University of Calgary Faculty of Law ABLawg.ca logo over mountains

Freedom of Expression, Universities and Anti-Choice Protests

By

On April 3, 2009

In Constitutional, Human Rights

PDF version: Freedom of Expression, Universities and Anti-Choice Protests

Anti-abortion protestors were back in force at the University of Calgary the last week of March following news that on March 16, they pleaded not guilty to trespassing charges laid against them in relation to a similar incident in November, 2008. One might reasonably think that the freedom to express anti-choice views deserves protection on a university campus, a center of academic debate on a range of controversial subjects. Or one might reasonably think that the University of Calgary was justified in advising the Campus Pro-Life group that they could mount their protest, provided they turned their signs – depicting graphic images of the Rwandan genocide, the Holocaust, the Ku Klux Klan and aborted fetuses – inward. But the University is making a different argument, namely that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms does not apply to universities. I think that view is itself subject to debate.

Read More

The protection of potable ground water through a purposive or objective approach to regulation

By

On April 2, 2009

In Administrative Law, Oil & Gas, Water Law

Case Considered: ERCB Decision 2009-029, CCS Corporation, Section 40 Review and Variance of Application No. 1515213, Class 1b Waste Disposal Scheme, Well 00/09-01-048-14W5M, Brazeau River, March 24, 2009

PDF version: The protection of potable ground water through a purposive or objective approach to regulation

There are at least five reasons to read and blog on this decision. First, it is very rare for the ERCB (“the Board”) to issue a reasoned decision on an application relating to a disposal well. Others include ERCB D 90-17 and D2002-055. The Board deals with most such decisions administratively. Typically there will be no reasoned decision and the general public will not have a clue that the Board has just approved a proposal to inject oilfield waste or acid gas into a geological formation unless they happen to live within a fairly circumscribed radius of the well. Other well operators are far more likely to receive notification than the general public. Second, the decision deals with a topic of crucial societal importance, the protection of potable groundwater and how to ensure that. Third, the decision contains a very interesting discussion of two different approaches to regulation. One approach (which we will term the prescriptive approach) seeks to set certain prescriptive standards that any project must meet in order to be approved. This approach works on the basis that if the proponent complies with that standard, the desired regulatory objective (e.g. protection of groundwater) will be achieved. The other approach (which we will term the purposive or objective approach) requires the applicant to meet the desired regulatory objective but affords the applicant greater discretion as to how it achieves that objective. Fourth, the decision offers some interesting comments on the interrelationship and respective responsibilities of the ERCB and Alberta Environment. And fifth it is important to look at this decision for what it might tell us about the Board’s approach to the regulation of disposal operations associated with carbon capture and storage.

Read More

The Eviscerating of Federal Environmental Assessment in Canada

By

On March 31, 2009

In Environmental

Considered: Canadian Environmental Assessment Act, S.C. 1992, c. 37
Regulations Amending the Exclusion List Regulations, SOR/2009-88
Infrastructure Projects Environmental Assessment Adaptation Regulations, SOR/2009-89
Regulations and Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement

PDF Version: The Eviscerating of Federal Environmental Assessment in Canada

Introduction
A cornerstone of sustainable development is environmental assessment. Through environmental assessment (“EA”) processes regulators identify and assess the environmental, social, and economic consequences of proposed projects to assist them in determining whether they should be approved, and if so, under what conditions. Because of EA, projects are better planned and have reduced environmental impacts and social costs. However, notwithstanding the benefits of EA, recently the federal government has announced its plans to greatly reduce the number of federal EAs in Canada and to limit the application of federal legislation designed to protect our navigable waters and fisheries.

Read More

No one wins when relatives fight over an estate, lawyers behave with incivility, and judges are asked but refuse to recuse themselves

By

On March 31, 2009

In Ethics and the Legal Profession, Wills and Estates

Cases Considered: Nazarewycz v. Dool, 2009 ABCA 70.

PDF Version:  No one wins when relatives fight over an estate, lawyers behave with incivility, and judges are asked but refuse to recuse themselves

There is little in this case that shows estate work in a good light. It involves relatives accused of a multitude of sins in their fight over a deceased aunt’s property, lawyers accused of being uncivil, and judges accused of bias. All were vindicated in one way or another by the judgment of the Court of Appeal, but no one won. There was too much strife among relatives; too much manoeuvring for a piece of someone else’s pie. And when counsel and the presiding judge became embroiled in the dispute and appeared to take it personally, the legal system was also diminished.

Read More

Assisted Human Reproduction in Canada: It’s a Gnarly World Out There

By

On March 29, 2009

In Constitutional, Health Law

Considered: Assisted Human Reproduction Act, S.C. 2004, c.2.

PDF Version: Assisted human reproduction in Canada: it’s a gnarly world out there

When 60-year-old Ranjit Hayer of Calgary gave birth via caesarean section to twin boys at Calgary’s Foothills Hospital in early February of 2009, the news spread quickly around the world. She became one of a small but growing number of women who, subsequent to having undergone assisted human reproductive treatments, successfully give birth at ages late in the menopausal cycle, or in a handful of even more extreme examples, after menopause has ended. Indeed, in what is probably the most extreme example of a successful post-menopausal pregnancy to date, a 70-year-old woman in India is reported to have given birth in July of 2008 to twins (see here).

Read More

Page 404 of 438

Previous

Next

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén