Avner Levin

Is access to the profession access to justice? Lessons from Canada

Canada, and within it the Province of Ontario, has not had a new law school in over 30 years. A combination of factors discussed in this paper has caused access to the profession to be quite limited. At the same time, the cost of legal services has increased, putting legal representation outside the reach of the lower and middle classes. In addition, diversity within the legal profession has not improved, leading to the perception of a profession dominated by ‘old white males’. The paper discusses whether in light of these factors, greater access to the legal profession, in terms of absolute numbers coupled with the removal of societal barriers, would lead to improved access to justice for Canadians.

From Cybercrime to Cyberwar? The International Policy Shift and its Implications for Canada

Countries are creating strategies to defend themselves from cyberwar and cyberespionage in response to cyber attacks such as Stuxnet, Flame and the use of social media in national conflicts. Nations are grouping in blocs for these strategies along traditional international-relations lines. Combating cybercrime is becoming more difficult, and less important, as a result, since potential partners in crime-fighting must increasingly treat each other as cyber opponents. Canada should not abandon potential partnerships with China, Russia and their allies because of increased cyberwarfare concerns. Canada should strive for a middle ground that that will allow Canada to cooperate with every country as long as that cooperation advances the Canadian interest in a more secure cyberspace for Canadians.

Big and Little Brother: The Potential Erosion of Workplace Privacy in Canada

Recent research shows that monitoring and surveillance of workers in Canada is increasing. The Canadian Federal Government, at the same time, is calling for increased access to proprietary databases for lawful purposes. Employers therefore face a distinct possibility that their monitoring and surveillance data will be routinely accessed by various government and law enforcement agencies. Since in many provinces workers enjoy little legal protection of their right to a private life, and since new legal protective measures are unlikely, employers must look to their role as socially responsible members of a liberal and democratic society, and respect the rule of law by minimizing their collection of personal worker information.

The Participant Perspective

A discussion of the methodology of legal theory and its implications for jurisprudence. Methodological differences between Hart, Dworkin and Raz are highlighted through an examination of Harts idea of the perspective of the participant in the legal system and the light it throws on the law. The analysis reveals how Dworkin and Raz share a prescriptive approach that can be contrasted with Harts descriptive approach. I discuss how the methodology of these theorists informs their substantive positions as well as the debate between exclusive and inclusive positivism. Ultimately, I suggest how these mutually exclusive approaches complement each other.

Shouldn’t the bench be a mirror? The diversity of the Canadian judiciary

ABSTRACT This paper assesses the diversity of the judiciary in Canada’s most diverse urban centres of Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, and it measures the gap between the demographic composition of the judiciary and the population that it serves. The paper then considers the factors that contribute to and perpetuate the homogeneity of Canadian courts, and it addresses the arguments that an identity-conscious appointment process could compromise meritocracy, or that it would challenge the presumed objectivity of judicial decision-making. We argue that reliable public data on the composition of the bench and a clear government vision and strategy are crucial for the administration of justice in Canadian courts.

Privacy in Public

This dystopian vision, written almost 60 years ago about a future predicted for a time that is now over 30 years in the past, is closer than it has ever been to becoming a reality. Even mind-reading technology is currently being developed and refined, leading us to an even-more dystopian reality in which our physical bodies will become vessels of surveillance. Überveillance, (omnipresent surveillance) will of course mean the end of privacy as we know it and as we have grown to value it. If we wish to have privacy in the future, we must embark on several courses of action in the present before, as a society, we are too late.

Is workplace surveillance legal in Canada

This paper reports on the results of a research project into employer practices with respect to workplace privacy, funded by the Federal Privacy Commissioner of Canadas Contributions Program. The paper discusses the variety of privacy invasive technologies used by Canadian Employers in order to survey and monitor their workers. It then discusses the legal basis for such workplace surveillance as perceived by the employers, and concludes with an assessment whether, and under what circumstances, such surveillance is lawful in Canada.