A Time for Change and Correction

Welcome to my 100th and final column for Slaw. It all started innocently enough at the outset of 2008 when the late Simon Fodden, innovative founder of this venue, invited me to contribute a column on scholarly publishing issues. I first wrote of how the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) was now requiring those it funded to make the resulting research freely available, if after a 12-month delay (to appease publisher pushback). I called it at the time a “tipping point” in the growing efforts to secure public or open access to all research worldwide.

Now, some seventeen years later, it’s fair to ask what has changed? Well, first off, publishers no longer object to open access. They recognize it to be the very best thing for research, while also embracing its profit potential in the Article Processing Fees that authors pay. And as for that 12-month delay to access, CIHR is finally giving serious consideration to dropping it. But then moving to worldwide access to all research is proving to be a remarkably slow tip. While gains have been made in every area, a substantial proportion of journals, especially in the Global North, have yet to make their research open.

So, clearly there’s still much to be done. And in that regard, I can say that Simon Fraser University’s Public Knowledge Project (PKP) will certainly continue coming up with the sort of technical, economic, legal, and integrity initiatives that I’ve introduced in Slaw over the years. And it’s fortunate, as well, that many other inspired initiatives worldwide are also pursuing this goal of greater access.

So while much remains to be achieved on this front, there also comes a time for fresh voices. This is why Slaw’s tireless Editor and Publisher, Steve Matthews and I, are delighted to announce that Stephanie Savage, UBC’s Scholarly Communications and Copyright Services Librarian, will be taking up the scholarly publishing beat at Slaw. In fact, Stephanie plans to assemble a Canadian university copyright librarian collective to collaborate with her in covering intellectual property issues in higher education.

With that important step in place, I’d like to conclude my run by returning to an earlier legal issue that has only grown more vexed over the last year. Following a 2024 SFU Faculty Association vote to boycott Israel, I set out in a Slaw column my reasons for voting against it. It had to do with academic freedom principles that included PKP’s support for Israeli journals, which offer Israeli and Palestinian scholars the chance to publish dissenting research and critiques that seemed much needed at this point.

More than one of my respected colleagues objected to my placing academic freedom ahead of the inordinate suffering of Gazan faculty, families, and children at the hands of Netanyahu’s government, which seemed to exceed what its war against Hamas could justify. I take their point. And indeed, according to one of academic freedom’s founding statements, “to speak freely as a citizen” is no less an aspect than the right to engage in research free of outside interference. Any defense of Israel’s, as well as Gaza’s, use of PKP’s scholarly publishing platform need not overshadow my responsibilities as a citizen of the world in witnessing what is taking place in Gaza.

Thus, in the legal context of Slaw, I would add my voice to those supporting the International Court of Justice’s pursuit of the cases involving this war, including the charge that Israel is failing to meet its obligations to the civilian population living in Gaza, as well as the pending hearing on Israel’s failure to prevent and prosecute “the crime of genocide in the Gaza strip.”

In the ICJ obligations case currently being heard, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ testimony attests to Israel’s responsibilities for “the utterly inhumane conditions of life imposed on [Gaza’s] people who are… deprived of lifesaving relief.” As conditions continue to worsen, we need to heed the calls for lifesaving relief coming from Gaza, with increasing support from dissenting voices in Israel, as well as from the world at large. It is encouraging to see, for example, Prime Minister Carey announce that Canada would not only increase aid but recognize the State of Palestine – if with potentially insurmountable conditions to be met – at the United Nations General Assembly this September. The message should be clear that nothing is more pressing at this point than for the Israeli government to find a way to alleviate the intolerable harm experienced by Gaza’s civilian population.

If this seems a somewhat dispiriting note on which to end my time at Slaw, let me add that I can’t imagine a better way of expressing my appreciation of what “Canada’s online law magazine” and its readers have afforded me since 2008 than to offer this correction of the record.