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Blogging and Legal Education

On June 5, 2015

By: Jennifer Koshan

PDF Version: Blogging and Legal Education

I was at the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) conference in Ottawa earlier this week and participated in a roundtable on blogging and legal education. Other participants included University of Ottawa’s Angela Cameron from Blogging for Equality; Paul Daly from Administrative Law Matters; and Moin Yahya from the University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog. Suzanne Bouclin from the University of Ottawa chaired.

I started off the discussion by describing the ways that ABlawg engages law students. We employ a student coordinator who spends about 10 hours per week summarizing Alberta court decisions, posting, moderating comments, and maintaining the ABlawg website. Student bloggers are recruited through volunteer organizations such as Student Legal Assistance and Pro Bono Students Canada, and some of them continue to blog for ABlawg after graduation. Some professors have also incorporated blogging into our courses; for example my constitutional clinical students were required to synthesize their 50 page briefs on the rights of farmworkers into shorter, more accessible blog posts (see here, here, here and here). Interestingly some of the students questioned the value of this exercise at the time, but the blog posts led to attention from media and Alberta politicians, and an invitation to submit a book chapter consolidating the students’ work. Faculty members also use blog posts in the classroom as the basis for problems, moot/factum exercises, and as supplementary reading. ABlawg includes a category of posts on legal education as well.

Life, Liberty, and the Right to CanLII: Legal Research Behind Bars

By Sarah Burton

On June 3, 2015

In Access to Justice, Criminal

By: Sarah Burton

PDF Version: Life, Liberty, and the Right to CanLII: Legal Research Behind Bars

Case Commented On: R v Biever, 2015 ABQB 301

The link between access to information and access to justice is not often discussed, but it is implicit in our legal process. Document production, questioning, and Crown disclosure are all premised on the notion that one needs access to relevant information in order to present one’s case. This idea should also extend to legal research. Without access to precedents, case law and procedural texts, the ability to adequately argue a case is significantly impaired.

R v Biever, 2015 ABQB 301, tackles the issue of access to legal information in a unique context – the right of an imprisoned accused to conduct online legal research. While prisons provide access to criminal law texts, the Court in Biever considered whether those resources were adequate for an inmate to meet and defend the case against him. In ruling that the accused was entitled to more materials, the Court raised questions about how prisons should be providing access to legal information. Biever also raises interesting questions about how we deal with self-represented parties who simply do not want a lawyer.

Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Overturns Human Rights Tribunal’s Finding of Disability Discrimination in Employment

By Linda McKay-Panos

On June 2, 2015

In Human Rights, Labour/Employment

By: Linda McKay-Panos

PDF Version: Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Overturns Human Rights Tribunal’s Finding of Disability Discrimination in Employment

Case Commented On: Syncrude Canada Ltd v Saunders, 2015 ABQB 237

Syncrude Canada Ltd v Saunders, 2015 ABQB 237, case highlights the role of the appeal court in reviewing Human Rights Tribunal decisions, and the effect of the claimant’s credibility on proving discrimination on the basis of disability or perceived disability.

Jeff Saunders was hired by Syncrude as a process operator, effective March 17, 2003, in its oil sands operation in Fort McMurray. Although process operators work in a dangerous environment, he had no prior experience. Saunders was required to undergo a health assessment for new hires, where he did not disclose any health issues. He denied ever smoking marijuana, denied consuming alcohol regularly and indicated he was a body builder who worked out regularly at the gym. He passed the company’s drug and alcohol tests. Usually, process operators commence employment with on-site training. After training, Saunders was assigned to a 128-day-cycle, with two days worked, two nights worked, two days off, two days worked, two nights worked and then six days off.

ABlawg’s New Look

By Admin

On June 1, 2015

In Uncategorized

Readers will notice that ABlawg has a new look this morning. After seven years with the header created by our first student coordinator, Brian Milne, we thought it was time for a change – call it the seven year itch. Our current student coordinator, Evelyn Tang, gets the credit for shifting us from the prairies to the mountains (Lake Louise to be exact), and has incorporated the University of Calgary crest and colours into our new header. We have also made it easier for readers to tweet posts. We hope you like the new look and features, and welcome your comments (and your tweets, Facebook likes, etc).

To subscribe to ABlawg by email or RSS feed, please go to https://ablawg.ca

The Supreme Court’s Latest Equality Rights Decision: An Emphasis on Arbitrariness

By Jennifer Koshan

On May 29, 2015

In Aboriginal, Constitutional

By: Jennifer Koshan and Jonnette Watson Hamilton

PDF Version: The Supreme Court’s Latest Equality Rights Decision: An Emphasis on Arbitrariness

Case Commented On: Kahkewistahaw First Nation v Taypotat, 2015 SCC 30 (CanLII)

The Supreme Court released its decision in Kahkewistahaw First Nation v Taypotat, 2015 SCC 30 yesterday. We commented on the Federal Court of Appeal decision in the case here. Taypotat was one of two appeals concerning adverse effects discrimination under section 15(1) of the Charter heard by the Supreme Court in October 2014, the other being Carter v Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5. The Supreme Court declined to rule on the section 15(1) issue in Carter (see here; see also the Court’s decision not to address section 15 in last week’s ruling in R v Kokopenace, 2015 SCC 28 (CanLII), a case involving the representativeness of juries for Aboriginal accused persons). However, the Court did not have the option of avoiding section 15 in Taypotat. In a unanimous judgment written by Justice Abella, the Court held that the adverse effects claim in Taypotat was not established by the evidence.