Advocates for the Rule of Law

On January 6, 2017, The Honourable Glenn D. Joyal, Chief Justice of the Court of Queen’s Bench of Manitoba, gave the keynote address at the Canadian Constitution Foundation’s Law and Freedom Conference. The title of this stimulating and eloquent address was “The Charter and Canada’s New Political Culture:  Are We All Ambassadors Now?” Chief Justice Joyal discussed the roots of ...

Advocates for the Rule of Law finally has a twitter presence! If you use twitter, follow @ARLCanada to receive updates on all ARL articles, commentary and news items.

The Summer 2016 edition of Law Matters, a publication of the Canadian Bar Association (Alberta Branch) features two articles penned by members of ARL. Asher Honickman has written a paper entitled “The Case for a Constrained Approach to Section 7,” which discusses section 7’s textual limitations. An slightly modified version of this article was first published on the ARL website. ...

Joanna Baron, Director of the Runnymede Society and member of Advocates for the Rule of Law, was recently interviewed on CBC Radio to discuss the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent decision in R. v. Jordan. In that case, the Court was unanimous in the result, but split 5-4 on the crucial issue of what test the courts ought to apply ...

In honour of our two-year anniversary, Advocates for the Rule of Law has commissioned a new logo that can be viewed near the top of the website homepage. The new logo incorporates a sword and the scales of justice, both of which are traditionally associated with Lady Justice, on the backdrop of a Canadian flag. We hope you enjoy the ...

This morning, Justice William Horkins of the Ontario Court of Justice acquitted Jian Ghomeshi of four charges of sexual assault and a fifth charge of choking. Social media immediately erupted in a firestorm of #believethevictims and #believeallsurvivors. Many insults were also directed toward the judge, who, by all accounts, behaved impeccably during the trial. Indeed, he made an evidentiary ruling near the ...

On Monday, March 21, 2016, the Runnymede Society will host a debate at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. The title of the debate is: The Legitimacy of the Welfare State: Governments in Pursuit of the Public Good. Bruce Pardy, Professor of Law at Queen’s University Faculty of Law, will debate Jason MacLean, Assistant Professor of Law at Bora Laskin ...

Yesterday, the National Post ran an op-ed piece co-authored by Asher Honickman, Marni Soupcoff (Executive Director of the Canadian Constitution Foundation) and Joanna Baron (Director of the Runnymede Society). The article, “Safeguarding the Rule of Law”, speaks to the importance of constitutionalism and the rule of law in Canada and some recent decisions at the Supreme Court that call into ...

We at Advocates for the Rule of Law are pleased to announce that we have teamed up with the Canadian Constitution Foundation, a registered charity dedicated to defending the constitutional freedoms of Canadians, to form the Runnymede Society, a law-school-based membership group that specializes in holding provocative and enlightening debates and educational symposia focused on the rule of law. ‘Runnymede’ refers to a water-meadow in ...

Magna Carta turned 800 this week. After eight centuries, it remains the foundational text of Anglo-American law. Borne out of a bitter dispute between King John and his aggrieved barons in the spring of 1215, the “Great Charter” scarcely resembles any modern human rights instrument. It did not grant freedom of expression and religion, or even life, liberty and the ...