Abstract This article analyzes the parliamentary debates over three Canadian federal laws (2021-2024) on medical assistance in dying (MAID). It explores the factors that influenced Parliament’s decision to expand MAID eligibility to include mental illness in 2021 and to subsequently defer that eligibility on two occasions in 2023 and 2024. We argue that the expansion of MAID to include mental illness was partly driven by a looming judicial deadline and the government’s desire to avoid future Charter litigation, while the deferrals were driven by the perceived lack of readiness from key stakeholders, especially the provinces. This case study identifies broader dynamics of judicial-legislative interaction that can affect policy outcomes, including governments’ attempts at “future-oriented compliance” to pre-empt litigation rather than merely respond to it. It also demonstrates both how judicial deadlines can constrain legislative choice in unforeseen ways and how sunset clauses can foster policy uncertainty.

Time and time again we have had to temper our anger, cool down, step away, or smile as injustice unfolds. Redeem these moments of restraint in the face of indignity. Heal the emotional wounds from the accusation and restriction whiteness has placed over our feelings, as it is unable to reckon with its own deformed emotional life. Undo the epigenetic consequences of emotional constriction. Release us from feeling shame towards the grins that have kept us alive, and remind us that the moral liability for oppression is on whiteness. As we continue on the path of liberation, let us scream. Let smile become scowl. Let our rage boil enough to melt chains themselves, in holy remembrance of the masks our ancestors were forced to wear. Give us our faces back. 1 Discussions about the law, including its reform and its analysis, are often understood under the guise of neutrality, particularly by those who benefit from it. Neutrality as the default-whether with respect to who is drafting the law and/or who is applying the law-has serious consequences on communities and individuals who exist at the margins of their intersectional identities. Despite being understood as having no context, emotion or imagination, the law is a contextual imagination that has emotional resonance. I am a Black queer nonbinary femme whose legal practice and its articulation engage imagination as justice work. I also have deep feelings about individual, institutional and systemic misogynoir in Canada, including, but not limited to, the ways in which "[…] complex layers of racialized, gendered, and xenophobic

Abstract The Supreme Court of Canada mandates recognition of systemic factors that create barriers for Indigenous peoples’ access to equitable justice. Specifically, R. v. Gladue directs courts to consider the unique circumstances of Indigenous peoples when engaging in decision-making processes in all criminal courts. Drawing from interview data with Indigenous and non-Indigenous defence counsel in Ontario, this study assesses whether and how Gladue factors shape bail hearings. Our findings reveal that the application of Gladue principles exists along a continuum, ranging from mere “lip service”, to the tailoring of bail decisions based on meaningful recognition of systemic disadvantages. We also highlight the importance of lived experience and representation of Indigenous legal actors and the challenges they encounter working within a colonial system. We situate these findings within broader critiques of risk-based bail frameworks and settler colonial legal systems, concluding with policy recommendations and directions for future research.

Abstract Surety supervision is one of the most onerous bail conditions imposed on legally innocent people pretrial. Sureties are generally family or friends who promise a sum of money and agree to supervise the accused, enforcing conditions and reporting non-compliance. Drawing on data from 32 in-depth interviews with individuals who have acted as sureties, this paper examines the complex, contradictory, and damaging implications of exploiting personal relationships for the state’s surveillance and monitoring interests. We argue that by placing sureties in such a role, the court stresses the accused’s social relationships by transforming the accused’s support network into an apparatus of state control. Sureties describe exploited relational bonds and ruptured relationships, insisting they will never act as a surety again. We conclude by outlining directions for reform, including changing the nature of surety supervision, decriminalization and developing bail supervision programs.

Abstract Human rights systems in Canada face difficulties: growing caseloads, slow case processing, and a lack of access to hearings. Some Canadian jurisdictions have responded to these challenges by changing from a commission system to a direct access system. This change is made to maximize efficiency, to more quickly process complaints, and to render faster justice to all. Using British Columbia, Canada, as a test case, we assess which of these two systems is most efficient at processing complaints by examining annual reports from 1996 to 2022. We analyze which system closed complaints faster and which system screened out and or settled more cases over time. We also determined which system processed more cases in full hearings. We conclude that the commission system was more efficient, it closed more cases and was faster than the direct access system. It also provided a greater chance to have complaints adjudicated in formal hearings.

Abstract When it was first introduced, the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) had two primary goals of reducing the reliance on custody and increasing uniformity in sentencing practices. Twenty years later, the YCJA has succeeded in dramatically lowering overall rates of youth in custody, but this gain has been selectively experienced by non-Indigenous youth and regional disparities in sentencing practices persist. In this paper, we suggest that the YCJA’s inability to meet its goals is due to overcriminalization by over depth. Using Indigenous youth sentencing as a case study, we argue the YCJA’s layered and sometimes conflicting principles have symptoms of overcriminalization by over depth, including over- and under-inclusiveness, arbitrariness, and confusion in implementation. To more effectively meet the YCJA’s initial goals, we propose legislative streamlining and systemic reforms, including specialized Indigenous youth courts and enhanced community-based resources, as pathways to greater justice.

Résumé En 2021, avec l’adoption de la Loi modernisant le régime de santé et de sécurité du travail, le législateur québécois a introduit l’obligation pour tous les employeurs de prévenir les risques psychosociaux du travail (RPS). Le présent texte brossera un portrait de l’architecture du droit qui prend en compte les RPS du travail et leurs effets. Les autrices et auteur du texte mettront ensuite en dialogue les résultats de leur recherche respective, lesquelles traitent toutes de la santé mentale au travail, afin d’interroger l’effectivité du droit entourant la prise en charge des RPS. Ce texte sera l’occasion d’étudier le rôle, la marge de manœuvre et les pouvoirs de certains acteurs du monde du travail (gestionnaires, syndicats, organismes administratifs). Y seront détaillés des exemples de bonnes pratiques de même que les limites du cadre législatif, les défis qui demeurent et les perspectives d’amélioration en vue d’assurer un encadrement exhaustif et effectif des RPS.

Abstract This essay explores the conceptual and methodological contribution of a spatial understanding of labour law, examining the ways in which labour laws create sites of inclusion and exclusion that can be subverted by worker action. It argues that labour relations cannot be apprehended without considering their place in space. It further argues that labour laws tend to foster inertia within industrial relations by recognizing certain workspaces while failing to adapt to the dynamic geographies of the workplace. Methodologically, this implies a shift from a neutral discourse of rights to one that is anchored in social life where workers converge. This essay suggests that recognizing concrete and dynamic spaces of labour within legislation can lead to upholding diverse voices at work, especially from workers traditionally left in the margins, like women, minorities, and migrants.

Résumé Basé sur une recherche-action conduite en partenariat avec deux organismes de protection des droits des travailleurs non syndiqués, cet article compare deux modèles d’organisation du travail dans les entrepôts – celui de Dollarama et celui d’Amazon – et illustre comment l’un et l’autre fonctionnent grâce à l’exploitation d’une main-d’œuvre en bonne partie racisée. Emplois instables et peu protégés, pressions à la productivité fragilisant le corps et l’esprit, statuts migratoires précaires enfermant les individus dans des emplois usants et de piètre qualité – ces éléments interconnectés créent des espaces où le droit du travail peine à s’appliquer. Les résultats de l’enquête mettent en évidence les enjeux multiples découlant de la fragmentation des cadres réglementaires hérités de la période fordiste, trop souvent rendus caducs par la transformation des pratiques de gestion de la main-d’œuvre, et appellent, au profit des travailleurs les plus vulnérables, le développement d’une vision plus holistique du droit et de la réglementation.