The McGill Law Journal Podcast

Dans cet épisode, nous plongeons au cœur de la justice des jeunes contrevenants au Canada, avec une attention particulière portée sur le Québec. Nos invitées sont Me Véronique Champagne, procureure en chef au Bureau des affaires de la jeunesse du Directeur des poursuites criminelles et pénale et Mme Catherine Lapierre, directrice des services de justice réparatrice pour mineurs à Équijustice.

This episode navigates the intricate landscape of the Canadian legal system as it intersects with the lives of neurodivergent individuals. We aim to explore the ways in which autistic people may interact with the legal system and how various factors can influence the overall journey through the justice system. We discuss potential solutions and suggestions aimed at reducing ableism and providing support for neurodiverse populations. We hear from Dr. Stephanie Ehret, a criminologist and Assistant Professor of Sociology at Trent University. Dr. Ehret’s research focuses on gender and violence, as well as autism and criminal justice.

Cryptocurrency's rapid rise has placed financial regulators in uncharted territory, forcing experts to think outside the box about how to best regulate decentralized digital assets. This episode will explore the Canadian cryptocurrency regulatory landscape in the wake of the FTX collapse and consider how it might evolve in the future. In this episode, we speak with Me Laure Fouin, co-head of the Digital Assets and Blockchain group and a partner at the Montréal office of Osler, a leading Canadian law firm.

Content Warning: This episode discusses sexual violence and genocide. This episode explores how non-governmental and other international organizations work to achieve justice and redress for survivors of international war crimes. We speak with Natia Navrouzov, who shares expertise on the role of NGOs, and the international community, more generally, in obtaining redress for Yazidi survivors of genocide.

In this this two-part epsiode, we hear from McGill Law graduates whose unconventional careers challenge the typical image of what it means to be a lawyer or have a law degree. Our guests for part two are Aaron Wenner and Geeva Samynathan, both law graduates who decided to pursue entrepreneurial careers. Aaron is co-founder and CEO of CiteRight, a Toronto-based legal-tech start-up that helps coordinate legal research and drafting. Geeva runs a consultancy company, ECTAA, that provides guidance in management, environmental consulting, and corporate training.

Huit ans après la publication du rapport final de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation du Canada, cet épisode se penche sur les voies possibles des interactions entre les peuples autochtones et l'État canadien. Nous nous entretenons avec Jean Leclair, professeur de droit à l'Université de Montréal spécialiste du fédéralisme et du pluralisme juridique, pour mieux comprendre le concept de justice transitionnelle dans le contexte canadien.

In this two-part episode, we hear from McGill Law graduates whose unconventional careers challenge the typical image of what it means to be a lawyer or have a law degree. Our guests for part one are Alba Stella Zuniga Ramos and Hanson Hossein, who have built careers in municipal politics and journalism, respectively. This episode is the first in the MLJ Podcast’s Legal Fictions series. Made for and by law students, Legal Fictions traces developments in the legal profession, aiming to demystify the practice of law, delve into the history of its regulation, and reimagine its future.

Bill C-11, commonly known as the Online Streaming Act, has been riddled with controversy since its introduction in June of last year, through to its adoption as law in April 2023. Canada’s first major reform of the Broadcasting Act since 1991, the Act aims to promote Canadian content on online streaming services, in part by extending the regulatory powers of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In this episode, we hear from Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, on why the Act falls flat, and how it misunderstands the nature of on-demand streaming services. This conversation was recorded in January 2023, while Bill C-11 was in its third reading before the Senate.

This episode explores the practice of solitary confinement in Canada and the winding road toward its abolition. Our two guests, Andrea Monteiro (former Director of Corrections for the Yukon Government and founder of Ethical Correctional Consulting, Inc.) and Nora Demnati (a Montreal-based prison lawyer and instructor at McGill’s Faculty of Law) bring their differing experiences and perspectives to bear on the question of prison reform. Our discussion centres around the history and evolution of solitary confinement, why its elimination has proved difficult, and the challenges of piecemeal versus system-wide change.

Comment le système canadien d'immigration et de protection des réfugiés réagit-il aux conflits qui provoquent un afflux de migrants ? En utilisant la guerre en Ukraine comme étude de cas, nous discutons du programme de résidents temporaires protégés et de ses lacunes, en considérant surtout les conséquences au niveau de l’intégration communautaire. Cet épisode est le premier de notre série Counterpoint, qui met en conversation des universitaires et des praticiens du droit avec des travailleurs communautaires ayant l'expérience du droit dans son application. Nos invités sont le professeur François Crépeau, titulaire de la Chaire Hans et Tamar Oppenheimer en droit international public et M. Kinan Swaid, directeur des opérations au Centre des réfugiés à Montréal, et responsable du département orientation et académique du Centre.

Dans le premier volet de cet épisode en deux parties, Dominique Goubau, professeur de droit à l'Université Laval, examine les principaux changements apportés par le projet de loi 2 - devenu loi en juin 2022 - sur le droit de la famille au Québec.

In February 2022, the federal Government invoked the Emergencies Act in response to a series of protests and blockades across Canada. We speak with Professor David Schneiderman about the historic use of emergency powers in Canada, the development of the Act, and the implications of its invocation.

Notre premier épisode de la série MLJ Shorts analyse une nouvelle loi fédérale ayant pour objectif de combattre le trafic d'organes. Garnett Genuis, le député qui a parrainé le projet de loi S-223 à la Chambre des communes, nous explique pourquoi il a été introduit et quel rôle il pourrait jouer dans la lutte contre les violations des droits de l'homme au-delà des frontières du Canada.

In Toronto (City) v. Ontario (Attorney General), the Supreme Court held the Ontario government's decision to reduce the size of Toronto's City Council – during an election – was constitutionally valid. In this episode, we explore the case and its implications on freedom of expression and unwritten constitutional principles. We speak with Nathalie Des Rossiers, Principal of Massey College, who was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario when the events transpired.

At the international level, malware has become a tool of transnational repression – enabling governments to reach across national borders to silence and surveil dissidents. We speak with Siena Anstis, senior legal advisor at The Citizen Lab, about how digital transnational repression takes place, how it implicates human rights, and how governments around the world are responding to its occurrence.

Selon les statistiques les plus récentes de Statistique Canada, deux grandes entreprises canadiennes sur cinq auraient été victimes d’une cyberattaque. Dans cet épisode, nous explorons les implications légales découlant des logiciels malveillants (“malware”) avec Maître Éloïse Gratton, avocate et associée au cabinet Borden Ladner Gervais. Nous discutons les impacts au droit à la vie privée, la protection des renseignements confidentiels et personnels et les obligations légales des entreprises de signaler ou de notifier les incidents.

While proponents of conversion therapy argue that legislative bans infringe on freedoms of expression and religion, its opponents contend that failing to impose a ban would have harmful consequences. Now criminalized at the federal level, we discuss the practice of conversion therapy: its impacts, ideological underpinnings, and the legislative approaches to its ban in Canada. We speak with Dr. Kristopher Wells, associate professor in the Faculty of Health and Community Studies at MacEwen University, and author of the Canada Research Chair report, “Conversion Therapy in Canada: A Guide for Legislative Action.”

Dans cet épisode, nous explorons les droits et obligations respectives des propriétaires et des locataires au Québec. Nous discutons du phénomène des rénovictions, des particularités du Tribunal administratif du logement, ainsi que de certains mécanismes mis en place pour protéger les droits des locataires et de solutions potentielles à la crise du logement qui touche plusieurs villes du Québec. Nous parlons avec Me Marc-André Émard, avocat au Bureau Centre-Sud de l’aide juridique, et Me Daniel Crespo Villareal, chargé de cours en droit du logement à l’Université du Québec à Montréal et avocat chez DDC Légal.

Enshrined in the Canadian Constitution since 1982, Canada’s equalization program transfers federal tax revenue to provinces whose fiscal capacity is less than the national average. But since its inception, equalization has been subject to recurring public debate and controversy. In this episode we explore the constitutional legal history of equalization and unpack Alberta’s 2021 equalization referendum with Professor Eric Adams from the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Law.

Reflecting on 40 years of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, we speak with Professor Martha Jackman from the University of Ottawa about the right to health. In particular, we explore how the right has been litigated on section 7 and section 15 grounds to advance protection over social determinants of health—such as access to food, clean water, and housing—with varying degrees of success. This special episode was produced in collaboration with the McGill Journal of Law & Health.