Working Groups
U. of T. law students can become involved in the Centre’s work through volunteering with one of our Working Groups. Students are invited to apply to coordinate a working group for 2010-2011. Deadline for applications is August 4, 2010.
Description and application procedure
The Working Groups for 2009-2010 were as follows:
Emerging Constitutional Issues Working Group
Students in this working group assisted with our Interventions Symposium in the fall and helped to organize our most recent workshop on the Polygamy Reference case. They pulled together a number of articles about this year’s accomplishments which were published in our year end newsletter.
Faculty Support: Cheryl Milne & Advisory Group
The Internet Surveillance Working Group
This working group examined how the Charter applies to the proposed C-46 bill and C-47 bills, which received their first reading in the House in June 2009. In short, these bills would require ISPs to install new surveillance capabilities, disclose subscriber information (name, address and email address) without a court order and grant police far-reaching powers to obtain Internet transmission data. While academics recognize the gap in Canada’s existing privacy framework with regards to modern technologies, they also contend that the subscriber information could be “the key to unlocking much of the very information that they would require a warrant for”. Students in this working group did background research for a brief regarding the constitutionality of the bills and the impact of those bills on the s. 8 privacy rights of Canadians. Unfortunately, these bills have yet to be reintroduced since prorogation. A brief will be drafted in the future should the bills be resubmitted. Students also assisted in the organization of a workshop on the issue which was held jointly with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
Faculty: Lisa Austin
The Charter and Canadian Citizens Abroad Working Group
This working group examined two aspects of how the Charter applies outside Canadian soil. They considered how the Charter applies to the actions of Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agents abroad. The Security Intelligence Review Committee (SIRC) recently released a report criticizing CSIS’s actions in the Omar Khadr case. A similar probe will be conducted by SIRC with regards to the Abousfian Abdelrazik situation. They also addressed the issues raised by several recent cases where Canadian citizens have been detained abroad, such as the high profile case of Suaad Mohamud. These citizens have received little to no assistance from the Canadian government. This group helped to organize our workshop on these topic in the fall and assisted with the Khadr workshop held shortly after the decision in this case. Justin Basinger and Sarah Smith (together with JD/MSW student Esther Roche) put together a presentation for LAWS Global Citizenship Conference on the Khadr case for high school students.
Faculty Support: Sujit Choudhry, Audrey Macklin