News and events

John Borrows' book Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism has won the Donald Smiley Prize for the 2017 best book in Canadian Political Science. His book demonstrates "how Canada’s constitutional structures marginalize Indigenous peoples’ ability to exercise power in the real world." He uses "Ojibwe law, stories, and principles to suggest alternative ways in which Indigenous peoples can work to enhance freedom." This is the second time John Borrows has won the prize; the first time was in 2003 for Recovering Canada; The Resurgence of Indigenous Law. He was also shortlisted for the prize in 2010 for his book Canada's Indigenous Constitution.

UVic Law hosts Educating the Whole Lawyer, a joint conference of the Association for Canadian Clinical Legal Education (ACCLE) and the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT) from June 8-10, 2017. The Conference brings together legal educators and clinical professionals to discuss the contribution of law schools and law clinics in producing “the whole lawyer”, and the responsibility the “whole lawyer” has to respond to pressing social challenges such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, and access to justice. The keynote address will be delivered by Justice Rebecca Love Kourlis, Executive Director of the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System (IAALS). She will discuss the IAALS’s recent report, Foundations for Practice: The Whole Lawyer and the Character Quotient. Conference panels, workshops and roundtables will consider the meaning of “whole lawyer” and questions about curriculum, pedagogy, accessibility and graduate legal education. The Conference Plenary, Towards a Manifesto – Anchoring the Legal Education Curriculum in A Vision of the J.D., features faculty and students from a number of Canadian law faculties.

John Borrows is bringing about one of the quiet revolutions in our history, restoring Indigenous law to its place alongside Canadian common law. For his substantial and distinguished scholarship and commitment to furthering our knowledge about Indigenous legal traditions, John Borrows, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law at the University of Victoria, was named the 2017 Killam Prize winner in Social Sciences by the Canada Council for the Arts. The prestigious prize honours outstanding career achievements of eminent Canadian researchers, whether in industry, government agencies or universities.

A complete round-up of the 2017 mooting season.

UVic Law will be welcoming three new faculty members on July 1st of this year. Brad Bryan will be teaching taxation law, Asad Kiyani will be teaching criminal law and refugee law, and Sara Ramshaw will be teaching contracts and family law.

University of Victoria LL.M. candidate, Preeti Dhaliwal, received a 2017 Graduate Student Award of Merit from the Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada. The annual award is given out to up to 4 recipients who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the university or general community while maintaining exemplary academic standing. Preeti is a critical race feminist, lawyer, writer, performer and facilitator.

Calvin Sandborn, Legal Director of UVic’s Environmental Law Centre, was awarded the 2017 Svitlana Kravchenko Environmental Rights Award at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (March 2-5) in Eugene Oregon. Here is an excerpt from the institution’s description of the award: “The award winner is chosen from those who carry on in Svitlana's spirit: having exquisite qualities of both head and heart; mixing academic rigor with spirited activism; and speaking truth to power, while exhibiting kindness toward all. Also in that spirit, the award winner inspires young adults to reach for the stars, while keeping their feet firmly planted in the Earth they want to protect, as Svitlana did. The award goes to a person who makes broad impacts in the law while working to support local communities. The award winner insists that environmental rights and human rights are indivisible, as did Svitlana Kravchenko, a daughter of Ukraine who became a citizen of America and the entire world.”

2017 SLAUGHTER CUP CHAMPIONS!! March 13, 2017 By: Ian Gauthier, UVic Law student and Men's Slaughter Cup team captain Wallace Field at the University of Victoria was host to a wet and wild event on Saturday, March 11th. Rain poured down all morning and for the majority of the women’s game. Luckily, the sun broke through, and the UVic men were offered a reprieve from the weather, only to contend with the mud. Yet the weather did not dampen the spirits of the UVic fan base. The UVic Law student body came out in full force with costumes, signs, and noise makers: a big shout-out to Gi-Gi Pao for rocking the bagpipes from the sideline! It was unclear whether official Slaughter Cup commentators Sam Maroney and Will McClary knew that they were speaking at a rugby game, rather than a DJ battle and a cattle auction. For what this rag-tag duo lacks in fashion sense, sporting knowledge, and social decorum, they make up for with bad jokes and heartfelt birthday wishes.

Elizabeth Zarpa (JD UVic Law '15) will be speaking at the Indspire Youth Laureates Cross Canada Tour event in Winnipeg on April 27, 2017. She received an Indspire Youth – Inuit award in 2013. She also received the Eloise Spitzer Scholarship (UVic) in 2015. Indspire received funding from the Canada 150 Fund to showcase the Indspire Youth Laureates Cross Canada Tour in highly interactive panel discussions to be hosted in seven cities – Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Yellowknife. The Laureates will share motivational stories of their childhood, education, challenges and post-graduate success. Elizabeth is currently working for Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, an advocacy organization working to develop and enhance social, cultural, economic, health and environmental situations for the Inuit of Canada while completing her P.hD. at UVic Law.

On the 31st of January, 2017, a letter signed by over 240 law professors in Canada was sent to the Federal Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship requesting the suspension of the safe third country agreement. The letter was read in Parliament that night during an emergency debate called to deal with the fallout from President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban Syrian refugees and bar entry of nationals of seven mostly Muslim countries. Suspending the safe third country agreement between Canada and the U.S. would open the door for refugees in the United States to seek asylum in Canada. The letter, which you can read here, was organized by Sean Rehaag, a professor at Osgoode Hall law school, with contributions from Donald Galloway (UVic Law), Efrat Arbel (UBC Law), Audrey Macklin (UToronto Law), and Sharry Aiken (Queens). The response to the letter has been nothing short of remarkable, with a large percentage of Canada’s law professors signing it. This sends a clear message that the Canadian law community sees the law as a means to help the most vulnerable in our society, and around the world.