Omar Ha-Redeye was interviewed today by 106.9FM, a local radio show in London.

Omar spoke about Charter dialogue, the theory that decisions by the Supreme Court of Canada are not final, and are instead referred to the legislature.

Omar Ha-Redeye and Justice Ian Binnie

The interview followed a talk by Hon. Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Hon. John Major, QC, formerly of the Supreme Court, at an event called Courting Democracy.

He also discussed a question he posed regarding access to the Supreme Court by people of socio-economically disadvantaged positions.  Justice Binne agreed that more needs to be done in this regard.

The interview will be aired tonight at approximately 6PM.

Devin Johnston, a NDP blogger and law student in Manitoba, recently recommended this site for reading.

Although it was intended to keep in touch with family and friends who don’t use other social media, it’s good to know that others are reading it too.

Devin is an avid blogger and social media enthusiast, and has now probably surpassed myself as the most visible law student in Canada. I’ll try to keep up in the meantime.

Omar Ha-Redeye with John C. Major CC QC

Honourable Mr. Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada, and The Honourable John C. Major CC QC, formerly of the Supreme Court, spoke on “The Role of the Supreme Court in Canadian Government”at UWO Law.

Omar Ha-Redeye asked the panel questions relating to access to justice, and the role of the judiciary in checking the excess of the legislature, especially as it related to minority rights.

Justice Ian Binnie of the Supreme Court of Canada

Lawrence Gridin and Omar Ha-Redeye (Photo courtesy of Melissa Kluger)

Precedent Magazine hosted a student reception for UWO law students.  Melissa Kluger, publisher and editor of the magazine, hosted the event.

The Precedent event was joined by the Mature Students Club, who host bimonthly events of their own called Puisine (“Puny”) Dennings.

Omar Ha-Redeye is the President of the Mature Students Club at UWO.  He did an interview with Melissa last year when Precedent first launched its magazine.

The event was sponsored by Cassels Brock.

Early today, Liberal leader Stéphane Dion visited the University of Western Ontario to make a special campaign promise.

Dion pledged $1.2 billion in an education strategy to boost research and reduce student loans.  He spoke in depth on the importance of education to the Canadian economy, and the need for us to be more competitive on the international trade scene.

I know very well that colleges and universities are critical to Canada’s economic success. A well-educated workforce is more important than ever because the challenge of the 21st century is building a sustainable economy … an economy based on innovation and creativity.

Students were especially interested in the student loan reforms Dion proposed.

According to the Ontario Undergraduate Student Alliance (OUSA), the average debt that a medical student at the UWO accumulates is between $80-100,000.  A 2004 report commissioned by the Deans of six Ontario law schools recommended increasing the loan cap for law students.

Dion said he would extend the repayment period from 6 months to 2 years, and reduce the loan interest rate to 0.5% above prime.

Dismissing environmental protections…

Attacking Ontario, and telling the world that Ontario is the last place to invest.

Omar covered a recent article in the CMAJ on fault/ no fault medical insurance.

The pros and cons of the current system were reviewed, as well as some of the obstacles for reform.

Omar Ha-Redeye and Douglas Elliot

The article quoted Toronto lawyer Douglas Elliot, who indicated that the political impetus for change usually requires a major disaster or public health crisis.

With a background in emergency and disaster management, Omar anticipates that future high profile events will provide an opportunity for him to apply his developing legal skills and analysis.

Earlier today Omar Ha-Redeye attended a gathering of Progressive Bloggers at the home of Vijay Sappani in a Toronto suburb.  They discussed the upcoming Federal election, and the role of blogs as a communication tool.

Omar Ha-Redeye was interviewed by CBC television, who attended the event.  He described his formal education in online communication through Centennial College, and some of his reasons for founding Law is Cool and joining Slaw.  He told viewers how they could easily create their own blogs for free on sites like Blogger, Live Journal, and Word Press.

He also defined some basic online technology terms like blog, Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, and Flickr.  The footage will be used on The National and Susan Ormiston Online in the Blog Buzz segment to help the general public understand these ideas and sites as they come up during the election.

It’s hard to keep up with all the technological innovations in the workplace, especially if the computer didn’t exist when you first graduated from law school and you still prefer to the stacks to online legal databases.

But the Canadian Bar Association is suggesting that technical competence is an essential part of ethical practice.

See their new guidelines document and some of the highlights relevant to blogging lawyers.

THIS Magazine mentioned an article by Lawrence Gridin on the election debate on Law is Cool,

The Green Party has hired Toronto-based lawyer Peter Rosenthal and will deploy him against the networks, but as the Law is Cool blog points out today, political parties haven’t found the courts sympathetic in the past when they tried to sue their way into the studio. Both the National Party of Canada and the Natural Law Party tried and failed on that count. The Greens have more credibility than those two fringe parties, but the courts are very leery of mandating what private media should and should not cover, and it seems the party will make little progress on that front.