On April 30, 2019, the European Court of Justice (Court) will release its decision on whether the investment court system (ICS) in the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) is compatible with EU law. CETA was concluded more than two years ago, and most of it came into force at the end of 2017. However, a wave of resistance across the EU and Canada caused a stand-off in Belgium that almost sidelined the agreement.
Law and legal issues
Original graph by Jordan Brennan for Maclean's magazine.
Over the past seven years Canadians have been bombarded with a steady stream of nationalist commemorative projects. In 2012, the Conservative Harper government did its best to convince us that the War of 1812 was a proto-national conflict in which a Canadian identity was forged on the field of battle. Commemorations of the centenary of the First World War followed the same format—the war was all bravery and nation building without any of the futility, let alone class conflict, which defined public debate at the time. This continued even after the Liberals took office in 2015.
Proposed Quayside site plan (Sidewalk Labs handout)
The beginning of fall semester this year coincides with the official start date of cannabis legalization (October 17). This presents academic institutions with a number of opportunities and challenges related to modernizing campus cannabis policies. A good place for them to start would be through proactive education.
The white nationalist rallies that have peppered the country, beginning in the early part of 2017, are tangible indicators that there is a viable and increasingly active right-wing extremist (RWE) movement in Canada.
The Free Press (May 23 and 26, 2018) recently reported on the case of an Indigenous man who served more than six months in jail after pleading guilty to a break and enter. It later came to light that the man was innocent of the crime because he was incarcerated at the time the incident occurred.
This story should give us pause to consider some of the factors leading people into the criminal justice system — and what happens to them when they get there.