Prof. Ed Morgan - "The difference between lunchtime prayer and a Jesus T-shirt"

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

In a commentary in The Globe and Mail, Prof. Ed Morgan analyzes the constitutional issues around different forms of religious expression in public schools ("The difference between lunchtime prayer and a Jesus T-shirt," May 9, 2012).

Read the full commentary on The Globe and Mail website.

Read the latest Asper Centre "Outlook" newsletter

Monday, April 30, 2012

The David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights has published the Spring 2012 issue of its newlsetter Asper Centre Outlook. The new issue features an interview with Joseph Arvay, the inaugural Constitutional-Litigator-in-Residence, case comments, and an overview of constitutional cases before the Supreme Court of Canada during this 30th anniversary year of the Charter.

Read the newsletter (PDF).

Joseph Arvay, QC, selected inaugural Constitutional-Litigator-in-Residence for the Asper Centre

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

(April 3, 2012) The Faculty of Law's David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights is pleased to announce that distinguished civil rights and constitutional advocate Joseph J. Arvay, QC, will be the Asper Centre's inaugural Constitutional-Litigator-in-Residence in fall 2012.

The Difference Between Lunchtime Prayer and a Jesus T-shirt

Ed Morgan
Wednesday, May 9, 2012

This commentary was first published by Prof. Ed Morgan in The Globe and Mail on May 9, 2012.

A public school in Toronto thinks a clergyman can be invited to conduct Islamic prayers at lunchtime on school grounds. As a school trustee explains it, “What we’re doing is what we should be doing as a school board and that is accommodating students’ needs no matter what their religion is.”

A public school in Chester Basin, N.S., thinks a student can be prohibited from wearing a T-shirt with a Christian message on school grounds. As school trustees explain it, “It is expected that students will not wear clothing with messages that may offend others’ beliefs, race, religion, culture or lifestyle.”

Does Canadian law really get such a failing grade?

Whether religious expression is permitted in schools turns on the meaning given to “freedom of religion” and “freedom of expression.” The confusion over this question calls for a review class on the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the courts determined that public schools cannot teach religion in a doctrinal way. While they can, and often do, offer history and social-studies classes that survey world religions, the mandatory separation of church and state prohibits them from teaching religion as it is taught to adherents of that religion – i.e., as a matter of belief rather than general knowledge.

Prof. David Schneiderman - "Free speech and dog walking"

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

In a commentary in The Toronto Star, Prof. David Schneiderman analyzes the decision by Justice David Brown regarding the Occupy Toronto encampment in St. James' Park ("Free speech and dog walking," November 28, 2011).

Read the commentary on The Toronto Star website.

U of T Law Journal special issue on "Constitutionalism and the Criminal Law"

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The new issue of the University of Toronto Law Journal is a special issue on "Constitutionalism and the Criminal Law" (Volume 61, Number 4 / 2011). The issue is co-edited by Prof. Hamish Stewart of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and Prof. Shai Lavi of the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law.

See the issue on the University of Toronto Press website (full text available at subscribing institutions).

Polygamy Reference Ruling Emphasizes the Rights of Children

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

The decision of the British Columbia Supreme Court in the Polygamy Reference case makes a strong statement respecting the rights of children and the state obligation to protect them from harm. In a lengthy judgment, Chief Justice Bauman catalogues the volumes of evidence demonstrating the harms to women and children associated with the practice of polygamy around the world and in our own backyard, in Bountiful, British Columbia.

Asper Centre Workshop: Exclusion of Evidence

David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights

Presents

 

Exclusion of Evidence under s.24(2):

The Supreme Court Decisions of the Summer of 2009

 

DATE: September 30, 2009

12:30 – 2:00 p.m.

Bennett Lecture Hall

A light lunch will be served.

 

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