Reading Time: 6 minutes It is perhaps time (if not long overdue) to re-evaluate what we mean by justice and corrections. In my study of our court and prison methods, I found… a great wastage of human lives – a failure to reclaim and utilize them. E.N. Foss, 1914 Perhaps the least understood part of our criminal justice system […]
How Inmates in Canadian Prisons Suffer
Reading Time: 8 minutes Mental health crises for which there are few resources COVID-19 lockdowns Overuse of solitary confinement A racialized justice system that criminalizes Indigenous Peoples and Black Canadians A lack of preparation for re-entry into society These are the tip-of-the-iceberg issues faced by inmates in Canada’s federal and provincial prisons. And according to advocates for better inmate […]
45-2: Our Legal System
Reading Time: 2 minutes Volume 45-2 Nov/Dec 2020 Table of Contents Feature Articles: Our Legal System Special Report: Public Legal Education Departments Columns October 26th to 30th, 2020 is National Access to Justice Week. And we are celebrating with this issue! Read on for articles about different aspects of our legal system and perspectives on public legal education. […]
45-3: Behind Bars
Reading Time: 2 minutes Volume 45-3 Jan/Feb 2021 In this issue, we report on Canadian prisons – processes, concerns and calls for reform. We also look at some lesser known laws in Alberta that we bet you didn’t know! Feature Articles: Behind Bars Special Report: Lesser-known Alberta Laws Departments Columns Feature Articles: Behind Bars How Inmates in Canadian Prisons […]
FAMOUS CASES | Fraud in 3D: VisuaLABS
Reading Time: 5 minutes Between 1993 and 2001, VisuaLABS Inc. – the company built in Calgary, Alberta by Sheldon Zelitt – attracted thousands of investors, raised hundreds of millions of dollars in capital and grabbed the attention of the global technology press. The promise of two technologies Zelitt developed generated excitement. However, none of this technology existed. It was all hype and deception. This article describes how the justice system dealt with this major commercial fraud.
Transgender Inmates in Canada
Reading Time: 6 minutes How do federal, provincial and territorial laws or policies protect transgender inmates? Individuals may identify with a gender that goes along with their sex given at birth, they may identify with a gender that is different from their sex given at birth, or they may identify with a non-traditional notion of gender. “Transgender” characterizes those […]
You Have Choices! Resolving family law problems outside of court
Reading Time: 8 minutes The only way legal disputes ever seem to get resolved on TV or in the movies is in court. That’s understandable, because the other ways we resolve legal disputes are, well, boring. I don’t think we are ever going to see a prime-time legal drama about people going to mediation. However, the emphasis the media […]
The Critical Role of Public Legal Education in Societies Governed by the Rule of Law
Reading Time: 4 minutes At some point in high school, we learn that we live in a nomocracy, which is a fancy ten-cent word for a society governed by the rule of law. The whole “governed by the rule of law” thing is an especially important quality of democracies like ours. It includes the following rights: the right to […]
Good Behaviour and Tenure of Supreme Court Justices in Canada and the United States
Reading Time: 6 minutes The death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in September 2020 at the age of 87, and the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court of the United States, where she can serve for decades, prompted me to write this article. The Supreme Courts of Canada and the U.S. are the courts of […]
EMPLOYMENT | Changes to Alberta Employment Law. Again.
Reading Time: 5 minutes On November 1, 2020, several changes to Alberta’s Employment Standards Code came into effect. Changes include payment of earnings after termination, deductions, averaging arrangements for calculating overtime, rest periods and calculating general holiday pay. These changes are detailed in Bill 32: Restoring Balance in Alberta’s Workplaces Act, 2020. Remember the government’s red-tape inquiry? Bill 32 […]
