Louise Langevin

What Work of Feminist Legal Scholarship Over the Past Twenty Years Has Been Influential or Important to You, and Why?

The call for paragraphs generated many different kinds of responses. It was atreat reading the different approaches and having an occasion to listen in asothers reflected on the question. In their own voices, here are a variety of theresponses.Parmi toute la recherche fe´ministe en droit produite au cours des dernie`resvingt anne´es, quel texte a e´te´ le plus important pour vous ou encore, lequel vousa le plus influence´, et pourquoi? L’invitation a` re´diger des paragraphes enre´ponse a` cette question a ge´ne´re´ une grande diversite´ de textes. Ce fut un re´elplaisir de lire les diffe´rents choix et d’avoir l’occasion d’eˆtre a` l’e´coute alors qued’autres re´fle´chissaient sur la question pose´e. Voici un e´ventail de ces re´ponses,re´dige´es chacune dans sa propre voix.I would have to say anything written by Ngaire Naffine, CarolSmart, and Laureen Snider, as their works are provocative, risky,and guaranteed to push your thinking about women, feminism, andthe law onto a whole new terrain.Elizabeth ComackSociology, University of Manitoba‘‘Oh well,’’ said Mrs. Hale’s husband, with good natured superiority,‘‘women are used to worrying over trifles.’’—From Susan Glaspell’s A Jury of Her Peers

Trafficking in women in Canada: a critical analysis of the legal framework governing immigrant live-in caregivers

This article will analyze the legal framework for hiring immigrant live‐in caregivers under the Canadian Live‐in Caregiver program. This phenomenon raises issues of immigration law, social legislation and labour law, human rights and contract law. The unequal relationship between an immigrant live‐in caregiver and her employers, the obligation to live in their home for a period of two years, as well as the precariousness of her work status during this period, lead to a situation of abuse. This program contributes to exploitation and trafficking of women in Canada. Thus we propose that this program be discontinued because it allows the exploitation of immigrant workers. However, in order to enable such workers to immigrate to Canada to counteract the shortage of live‐in caregivers, we suggest that the immigration criteria for the independent class be amended.

Revisiting Qúebec's Jus Commune in the Era of the Human Rights Charters

Quebec is a distinct society because of its history, its legal system, and its values. Our analysis examines the delicate issue of the relationship between the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, and the Civil Code of Quebec, the primary expression of Quebecs jus commune, as noted in its Preliminary Provision. As of the nineteenth century, a doctrinal trend born of the desire to protect the integrity of the civil law system grew worried about the “disruptive” influence of the common law on the civil law and, more specifically, on the Civil Code of Lower Canada. The doctrine later expressed reluctance as to the entry of fundamental rights into Quebec private law. The charters of rights were, and are sometimes still, perceived as disruptive elements, capable of distorting the Civil Code. We want to show that the influence of human rights philosophy on Quebecs jus commune is not only inevitable but desirable. The Civil Code and, more broadly, Quebecs jus commune, can only be enriched by respect for fundamental rights.

Le rayonnement des droits de la personne en droit privé québécois: Que de chemin parcouru… mais que de chemin à parcourir!

With the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, civil law and human rights influence each other and must be contemplated as a whole. The Preliminary Provision of the Civil Code of Quebec establishes a close relationship between the Charter and the Civil Code, by indicating that the latter must be interpreted « in harmony » with the former. In our presentation, we describe the ways in which the Quebec Charter and the Civil Code work together to ensure a maximum protection of human rights. We measure the influence of human rights on contract law, civil liability rules, property law and family lawὑ.

Merci à Michelle Boivin

Après plus de dix ans de loyaux service comme traductrice de la Revue Femmes et Droit, Michelle Boivin passe le flambeau. Michelle a été plus qu’une traductrice. Elle a été membre fondatrice de la Revue, rédactrice francophone et une collaboratrice régulière à la Revue comme auteure. Elle a fait carrière comme professeure de droit à l’université d’Ottawa, et elle a été une des premières à travailler en français sur le féminisme et le droit. Elle apportait donc dans ses traductions tout un bagage de connaissances et d’expériences. Depuis 1999, j’ai eu l’occasion de relire toutes les traductions vers le français que Michelle a faites pour la Revue. Quelle qualité de français! Quelle plume! J’étais toujours intriguée de voir comment Michelle avait traduit telle ou telle expression anglaise qui n’avait pas vraiment d’équivalent en français et à chaque fois, j’étais éblouie par sa maı̂trise de la langue française. Nous avons eu de longues discussions sur certains passages plus difficiles à traduire et toujours Michelle avait le mot juste pour traduire sans trahir l’auteure. Il faut ajouter que Michelle maı̂trisait aussi bien la langue de Shakespeare. Michelle, tu as certes contribué à maintenir les hauts standards de la Revue et son caractère bilingue. Comme tu le sais, ce qui n’est pas nommé n’existe pas. Tu as contribué par tes enseignements et tes recherches à l’avancement des femmes, mais aussi par tes traductions en proposant en français des mots pour véhiculer les idées et idéaux du féminisme. Au nom de la communauté des juristes féministes francophones et mon nom personnel, je te remercie pour toutes ces années de travail. Que ta plume et tes idées continuent à inspirer d’autres personnes.

The Compensation of Wrongful Pregnancy in Québec Civil Law.

The Supreme Court of Canada has recognized the right to reproductive autonomy for women based on the right to liberty protected by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . Thus, it is a womans choice whether to have children. It follows, therefore, that in the case of a violation of her reproductive autonomy, a woman has a right to compensation. It is in light of these principles that I analyze the wrongful pregnancy cases in Quebec civil law. From a feminist analytical framework, I posit that Quebec courts have effectively denied women the right to reproductive autonomy by awarding compensation for the cost of child-rearing only in cases where a difficult economic situation is evidenced by the parents. In so doing, the courts have not only refused to fully compensate women for the injuries caused to them, but they continue to reproduce the dominant pronatalist ideology in reproductive matters. This judicial reaction to cases of wrongful pregnancy is another example of the gendered dimension of law.