Author archives: wpengine

OMG! WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS INTERVIEW? – Can you count the ways?

Aboriginal People’s Television Network obtains video of officer interviewing a 17-year-old Indigenous teen for over two hours. MMIW expert says the incident is sadly typical Source: Canadian police officer questions Indigenous teen about sexual assault, asks, ‘Were you turned on by this at all?’ – IndianCountryToday.com

PARDONS FOR CANNABIS POSSESSION CONVICTIONS – If the law passes, “Applications (for pardons) would be reviewed by administrative staff, and applicants would not have to pay the current application fee of $631.” The article notes interestingly that Canada’s original drug prohibition law of 1923 specifically targeted opium possession, as recreational use was a distinct feature of the immigrant Chinese culture on the west coast. Similarly in the U.S. cannabis possession and recreational use was a distinct feature of the Black and Hispanic cultures. Drug laws have always had a racial root.

When the federal government introduced legislation in March to streamline pardons for simple cannabis possession, Canada’s criminal bar had two reactions. Source: Pardons for pot possession | Canadian Lawyer Mag

THE BOYLE CASE – Why is it important? It’s complicated but essentially recent changes to the rape shield law may result in a witness becoming a 3rd party participant in a criminal trial which has always been a 2 party (the state against the accused) process. Blatchford explains it very well.

An unusual and controversial application is to be heard in Ontario Superior Court in Ottawa on Wednesday, regarding Joshua Boyle’s sexual assault trial Source: Christie Blatchford: Being questioned on your sexual history is the cost of justice, lawyers say

Your success as a lawyer is inversely proportional to your mental health, in particular, substance abuse, depression and anxiety. This profession has a personal cost. Law students need to be aware of this.

Recently, the Honourable Justice Clement Gascon of the Supreme Court of Canada addressed his momentary absence from work on May 8th, 2019. For over twenty years, I have been dealing with a sometimes insidious illness: depression and anxiety disorders Source: In Praise of The Honourable Justice Clement Gascon – Slaw

We are seeing a wave that is about to crest. A war on drugs didn’t work. We need to take a new look at the prevalence of drugs (prescription or otherwise) in our 21st century culture and come to some consensus of a better way to accept it and deal with it. What we’re doing isn’t working.

Voters narrowly made Denver the first U.S. city to decriminalize psilocybin, the psychoactive ingredient in “magic mushrooms.” Source: Denver is 1st US city to decriminalize ‘magic mushrooms’