Comparative Law: International & Comparative Labour Law

Artificial Intelligence and management-by-algorithms are reshaping the modern world of work in industrialized and developing countries. This is exemplified by the rise of platform work in the so-called gig-economy but is spreading in every sector and affects both blue-collar and white-collar occupations. Besides the intuitive risks in terms of automation of jobs, this seminar will focus specifically on less-known challenges, including algorithmic discrimination, augmented work surveillance, privacy invasion, increase in non-standard forms of work, and disruption of collective rights. We will look at these challenges from an international and comparative standpoint. We will focus specifically on international labour law and developments concerning the International Labour Organization, and other regional and national developments at the European level to compare them with the Canadian legal landscape.

Constitutional Litigation

In this seminar, students explore the adjudication process in constitutional litigation, consider questions of procedure, proof and remedies and discuss effective preparation of and advocacy in constitutional cases.
Seminar topics will include: the role of the courts in constitutional litigation; commencing a constitutional case, drafting pleadings, government action under s.32 of the Charter, standing, crown defendants, choice of venue, remedies, evidence in constitutional cases, the role of experts and drafting effective affidavits, discovery of governments, and interlocutory relief.

Securities Regulation

A primary objective of this course is that students obtain a solid grounding in the basic concepts of Ontario securities law, as well as an understanding of the underlying policy objectives that regulators and decision-makers seek to achieve in implementing and interpreting statutory provisions.  Students should also develop some appreciation of how the requirements of securities law shape and influence business transactions and the activities of public issuers, as well as how courts and regulators deploy securities law concepts and policies in resolving disputes.  Participants will also be introduced to a variety of intellectual perspectives that critique or support current precepts of doctrine.  By the end of the course, students should be well positioned to recognize and apply the relevant securities law doctrines and concepts in the context  of examples of business transactions or activities, to understand the various roles that securities lawyers play as advisors to issuers or as litigators of securities law disputes, as well as to analyse the policy goals underlying securities law requirements.  For those students who do not necessarily intend to practice securities law, the expectation is that the course will provide a working knowledge of key aspects of capital markets operation and their governance by law.

Immigration Law

This course begins with an overview of the Canadian immigration system and international migration patterns with the objective of understanding who is coming to Canada and why. The basic features of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and the Regulations will then be discussed including: family sponsorship, economic immigration and inadmissibility. Embedded in this discussion will be an overview of how immigration decision-making takes place and the reviewability of immigration administrative decisions. A portion of the course will be devoted to looking at current topics in immigration law.

Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law

This course will provide a critical survey of state law as it relates to Indigenous peoples in Canada. The focus will be on the following topics: the historical context and constitutional framework; Aboriginal rights and title; self-government; treaties and treaty rights; and introduction to the Indian Act; and the authority and obligations of the federal and provincial governments.

This course fulfills the prerequisite requirements for the Intensive Program in Indigenous Lands, Resources and Governments.

Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law

This substantive law course will explore the interactions between Canadian common law and Indigenous law, primarily Anishinaabe law. The content will be viewed through the lens of Indigenous worldviews. Topics will include, but are not limited to: Indigenous sources of law; historical context and constitutional framework re: Indigenous Peoples; Aboriginal Rights, Title and the Doctrine of Discovery; treaties; resource rights and consultation; and the Indian Act and Identity. The course will be presented from a practitioner’s perspective working within Anishinaabe communities, with attention to practical intersections between the various topics. This course fulfills the prerequisite requirements for the Intensive Program in Indigenous Lands, Resources and Governments.

Law & Social Change: Anti-Discrimination Law

This course surveys the legal principles of anti-discrimination law in Canada. We will begin by studying recent Supreme Court of Canada jurisprudence on section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as well as the interpretation and application of Ontario’s Human Rights Code. Topics covered include: the legal tests a claimant must meet to demonstrate a limit on section 15 of the Charter and a breach of the Code; the interpretation of section 15(2) of the Charter; the nature of the “prohibited grounds” under the Charter and the Code; the scope of the Code’s “regulated spheres” of employment, accommodations, the provision of goods and services, and contracts; legal defences available to a respondent under the Code, including the “bona fide occupational requirement” defence and “special program” defences. With this foundational knowledge in hand, we will then explore two frontiers of anti-discrimination law in Canada. First, we will consider how the common law of torts, contract, and property can be reformed to address
discrimination. Second, we will consider the legal regulation of algorithmic discrimination under Canada’s new Artificial Intelligence and Data Act. Our survey will be supplemented by comparisons with legal doctrines in the United States and the United Kingdom. We will
also reflect on some philosophical theories about what makes discrimination morally wrong and the moral justification for legal prohibitions of discrimination.

Criminal Procedure

This course will provide students with an overview of the Canadian criminal process, with a special attention given to the limitations imposed by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It will begin with an exploration of police investigative powers. The authority of Canadian police to search/seize, question, detain, and arrest will all be considered in detail. The exclusion of unconstitutionally obtained evidence, as well as the availability of other constitutional remedies, will also be addressed. The course will then shift to a consideration of the criminal process after charges are formally brought, including intake procedures, bail, disclosure, plea, plea bargaining, prosecutorial discretion, and the right to a trial within a reasonable time. If time allows, some trial and post-trial issues may be considered, including jury selection, res judicata, and appeals. Throughout, various theoretical perspectives on criminal law and process will be discussed. The course will also seek to introduce key historical connections and important points of comparison between criminal procedure in Canada and the United States, primarily in terms of their constitutional regulation, as well as with the common law of England.

Public International Law

Public International Law is the system of law relating to inter-state relations, the functioning of international institutions, the relations of such bodies with each other, and their relations with States, individuals, groups and other entities. It seeks an understanding of certain rules of law relating to individuals and non-State entities. This course is intended as an introduction to the norms, rules and practices of international law that are recognized as being binding obligations on sovereign states in their mutual relationships.
Topics will be covered from among the following: sources of international law; subjects of international law (States and non-State actors; self-determination; individuals; international organizations); rights and duties of States; recognition of States and governments and legal effects thereof; state responsibility for international delinquencies; international law applying processes in domestic legal systems; state and diplomatic immunities from suit in foreign courts; the United Nations Charter and limitations on the use of force and international dispute settlement.

Refugee Law

Refugee protection is in a perpetual state of crisis, both domestically and abroad. Many refugee law practitioners and scholars argue that states are retrenching from their duty to provide refugees with the protection to which they are entitled under international law. At the same time, some government actors, media figures and civil society groups contend that existing refugee determination processes are excessively generous and are subject to widespread “abuse” by economically motivated migrants. Still others suggest that refugee protection regimes either distract from or help reinforce a deeper problematic: control over migration that serves to entrench global disparities in income, wealth and security.

This course offers students an opportunity to engage critically with these and other debates over refugee law at the level of theory, policy and practice. This critical engagement will occur through a collaborative examination of refugee law instruments, institutions and jurisprudence in international and domestic forums, with a heavy emphasis on Canada.  

The course will be offered through lectures and class discussions. The course will also include several weeks of student-led teaching in the second half of the term. There will be two written assignments. The course requires consistent and active student participation throughout the term, including participation in evaluated group work. There is no final exam or final paper. The course, including all evaluated work, will be complete by December 1.

Note that the course will be offered in a hybrid remote/in-person format (hyflex). Students can attend classes either on campus or remotely via Zoom.