Florilège de bonnes nouvelles
Plusieurs professeurs ont été primés cette saison : le professeur H. Patrick Glenn a été élu président de la Société américaine de droit comparé; le professeur François Crépeau a été élu membre de la Société royale du Canada et le professeur Hoi Kong a été nommé Chercheur Hydro-Québec.
McGill Law rides to help the community
On September 15, members of the McGill Law community rode out for the fourth annual Christie Community Bike Ride. Organized by students from the Human Rights Working Group, the ride raised $4200 for the Just Solutions legal clinic.
Dean Daniel Jutras pedaled the 50 Km loop around Montreal along with close to 60 students, various professors and staff members of the Faculty.
The ride is named in honour of Dugald Christie, a Vancouver lawyer who worked to increase access to justice before he was killed in a car accident while cycling across Canada to raise awareness about the issue.
Disability, Human Rights and the Law series
On September 24, the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism launched a new initiative, the 2012-2013 seminar series on Disability, Human Rights and the Law. This series of four lunchtime seminars aims to raise awareness among students, lawyers and the larger community about disability issues.
The first event, entitled “From Rhetoric to Practice,” provided an initial overarching look at implementing the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. It will be followed by three more teaching seminars, focused on more specific issues on the frontiers of change.
The next seminar, on November 7 is entitled “Equal Citizenship for Persons with Disabilities: Recognizing Legal Capacity.” A list of advance readings is posted online.
El Grupo Hispano
On October 2, the Faculty’s Grupo Hispano co-presented a Spanish-language talk on sustainable development in Argentina and its natural resource policy, by Leonardo F. Pastorino, Profesor titular ordinario de Derecho Agrario, Facultad de Ciencias Juridicas y Sociales, Universidad Nacional de la Plata. “Professor Pastorino offered a detailed and thorough discussion of the state of environmental law in Argentina, from the nineteenth century to the current disputes over mining and monoculture,” said Professor Víctor M. Muñiz-Fraticelli, who helped organize the event. “The audience, which counted students and faculty from various disciplines and several area universities, was delighted and engaged.” The Institute for the Study of International Development, the McGill School for the Environment and the Faculty of Law provided generous support for the event.
For its next event, on Tuesday, October 30, the Grupo Hispano will play host to Diego Gosis, who currently represents the state of Argentina in matters of investment and commercial arbitration. He has acted for and against sovereign states in some 30 international proceedings, many of which involved stakes in the billions.
“Diego promises to test no less than the deep waters of the philosophical foundations of arbitration,” says Professor Evan Fox-Decent, with a Spanish-language talk entitled “El Arbitraje Moderno: Orígenes y Principios,” followed by a Q & A in French, Spanish, or English.
Salle comble pour la conférence Wainwright
Le 4 octobre, la Faculté a accueilli l’un de ses anciens doyens, l’honorable Yves-Marie Morissette, pour la Conférence Wainwright 2012, intitulée « Aspects historiques et analytiques de l’appel en matière civile ».
La présentation du juge Morissette, qui a fait salle comble, a donné à l’auditoire un aperçu fascinant de l’évolution de l’appel en Grande-Bretagne, en France et au Québec. Monsieur le juge Morissette a été présenté par le président du Comité Wainwright, Me Daniel Boyer. Le doyen Daniel Jutras, titulaire actuel de la Chaire Wainwright, a clos la soirée avec des remerciements qui ont souligné l’érudition et la modestie du juge Morissette.
Langstaff Workshops continue to tackle issues relating to women and the law
On October 5, the Faculty’s Annie MacDonald Langstaff Workshop Series continued with a topical, pre-US election lecture on “Race, Representation and Black Women in Public Life: Imagining Michelle Obama,” presented by Ottawa University Law Professor Joanne St Lewis, who argued for a high-functioning form of multiculturalism.
Series convenor Vrinda Narain, an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law and the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies, has two more events planned this month. On November 9, Professor Esmeralda Thornhill, of Schulich Law School at Dalhousie University, will speak on “Race’ Literacy and the Legal Profession: An Ethical Imperative for Cap, Bar, and Bench.” Thornhill is the Faculty’s first O’Brien Fellow in Residence, at the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.
The series continues November 21, with Professor Sonia Lawrence, Director of the Institute for Feminist Legal Studies at Osgoode Hall Law School.
Retrouvez vos Retrouvailles
Entre le 11 et le 14 octobre, la Faculté de droit était l’hôte du premier Weekend de retrouvailles à se dérouler entièrement dans le Pavillon Chancellor-Day. Ne manquez pas notre prochain bulletin Focus online pour notre couverture des différents événements et conventums!
Fourth Annual Rights Watch held at Faculty
On October 12 to 13, the Faculty of Law welcomed the fourth annual national RightsWatch conference, co-hosted by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at McGill.
Featuring prominent speakers from academic institutions, law firms, government and public interest organizations, the sessions focused on the freedom of peaceful assembly, policing and protest, racial and social profiling, privacy issues around the right to dissent, and many other topical subjects of civil liberties.
Une Pensée d’avance – Think Ahead
Le 30 octobre, notre série de conférences de formation continue Une pensée d’avance – Think Ahead reprendra avec « Canada (P.G.) c. PHS Community Services : La position de la Cour suprême sur les centres d’injection supervisée », une conférence présentée par la professeure Alana Klein et Me Alexander Pless.
Le 27 novembre, la deuxième conférence offrira un débat entre les professeurs Margaret Somerville et Daniel Weinstock sur le suicide assisté à la lumière de Carter c. Canada (P.G.).
Pour vous inscrire : www.mcgill.ca/law/fr/inscription-etape-1