The first installment of Quebec's 40th Parliament is now in session. Quebec's new Premier Pauline Marois delivered a speech from the throne that established zero tolerance for and a commitment to fight against corruption within the government. The theme: “Integrity”!

Recently, a few of our favourite feminist law students took issue with an article entitled “ You Have the Right to Remain Stylish” posted in the University of Ottawa Common Law Student Newspaper. The light hearted piece aimed at law students doled out unsolicited fashion advice about things like what kind of suits to buy to dress for success, and the importance of wearing heels and jewelry.

The University of Ottawa OUTLAW Executive (the LGBTQA Student Association) and the University of Ottawa Law Union Steering Committee wrote a heartfelt and badass response to the article calling it out for perpetuating . . . [more]

Some cool stuff, mostly about Twitter — that might have a chill attached.

The One Million Tweet Map (from Maptimize) shows you where in the world the birdsong is coming from. This has a fascination all its own, a kind of gossip about gossiping writ large, perhaps. And then there’s what it reveals about Canada. When you zero in on this, the second largest country in the world, you see (once again) how much we huddle in the south. And, apologies all round, how much of the action is centred in the GTA.

The map can show you recent . . . [more]

This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.

Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.

. . . [more]

If you could, do you think you would opt for an ePassport? How would you weigh the convenience against the potential privacy concerns and changes in cost?

Though I’ve lived near serious water most of my life, I’m a confirmed landlubber. Happy as I am about this preference for terra firma, landlubber’s not a title you’d really want to adopt. I’d always thought in a sloppy way that the word was a turn on “land lover” — and what could be wrong with that? Fact is, the seaman’s insult strikes further below the Plimsoll line than I’d realized, because, according to the OED, a “lubber” is “A big, clumsy, stupid fellow; esp. one who lives in idleness; a lout.” (The fact that it’s a term that . . . [more]

This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.

Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.

. . . [more]

The Charter of the French Language (“French Charter“) has been making headlines these past few weeks, with proposals to extend it to Quebec’s daycare services and recently made campaign promises. This, however, will not be the last we hear of it.

Indeed, six large retailers (Best Buy Canada, Gap Canada, Costco Wholesale Canada, Old Navy, Guess Canada and Wal-mart Canada), the majority of which are represented by the Quebec division of the Retail Council of Canada, will be asking the Superior Court of Quebec to declare whether or not the Office de la langue française (“Office”) has the . . . [more]

Pretty much from the start people saw the Web as the Wunderkammer that it is, an (impossibly) large room chock-a-block with objects designed to delight, horrify, inform, pander, edify, entertain . . . . Surfing is wandering through this room and fingering the exhibits. Of course, the rational, utilitarian impulse was there at the same time, and is captained now, perhaps, by Google, which asks you to know what you want before you go there, making the web helpfully instrumental, rather than an end in itself.

But even so we tend to keep “useless” corners of the web as surprises. . . . [more]

This is a post in a series appearing each Friday, setting out some articles, videos, podcasts and the like that contributors at Slaw are enjoying and that you might find interesting. The articles tend to be longer than blog posts and shorter than books, just right for that stolen half hour on the weekend. It’s also likely that most of them won’t be about law — just right for etc.

Please let us have your recommendations for what we and our readers might like.

. . . [more]

We’ve learned of a new Practice Direction on Filing Electronic Versions of Documents in Civil Appeals and Judicial Review Applications in the Divisional Court which will be implemented next month – it establishes a regularized process to satisfy the requirement to file electronic versions of factums and transcripts – a requirement that is already in place under Rules 61.09 and 61.12 of the Rules of Civil Procedure. The Practice Direction also encourages parties to file all electronic documents with the Divisional Court in certain proceedings. The Practice Direction does not relieve the requirement to file documents in paper format as . . . [more]

Something there is that doesn’t love a wall . . .

Maybe. But it wouldn’t be paint. There’s everything, in fact, about a blank wall that seems to require touching up, decoration, even defacing. The urge to make one’s mark in as prominent a way possible seems to be a human trait, evident from the earliest times.

How much better if the one with the urge happens to have some talent. There’s a wall painting going on not far from where I live that’s a part of a Giant Storybook Project, a collaboration between an art couple, Herakut, . . . [more]