was one of my dancers.

I really did have an exceptional time, though, because the students behind Law Follies put on a phenomenal show. Indeed, I would have no trouble believ ing that this was among the most entertaining iterations of Law Follies that the Universit y of Toronto Facult y of Law has seen.

This year, like the last couple of years, Law Follies took place on The Opera House’s grand stage. The venue felt packed. Smith tells me that there were about 350 people in attendance, and I am conf ident that there was something for each of them.

A ll twent y-one of the sk its had their own charm, a familiarit y intimate to students of our school. I found myself frequently turning to my neighbours to express a profound appreciation of the tableaux unfolding before us. They were

timely; they were camp; they were cheeky; they were mar vellous.

Of course, there were some performances that truly dazzled. One came early on. In “Master of the Rolls”, Thompson donned a f luf fy, white w ig and led a fun, Lord Denning M R-themed version of that L es Misérables classic, “Master of the House”, which, I admit, I knew only from an old Seinfeld episode. That darn ditt y has been stuck in my head for nearly 28 years.

A nother gem came shortly after the intermission, w ith “Tor ys Hall”, a parody of L il Nas X’s 2019 smash-hit, “Old Town Road”. This bold performance saw Robbie Grant (3L), Isaac Gazendam (2L), and Jef frey Wang (2L) in full Western attire, sing ing “I’m gonna cram this course in the Tor ys Hall/Gonna grind ‘til I can’t no more.” I still can’t get the image of Grant’s leather chaps out of my head, and I’m alright w ith that.

Speak ing of mesmerizing moves, I also have to g ive credit to Ben Mayer- Good-

man (2L J D/MGA) for his w ild g yration in the evening’s f inal performance, “Can’t Wait to be Dean”.

But, for me, the evening’s most mag ical moment came just before intermission, during a performance called “Defy Majorit y”. Ashley Qian (2L) delivered an astounding aria that left me in such a state of awe that I could think of nothing to say that bears repeating. There is something so powerful and beautiful about the human voice. Yet one is so immersed in the study of law that one forgets that one’s peers are multidimensional people, w ith interests and talents beyond remembering legal tests. A ll I w ill say is “ bravo.”

It would be remiss of me not to also recognize the capable, and often cutting, hosting of Robert Nanni (2L J D/M BA) and Dana O’Shea (3L). Nanni and O’Shea have been central f ig ures of my law school experience and, to Law Follies, they brought what I love most about them: their acerbic w its.

Over the course of the evening, Nanni

and O’Shea performed some obligatory tasks, albeit exceptionally—for example, roasting the Dean and other prominent law school f igures. But the hosts were most ef fective when they used the power of comedy to vindicate their student audience.

Particularly poignant were their remarks on the Marcus McCann tuition controversy (see UV ’s October 2019 issue), the school’s lack of diversit y, and the dire need for better mental health support.

Without ever stray ing into bitter criticism, Nanni and O’Shea reminded the members of the administration in attendance that there are serious issues at our school. At the same time, the hosts’ lev it y allowed the students to escape some of their anxieties while feeling genuinely heard.

In sum, I am almost glad that I had the pleasure of seeing only this year’s Law Follies. A lthough I have no doubt that other years’ iterations were memorable in their own way, this year’s w ill forever exist as a sing ular perfection in my mind.

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OPINIONS

February 28, 2020 | 13

A semester abroad to be proud of?

My exchange at Tsinghua University D’ARCY WHITE (3L) I had this strange dilemma while on exchange at Tsinghua Universit y: Should I buy a Tsinghua hoodie?

A s my time in Beijing came to an end, there was something about this seemingly tr iv ial question that prompted a heav y amount of ref lection about how I felt about the institution w ith which our law school partners and my exper iences there.

Was this a universit y that I was proud of hav ing attended? One that g ives honorar y degrees to dictators like V ladimir Putin and removes law professors for wr iting about constitutional change?

This question began to mix w ith my desire for a unique memento to br ing home from my time at one of China’s top universities. The Tsinghua name had already gotten me praise by locals and extr icated me from some potentially sticky situations travelling in the police-state prov ince of X injiang. It had clout in China and, after all, this was just a sweater. Was it dif ferent from buy ing something from N US or the Universit y of Copenhagen?

To be clear, my ambivalence about Tsinghua didn’t stem from the administrative dif f iculties I faced reg ister ing there, which seem to have become legend at U of T Law. No. My internal conf lict about Tsinghua comes from the k ind of institution it is, perhaps as a representation of the k ind of place that China itself is.

I’ve travelled and br ief ly lived in China before and I had some idea of what I was getting myself into. I knew when I signed up that the lines in China between the ruling Communist Part y and academic institutions are permeable at best. For example, the Part y appoints Tsinghua’s Presidents, and the last President has since been appointed Mayor of Beijing, a post equivalent to a prov incial governor. But the question of whether I would be proud of the exper ience didn’t confront me until I was direct ly

faced w ith the facts on the ground.

Dur ing the f irst two weeks I was there, there was militar y training on campus for all freshmen. The chanting and blar ing of patr iotic Chinese songs at 7 am didn’t bother my sleep too much; I was up w ith jet-lag any ways. But seeing several thousand 18 -year-olds in camo fatig ues goosestepping across the sports f ields beside my residence and occasionally even dr illing w ith g uns was enough to make me feel more than a litt le unwelcome. It was an interesting move for a universit y that wants to attract more international students, and a clear reminder who was in charge.

It was also bizarre to look at the selection of English books available in the law librar y, wonder ing why some made it past the censors, and tr y ing to recall what was conspicuous by its absence.

There was one time where a friend of mine showed me some copies of The Economist magazine in the School of Management and Economics’ library. I was surprised these even existed—one cannot usually f ind such Western media sources in China.

But the sur pr ising liberalism didn’t last.

My fr iend quick ly opened them to show that pages were missing, w ith the index suggesting these copies once housed articles relating to topics such as the Tiananmen Square protests or corrupt Chinese of f icials.

There was also the classroom exper ience. The classes I took in Chinese law offered an incredible opportunit y to learn about the laudable progression of law in China since the lawless chaos of the Cultural Revolution. But there was no deny ing that classroom debate was limited. W hile I felt like my position as an international student af forded me the abilit y to ask tough questions, there were palpable signs of pressure in the classroom. Professors

were clearly uncomfortable w ith questions that challenged the status quo. A nd even if they were courageous in their academic wr itings, their more controversial v iews rarely featured in their lectures, which were occasionally attended by non-student obser vers who took notes at the back of the classroom.

W hile none of this should have been particularly sur pr ising to me, I loathed these manifestations of totalitar ianism in the institution. How could I walk around sporting the crest of such a place? Sometimes when I thought about it, it made even going to Tsinghua seem problematic.

Was I simply lending credence to an institution that is ser v ile to the goals of the Communist Part y leadership? Maybe.

But, perhaps, to focus solely on such revulsion is to lose sight of why I chose to go to Tsinghua in the f irst place—and to forget why the University of Toronto Faculty of Law’s Council has decided to renew and reinvigorate its partnership with that school.

Student exchanges have value that transcends the institutions at which they take place, whether in China or elsewhere. It goes w ithout say ing that they build crosscultural understanding and facilitate the exchange of ideas. They also represent open mindedness and the humilit y of realizing that there is something to learn from ever yone.

The opportunit y to explore and probe Chinese fr iends’ and classmates’ opinions on their home tur f was irreplaceable. Such person-to-person exchanges prov ide a greater depth of understanding than any reading can prov ide, even if reading is necessar y to prov ide a full picture of the societ y one exper iences day to day.

Moreover, these exchanges represent the optimism and gradualism which punctuate hopes for a better global future. Incremental though the contr ibution may be, when

the host is a r ising super power, building these connections advances the causes of peace and multilateral cooperation in small ways that other channels often cannot.

This is something that I’m proud to be a part of and that I’m proud that this Facult y supports.

Look ing back, I also realize that sometimes my focus on the negatives caused me to misjudge my professors, seeing them as automatically complicit in this system. Not only was this unfair to them in many cases, but it also almost caused me to miss that their staunch prag matism often melded w ith immense courage to advocate for indiv idual liberties and the rule of law in their pr ivate careers and academic wr itings. Today, I realize that it would have been an immense shame had I not seen this side of the school, which has done much to advance the rule of law in China, even if it coex ists w ith the negatives I have pointed out here.

Keeping this complex it y in mind, we must ask ourselves what the alternatives are: W here does it get us to draw lines in the sand and say that, because of the bad, we won’t engage w ith or recognize the good?

Disengagement is likely counter productive, harming those who share common ground w ith Western students and facult y more than helping them. Even the most ardent China hawks would be better ser ved to understand that countr y better and to be engaged w ith those shaping Chinese ideas for China’s future.

For these reasons, I’m proud that I went to China and proud that I attended Tsinghua, and the hoodie sits in my closet today.

I almost didn’t buy it and I’m still not sure if I’ll ever wear it in public —after all, it took an article to explain what it represents to me. But maybe that’s OK—ever yone knows I don’t wear hoodies any ways.

Legally Blonde: The Musical Omigod you guys it was so good ALEXA CHEUNG (1L) Most of us are familiar with Legally Blonde and the journey of Elle Woods from emptyheaded sorority president to star criminal law student at Harvard Law School. (What? Like it’s hard?)

The 2001 movie with Reese Witherspoon and her iconic Chihuahua was a hit and, with the addition of upbeat songs and choreography, it was adapted into a Broadway musical in 2007.

The production of Legally Blonde: The Musical ran at the Hart House Theatre from 17 January to 1 February 2020. Emma Sangalli played the role of Elle Woods with enthusiasm and the perfect amount of peppiness—as you would expect—and not a blonde curl was out of place during the entire performance.

The tall and dashing Warner Huntington III was played by John Carr Cook, whose sneering dismissal of Elle makes him an easy villain to hate. His role was contrasted by Ethan Vasquez Taylor’s Emmett Forrest, whose sweet mentorship of Elle eventually

blossoms into a romantic relationship.

For me, Moulan Bourke stood out as Paulette Buonofuonte, the ditzy hairdresser and Elle’s trusted confidante, who also serves as the musical’s comic relief. Most of the cast had strong vocals, and by the end of the musical, the entire cast received standing ovations from the audience.

Compared to the original movie, the musical is less focused on Elle, allowing Emmett’s and Paulette’s characters to be developed a little more fully. This also allows the audience to develop a better understanding of Emmett’s and Paulette’s motivations and, hence, to form stronger connections with those characters.

The musical opens with a high-energy rendition of “Omigod You Guys”, a celebration of Elle and Warner’s then picture-perfect relationship.

Even though we all know Warner turns out to be less than ideal, I can promise you this song will be stuck in your head for at least a week.

“The Harvard Variations” is a satirical (I hope) exploration of the different law school stereotypes, from the trust-fund legacy lawyer to the

gungho human rights activist. This number elicited chuckles and laughs from the audience, but for the law students in the crowd, it was a little on the nose.

“Blood in the Water” by Brian Vaughn’s Professor Callahan is a menacing warning about the difficulty of law school and how it pits students against each other.

“Gay or European” was another personal favourite, a musical recreation of the cross-examination scene in Elle’s criminal trial.

This musical was Saccha Dennis’ directorial debut at Hart House Theatre, with Giustin MacLean as music director and Gregory Carruthers as choreographer.

During “Whipped into Shape”, the cast belted out the lyrics while performing synchronized jump-rope, a feat that must not have been easy to choreograph.

Holly Meyer-Dymy’s set designs and Kathleen Black’s costume designs helped create the immersive experience and allowed the musical to seamlessly transition from sunny California to the

competitive Harvard Law School.

I especially loved that the director chose to set the musical in the late 90’s, which allowed the costume designer to pay tribute to the denim miniskirts of the era. It added a sense of nostalgia to the production.

At two-and-a-half hours of high-energy song and dance, this musical was a welcome break from studying and making outlines. It may not be the most accurate portrayal of the law school experience, but everyone can learn something from Elle’s determination and positive attitude, even in the face of being snaked by fellow classmates or getting dumped by the man she wanted to marry. I guarantee that anyone who watches this musical will leave with a smile on their face.

The Hart House Theatre is a mere sevenminute walk from the law school. Student tickets cost $15 most days of the week and $12 on Wednesdays. These musicals are a welcome break from the usual grind of readings and assignments, and I would definitely recommend checking them out.

OPINIONS

14 | February 28, 2020

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On the Construction of the McGill Guide Principles of Legal Citation TOM COLLINS (3L) Ruth Sullivan, author of On the Construction of Statutes, and ( presumed) heiress to Elmer Dr iedger’s statutor y inter pretation fortune, would say that lang uage is inherent ly ambig uous. Hence, the modern rule of statutor y inter pretation requires that leg islative texts be read in their entire context. Context limits lang uage’s ambig uit y to a range of potential, reasonable interpretations.

However, sometimes, lang uage is not ambig uous merely by nature, but as a result of clumsy phrasing. For example, you may remember seeing news about an article in the Pratt Tribune whose editor had failed to grasp the importance of a hy phen: “Students Get First Hand Job Exper ience”.

Lucky students.

Recent ly, I, too, encountered some unfortunate lang uage. But it was not in some prov incial rag; it was in the Canadian G uide to Uniform L egal Citation, the holy bible of citation that we know as the McG ill G uide.

This year, I am coaching the Dav ies Cor porate/Secur ities Law Moot. We are tr y ing to secure the Facult y of Law’s sixth consecutive w in. A lthough last year we won overall, our factums tied for third place. One of the areas where we lost points was w ith McG ill G uide compliance. I was determined to learn from that exper ience.

The McG ill G uide prescr ibes all sorts of formatting rules which, collectively, form Canada’s most comprehensive legal st yle g uide. You w ill be familiar w ith some of them: the supras, the paras, the weird law journal abbrev iations. Others are more obscure, including the rule on “consecutive pinpoints”—what you and I might call “page ranges”.

Section E – 1.5 of the 9th edition of the McG ill G uide covers the rules on pinpoint citations. Part of this section reads, “Separate non- consecut ive pinpoints by a com ma, and consecut ive pinpoints by an en dash (—), not a hy phen (-). Retain at least the two last dig its follow ing the en dash (e.g., 159 — 60).” To the keen-eyed obser ver, the problem w ill already be apparent: the instructions say to separate consecutive pinpoints w ith an “en dash”, but show an “em dash”.

The discrepancy is subt le and pedantic, but it is there. You w ill recall the hy phen from our earlier discussion about those naught y students and their f irst hand job exper ience. A hy phen looks like this: -. A n en dash is basically two hy phens stuck together. It looks like this: –. A n em dash, however, is the Cadillac of punctuation. It is three whole hy phens w ide, and you better not forget it. It looks like this: —.

Last year, my factum indicated page ranges w ith a hy phen. How naïve. But this year, it was not clear what my team should do instead. Should we do as the McG ill G uide says or as it does?

In search of answers, I turned to my trust y copy of Sullivan On the Construction of

Statutes. I have read enough Supreme Court of Canada decisions to know that, today, there is only one rule of statutor y construction: Dr iedger’s rule. This is the modern rule to which I adverted earlier; namely, that leg islative texts be read in their entire context. Admittedly, the McG ill G uide is not a leg islative text, but I f igured that it is close enough. I know that it governs my life. So, I decided to apply the modern rule to my McG ill G uide quandar y.

W hen Dr iedger, or Sullivan, for that matter, talks about context they really mean six main sources of meaning: 1.

The words themselves;

2.

The words’ “context”; • a) Context in the internal, grammatical sense—anything w ithin the four corners of the Act, such as preambles, tit les and so on; • b) Context in the external, ordinar y sense—anything beyond the four corners of the Act, such as conventions, the text’s subject matter and so on;

3.

The statutor y scheme;

4.

The statutor y pur pose—the broad social or political goals;

5.

The leg islative intention—the specif ic meaning g iven to a prov ision in a particular situation; and

6.

The consequences of an inter pretation.

Contrar y to what you may have read in older decisions, words have no “plain meaning”. At best, the words of a prov ision have a presumptive meaning that is largely subjective. To w it, the McG ill G uide called for en dash; I presumed that meant one of these, –, but then the G uide showed one of these: —.

Unfortunately, the “context” prov ided litt le further insight. In terms of the internal context, I consulted other sections of the McG ill G uide and discovered that it was inconsistent in its use of punctuation. For example, in E – 2.1.10, a section dealing w ith pinpoints to statutes, the 9th edition uses hy phens, rather than en or em dashes, to indicate ranges of statutor y prov isions.

Think ing back to the memo that the Hon. Ian Binnie wrote for Reference re Supreme Court Act, ss 5 and 6, 2014 SCC 21, I hoped that I might glean some clar it y from the French lang uage version of the McG ill G uide. No such luck. Section 1, which sets out the general rules, states that the English and French rules apply to their respective lang uages exclusively. Even to the extent that the French version could be persuasive, the French version ef fectively reproduces the problem in the English version. The French version of the troublesome instruction prov ides: Séparer les références précis-

es non- consécut ives par une v irg ule, et les références précises\ consécut ives par un t iret court (—) et non un trait d’union (-).

Jar v ie, Citations Editor for volume 59 of the McGill Law Journal, states that the McG ill G uide aims “to facilitate ef fective communication between authors and readers.” Mr. Jar v ie goes on to explain that three pr inciples underscore and furFor those of you who do not speak ther that aim: log ic, clar it y, and accessiFrench, a “tiret court” is an en dash, but bilit y. Together, these pr inciples informed the symbol shown is a “tiret”— an em my approach: which inter pretation would dash. Strangely, F – 2.1.10, the French verbest facilitate ef fective communication besion of the statutor y pinpoint section I tween authors and readers? W hich intermentioned earlier uses a mix of hy phens pretation would most ref lect the pr inciples and em dashes to indicate ranges of statuof log ic, clar it y, and accessibilit y? tor y prov isions.

To answer these questions, I turned to At f irst, the external context was also of the f inal stage of Sullivan’s analytical litt le help. One of the key external contexts framework, the consequences of a particuto consider is the conventional use of lar construction. A s I mentioned earlier, I shared lang uage. Legal and social norms have never seen any author it y, other than may also be instructive. The problem is the McG ill G uide, use anything other than that the McG ill G uide conf licts w ith convenhy phens to indicate page ranges. It looks tional hy phen/dash use, regardless of odd to wr ite “at 73–74” instead of “at 73 which inter pretation one takes. I have nev74”. Yet, it appears that the editors of the er seen any author it y use an en dash or an 8th edition of G uide, at least, believed that em dash to indicate page ranges—only hyusing an en dash, instead of a hy phen, phens. would make for even more ef fective comCourts also use extr insic aids, such as munication. Thus, the ultimate question the leg islative histor y to illuminate the exwas whether an en dash or an em dash ternal context. Here, the would max imize the ef8th edition of the McG ill f icacy of communicaG uide of fered some clues. tion.

The McGill Guide’s Section E – 1.5 of the 8th It seemed more reaedition is the precursor commitment to sonable to use en dashes to section E – 1.5 of the than em dashes. This concision is evident 9th edition; it also deals came down to balancing w ith pinpoints. The oldeverywhere. two key considerations: er section is clear. It says readabilit y and concito use en dashes and it sion. First, it appears shows en dashes (–) in its examples. The that the pur pose of using an en dash in the French version is consistent w ith that. In 8th edition may have been to improve the 8th edition, the French and English readabilit y of pinpoint citations. These civersions of section 2.1.10, which deals w ith tations often appear as footnotes, in a pinpoints in leg islation, also use en dashes smaller font. Many readers of legal texts to indicate ranges of prov isions. w ill be (a) older or ( b) tired. Often, they My f indings in the 8th edition were not w ill be both. Using an en dash to emphaconclusive. They showed how things were, size a range of pages promotes accessibilibut the fact remained that the 9th edition t y, one of the McG ill G uide’s fundamental, has changed some of its en dashes to em animating pr inciples. Second, while it dashes. could be arg ued that an em dash would Given the multiple inconsistencies in the emphasize a range of pages to an even 9th edition regarding dashes, an inquir y greater extent, it would do so at the exinto the “statutor y scheme” was not espepense of space. Em dashes are a third loncially useful. I was also unable to gain ger than en dashes. That can make a difmuch insight into the “ leg islative” intent, ference in an especially long citation; because I do not have access to the McGill perhaps an additional line. Yet, the McG ill Law Journal’s travaux préparatoirs. It was not G uide ’s commitment to concision is ev ident clear whether the editors had intended to ever y where: “paragraph” abbrev iated to use em dashes but had wr itten “en dash”, “para”, supras standing in for full citaor if they had intended to continue using en tions, law journals’ names reduced to a sedashes but had mist y ped “—”. r ies of indiv idual letters. A n en dash f igThe “statutor y” pur pose was more sugures per fect ly into that reg ime, w ithout gestive. In the physical copy of the 8th edisacr if icing clar it y and accessibilit y. tion, there are ef fectively three “preamI must confess, however, that I arr ived bles”: (1) “A Word from the Editor”, (2) The at this conclusion too late. The issue arose Hon. John I. Lask in’s Foreword, and (3) in the frenzied hours leading up to the The Hon. Nicholas Kasirer’s Foreward. submission deadline for my team’s facEach of these preambles speaks to the Mctums. Exhausted, I made it as far as checkGill Guide’s loft y ambitions. Each preaming the French version, before I made an ble forms part of the Guide’s internal conexecutive decision. My team would use the text. luxur iant em dashes.

In “A Word from the Editor”, A . Max

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OPINIONS

February 28, 2020 | 15

Delgamuukw Supports Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs’ Claims Rule of law and Indigenous rights not mutually exclusive OLIVIA HODSON (3L), ANGELA HOU (3L), LESLIE ANNE ST. AMOUR (3L), RORY SMITH (3L) Demonstrations have spread across the country in support of Wet’suwet’en land protectors in British Columbia. Land protectors have been the subject of several RCMP raids over the last year.

The RCMP state that the raids were carried out to enforce a British Columbia Supreme Court injunction ordering the removal of camps obstructing access for construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.1 Dozens of Wet’suwet’en people and supporters have been arrested in connection with these raids and demonstrations.

The dispute is centered on Wet’suwet’en lands subject to a pending Aboriginal title claim. While the Wet’suwet’en Band Council consented to the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline, the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs were not meaningfully consulted and did not consent. The Chiefs and their supporters oppose the construction of the pipeline.

Delgamuukw centres pre-existing Indigenous legal systems In support of the Hereditary Chiefs’ claim, Delgamuukw has been repeatedly invoked, given its recognition of Aboriginal title as originating in “pre-existing systems of aboriginal law”. The duty to consult was not at issue in Delgamuukw, and the Supreme Court of Canada accordingly did not decide whether the Hereditary Chiefs or Indian Act band council were the appropriate party for consultation by the Crown. However, it is not tenable to suggest that Delgamuukw is of “no assistance on the matter”. 2 This is particularly true as Delgamuukw emphasizes pre-contact Indigenous society and legal systems. The Court rooted Aboriginal title partially in “the relationship between common law and pre-existing systems of aboriginal law”. The Court also underscored the importance of protecting “historic patterns of occupation” and identified the purpose of s 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 as “the reconciliation of the pre-existence of aboriginal societies with the Crown.”

Similarly, the duty to consult is sourced in this goal of reconciliation. In Haida, the Supreme Court cited “the aim of reconciliation” established in Delgamuukw as being closely related to the duty to consult.3 The Supreme Court has consistently stressed that both Aboriginal title and the duty to consult must be considered with a view to reconciliation between pre-contact Indigenous society/legal systems and the assertion of Crown sovereignty.

Recognizing traditional forms of Indigenous governance is necessary if the stated goal of reconciliation is to have any meaning. While the precise role of hereditary leadership varies among Indigenous communities, the recognition and authority of hereditary chiefs extends back “to time immemorial” and “is intrinsically tied to a territory and the land”.4 It is clear that hereditary leadership forms an important aspect of precontact Indigenous society and, in turn, has an important role to play in achieving reconciliation. Consultation with traditional and pre-contact systems of Indigenous governance such as the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs is, therefore, consistent with the Supreme Court’s emphasis in Delgamuukw and Haida on historic Indigenous occupation, society, and legal systems.

The claim of Hereditary Chiefs and their supporters is also entirely consistent with the communal nature of Aboriginal title. They do not claim that the Chiefs themselves are the sole rightful holders with respect to Wet’suwet’en Aboriginal title. They do not and need not dispute the collective nature of Aboriginal title recognized by the Court in Delgamuukw.

Rather, they claim the Chiefs to be the rightful representatives of the Wet’suwet’en people with respect to the land rights at issue and thus, the proper party for consultation.

The problem with Indian Act bands The importance of consulting hereditary leadership is all the more apparent if we historicize the Indian Act and consider the nature of Indian Act bands themselves.

The introduction of the term “band” to Canadian law in the Indian Act was an integral component of an oppressive and assimilatory legislative framework. 5 Defining “band” was a means by which to administer a variety of colonial policies, including the forced adoption by Indigenous communities of “municipal-style ‘responsible’ governments in place of . . . traditional governance systems”.6 The legal preconditions which give rise to recognition as a band under the Indian Act depend on a particular set of relationships between an Indigenous collective and the state. The band is created or recognized by virtue of its having a reserve entitlement, trust funds, or otherwise where the State has expressly conferred band status.7 Given these routes to recognition, the social and cultural reality of Indigenous groups predating the Indian Act is not reflected in the granting of band status as such status is not based on any traditional Indigenous definition or identification. Instead, these colonial instruments displaced existing governance systems and disrupted the polities of Indigenous groups across Turtle Island.

If the goal of consultation, as held in Haida, is reconciling pre-existing Aboriginal communities with assertions of Crown sovereignty, the Indian Act band seems to be an improper unit for achieving that goal.

In Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation, the British Columbia Court of Appeal recognized that Indigenous groups may self-identify along traditional lines separate and distinct from those set out by band status under the Indian Act.8 It is clear that Indigenous groups which predated the Indian Act are not interchangeable with the bands that resulted from the imposition of the Act. For the purposes of reconciliation, only the former is relevant, given its existence prior to contact. Indian Act bands and band councils, on the other hand, are a product of the very process of colonization that reconciliation is intended to remedy.

Consultation in this context is intended to protect unproven Aboriginal interests in land from adverse effects. As such, it is worth noting that Indian Act bands are not rights-holders for the purposes of s 35 assertions of Aboriginal rights and title. Rather, it is the pre-existing Indigenous collective as traditionally or historically defined.

While it is true that Aboriginal rights and Aboriginal title are often asserted by Indian Act band councils on behalf of the community,9 the British Columbia Court of Appeal has held that the creation of Indian Act bands does not affect the preexisting Aboriginal rights of an Indigenous community.10 In William v British Columbia, the British Columbia Court of Appeal held that the organization of Tsilhqot’in Nation into five distinct bands under the legislative scheme of the Indian Act was a “result of reserve allocation”11 and “did not affect the identity of the Nation as the holder of rights”.12 It is clear that the band cannot be assumed to be the proper entity to assert an Aboriginal rights claim.13 While bands and band councils frequently assert Aboriginal rights claims, this may be attributed to over 100 years of the Indian Act disrupting Indigenous polities and imposing federal control over the membership and definition of Indigenous groups. This history provides a better explanation than a suggestion that the use of bands, as a caretaker of rights, is a reflection of the continuance between pre-existing communities and Indian Act bands. The mere fact that bands and band councils frequently assert Aboriginal rights claims does not mean that they

are the only group that may rightfully assert these claims.

Pre-contact Indigenous society and legal systems are particularly relevant to claims of Aboriginal title and the duty to consult. Indian Act bands are not interchangeable with pre-Indian Act Indigenous communities and are not proper rights-holders for the purposes of s 35. Aboriginal rights and title inhere in the relevant Aboriginal collective entirely distinct from band status under the Indian Act. The duty to consult exists precisely to protect the collective rights of Aboriginal peoples and is accordingly owed to the group that holds the rights at issue.14 In determining who is the proper representative for the collective rights-holder, the goal of reconciliation must inform the analysis. Exclusive meaningful consultation with the Indian Act band council is incompatible with the stated purposes of s 35, particularly the concept of Aboriginal title and the duty to consult as being necessarily associated with pre-contact Indigenous society and legal systems. Meaningful consultation with the Hereditary Chiefs, whose role in governance extends back prior to contact, is far more consistent with the Supreme Court’s stated goal in Delgamuukw and Haida of reconciling pre-existing Indigenous legal systems with Crown sovereignty. While the band council may have some role in consultation, the consent of band councils should not be seen as superseding or detracting from this necessary, meaningful consultation with hereditary leadership.

Hereditary Chiefs had delegated authority to assert title in Delgamuukw Further, in Behn v Moulton Contracting Ltd., the Supreme Court held that the ability of an Indigenous collective to assert an Aboriginal right or title can be delegated to an authorized individual or organization. In some Indigenous communities, this kind of delegated authority may be conferred on the band council for the purposes of asserting s 35 rights. However, in this case, the fact that the Hereditary Chiefs represented the Wet’suwet’en people for the purposes of asserting Aboriginal title before the Supreme Court in Delgamuukw could support the existence of such a delegation to the Hereditary Chiefs.

The ability of the Chiefs to assert a claim of Aboriginal title by virtue of delegated authority could extend to an entitlement to be consulted in relation to the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. The duty to consult is inextricably linked with pending claims of Aboriginal title. If the Chiefs have delegated authority to assert title over the lands in issue, then it follows logically that they would also be the rightful recipient of consultation where those same lands are potentially adversely affected, giving rise to a duty to consult.

In Delgamuukw, the Supreme Court identified the goal of reconciling pre-existing Indigenous legal systems with the imposition of Crown sovereignty. Hereditary leadership was an important element of pre-contact Indigenous society, and particularly, constitutes a part of the legal tradition of the Wet’suwet’en people. Indian Act band councils, on the other hand, are given authority under legislation, but result from the imposition of the Indian Act on the internal affairs and governance structures of Indigenous groups.

While there may be ongoing questions as to how conflicts between hereditary leadership and Indian Act band councils can be resolved, to say the Hereditary Chiefs are exhibiting “wishful thinking” by invoking Delgamuukw is to ignore the stated objectives of the Supreme Court both in Delgamuukw and also in subsequent s 35 jurisprudence—particularly the reconciliation of pre-existing Indigenous legal systems with assertions of Crown sovereignty.

Editor’s Note: Rory Smith is the Ultra Vires Diversions Editor.

1

Coastal Gaslink Pipeline Ltd v Huson et al (7 January 2020), (Prince George), BC Sup Ct, 1854871 (interlocutory order), online: Coastal Gaslink <https://www. coastalgaslink.com/siteassets/pdfs/about/ regulatory/2020-01-07-order-re-interlocutory-injunction.pdf>.

2

William Mazurek, “Delgamuukw Does Not Support Wet’suwet’en Protestors’ Claims”, Ultra Vires (29 January 2020), online: <http://ultravires.ca/2020/02/ delgamuukw-does-not-support-wetsuweten-protestorsclaims/>.

3

Haida Nation v British Columbia, 2004 SCC 73 at para 14 [Haida].

4

“Elected vs. hereditary chiefs: What’s the difference in Indigenous communities?”, CTV News (11 January 2019), online: <https://bc.ctvnews.ca/elected-vshereditary-chiefs-what-s-the-difference-in-indigenouscommunities-1.4247466>.

5

Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, vol 1 (Ottawa: Canada Communication Group, 1996) at 255 [RRCAP].

6

Ibid.

7

Indian Act, RSC 1985, c I-5, s 2(1) [Indian Act].

8

Kwicksutaineuk/Ah-Kwa-Mish First Nation, 2012 BCCA 193 at para 77, leave refused [2012] SCCA No 336 (SCC) [Kwicksutaineuk].

9

See e.g. Orr v Alook, 2013 ABQB 86 at paras 37–38; Kwicksutaineuk, supra note 6 at para 77; William v British Columbia, 2012 BCCA 285 at paras 155–156, rev’d on other grounds 2014 SCC 44 [William].

10

William, supra note 7 at paras 155–156.

11

Ibid at 155.

12

Ibid.

13

Kwicksutaineuk, supra note 6 at para 77.

14

Behn v Moulton Contracting Ltd, 2013 SCC 26 at para 30 [Behn].

16 | February 28, 2020

OPINIONS

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In Defence of FirstYear Small Groups Proposal to reduce small groups from full-year to one-semester courses should be opposed PROFESSOR JIM PHILLIPS Sometime later this semester Faculty Council will consider an administration proposal to reduce the first-year small groups from full-year courses to one-semester courses. I oppose this proposal as one that will make first-year a less good program than it has been. I am also concerned about how the idea has been rolled out to the law school community.

For most of the years that I have been on the faculty, major changes to the academic program had followed a period of broad and lengthy consultation and debate. A committee is struck with a mandate to examine the issue and report to Faculty Council; submissions about the issue are invited, and draft proposals are circulated for discussion. Quite often the issue is discussed at more than one Faculty Council meeting.

All of this is started early in the academic year so that there is plenty of time for the discussion to percolate through the law school. What has happened this year is a pale imitation of that. Faculty members were approached individually by the administration for their views, which means there has been no exchange of ideas.

While the matter is before the curriculum committee there have been no fora through which the student body can express its opinions.

The issue has stayed under the surface. With just a few weeks left in the term, I do not know

when Faculty Council is slated to discuss the matter; I have asked that question but have received no reply.

All of this matters because this is a large change to the structure of the first-year program.

When a few years ago the program in general was semesterized, it was explicitly decided to keep first-year small groups as full-year courses. This was done because first-year small groups have a special role to play in the program. They provide a format in which students can discuss their ideas, and their uncertainties, about the subject matter and the legal system in general. The most important legal writing the students do in first-year is done in the small groups.

Many graduates will also tell you that the personal friendships with other students and the academic relationships fostered with faculty were the highlight of their first-year experience. All of this is well-summarized on the law school website: “The small group provides a seminar-style learning experience in which students interact closely with a law professor and fellow students in a convivial learning environment.”

The suggestion that we should cut the time spent in a small group environment from two semesters to one is, therefore, a suggestion that we should substantially diminish a very important part of the first-year program.

Of course, if the consensus is that we should do this, then the fact that some people, like myself and other faculty colleagues, disagree is neither here nor there. But what is germane is that there should be ample opportunity for debate, discussion and reflection about such an important decision. There hasn’t been that, and there isn’t much time for it to happen now.

We have a few weeks left in the term, and within a couple of weeks students will rightfully be devoting all of their attention to exams and papers. Better to put this off until next year, and start the discussion early.

Here are just a few things the community needs time to discuss and reflect on. First, why is this being proposed? The explanation I’ve been given by the administration is that “We are noticing that an increasing number of firstyear students struggle with writing.” On what evidence is this assertion based? Who is the “we” in this sentence? I have personally seen no evidence of this.

Second, even if it were somehow shown that students’ writing abilities have diminished, why is the answer not to have more time devoted to the small group rather than less? In fact, as far as I’m aware the administration’s idea for dealing with these apparent ‘struggles’ with writing is to maintain the three assignment requirement in

the small group, greatly compressing the time available for each one—hardly a recipe for improvement. There has also been a suggestion that small group assignments should be coordinated with the Legal Research and Writing program, the least successful aspect of our first-year program because it operates at cross purposes with the rest of it. As was illustrated vividly earlier this year, it requires students to do short assignments on questions which are unanchored from any context but to which there is apparently a clear answer. It is about simplicity not complexity, exactly the opposite of small groups and indeed the entire first-year program.

These are just two problems with the proposal as it currently stands (as far as this is publicly known). Some people may wish to point out other concerns about the small groups. Perhaps they don’t work in the idealised way quoted above?

Then why not find ways to fix the small groups rather than reduce the time devoted to them. Alternatively, why not eliminate the small group program and devote the faculty resources to providing more, smaller, “large/medium” classes.

I’m not proposing any of these things. I am saying that we need more time and more opportunity for dialogue that has been afforded by an impoverished process out of line with past practice.

DIVERSIONS

Date Spots in the Law School From the fireplace room to P363 DANIEL GAO (2L) In t y pical law school fashion, you’re stuck at the school on a Fr iday night. Except, this time, it’s Valentine's Day. You have nothing planned and nowhere to go. You’re ner vous; your palms are sweat y; there’s vomit on your sweater. Mom’s spaghetti.

You haven’t felt this way since the Cr im Law exam.

Don’t worr y. Next time this happens, feel free to use one of our f ive best date locations in the law school.

1. The Fireplace Room: The histor ic f ireplace prov ides a sense of class and elegance, and there are enough seats for several last-minute Valentine’s daters to

get a spot. Bonus feature: it’s so dark you might even be able to sneak ily do work dur ing your date.

2. P363: This room is in the far corner of the librar y, of fers a v iew of two insignif icant roads, and has standard tables and chairs. However, it does have frosted w indows. That said, it is ver y much not soundproofed.

3. Opposite t he L ockers: If you want space and some refreshment, then head to that ding y alcove by the lockers that may or may not have sofas depending on who is v isiting the law school that day. Here, you can buy your date a Pep-

si™, and rest assured in its qualit y, thanks to Ben Barrett. You can then demonstrate your chivalr y by of fer ing your date that single chair that has the great v iew of the staircase wall.

4. Moot Court Room. If you are feeling bold, you can go into the MCR late at night and set up a movie on the projector. Then, you and your date can enjoy one of the two movies law students are obligated by law to watch (Legally Blonde and T he Paper Trail ). Any classroom could serve this purpose, but the MCR of fers the fastest escape for when security inevitably chases after you.

5. The Basement L ounge A rea. A small space, apart from the classrooms, w ith sofas and tables to go around. W hy isn’t this the per fect space to spend a date? It is, which is why 9 times out of 10, you’ll be running into someone doing the exact same thing as you. Unless you enjoy awkwardly mak ing eye contact w ith someone already in the room before doing a tiny nonsensical nod and rapidly walk ing out of the room, then best to avoid this place.

February 28, 2020 | 17

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RIGHTS REVIEW The International Human Rights Program at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law An independent student-led publication Editors-in-Chief: Julie Lowenstein (3L) and Emily Tsui (3L, JD/MGA) Senior Editors: Rachel Bryce (3L) and Maddy Torrie (3L) Graphics and Social Media Editor: Adil Munim (3L) Junior Editor: Abdullah Khan (1L)

INTERVIEW WITH REBECCA SUTTON ‘13

By Emily Tsui (3L JD/MGA) Rights Review (RR): How did you end up in law school?

Rebecca Sutton (RS): I took my time getting to law school, though initially I had applied straight out of undergrad and then deferred a few times. For my undergrad I attended McMaster’s innovative and interdisciplinary Arts & Science program, and the only downside of it was that at the time of graduation I hadn’t quite pinned down whether the Arts or the Science side of my brain was going to win out. I threw my hat in for both medical and law school, and was a bit shocked when both of the options came through. So, rational being that I am, I chose neither. Instead I moved to London, England, and did an MSc in Violence, Conflict and Development at SOAS (University of London). A few years later I was back home and working with wonderful people at War Child Canada. While at War Child, I had some great interactions with IHRP students from U of T, and I thought the legal research and advocacy they were doing looked fun as well as challenging. Soon enough, I was enrolled at U of T, and I began as a 1L in 2007.

RR: Could you talk about your experience at law school?

RS: I first have to thank the administration of the law school for being patient with me, because I took a whole five years to finish. I did 1L in 2007-2008, and then took two years off to work in Darfur, Sudan, as Country Director for War Child, before coming back to finish in 2013. Incredibly, I had the complete support of the law school in taking a leave of absence, and my time in Sudan only enriched my law school experience when I returned. Socially, it was difficult, because all of my 1L buddies had graduated when I got back. But IHRP and Downtown Legal Services were my second homes, and I met wonderful people there who I’m still in touch with. Another huge highlight for me in the JD program was working on the Indigenous Law Journal and being part of the first cohort to do a Certificate in Aboriginal Legal Studies. This opened up a whole new world of law, and social justice, for me.

RR: Can you walk us through your path after law school? How did you make your decision to pursue a PhD and enter into teaching?

RS: The game changer, for me, was having the good fortune to receive a PhD Scholarship from the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. This allowed me to enter into a PhD program at the London School of Economics, and to return to London where I had had such a good time as a grad student almost a decade earlier. At the time, I was not making a conscious decision to become an academic for life. What motivated me, really, was that I had a specific problem I wanted to solve, and I thought I had a research question being enough to spend four years puzzling over. It

ihrprightsreview

REBECCA SUTTON

was once I started working as a teaching assistant at the LSE that I truly discovered my love of teaching, which I think was there all along.

RR: How did law school help shape your path?

RS: Above all, it was the people I met, including Professors, Admin staff, and other students, during my time in law school who shaped my path. Working closely with Professor Kent Roach on a directed research project, for example, revealed to me the exciting and emancipatory possibilities of being a legal researcher. I also had an incredible experience working on an extended project with Renu Mandane and Elizabeth Bingham at the IHRP (on federally-sentenced women with mental health issues), which exposed me to the inside of Canadian prisons and allowed for collaboration with organizations such as Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era, Native Women's Association of Canada and Elizabeth Fry. Professor Martha Shaffer was always a generous sounding board for me, and inspired me through her teaching as well.

I was also fortunate to have great summer gigs while a law student. After 1L I did an IHRP internship working on immigration detention and xenophobic violence in Johannesburg, South Africa. I was bitten by the field bug while away on that trip, and I think that was a big reason why I pursued the job in Sudan with War Child. I had a strong urge to work in a hands-on way, on the ground, on issues of rights and justice that are important to me. When I returned to law school after two years in Sudan, I was constantly struck by what an enormous privilege and responsibility it is to go to law school and be a lawyer.

After 2L, I had a fantastic summer at Lenczner Slaght, where I was surrounded by incredibly professional, competent and generous litigators who helped me grow. My time at the Ontario Court of Appeal, following graduation, also exposed me to a more academic side of the law, and I think the research skills I developed in the clerkship were crucial.

RR: You have researched extensively on the law of armed conflict. Can you walk us through your current research?

RS: My PhD examined the civilian-combatant distinction in International Humanitarian Law, exploring how humanitarian actors (e.g. Médecins Sans Frontières, International Committee of the Red Cross, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) express their civilian identity. I did field research in South Sudan and at civil-military trainings in West Africa and Europe. I’m currently re-working my doctorate as a book, which will be coming out with Oxford University Press in the next year or so. In my new role as a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Edinburgh Law School, in Scotland, I’m continuing to engage with international humanitarian law (IHL) but now I am focusing on the role of emotions. At the moment, I’m interviewing humanitarian negotiators in South East Asia to learn about the interplay of international law, and feelings, in their everyday work. The aim of my research, in the broadest sense, is to uncover the human component of IHL. Next year, I’ll start a new strand of the Leverhulme project, which involves designing a training in International Law for journalists and war correspondents. I also teach on subjects such as International Human Rights Law, IHL and conflict resolution, which help to inform my research.

RR: What are some skills that you think

ihrp.law.utoronto.ca/page/rights-review-magazine

are important for a successful career in doing international legal research work?

RS: A lively sense of curiosity. An appreciation for playing the long game: it can sometimes be three, four, or five years before an important discovery sees the light of day. An ability to move between a grand vision and the nitty gritty nuts and bolts. A willingness to master different types of writing, like academic articles, grant writing, blogs, op-eds.

These all offer different ways of expressing ideas and, done right, they can all play an important role in your intellectual engagement. Further on the subject of grant writing, I am constantly struck by how much of this job involves mobilising resources. It is time-intensive, tiring, and heart-breaking when it doesn’t lead to success. My previous experience as a grant writer at War Child helps me a lot in this respect, which perhaps highlights the advantage of thinking creatively about what could make you an effective legal researcher.

RR: If you could give any additional advice to U of T students interested in academia and international legal work, what would it be?

RS: Follow your heart, and keep an open mind about what meaningful work looks like for you. Also, have fun with the concept of being a ‘lawyer’ and develop a definition of justice that suits your own values. Do not be afraid of rejection; welcome it, and walk towards your fear. Be kind to your peers and colleagues, not because they might become important or useful to you in the future, but just because. Above all, do not pull the ladder away when you reach the top, and extend a hand to help others when you can.

rightsreview

RIGHTS REVIEW

18 | February 28

REPORTS ON GLOBAL ALBINISM ALLIANCE

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REPORT FROM GLOBAL ALBINISM ALLIANCE: A PHOTO ESSAY All photos by India Annamanthadoo (3L)

By India Annamanthadoo (3L) In Januar y 2020, IHRP Summer Fellow India Annamanthadoo traveled to Paris for the formation of the first ever global alliance of people with albinism in her capacity as an externship student at Human Rights Watch. India’s work in albinism advocacy began with her IHRP Summer Fellowship working to suppor t the mandate of Ms. Ikponwosa Ero, the UN Independent Exper t on Albinism. You can read about her Summer Fellowship here.

Check out this “Dispatch” that India wrote for Human Rights Watch on her recent experience in Paris:

People with Albinism Form First Ever Global Alliance

New Coalition Seeks to Combat Abuse, Stigma Around the World This week, I witnessed a historic moment in human rights advocacy and empowerment: people with albinism from around the world unanimously voted to form a global alliance on albinism.

From Januar y 26 to 28, civil society groups representing people with albinism from six continents gathered in Paris to lay the foundation for an international coalition to combat the attacks, stigmatization, and discrimination people with albinism – a relatively rare condition caused by a lack of melanin or pigmentation in the skin, hair, and eyes – face worldwide. “[ T ]oday a fundamental step has been taken and a foundation has been laid for a new era for people with albinism worldwide, par ticularly where they need the most suppor t,” said Ikponwosa Ero, the United Nations Independent Exper t on Albinism and one of the organizers of the event. “We are not going to turn back now.”

FROM NIGERIA, IKPONWOSA ERO, UN INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON ALBINISM: “ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT REASONS WHY WE HAVE TO HAVE AN ALBINISM ALLIANCE AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL IS TO SUPPORT PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM ACROSS THE WORLD, SO THEY ARE NOT WORKING IN ISOLATION. … [C]OMING TOGETHER TO HAVE SOLIDARITY IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT OUTCOMES OF HAVING THIS ALLIANCE SO THAT ALL THE GAINS PEOPLE HAVE MADE IN THEIR NATIONAL LEVEL CAN BE AMPLIFIED AND REPLICATED AT AN INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.”

Other advocates echoed this sentiment. Lei Xiao, a representative of the Chinese Organization for Albinism, told me, “The global alliance for albinism is ver y impor tant because when we are separated in ever y par t of the world, we are alone. But when we are united, we are stronger.”

A recent UN Independent Exper t repor t showcased the range of human rights abuses people with albinism and their families endure, from physical and sexual violence to social exclusion and entrenched discrimination. In some regions in Africa, for example, people with albinism are mutilated or killed due to mistaken beliefs that their body par ts can be used in witchcraft practices to bring good luck or for tune.

Fear of attacks and stigma can limit access to even the most basic human rights, including education. A June 2019 Human Rights Watch repor t highlighted the discrimination and barriers to education faced by children with albinism in Mozambique.

The new alliance will undoubtedly encounter obstacles, par ticularly in designing specific responses to meet the variety of human rights challenges affecting people with albinism. But the advocates I met in Paris this week remain undeterred in their mission to prevent abuses against their communities and seek accountability for past violations. Now more than ever, people with albinism stand united in their common goal of equal rights and dignity.

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FROM MALAYSIA, MAIZAN BINTI MODH SALLEH, KUALA LUMPUR & SELANGOR ALBINISM ASSOCIATION (KLSAA): “I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN MALAYSIA ALONE AND I FEEL THAT IT IS REALLY GREAT TO BRING EVERYONE TOGETHER SO THAT WE CAN LEARN FROM EACH OTHER, AND WE CAN HAVE SOME UNIFICATION OF INFORMATION, STATISTICS AND DATA.” “[THE ALLIANCE IS] A PLACE WHERE I HOPE THAT EVERYONE COULD SHARE AND BRING THE BEST PRACTICES OF EACH REGION OF THE ALLIANCE FOR THE GREATER GOOD OF EVERYONE.”

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FROM CHINA, LEI XIAO, CHINESE ORGANIZATION FOR ALBINISM: “THE GLOBAL ALLIANCE FOR ALBINISM IS VERY IMPORTANT, BECAUSE WHEN WE ARE SEPARATED IN EVERY PART OF THE WORLD, WE ARE ALONE. BUT WHEN WE ARE UNITED, WE ARE STRONGER.”

FROM RWANDA, NICODEME HAKIZIMANA, ORGANISATION FOR INTEGRATION AND PROMOTION OF PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM (OIPPA): “A GLOBAL ALLIANCE ON ALBINISM SHOULD FOCUS ON REPRESENTATION FOR PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM IN ALL SECTORS, SPECIFICALLY FOR ADVOCACY FOR THE BUDGET ALLOCATION BY GOVERNMENTS. THIS IS THE MAIN PRIORITY SO THAT PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM CAN BE INCLUDED IN ALL OF THE COUNTRY’S PROGRAMS.”

FROM COLOMBIA, DIANA PAOLA SANABRIA LOZANO, FUNDACIÓN ALBINOS POR COLOMBIA: “I HOPE THAT EVERY PERSON IN THE WORLD WOULD BENEFIT FROM AN ALBINISM ALLIANCE. IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU ARE A PERSON WITH ALBINISM IN COLOMBIA, OR GREAT BRITAIN, OR SOUTH AFRICA.”

FROM SPAIN, PEPE SOLVES, ALBA: “I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT GOAL OF THIS ALLIANCE IS TO ACHIEVE ONE UNIQUE VOICE OF PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM AROUND THE WORLD.”

FROM FIJI, SAINIMILI UDITE KULAKUGA TAWAKE, FIJI ALBINISM PROJECT: “IT IS SIGNIFICANT TO ME ON A PERSONAL LEVEL, PARTICULARLY WHEN TRYING TO FIND MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MYSELF AS A PERSON WITH ALBINISM. AND, YOU KNOW, HAVING AN ALLIANCE ALLOWS ME TO UNDERSTAND MYSELF AND MY SITUATION BETTER.”

FROM BRAZIL, ANDREZA AGUIDA PEREIRA CAVALLI, ALBINOS DE MEU BRASIL E DE MUNDO: “I THINK [THIS ALLIANCE IS] A DREAM COME TRUE BECAUSE WE WORKED FOR A LONG TIME AND FOR MANY YEARS TO MAKE A BETTER FUTURE FOR PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM.”

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