Charter 25th Anniversary Conferences

As I have already mentioned, McGill University organized a conference last week on the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Osgoode Hall Law School site The Court has listed some of the media coverage for the conference (see bottom of the article).

Additional media items include:

• Excerpts from part of a discussion broadcast on the CBC Radio Montreal morning show Daybreak on Friday, February 16 (Laura-Julie Perrault, from the daily La Presse; constitutional lawyer Julius Grey; and Sarah Elgazzar, Canadian Council on American-Islamic relations)
• Senior U.S., Canadian judges spar over judicial activism - Courts should move with the times, Supreme Court's Binnie says at McGill (Globe and Mail, Feb. 17)

There are other conferences this year to mark the 25th anniversary of the Charter. Some of the key ones are:

• 25th Anniversary of the Charter - A Tribute to Chief Justice R. Roy McMurtry (Law Society of Upper Canada, April 12, 2007, Toronto): "Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Charter and honour Chief Justice R. Roy McMurtry's pivotal role in this seminal event in Canada's legal history. At this symposium, senior members of the judiciary and political leaders will discuss the inception and impact of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both in Canada and internationally. Leading constitutional scholars and practitioners will provide an in-depth analysis of the top ten Charter decisions of the past twenty-five years. "
• 25 Years Under the Charter (Association for Canadian Studies, April 16-17, 2007, Ottawa): "The event is designed to launch a national conversation on the Charter. The conference will feature presentations by Canada’s leading academics, jurists, former and current elected officials, individuals from various community organizations and many others. In addition we hope for a large turnout of law students from across the country."
• A Living Tree: The Legacy of 1982 in Canada’s Political Evolution (Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, May 23-25, 2007, Regina): "This conference will explore the significance that the 1982 Constitution has had on public policy and democratic politics in Canada and how the Constitution Act will continue to shape our evolution as a political community. A topic of this breadth warrants a comprehensive examination of several pertinent issues..."