Course or Seminar Category: Environmental Law and Natural Resources

Climate Change Law

Climate change and disruption is attributable to historical and current day modes of production and consumption. Enduring solutions will require significant shifts in how modern societies are governed. Governance, in this context, is unlikely to succeed without attention to related priorities of sustainability, justice, and cohesion. Yet there is ample evidence that many leaders and institutions are unable or unwilling to address the challenge effectively.

This seminar explores legal and policy issues related to efforts to control the causes and respond to the impacts of climate disruption. It approaches the topic from an interdisciplinary perspective that considers law, science, politics, economics, and history. The seminar is concerned with how these perspectives can support pragmatic strategies in different areas of law and policy and at different levels of decision-making.

The seminar has two thematic segments. The first segment will examine the historical, political, economic, and scientific background within which the modern problem of climate disruption has arisen. This segment will also provide a broad survey of the major international legal regimes that have been developed to address the problem.

The second segment will focus on analyzing legal and institutional barriers to pragmatic action towards forestalling climate disruption and mitigating its impact on society. Particular attention will be paid to core societal functions such as food production, land management, water and wastewater infrastructure, energy, and transportation. Students will have the opportunity to do their research in a relevant area.

Comparative Law: Indigenous Legal Traditions

This seminar will introduce students to non-state Indigenous legal orders. Using a transsystemic pedagogical model and a wide range of reading materials (legal cases, methodology, pedagogy, anthropology, theory) students will critically explore the theories and practices of indigenous legal traditions through analysis and substantive treatment of: indigenous sources of law; oral histories and traditions (as legal archive); legal cases and precedent; modes of reasoning and interpretation; and authority and legitimacy.

Law & Social Change: Construction Law

Construction is one of the largest industries in Canada, contributing 7.5% to Canada’s GDP annually, and employing more than 1.4 million people. The construction industry is broad and multi-faceted. From residential construction including houses and condominiums to commercial construction, such as office towers and hotels to industrial and infrastructure development including hospitals, schools, roads, and transportation systems. In Toronto alone, the scale of current construction projects is evident from a simple look at the skyline. With recent changes to the Ontario legislation and large amounts of government funding being directed towards revitalizing provincial and federal infrastructure, now is the perfect time to study this area. Construction law is a rapidly growing specialized field which has developed into its own distinctive area of law. Not only does construction law have a rich jurisprudential history in Canada, it is also at the forefront of emerging alternative dispute resolution processes such as Dispute Review Boards and Adjudication. The industry is ordered by a complex web of private contracts, public laws and regulations, and a set of common law duties, unique to the industry in some instances. In this course, we will survey and examine the legal relationships between all stakeholders and the respective legal rights and remedies. The course will canvass the private law of contract, tort, real property, debtor-creditor, agency, administrative law and trusts. In addition, we will cover related topics concerning public law and legislation relating to sale of goods, personal property security, liens, trusts, and adjudication. This course will allow students to analyze construction law issues and apply these principles of law in a construction setting. Guest speakers will be invited to contribute to some discussions.

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.

Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law

This course provides a critical survey of state law as it relates to Indigenous peoples and lands in what is now known as Canada.

Topics may include but are not limited to: historical context and constitutional framework; the laws of Indigenous peoples, especially as they interact with Canadian law; Aboriginal rights and title; self-government; treaties and treaty rights; the Indian Act; the obligations of the federal and provincial governments; and Indigenous belonging and identity.

This course fulfills the prerequisite requirement for the Intensive Program in Indigenous Lands, Resources and Governments. This course also satisfies the Indigenous and Aboriginal Law Requirement.

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.

Law & Social Change: Corporate Responsiblity

This course provides students with perspectives into corporate social responsibility both as a governing mechanism for businesses as well as a form of business practice. The course will examine the theoretical paradigms surrounding the corporate objective and corporate accountability, international movements in corporate social responsibility led by organizations such as the OECD and the UN, as well as the legal frameworks in human rights protection and corporate risk management. The course will devote a significant proportion of time to the role of corporations in human rights and furthering social welfare and will discuss key critical perspectives on other social rights, including labour and the environment. This course will challenge students into viewing the role and responsibility of the corporation from perspectives beyond the traditional paradigm of shareholder primacy and is well placed to complement traditional corporate law and regulation courses as well as courses in international law.

Land Use Planning

This course will provide an overview of the law of land use planning and development law regime in Ontario, with an emphasis on the processes, approvals, and contractual arrangements involved
In the development of land, with reference to the Planning Act.

Topics will include the provincial and municipal roles in land use planning and a close examination of the various land use planning instruments and processes, including official plans, zoning by-laws, draft plans of subdivision/consents to sever, site plan approval, building permits, etc. The course will also examine indirect land use controls such as development agreements, development charges and other fees, charges and levies. Students will be introduced to legislation and policies that regulate the heritage protection of built form, expropriation law, indigenous interests in land use planning, and building construction.

The role of the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) will be discussed, as well as local appeal bodies. Emphasis will be placed on the significant role that local government has with respect to land use planning. The course will accordingly combine aspects of municipal law with an understanding of
the land development process.

Overall, the course will provide students with an understanding of the powers and rights available to citizens, stakeholders, landowners, governments, non-governmental organizations, and public
sector agencies in shaping land use planning in Ontario.

As learning objectives, students should, by the end of the course:
· demonstrate a high degree of knowledge of the main principles and rules applicable to the land use planning regime in Ontario, with a particular focus on the Planning Act and select case law, and be able to apply these principles and rules to various fact situations in a relevant, precise and well-structured way;
· have an appreciation of other important Ontario statutes that impact the land use planning and development regime in Ontario, and be able to apply relevant portions of these statutes;
· be familiar with the basic functions and powers of municipalities in Ontario;
· understand the general role and the administrative procedures of the OLT and the matters that it adjudicates; and
· develop a critical perspective on the land use planning regime in Ontario, and be able to explain how certain policy objectives may be fulfilled or, alternatively, frustrated by aspects of the regime.

Note: there may be occasional guest lecturers on select topics.

Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law

The principal aim of this course is to develop critical understanding of those parts of Canadian constitutional law that pertain specifically to Indigenous peoples. Topics will include the notions of sovereignty and self-determination, relevant British imperial law, the honour of the Crown and the enforceable Crown obligations to which it gives rise, federal and provincial legislative authority, section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, Aboriginal rights and title, treaties and treaty rights, and Indigenous self-government (statutory and constitutional). The plan is for one class session, late in the term, to feature Toronto lawyers who represent or advise Indigenous clients, discussing practice-related issues.

The course will also acknowledge the reality, the coherence and the efficacy of Indigenous law. Early in the term, an Indigenous law scholar will spend one class session introducing the students to an Indigenous legal order. But Indigenous law will figure somewhat less prominently in this section of the course than it does in some other sections, because the instructor, who is not Indigenous, has neither authority nor permission to pronounce on matters internal to any Indigenous legal order. Students whose primary interest is in Indigenous law may prefer another section of this course, or may wish to supplement this course with a companion course whose specific focus is Indigenous law.

This course satisfies the prerequisite requirement for the Intensive Program in Aboriginal Lands, Resources and Governments. It may also be useful background for advanced seminars about Indigenous Peoples and the 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.