Asper Centre Workshop: Polygamy Reference Case

David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights
Presents

Criminalization of Polygamy: Constitutional or Not?

Tuesday, March 23, 2010
12:30-2:00 p.m.
Room FLC, Flavelle House
Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

A light lunch will be served.

Join us for a panel discussion on the upcoming reference at the British Columbia Supreme Court  regarding the constitutionality of s. 293 of the criminal code  prohibiting polygamy in Canada. This case has attracted wide  interest, and will involve various interveners, including the Asper  Centre together with the Canadian Coalition for Children and Youth,  other religious, women's and children's, and civil liberties  organizations, as well as Winston Blackmore, leader of Canada's  largest polygamist group in Bountiful, BC. Cheryl Milne, Director of the Asper Centre  will moderate a panel including faculty members Lorraine Weinrib, Rebecca Cook, and  Mohammed Fadel.  Professor Weinrib, who has published widely in the area of the Charter and teaches several courses in constitutional law,  will address the issue of freedom of religion with respect to  polygamy, particularly the treatment of children and vulnerable  persons by religious institutions, and more specifically the questions  of religious framing of the family with reference to polygamous  communities. Professor Fadel, who teaches Relgion and the Liberal  State: The Case of Islam and has published numerous articles in  Islamic legal history, will discuss Muslim polgamy and associated  issues freedom of religion. Finally, Professor Cook, Faculty Chair in International Human Rights and Co-Director of the International  Programme on Reproductive and Sexual Health Law at the University of  Toronto, will address Canada's international obligations under  international law with respect to polygamy.

For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.