TORONTO, March 17, 2003 -- Osgoode Hall Law School's annual Constitutional Cases Conference - the leading national forum for analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada's constitutional decisions - will take place on Friday, April 4, 2003 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Osgoode Professional Development Centre, 1 Dundas Street West, Suite 2602.
The conference will open with a dinner at 6.30 p.m. on Thursday, April 3, 2003 at the University Club, 380 University Ave., at which Dean Peter Hogg will announce the Supreme Court of Canada's top constitutional decisions of 2002, as selected by the Osgoode Hall Law School Constitutional Advisory Board.
The Constitutional Advisory Board is made up of 45 leading constitutional lawyers and experts from law schools, governments and private law firms across the country who were polled by Osgoode for their selections of the top constitutional cases of 2002.
The Constitutional Advisory Board is the only such organization in the country and this is the first time that there has been any authoritative determination of the top constitutional decisions of the year.
Key issues to be discussed at the conference on Friday, April 4 include:
The Supreme Court's attempt to strike a balance between liberty and security in the post 9/11 world;
Developments in equality rights, freedom of expression, security of the person and the right to vote in 2002;
The critics of "judicial activism" and whether they are missing the mark or their criticisms are valid;
How the Court's new approach to remedies - including suspended declarations of invalidity and prospective rulings of invalidity – are reshaping Charter jurisprudence.
This year's outstanding speakers are: keynote speaker The Honourable Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci of the Supreme Court of Canada; Dean Peter Hogg and Professors Jamie Cameron, Richard Haigh, Sonia Lawrence, Patrick Monahan, Bruce Ryder and Janet Walker of Osgoode Hall Law School; Sujit Choudry, Kent Roach and Carol Rogerson of the University of Toronto; Don Stuart of Queen's University; Jean Leclair of the Université de Montréal; James Kelly of Brock University; Vaughan Black of Dalhousie University; Jane Arbour, Robert Frater and Debra McAllister of the Department of Justice Canada; Lori Sterling of the Ministry of the Attorney General Ontario; and leading counsel such as Christopher Bredt of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, David Brown of Stikeman Elliot LLP, Marya Duckworth of the Ontario Court of Appeal, Brian Morgan and Mahmud Jamal of Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Richard Peck of Peck & Company, David Stratas of Heenan Blaikie LLP and Darrell Bricker of Ipsos-Reid.
Highlights of the conference, which has sold out in advance for the past two years, include:
9 a.m.: Introduction and Overview
The Supreme Court of Canada in 2002: An Overview
Patrick Monahan, Osgoode Hall Law School
9:45 a.m.: Equality Rights
Equality Rights: Beyond the Law v. Canada Test
Christopher Bredt, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
Conceptions of Entitlement in Gosselin v. Quebec: Positive State Obligations and Economic Rights under ss. 7 and 15 of the Charter
Jamie Cameron, Osgoode Hall Law School
Equality Values in Charter Litigation
Dean Peter Hogg, Osgoode Hall Law School
Strong Values, Weak Rights: ss. 15 in Surrey School District and Gosselin
Sonia Lawrence, Osgoode Hall Law School
11.15 a.m.: Charter and Criminal Law
Should the Left Hand Get What the Right Hand’s Got?
Government-held Information, Criminal Investigations and Privacy Rights
Robert Frater, Department of Justice Canada
The Constitutionalization of Solicitor-Client Privilege
Brian Morgan and Mahmud Jamal
Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
The Balance between Liberty and Security in the Post 9/11 World
Richard Peck, Peck & Company
The Constitutional Independence of the Attorney General and Prosecutorial Discretion
Lori Sterling, Ministry of the Attorney
Zigzags on Rights of Accused: Brittle Majorities Manipulate Weasel Words of Dialogue, Deference and Charter Values (paper only)
Don Stuart, Queen’s University
12.30 p.m.: Luncheon and keynote speaker:
The Honourable Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci
Supreme Court of Canada
2 p.m.: Concurrent Sessions
Session A: Fundamental Freedoms
Sauve and Prisoner Voting Rights: The Death of the Good Citizen?
David Brown, Stikeman Elliot LLP
Imprisoning Voter Rights: A Call for Democratic Engagement
Richard Haigh, Osgoode Hall Law School
Expanding the Application of the Charter
Carol Rogerson, University of Toronto
Session B: Federalism and Aboriginal Rights
Reconciling Collective and Individual Rights under the Constitution
Jane Arbour, Department of Justice Canada
Indian Lands, Culturally Modified Trees, and the Crown’s Fiduciary Obligations
Kent McNeil, Osgoode Hall Law School
Aboriginal Rights at the Supreme Court of Canada in 2002
Jean Leclair, Université de Montréal
Spar Aerospace: The Deconstitutionalization of Canadian Private International Law?
Janet Walker, Osgoode Hall Law School and Vaughan Black, Dalhousie University
3.30 p.m.: Of Courts and Legislatures: Judicial Activism or Restraint?
Putting the Past behind Us? Prospective Judicial and Legislative Remedies under the Charter
Sujit Choudry and Kent Roach, University of Toronto
Legislative Responses to Judicial Supremacy: Parliamentary and Bureaucratic Activism in Canada
James Kelly, Brock University, Department of Political Science
Media are required to register for the conference: Please call 416-597-9724 or e-mail: pdp@osgoode.yorku.ca
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For further information, please contact:
| Patrick Monahan | Virginia Corner |
| Associate Dean | Communications Manager |
| Osgoode Hall Law School of York University | Osgoode Hall Law School of York University |
| 416-736-5568 | 416-736-5820 |
YU/028/03
