Omar Ha-Redeye spoke to Brian Dunstan of Sun News Live on the Occupy Toronto action and some of the legal arguments involved for both sides.

Omar Ha-Redeye presented two papers at the Annual Meeting of the World Institute for Research and Publication – Law:

Full Paper: Media Narratives in Times of Turmoil: Depictions of Minorities in Canada Post 9/11

Full Paper: Admissibility of Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario Reports

Read more about the conference at Slaw.

Omar Ha-Redeye attended the Canadian Constitution Federation Conference’s 2nd Annual Law Conference Days Inn Downtown Toronto, from October 17 – 19, 2008.

The theme of the conference was Individual Freedom and the Common Good – Defining Human Rights in a Free Society.

Speakers included:

• Alan Borovoy, Canadian Civil Liberties Association
• Albert Koehl, Ecojustice
• David Frum, American Enterprise Institute
• Elizabeth Brubaker, Executive Director, Energy Probe Research Foundation
• Eugene Meehan, Q.C., Lang Michener LLP, Ottawa
• Eugene Meyer, President, Federalist Society
• Kent Roach, University of Toronto Law School
• Philippe Dufresne, Canadian Human Rights Commission
• Randy Barnett, Georgetown University
• Ran Hirschl, author of Towards Juristocracy
• Ramani Nadarajah, Canadian Environmental Law Association
• Tom Isaac, McCarthy Tetrault LLP, Vancouver

Although some valid concerns were noted in advance, overall the conference provided a reasonable debate over the issues.  Topics covered by the panels included:

Aboriginal Rights in the 21st Century: can equality and aboriginality be reconciled?
Protecting the environment through private property rights: is legislation the best solution?
Freedom of expression under attack: do human rights need to be redefined?
Judicial Activism in Canada: Myth or Reality?

The Canadian Constitution Federation Conference has previously come under criticism for advancing a far-right agenda in the realm of health care services.  Their current characterization of administrative tribunals as “Kangaroo Courts” is questionable under the Code of Ethics of many Canadian jurisdictions, and is not likely to create an open climate for serious review of concerns that may be raised.

A number of law students were also in attendance, including Daniel Simard of Law is Cool, Shane D’Souza, Ori Reuben, Jamil Sawani, Mohamed Al-Ghamdi, and many others.