Vol. 42 No. 04

QUID NOVI

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McGill University Faculty of Law Faculté de droit de l’Université McGill

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Vol 42 No 4 3 Nov 2020

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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF RÉDACTEUR EN CHEF Stewart Wiseman ART DIRECTOR DIRECTRICE ARTISTIQUE Alexa Klein LAYOUT EDITOR ÉDITRICE DE MISE EN PAGE Hanna Rioseco COPY EDITORS SECRÉTAIRES DE RÉDACTION Ayelet Ami Rose-Marie Maniatakos Alida Douce Kamaliza COLOUMNISTS CHRONIQUEURES ET CHRONIQUEUSES Michael Aarenau Darien Bahry Me Katarina Daniels Vidish Parikh CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS ISSUE COLLABORATEURS ET COLLABORATRICES Émilie Weidl, DALA droit autrement / legal alternative, McGill Indigenous Law Association/ Association du Droit Autochtone Special thanks to Prairie Koo for designing the layout. ~ The Quid Novi is published weekly by the students of the Faculty of Law at McGill University. Production is made possible through the direct support of students.

All contents copyright ©2020 Quid Novi.

Les opinions exprimées sont propres aux auteurs et ne réflètent pas nécessairement celles de l’équipe du Quid Novi. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the McGill Law Students’ Association or of McGill University.

Envoyez vos commentaires ou articles avant jeudi 17h00 à quid.law@mcgill.ca.

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1 QUID NOVI

CETTE SEMAINE...

INSIGHTS

COMMUNAUTÉ

3 | OPPEN LETTER FROM THE 2 MCGILL INDIGENOUS LAW ASSOCIATION Solidarity with Mi’kmaw First Nations

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| A SELECTION OF OVERRRATED SONGS And their underrated counterparts

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| LE BILINGUISME À LA FACULTÉ Un enjeu de plus en plus pressant?

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| E-HEARINGS A THE FEDERAL COURT Has cybersecurity been ignored?

21 | SAY WHAT YOU MEAN: GET TO THE POINT Tell your truth, with substance

22 | LAW IMITATES ART A JICP Masterpiece Series

| LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Antisemitism, Canada’s Invisible Hate

8 | SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY Women General Counsel Canada

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| FROM THE GELBER Introducing Elgar Advanced Introductions

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| LAWFULLY UNCOMMON Jade Descheneaux // Legal Counsel for Eurovision Sports

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Vol 42 No 4 3 Nov 2020

EVENTS 9

| ART RESTITUTION & THE HOLOCAUST A Panel on Transitional Justice

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| OUT RUN SCREENING + Q&A Prsented by Countours x OutLaw

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| NASRIN: FILM SCREENING & PANEL DISCUSSION McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism

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| CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS Contours Journal Vol IX

22 | MEET THE TEAM Chris Ciafro, Copy Editor

24 | J. STEPHEN TATRALLYAY MEMORIAL AWARD Bourse en mémoire de J. Stephen Tatrallyay

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Vol 42 ● No 4

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Antisemitism, Canada’s Invisible Hate Stewart Wiseman | 2L

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

On October 14th, Canada’s National War Memorial, one of the country’s most recognizable monuments, was vandalized with anti-Jewish hate. Last week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted, “The antisemitic desecration of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is completely unacceptable, and I strongly condemn this hateful act. I urge anyone with information regarding the perpetrator’s identity to contact Ottawa Police.” Despite the high-profile location of the hate crime, this incident has received very little media attention and the suspect remains at large.

This silence is all too common in regard to antisemitic incidents in Canada.

In a year where books about anti-racism continue to top best-seller lists and institutions issue statements pledging to combat discrimination, North America’s most widespread form of hatred is consistently missing from the conversation. The most recent statistics on hate crimes in Canada reveal that there are more hate crimes committed against Jewish people than against any other minority group in Canada, despite Jews accounting for only 1% of the Canadian population. In 2018, for the third year in a row, the majority of all hate crimes in Canada (including race/ethnicity, religion, and sexual orientation crimes) were against Jewish people. In the two preceding years, anti-Jewish hate crimes accounted for the second-most among all groups. Year after year, there are more attacks against Jewish people than any other religious group in Canada, and the most recent Statistics Canada report revealed that hate crimes against Jews accounted for more than all other religion-motivated hate crimes combined.

According to the League of Human Rights’ latest annual audit of antisemitic incidents, 2019 marked the fourth consecutive year in which the number of antisemitic incidents increased in Canada. The League of Human Rights 2

documented 2,207 antisemitic incidents in 2019, amounting to an average of more than six incidents per day. The group has been tracking antisemitic incidents in Canada since 1982, and 2019 marked the second consecutive year that the number of incidents has exceeded 2,000 after 2018 first hit that grim milestone. According to a 2019 Environics Institute survey, one in five Canadian Jews say they were discriminated against in the last five years because of their religion and/or ethnicity, with the highest reported acts of discrimination coming against Jews aged 18-29. This rise of antisemitism is a true cause for concern, yet antisemitic incidents are routinely ignored by Canadian media outlets.

This upward trend of antisemitism isn’t unique to Canada. According to the latest FBI data, Jewish people are more likely than any other minority group to be the victim of a hate crime in the United States.

There were more than 2,100 antisemitic incidents in America in 2019, representing a 12% increase from 2018, and the highest number of antisemitic incidents since the Anti-Defamation League started tracking 40 years ago. Despite anti-Jewish racism ranking highest in American hate crimes, nearly half of Americans stated in a poll released last week that they either have never heard of the term antisemitism or that, while they have heard it, they are unsure what it means. “That nearly half of the American population does not even seem to know what antisemitism is can only increase American Jews’ concern about their own security and well-being,” said David Harris, Director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC). Similar trends have been observed in Europe, including a 27% increase of antisemitic crimes in France from 2018-2019, a 20% increase in Germany from 2017-2018, and a 53% rise in Sweden from 2016-2017.

In the United Kingdom, the number of antisemitic incidents has reached record highs for the last four years in a row.

B’nai Brith Canada documented three major antisemitic incidents in Ontario over the Rosh Hashanah weekend in late September. In an attack filmed and shared on Facebook, a Jewish father and son were sitting in their car outside of a synagogue in Thornhill, Ontario when a pedestrian walking by began shouting, “you’re a piece of sh*t, you’re Jewish,” and “you run the f**king world,” before sticking his hand in the car in an attempt to attack the passengers. Two days later, as Rosh Hashanah was ending, several garage doors in Thornhill (where Canada’s largest concentration of Jewish citizens resides) were defaced with antisemitic graffiti reading “Jews Run the World.” Further east in Ontario, an Ottawa congregation was conducting prayers outside due to the coronavirus when a man drove up to the congregants and yelled, “dirty f**king Jews,” and then spat at them. On the East Coast, antisemitic stickers blaming Jews for creating COVID-19 and controlling the world were placed around Dalhousie University. These blatantly antisemitic and vile attacks all took place over the same weekend, during one of the holiest of Jewish holidays. Not one of these incidents was reported in national Canadian media. The question raised then is why Canada’s most frequent form of hate crime is apparently not worthy of notice by any of the country’s major newspapers or civil rights groups. In an era when activism and allyship on behalf of minority groups dominates headlines and social media, the silence around antisemitism is deafening.

This year, McGill University began the long-overdue process of addressing antiBlack racism. The new $15 million plan will further the goals of creating a more inclusive and secure university environment for McGill’s Black students and staff. As Action Item #1 in McGill’s plan to address anti-Black racism, the university launched a campus-wide Student

Demographic Survey, introduced

by Interim Dean of Students Glenn Zabowski in his September 13th What’s New email to all students. “By completing the survey you’re helping McGill plan for the future with your [sic] and your peers’ needs in mind,” wrote Dean Zabowski. Evidently, Jewish students are not included in McGill’s vision of the future. Question 4 of the survey asks students to declare their “Racial and/ or Ethnic Identity.” As I have come to expect with census data, I didn’t expect Judaism to be listed as an ethnicity, even though the Jewish identity is ethnoreligious, in that it encompasses ethnic as well as religious components. The Environics Institute Survey of Jews in Canada found that “for most Canadian Jews today, the basis of Jewish identity is less about religion than about culture, ethnicity or a combination of culture, ethnicity and religion.” No problem, I thought, “Judaism” will surely be listed in the survey’s question about religion. As an ardent atheist but proud Jew, I’ve reluctantly grown accustomed to declaring my Jewish heritage in a census’ religion question. As I clicked through questions about parental education attainment, language proficiency, and financial support, I soon reached the end of the survey. Nowhere was there a question about students’ religion. According to the McGill Student Demographic Survey, the minority group targeted with the highest number of hate crimes in Canada does not exist.

As I stared at the list of options presented in Question 4 of the survey, I did not know which option I was expected to select. My skin is white, but this question was asking for my ethnic identity; and besides, McGill has a long history of viewing Jewish people as distinct from the white majority. In 1926, Dean of Arts Ira Mackay wrote a letter to Sir Arthur Currie, Principal of McGill University, stating, “it appears clear to me that some steps must be taken to limit the increase in the number of Jews attending the University at present.” Shortly thereafter, McGill enforced a quota on the number of Jewish students admitted to the university, which was enforced until the 1960s for the Faculties of Law and Medicine. In a July 21, 1933 letter,

Dean Mackay wrote, “the simple obvious truth is that the Jewish people are of no use to us in this country.” My late grandmother could not attend McGill because of the university’s Jewish quota, and was forced to attend Sir George Williams University (now Concordia), which was perceived as more accepting of Jews. My grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, had to change his last name in order to overcome a name that was deemed “too ethnic” for McGill administrators. My mother’s maiden name is a complete fabrication that was created in order for my grandfather to be accepted by the McGill community. Although their skin was white, my grandparents were considered ethnically Jewish for McGill University. Jews are apparently too white to be recognized as a distinct ethnicity in McGill’s Student Demographic Survey, while historically not being white enough through the lens of McGill’s antisemitic legacy.

A Student Demographic Survey which fails to inquire into students’ religious beliefs and ignores the existence of the most-attacked minority group in Canada is a survey of no standing at all. The survey is all the more insulting and denigrating after the McGill administration had to step in on two separate occasions last year to protect Jewish students on campus. Whereas antisemitism at McGill was historically perpetrated by deans and administrators, the antisemitism that McGill’s Jewish students face today often comes from their fellow students. As I wrote in the Vol. 41 No. 6 edition of the Quid Novi last year, the McGill Daily labelled Zionism as a “racist ideology,” and then refused to allow two Jewish law students to publish an article describing what being a Zionist meant to them. Deputy Provost Fabrice Labeau had to intervene on the students’ behalf for their piece to be published.

Honest Reporting Canada’s executive director Mike Fegelman said at the time that the Daily’s “censorship of pro-Zionist opinions has racist overtones and xenophobic dimensions.” The university also issued an email to all students later in the academic year after the former Student Society of McGill University (SSMU) president singled out a Jewish

council member and pushed for her resignation because she accepted a free educational trip to Israel and the West Bank. The McGill administration did not have to interject in student affairs to protect any other minority groups on campus. “The more we know about our community, the better we can create and support a McGill that works for everyone!” wrote Dean Zabowski when announcing the Student Demographic Survey. How can McGill expect to “create and support” an inclusive campus when the most targeted group in Canada – one that has been subjected to recent antisemitic incidents on campus – is invisible?

The McGill Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism is an important step towards building a more inclusive campus for all, but the plan’s Student Demographic Survey harms McGill’s significant Jewish student body by ignoring its existence. I refuse to submit my results for the Student Demographic Survey, and I implore my fellow students to abstain from completing a survey which erases the Jewish identity from campus.

Due to our unique history of targeted hatred and violence, Jews have long been steadfast allies with other minority groups and routinely sound the alarm against all hate. I am asking for antisemitism, the most frequent form of hatred in Canada, to no longer be minimized and ignored by the Canadian media and McGill University. The number of hate crimes against Jews exceeds those against all other minorities, and this number is simply staggering when considering the miniscule size of Canada’s Jewish population.

McGill’s Student Demographic Survey is an initiative stemming from a plan to help minority groups, but in the process it removes the existence of the most targeted minority group in Canada. In his 1986 Nobel Prize lecture, Elie Wiesel said, “Neutrality helps the oppressor never the victim, silence encourages the tormentor never the tormented... there may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time where we fail to protest against injustice.” Hate flourishes in darkness, and the magnitude of antisemitism in Canada requires a blazing bonfire to be illuminated.

The dim flicker from Canada’s media and institutions does not suffice.

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Vol 42 ● No 4

LETTER FROM THE MCGILL INDIGENOUS LAW ASSOCIATION TO PRIME MINISTER JUSTIN TRUDEAU AND MINISTERS BERNADETTE JORDAN, MARC MILLER, CAROLYN BENNETT, AND DAVID LAMETTI IN SUPPORT OF MI’KMAW FIRST NATIONS A call to meaningfully uphold Canada’s commitments to reconciliation and to take Indigenous law seriously McGill Indigenous Law Association/Association du Droit Autochtone

We, the undersigned, on behalf of the McGill Indigenous LawAssociation/Association du Droit Autochtone and other law faculties’ Indigenous LawAssociations, add our voices to the solidarity movement in support of the Mi’kmaw nations.We strongly condemn the violation of Mi’kmaq’s treaty right to fish, the ongoing acts of terror perpetrated by non-Indigenous fishermen since September 18th, 2020, and the inaction of federal government officials.

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

The response to this conflict is unacceptable and furthers Canada’s failure to meaningfully reconcile with Indigenous peoples. As law students, our legal education enables us to effectively identify the role that Indigenous law plays in Canada’s legal order. We therefore feel a particular responsibility not only to denounce Canada’s failure to take Indigenous law seriously, but also to raise awareness about the factual and legal contexts that ground the conflict at issue.

We are calling on the Canadian government to (1) recognize Mi’kmaq rights under the Peace and Friendship Treaties, as affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada in the Marshall decision; (2) implement a clear and sustainable plan of action in order to attenuate the current tensions between the Mi’kmaq peoples and the local commercial non-Indigenous fishermen; (3) respond to the RCMP’s failure to protect the Mi’kmaw people against property damage committed by local non-Indigenous commercial fishermen; (4) launch a full and impartial investigation into each act of violence in order to hold accountable the perpetrators; and (5) meaningfully uphold Canada’s commitment to reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.

Contexte factuel Au cours des deux derniers mois, un certain nombre de communautés mi’kmaw ont entamé de leur propre gré la pêche au homard en dehors des périodes réglementées par le gouvernement du Canada. En réponse, les pêcheurs locaux non autochtones ont violemment protesté, s’appuyant sur des principes de conservation des populations de homards.1 «Mi’kmaw lobster fishery ‘doesn’t pose any conservation risk,’ says prof» (20 octobre 2020), en ligne : CBC <www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/ as-it-happens-tuesday-edition-1.5769434/mi-kmaw-lobster-fisherydoesn-t-pose-any-conservation-risk-says-prof-1.5769836>.

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Cependant, des preuves scientifiques attestent que les pêcheries mi’kmaw actuelles ne constituent pas une menace pour les populations de homards . Quelle que soit la motivation des pêcheurs non autochtones, cela ne saurait justifier la destruction d’équipements, l’incendie de biens et les graves menaces de mort visant les Mi’kmaq. Nous pensons que ces actes criminels sont conformes à la définition d’activité terroriste du Code pénal, à savoir «un acte [...] qui est commis [...] en vue — exclusivement ou non — d’intimider tout ou partie de la population quant à sa sécurité»2.

Legal Background These acts of terror are only the most recent development of a decades-long conflict which stems from the government’s continuous refusal to respect Peace and Friendship Treaties. A companion document to the Treaty of 1725–26 includes a promise to respect Aboriginal access to fish and game in Nova Scotia, framed as a Crown obligation to “recognize and respect the pre-existing and continuing reality of Aboriginal survival derived from the land and its resources.”3 The Treaty of 1752 affirmed that the Mi’kmaq “shall not be hindered from, but have free liberty of Hunting, Trading and Fishing as usual.”4 Finally, treaties signed in 1760–61 ensured that Mi’kmaq had the right to sell, barter, and trade at royal truck houses. 5 These words of the treaties affirmed the inherent power of Mi’kmaw nations to regulate fishing in their ancestral territory and establish a residual jurisdictional rule: in the absence of any special provision delegating inherent powers or right to the British sovereign in a treaty of peace, Mi’kmaq nations retain jurisdiction over the subject matter.

Code criminel, LRC 1985, c C-46, art 83.01(1).

Andrea Bear Nicholas, “Mascarene’s Treaty of 1725” (1994) 43 New Brunswick LJ at 10.

4 1752 Peace and Friendship Treaty Between His Majesty the King and the Jean Baptiste Cope, 22 November 1752, online: Government of Canada <www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca> 5 1760-61 Peace and Friendship Treaties Between His Majesty the King and the LaHave Tribe of Indians, March 1760, online: Government of Canada <www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca>.

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Not only do Mi’kmaw treaties prevent the British and Canadian sovereign from claiming unauthorized jurisdiction over inherent powers retained by Mi’kmaw nations, but these Peace and Friendship Treaties are protected by the Canadian Constitution.

In the 1999 Marshall decision, the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed that the Mi’kmaw peoples’ right to fish for a moderate livelihood was enshrined in the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1760–61. Section 35 of the Constitution Act of 1982 recognizes and affirms treaty rights; it follows that the Mi’kmaw peoples have a constitutional right to fish. However, the language was left intentionally non-committal. “Moderate livelihood” was defined as including “food, clothing and housing, supplemented by a few amenities”6 but not the accumulation of wealth. The rationale was to incite the federal government to work with the Mi’kmaq to establish a clear solution. Canada, who bears ultimate authority for this conflict by virtue of having created the conditions which have enabled it, has failed to uphold its responsibility for more than 20 years. In response, Mi’kmaw nations have implemented their own fishing regulations in accordance with their inherent rights. Indeed, decades-long inaction is functionally a commitment to non-recognition.

Véritable réconciliation et pluralisme juridique Dans la mesure où le système judiciaire canadien a grandement contribué à la colonisation des peuples autochtones, la Commission sur la vérité et la réconciliation (CVR) a directement interpellé les principaux acteurs impliqués.

L’appel à l’action 42 sollicite le gouvernement fédéral de reconnaître et de mettre en oeuvre les traditions juridiques autochtones «d’une manière conforme» aux droits constitutionnels et aux droits issus des traités. Le Premier ministre Justin Trudeau s’est également engagé à respecter les droits constitutionnels et issus de traités dans sa promesse électorale d’établir une «relation de nation à nation» avec les peuples autochtones7. En outre, le ministre de la justice, M. Lametti, a reçu le mandat d’intégrer la DNUDPA dans l’ordre juridique canadien d’ici 20218. L’article 37 sur le droit à «la reconnaissance, l’observation et l’application des traités» semble être atteint en raison de l’inaction actuelle du gouvernement fédéral. Nous interpelons nos représentants politiques à s’engager de manière significative dans la réconciliation avec les peuples autochtones, qui débute par l’exécution de ses obligations envers les nations mi’kmaw de Mi’kma’ki.

R v Marshall, [1999] 3 SCR 456 at para 59, 246 NR 83.

Justin Trudeau, communiqué, «Déclaration du premier ministre du Canada à l’occasion de la Journée nationale des Autochtones» (21 juin 2017), en ligne : Justin Trudeau, Premier ministre du Canada <https://pm.gc.ca/fr/nouvelles/declarations/2017/06/21/ declaration-du-premier-ministre-du-canada-loccasion-de-lajournee>.

8 «Déclaration des Nations Unies sur les droits des peuples autochtones» (dernière modification le 8 mars 2017, en ligne: Gouvernement du Canada <www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/fra/13093744 07406/1309374458958>.

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En tant qu’étudiants en droit et futurs dirigeants, nous serons à l’avant-garde de l’application du droit. Ce conflit nous apprend que le Canada ne prend pas – et n’a jamais pris – les droits des peuples autochtones au sérieux. Cela entrave non seulement le travail de revitalisation des ordres juridiques autochtones, mais aussi le développement du pluralisme juridique.

SIGNATORIES 251 as of 3PM on November 1, 2020 Students and Professors from McGill Faculty of Law, Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, University of Moncton Faculty of Law, Osgoode Faculty of Law, and University of Montreal Faculty of Law SIGN HERE / SIGNEZ ICI Aidan Oatridge (Osgood Faculty of Law, 3L) Aidan Prenovault (University of Moncton, 2L) Aimée Rioux (McGill University, 4L) Adelise Lalande (McGill University, 3L) Adrienne Tessier (McGill University, 4L) Alec Sader (McGill University, 4L) Alessia Zenga (McGill University, 2L) Alex McPhail (McGill University, 2L) Alex Shapiro (McGill University, 2L) Alexa Klein (McGill University, 3L) Alexandre Rice-Hoyt (McGill University, 3L) Alexandra Yazbeck (University of Montreal, 2L) Alexandre Perron (Université McGill, 1L) Alexandrine Comtois (Université de Montréal, Alumni) Alexandrine Sioui (University of Montreal, Alumni) Allisa Ali (McGill University, 2L) Alisa Grace Tot Jovanovic (Université de Moncton, 1L) Aliosha Hurry (McGill University, 2L) Alix R Coulombe (University of Moncton, 1L) Alix Génier (McGill University, Alumni) Alizeh Ladak (McGill University, Alumni) Allison Lalla (McGill University, 1L) Alyssa Buttineau (Lakehead University, 2L) Amanda Bowie-Edwards (McGill University, 3L) Amélie Drouin (McGill University, 4L) Amélie Racine (McGill University, 3L) Anne-Clara Sanon (McGill University, 1L) Annabelle Couture-Guille (McGill University, 1L) Anna Gignac-Eddy (McGill University, 2L) Anna Kiraly (McGill University, 1L) Anna Pringle (McGill University, 1L) 5

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Vol 42 ● No 4 Anna Rotman (McGill University, 4L) Antoine Grammond Milette (University of Montreal, 1L) Aretta Gelineau (McGill University, 2L) Ashley Cunha (Lakehead University, 1L) Attou Mamat (McGill University, 3L) Audrey-Jeanne Caplain (Université de Montréal, 1L) Audrey Parent (McGill University, 2L) Augusto Luján-Ripoll (McGill University, 1L) Beatrice Mackie (McGill University, 3L) Beatrice Rutayisire (McGill University, 1L) Bella Harvey (McGill University, 1L) Benjamin Brown (McGill University, 1L) Bianca Annie Marcelin (McGill University, 4L) Bianca Braganza (McGill University, 3L) Bianka Robichaud (University of Moncton, 3L) Brandon Montour (McGill University, 1L) Breanne Lavallee-Heckert (McGill University, Alumni) Brittni Tee (McGill University, 4L) Camila Franco (McGill University, 2L) Camille Lustière (McGill University, 4L) Camille Rivard (McGill University, 3L) Carla Arbelaez (McGill University, 1L) Caroline Lavoie (McGill University, alumna) Carolyn Poutiainen (McGill University, alumna) Cassandra Betts (McGill University, 2L) Catherine Dunne (McGill University, 1L) Catherine Forget (McGill University, 4L) Catherine L. Savaria (University of Montreal, 1L) Catherinee Tajmir (Université de Montreal, 1L) Charles Kanani (McGill University, 1L) Charlotte Sullivan (McGill University, 1L) Chloe Barrette (McGill University, 2L) Chloe Rourke (McGill University, 1L) Christopher Daws (McGill University, 1L) Christoph Ivancic (McGill University, 2L) Clara Lockhart (McGill University, 3L) Clara McGaughey (McGill University, 1L) Claire Henderson-Hamilton (McGill University, 3L) Cody Valdes (McGill University, 1L) Corrine Tansowny (McGill University, 2L) Coura Ndiaye (McGill University, 1L) Curtis Mesher (McGill University, 4L) Daniel Tamblyn-Watts (McGill University, 2L) Danielle Arseneau (McGill University, 2L) Danika Goshulak (Lakehead University, 2L) Darcy Feagen (McGill University, 2L) David D’Astous (McGill University, 3L) David How (McGill University, 3L) Diana Iancu (Université de Moncton, 1L) Elise Mallette (McGill University, 3L) Ella Leishman-Cyr (McGill University, 4L) Ellen Spannagel (McGill University, 2L) Éloïse Girard (McGill University, 1L) Emily Cherlet (McGill University, 3L) Emily Knox (McGill University, 3L) Emily Michelin (McGill University, 1L) Emin Youssef (McGill University, 1L) 6

Emma Lodge (McGill University, 2L) Emma Painchaud (McGill University, 1L) Emma Pritchard (McGill University, 1L) Emma Nuara (McGill University, 3L) Emma Sitland (McGill University, 2L) Emma Walsh (McGill University, 2L) Eric Abrams (McGill University, Alumni) Erin Chochla (Lakehead University, 3L) Erin Sobat (Osgoode Faculty of Law, 3L) Erin Rooney (Lakehead University, 1L) Eva Monteiro (McGill University, 3L) Evelyn Bartlett (McGill University, 1L) Fanny Caire (McGill University, 1L) Fanta Ly (McGill University, 3L) Fatoumata Traore (University of Montreal, 3L) Flavie Riou-Routhier (Université du Québec à Montréal, 3L) Flora Yu (McGill University, 3L) Frédérique Morin (McGill University, 2L) Gabriel D’Astous (McGill University, 3L) Gabriela de Medeiros (McGill University, 3L) Gabrielle Genest (McGill University, 2L) Gabrielle Pellerin (Osgoode Faculty of Law, 3L) Garima Karia (McGill University (2L) Geneviève Plumptre (McGill University, 1L) Genevieve Shemie (McGill University, 3L) Georgia DeFehr (McGill University, 1L) Georgia Therriault (McGill University, 2L) Gwendolyn Muir (McGill University, 4L) Hannah Reaburn (McGill University, 1L) Hanna Rioseco (McGill University, 2L) Hannah Reardon (McGill University, 1L) Hannah Wilson (Osgoode Hall Law School, 1L) Hannah Young (McGill University, 3L) Husna Sarwar (McGill University, 1L) Ian Bernstein (McGill University, 2L) Inès Bagaoui-Fradette (McGill University, 1L) Irene Kaloyannis (McGill University, 1L) Isabelle Caissie (Université de Moncton, 3L) Isabelle Zwicker (McGill University, 2L) Jacob Gauthier (University of Moncton, 2L) Jade DeFehr (McGill University, 1L) Jamélie Renaud-Steppan (McGill University, 1L) Jasmine Razavi (McGill University, 3L) Jasmine Zyp (McGill University, 2L) Janelle Deniset (McGill University, 2L) Jay Lu (McGill University, 2L) Jeanne Mayrand-Thibert (McGill University, 2L) Jemark Earle (McGill University, 3L) Jennifer Beth Spiegel (McGill University, 1L) Jocelyne (McGill University, 4L) Jodie Côté-Marshall (McGill University, 4L) John Reason (Lakehead University, 1L) Jordan Pynn (McGill University, 2L) Julia Adamo (Lakehead University, 1L) Julia Thomas (McGill University, 1L) Julie Després (University of Moncton, 3L) Julie Tee-Michaud (McGill University, alumna)

Juliette Bourdeau de Fontenay (McGill University, 1L) Juliette Hebert (McGill University, 1L) Justin Jalea (McGill University, 2L) Justine Blanchette-Sirois (McGill University, 1L) Kathleen Barera (McGill University, 4L) Kazumi Moore (McGill University, 2L) Kaelyn Macaulay (McGill University, 2L) Kassandra Neranjan (McGill University, 2L) Katerina Cook (McGill University, 2L) Katherin Beaulieu (McGill University, 1L) Khadija Ahmed (McGill University, 2L) Kiana Saint-Macary (McGill University, 2L) Kim-Lan Dam (McGill University, 2L) Kimberly Ren (McGill University, 1L) Kirstie Russell (McGill University, 3L) Koushiki Bhattacharya (Université de Montréal, 1L) Lara Sioui (McGill University, 3L) Larissa Parker (McGill University, 3L) Laura Charney (McGill University, 1L) Laura Hamdan (McGill University, 3L) Lauren Manoukian (McGill University, 3L) Laurent Côté-De Lagrave (McGill University, 2L) Lauriane Palardy (McGill University, 3L) Leïla Rondeau (Université de Montréal, 1L) Leticia Wabash (Lakehead University, 1L) Liam Brunton (McGill University, 2L) Lian Francis (McGill University, 4L) Linda Zhang (McGill University, 4L) Linnea Korhauser (McGill University, 2L) Loan Belaïch (McGill University, 1L) Luca Brown (McGill University, 1L) Maninder Sheena (Lakehead University, 1L) Marc Polikar (McGill University, 1L) Marco Muscolino (Lakehead University, 2L) Maria Anghelidis (McGill University, 2L) Marie-Denise Vane (McGill University, 3L) Marie-Sephora Amankou (Université de Moncton, 1L) Marina Lor (McGill University, 1L) Marguerite Rolland (McGill University, 1L) Mariana Furneri (McGill University, 1L) Mariane Gagné (University of Montreal, 1L) Marianne Goyette (McGill University, 2L) Matthew Battisti (Lakehead University, 1L) Matthew Tse (McGill University, 2L) Maya Gunnarsson (McGill University, 3L) Maya Caplan (McGill University, 3L) Meg Heesaker (McGill University, 2L) Meghan Albert (McGill University, 2L) Mélanie Arsenault (McGIll University, 1L) Mélanie Thivierge (McGill University, 3L) Merritt Baker (Lakehead University, 1L) Michael Hyer (Lakehead University, 1L) Michelle Arentsen (McGill University, 2L) Michelle Pucci (McGill University, 3L) Michelle Rossy (University of Ottawa, 2L) Miguel Therrien (McGill University, 2L) Miranda Bohns (McGill University, 1L)

Moira-Uashteskun Bacon (Université de Montréal, 3L) Naomi Barnadereka (McGill University, 3L) Naomi Barney Purdie (McGill University, 1L) Naomie Beauchamp (Université de Montréal, 1L) Naomi Boehmer (McGill University, 1L) Niamh Leonard (McGill University, 2L) Nicholas Pineau (McGill University, 2L) Nicolas Aubin-Audet (University of Montreal, 1L) Nicole Maylor (McGill University, 4L) Nicole Thompson (McGill University, 4L) Nicole Whitmarsh (McGill University, 2L) Nora Jones (University of Montreal, 1L) Nour Atallah (McGill University, 1L) Olivia Huynh (McGill University, 3L) Oliver Chan (McGill University, 3L) Olivier Bélanger (University of Moncton, 1L) Osayma Saad (McGill University, 1L) Pierre-Olivier Ferko (McGill University, 4L) Preksha Mehta (McGill University, 1L) Rania Hamdine (McGill University, 2L) Raha Khatibshahidi (Osgoode Hall Law School, 1L) Rayan Tibiche-Dahmoune (McGill University, 1L) Reeve Kako (McGill University, 3L) Riley McMurray (McGill University, 1L) Robyn McDougall (McGill University, 2L) Robyn Otto (McGill University, 1L) Ronald Niezen (McGill University, Professor and Associate Member) Rose Paquet (McGill University, 1L) Ryan Faulkner (McGill University, 2L) Sabrina Guilbault (Université de Montréal, 1L) Sara Wright (McGill University, 2L) Sarah Sanders (McGill University, 1L) Safaa Deen (McGill University, 1L) Samatha Clavette (University of Moncton, 1L) Samuel Helguero (McGill University, 2L) Sandrine Puchin (Université de Montréal, 1L) Sandrine Royer (McGill University, 2L) Sarah Nixon (McGill University, 2L) Sejeong Park (McGill University, 3L) Shannon Maroutian (McGill University, 4L) Shona Moreau (McGill University, 1L) Sian Desparois (McGill University, 1L) Simon Filiatrault (McGill University, 3L) Simon Rollat (McGill University, 3L) Stephanie Belmer (McGill University, 1L) Stéphanie Bourque (University of Moncton, 1L) Steve Novaković (McGill University, 3L) Talia Huculak (McGill University, 4L) Theresa James (McGill University, 3L) Thomas Tremblay (McGill University, 3L) Vincent Tremblay (Université de Moncton, 2L) Yara Stanom (McGill University, 3L) Yasmeen Dajani (McGill University, Alumni) Zachary Bensemana (McGill University, 3L) Zoë Christmas (McGill University, 3L) Zoe Robidoux (McGill University, 3L) 7

Vol 42 ● No 4

Women General Counsel Canada: Scholarship Overview Name: Type: Year: Amount: Program Load: General Information:

Applying for the Scholarship:

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Deadline: Email Address for Submission: Award Announcement Date: Scholarship Paid Out: About the Donor

Women General Counsel Canada (WGCC) Scholarship Students enrolled in an LLB or JD program or in a 4 year combined law degree program at a Canadian university In 2nd year or, if enrolled in a 4 year combined law degree program, in 2nd or 3rd year $2,000 Full-Time 1 award of $2,000 Applicants must: 1. Be enrolled and in good standing in an LLB or JD program or combined law degree program at a Canadian university; 2. Demonstrate a commitment to the advancement of women in the legal profession; and 3. Consent to the use of their name, educational institution, likeness and submission in WGCC communications relating to the scholarship An applicant can apply for a scholarship by: 1. Preparing a letter of request of no more than 500 words describing how the applicant has demonstrated commitment to the mission of WGCC and advancement of women in the legal profession (see sample topics below); 2. Attaching one letter of reference from a faculty member in the law school; and attaching an optional additional letter of reference from a community member, if applicable and helpful to demonstrate commitment to women in the legal profession, as described above; and 3. Attaching a copy of a transcript demonstrating successful completion of the first year of law school and evidence of current registration.

November 15 at 5 p.m. EST info@womengc.ca attention: President of WGCC Annually at WGCC AGM January 31 Women General Counsel Canada is a member-led organization established by women in general counsel and legal executive roles working together to grow, connect, and contribute.

Our Mission is to help women in general counsel and legal executive roles succeed, recognizing the uniqueness of our positions, by: • WORKING TOGETHER – Championing and encouraging each other, to enhance our networks and maximize our opportunities • GROWING – Inspiring and fueling our continued growth and development as authentic, courageous, and effective leaders • CONNECTING – Uplifting and empowering the next generation of women in legal executive roles • CONTRIBUTING – Building and advocating for a more equitable, diverse, and inclusive society, including within the in-house legal community.

WGCC currently has over 350 members across Canada, with active chapters in Atlantic Canada, Quebec, Ontario, the Prairies, and British Columbia.

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Sample Essay Topics •

Explain how your community service or life experience has shaped your perspective on women’s issues and how these experiences will influence you in the profession of law.

•

How do you plan to support women in law throughout your legal studies and career?

•

“The secret of our success is that we never, never give up.” - Wilma Mankiller. What is a time that you failed, how did you respond, and what lessons did you learn that will shape the lawyer you become? You can use the quote of another influential woman if preferred, e.g. “We know from worldwide experience that very often when you go beyond the numbers you uncover patterns of sometimes indirect discrimination” retired Justice Louise Arbour; “We need a legal profession that worries about what the world looks and feels like to those who are vulnerable”, Justice Rosalie Abella; or “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

•

What are your hopes for the future of women in the legal profession?

•

Write about a woman who has had a big impact on your life and how you will draw upon this in your practice as a lawyer.

The McGill Art Law Association & The McGill Jewish Law Students' Association

ART RESTITUTION & THE HOLOCAUST: A PANEL ON TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE

Yael M. Weitz Art Restitution Lawyer

Emmanuelle Polack Art Historian

Nicholas M. O'Donnell Art Restitution Lawyer

Counsel for the recovery of hundreds of Nazi-looted artworks stolen from the renowned Dutch art collector and dealer Jacques Goudstikker

Author of The Art Market Under Occupation 1940-1944 and commissioned by the Louvre to trace Nazi stolen art in their collections

Author of A Tragic Fate: Law and Ethics in the Battle Over Nazilooted Art and lead counsel for the restitution of the Guelph Treasure

November 9th 2020 at 4 PM EST 1

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Vol 42 ● No 4

FROM THE GELBER Introducing Elgar Advanced Introductions Me Katarina Daniels| Liaison Librarian

Moving forward with our introduction to some great library resources, today I thought I would introduce you to a relatively new and lesser-known resource that I think could serve as a fantastic reference and research tool for many of you: Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law. Elgar Advanced Introductions to Law is an accessible series that covers a wide range of areas of law. Importantly for McGill students, the majority of titles look at common law and civil law differences, differences within major jurisdictions that follow the same legal tradition, and will also refer to international tools where relevant. The publisher describes the aims of the series as two-fold: “to pinpoint essential principles of a particular field, and to offer insights that stimulate critical thinking.”

Note that these titles are, as the series title suggests, advanced introductions. They tend to explain legal concepts quite quickly, and do not really go into any deep detailed explanations. For instance, the section on “Formation of contract” in the Private Law text is just six short paragraphs. It covers intention in the common law and civil law, while referencing the Principles of European Contract Law, all in just 12 lines. The next paragraph discusses agreement, and covers French, English and American law, while also giving a history lesson! Citations to leading case law from all over the world should be expected, too.

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

At this point, you might be wondering why you have never heard of these texts, or why they do not form part of your assigned readings, particularly when the entire series is available electronically (!) through the McGill Library.

While I cannot answer the second question, I can answer the first, and it has to do with our catalogue’s search algorithm.

Knowing that Elgar is a very reputable legal publisher (in fact, several of our law professors have published with them), I would not hesitate to simply add the keyword “Elgar” or add it in the publisher field (if doing an Advanced Search) to your query. Even if there is no Advanced Introduction text in your area of law, there might be another helpful Elgar publication on the topic.

Since the list of titles/topics available is currently decently limited, I also thought I would share them here: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Comparative Constitutional Law European Union Law Freedom of Expression Human Dignity and Law International Conflict and Security Law International Environmental Law International Human Rights Law International Humanitarian Law International Intellectual Property International Investment Law International Sales Law International Tax Law International Trade Law Law and Development Law and Globalisation Law of International Organizations Private International Law and Procedure Private Law Space Law U.S. Criminal Procedure

As you may know, search results in our catalogue appear by “relevance.” What you may not know, is that “relevance” is determined according to the popularity of the text, that is the total number of institutions that hold the text. Since this is a relatively new series (it only came out three years ago), it is only natural that it is not as widely held as some other texts. Consequently, the title may appear lower down in your list of results. Compounded with the algorithm is the fact that the titles have very generic names, like International Investment Law, Space Law, Private Law, etc. There can be hundreds of items with the same title, or which feature this title as a keyword or subject heading (recall, the default search is a keyword search), and these other items will appear higher up in your results because of the algorithm.

As mentioned, the books are available entirely online, and they are linked directly from our catalogue. Once on the Elgar platform, the texts are fully searchable and downloadable by chapter.

So, how can you find out whether there is an Advanced Introduction in the area of law you are interested in?

If you get a chance to check out any of these titles, please let us know what you think! We would love to get your feedback!

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Reminders & updates: library pickup service, study hub, ILL, article/ chapter scan and virtual reference service

Pour de l’information concernant nos study hubs, consultez : https://www.mcgill.ca/library/about/study-hubs.

Quelques rappels et une mise à jour concernant notre service de numérisation.

Notre service de prêt entre bibliothèques (PEB) vient de réactiver notre service de numérisation d’articles/ de chapitres. Tout livre disponible en format numérique n’est pas éligible. En conséquent, la demande ne se fait pas à travers notre catalogue comme d’habitude, mais via le formulaire se trouvant sur cette page : https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/request-scan

Oui, vous pouvez emprunter des livres en format papier!

Pour en apprendre plus, visitez : https://www.mcgill.ca/ library/about/terrace-side-pickup.

Pas à Montréal? Sachez que si vous habitez au Canada ou aux États-Unis continentaux, vous pouvez toujours emprunter des livres sans devoir venir à McGill pour les récupérer. La bibliothèque se charge de l’envoi, mais le retour est à vos frais. Pour plus de détails, visitez : https://www.mcgill.ca/library/services/borrowing/distance

Enfin, Sonia et moi sommes toujours disponibles pour vous rencontrer via Zoom si jamais vous avez des questions de recherche plus complexes. Contactez Sonia (sonia.smith@ mcgill.ca) ou moi (katarina.daniels@mcgill.ca) directement pour coordonner une plage horaire qui vous convient.

LAWFULLY UNCOMMON / LÉGALEMENT INHABITUEL Jade Descheneaux // Legal Counsel for Eurovision Sports DALA| droit autrement / legal alternative

Jade Descheneaux grew up near Montreal, studied at the University of Ottawa (LL.B.), and earned an LL.M. specialized in Intellectual Property, Entertainment and Media Law from UCLA School of Law. She interned for Warner Bros. in Burbank while completing her LL.M. She then moved to the capital of the Olympic Movement, Lausanne, where she now lives. After a year at the International Olympic Committee, she made the jump to the media industry. Her current work at the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (operating Eurovision Sport) revolves

around the acquisition and distribution of premium sport content, ensuring elite international athletes digital and traditional coverage for their brilliant exploits. When she is not in the mountains skiing or figure skating, Jade dedicates a lot of her time fighting for gender equality in sport – equality and diversity in the board room, on screen and on the field of play.

Let’s start with the basics.

What are you doing now?

In a sentence or so, describe your work/practice(s).

I work as business and legal counsel for Eurovision Sport, operated by the European Broadcasting Union. The European Broadcasting Union is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is the world leading alliance of public service media, representing over 70 public service broadcasters including the BBC, France Televisions and even CBC/ Radio-Canada. In a few

words, we negotiate global premium sport content on behalf of our members.

Oh no! My 12-year-old self would be very surprised to hear that I would end up a lawyer! I considered a lot of careers growing up, but lawyer never made the cut. I played a lot of sports, so I was hoping to work for a professional team or a sport federation, but never in a legal role. Even the summer before starting my law degree, I was still wondering if I had made the right decision. That was long before I realized that sports and law could go hand in hand.

even heard of most of them until I started my law degree.

I then got caught up in the “system”. In first year, I was ticking all the law school boxes – I was elected class representative, selected for a moot court competition, and had relatively good grades. It’s only halfway through my law degree, just before the Course aux Stages, that I realized how unmotivated I had become. I reluctantly decided to join the trend of the Course aux Stages and applied to two or three firms.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but not being successful in the Course aux Stages is probably the best thing that happened to me in my early legal career. It was the wake-up call I needed to get off the beaten path.

At what moment did you realize you wanted to take your legal education and career in your own direction?

What were the steps you took and opportunities you seized in order to get where you are?

Unlike most of my classmates, I had never dreamed about working for a big law firm.

Full disclosure, I had never

I was in the middle of my “mid-degree crisis”, wondering if law was really my thing when I saw an opportunity to

Did you always imagine yourself going to law school?

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Vol 42 ● No 4 study entertainment law for a semester in Los Angeles. Going to Los Angeles the following semester literally changed my life. I faced new intellectual challenges and met incredible people in the sports and entertainment industry who helped me find my place in the legal world. After that semester abroad, I knew I had found my own path.

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

What makes your current practice “lawfully uncommon”?

Explaining my background and practice to friends and colleagues is always challenging. Let me explain why… I studied civil law in Ottawa, then went on to do my masters in entertainment law at UCLA, before finally taking the bar exam in California. I however never really practiced law in California, as I took on a role of Junior Legal Counsel for the International Olympic Committee only a few months after graduation. I have now moved on from the international federation world to the sport media world – still in Switzerland.

In my current position, knowledge of global sport content and the media landscape is just as essential as knowledge of contract and competition law.

I’m often asked what my typical day looks like and I’m so grateful I can’t answer that question. Like most lawyers, I spend a lot of time in front of my computer drafting emails and contracts, but many days are spent at international sporting events, in strategic rights acquisition 12

meetings, or negotiating media rights agreements.

Some people would say I am not a lawyer anymore, but I suppose that’s what makes my practice lawfully uncommon!

Is there anyone influential in your life that helped you realize your goals?

Mentors or role models in the field that inspired you?

Sorry in advance for being such a cliché, but I have to say my parents, especially my dad. He has always encouraged me to take risks since I graduated from Ottawa. Playing it safe would have meant enrolling in l’École du Barreau before considering going back to California. Back then, he was the one who encouraged me not to postpone my dream only to have a safety net in Quebec. I doubt I would be writing this today from Switzerland had I not moved to California for my masters when I did.

He will always be my biggest fan and my only trusted career counselor.

What got your juices flowing or tickled your fancy while at law school?

I strongly believe that those who attended only classes and didn’t get involved in social and academic extracurricular activities missed out on valuable learning opportunities. Being elected VP of the student councils at the University of Ottawa and UCLA, participating in a moot court competition, and enrolling in the UCLA externship program made me become

a more well-rounded law graduate. Even more valuable than the extracurricular activities, I made lifelong friendships and developed an impressive network of contacts in the sports and entertainment industry along the way.

What made your blood boil or made you snooze while at law school?

The way law firms are presented as the only successful path out of law school. Law school has a way of nurturing this unhealthy assumption, which unfortunately led many students, including myself, to wonder if they fit the mold. The truth is, there is no mold.

Were there challenges you faced in the transition from law school to the profession?

So many! Fake it until you make it, right? On my first day as an intern at Warner Bros. Home Entertainment department, a senior lawyer asked me to review a licensing agreement. Looking back, it was a relatively simple task, but for someone who had never drafted a contract, let alone a licensing agreement, Google turned out to be my best friend that day.

I only briefly worked for a law firm in Los Angeles before moving to Lausanne to take on a role of Junior Legal Counsel at the IOC. My real transition therefore happened in Switzerland in a very political international sport organization.

Most of the challenges I faced stemmed from cultural differences in the

workplace. For example, taking initiatives as a young attorney in the US is usually rewarded whereas in Switzerland, it can be perceived as arrogance. I hit a wall a few times, but I supposed I bounced back and adapted to the culture considering I’m still happily working in Switzerland…

Do you still see the law all around you?

Thankfully I don’t! I hope to never lose my legal reflexes, but even the best lawyers can turn out to be useless on a project if they ONLY see the law and not the other aspects of a case or a deal.

What advice would you give to a first-year law student?

Allow me to list a few… A bad grade in law school is NOT the end of the world, despite the rumors!

Network, network, and network! Attend law school events and don’t be afraid to email professionals who inspire you. This may even open your eyes to interesting alternative careers you might not have thought about.

Most importantly, stay away from the competition, the drama and the rumors… find your own path to success and stick to it.

Last but not least, try to have some fun!

If you were given the blessing and curse of an extra hour every day to do whatever you wanted, what would it be?

Sleep!

Any regrets?

Living abroad comes with sacrifices, many of them personal. I lost touch with friends and loved ones during my first few years in Switzerland. I have no time for regrets now, but I went through very difficult times wondering if I made selfish decisions only to advance my career. Thankfully, I’ve had my family full support in every decision – good or bad – that I have made.

The Lawfully Uncommon initiative is supported by the McGill Career Development Office.

A SELECTION OF OVERRATED SONGS And their underrated counterparts Michael Aarenau | 4L

You can call me Al Gore because today, dear reader, I will be providing you with a series of musical inconvenient truths! In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I’m one step above Al Gore because I somehow look even cuter in short shorts than he does (feel free to Google Image the mid 90s photo of him and Bill Clinton jogging together...go ahead…I’ll wait).

So you may be asking: what am I about to read? Well, I’ll tell you; you’re going to read well over a dozen musical hot takes that will burn through your retinas like a thousand

suns! To be specific, I’m going to plainly state which songs are overrated. To elaborate, oftentimes an artist will have a song or two in their catalogue that is simply overrated. Who rates them? I’m not sure. But it’s overrated.

There isn’t an exact science to this but when you know, you know. If a song is overrated, it doesn’t mean that the song is bad. Far from it actually (although it could be bad in select circumstances). It just means that people are giving the song in question too many accolades, too much attention, too much praise, to the detriment of a worthier song

in the artist’s discography (the underrated song). I know this isn’t making much sense right now, but like Lenny Bruce’s “Goyish vs. Jewish” bit, it’ll all start coming together.

Onto the list!

Billy Joel Overrated: Piano Man Underrated: All for Leyna Everything about “Piano Man” sounds like a lame cliché. From the silly harmonica intro to the incredibly corny lyricism about “Davy who’s still in the Navy.” This should not be the song that

comes to your mind when you think about Billy Joel (it should be “Movin’ Out”, “Big Shot”, “Only The Good Die Young”, etc.). Now, “All for Leyna” is easily Joel’s most underrated track! While a big joke in Step Brothers is that 80s Billy Joel is where everything all went to shit (and there’s some truth to that), All for Leyna (off of 1980’s Glass Houses) is the best side of Billy Joel: musically playful while lyrically poignant.

“All for Leyna” is all about the girl dangling poor Billy.

While he wholly admits “She gave me a night, that’s all it was,” it meant so much more 13

Vol 42 ● No 4 to him than just a night, and he illustrates throughout the song the mental toll the feelings of unrequited love have taken on him as he’s slowly driven mad by the realization that she couldn’t care less about him.

Bruce Springsteen Overrated: Born in the USA Underrated: Rosalita

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Is there virtually ANY song that’s as overplayed for the wrong reasons as “Born in the USA”? The only people who look dumber than ultra patriotic Republican politicians blasting this song at their campaign rallies are the brides that select The Police’s “Every Breath You Take” as the song for their first dance. Meanwhile, “Rosalita” (off Springsteen’s sophomore 1973 LP) is entirely forgotten by all. Detailing the travails of Springsteen’s forbidden love with a girl whose parents disapprove of their daughter dating a poor musician, the 7-minute musical fiesta has with a happy ending: “Because the record company, Rosie, just gave me a big advance!”

Childish Gambino Overrated: This Is America Underrated: Freaks and Geeks I’ll say it: “This Is America” is a horrible song. I get the importance of its message to the movement for racial equality and the artistic nature of the music video, but when you listen to “This Is America”, you’re not listening to “cultural significance” so much as 14

an aesthetically displeasing, lyrically simple mishmash that you’d be more than happy to never listen to again. “Freaks and Geeks”, on the other hand, is just a fun time (“We the illest, need a nurse / here’s the cheque, grab your purse / Unless we’re fuckin’, then I’ll pay for all the food on the Earth, man”). This track was recorded during simpler times, back when Donald Glover was simply known for being the third funniest guy on Community.

Aerosmith Overrated: Dream On Underrated: Love In An Elevator “Dream on” is a GREAT song! No dispute! BUT in a song that’s 4 and a half minutes long, do you really want to wait nearly 3 minutes before it actually gets to the substantial part? And let’s be honest, Steven Tyler’s shrieks towards the end? Pass. Now, “Love In An Elevator” (off of 1994’s Big Ones) gets the party rolling right off the bat with bombastic instrumental riffs and multi-minute guitar solos (yes, plural). And yes, the song is about having sex in an elevator… “Going DOOOOOOWN!” Arctic Monkeys Overrated: Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?

Underrated: 505 AM is arguably the best album of 2013 (and a contender for top 25 best albums of the decade) and this song is a great track with some beautifully muted arpeggios. BUT it’s a single

that was so overplayed that it overshadowed other incredible tracks on the album (“Arabella”, “Knee Socks”, “I Want It All”, etc.). Hell, even Miley Cyrus covered it! “505”, off of their oft-ignored sophomore release, Favourite Worst Nightmare, is a masterpiece from beginning to end, and yet, few give it the time of day. The song starts off slow with an eerie organ fill before Alex Turner accompanies it with his sultry vocals: “I’m going back to 505 / If it’s a 7-hour flight or a 45-minute drive / In my imagination you’re waiting lying on your side / With your hands between your thighs.” Special guest Miles Kane responds with a drawn-out, echoey chord on the electric guitar. Then some slow drums. At the beginning of each verse a new instrument joins into the fold. The bass brings a robustness to the next verse and the drums pick up too, as Turner paints a vivid picture of a torrid love affair that awaits him in apartment 505, a romance long burned out but awaiting to be rekindled upon his arrival. By the middle of the song, the guitar and drums are increasing in tempo, leading the listener to the climax, where Turner shouts, “But I crumble completely when you cry” as a deluge of thundering instrumentation washes over the listener like a tsunami as Turner continues to wail (“It seems like once again you’ve had to greet me with ‘goodbye’”). Kane noodles around on the guitar to create the perfect outro, with the song ending on the same minimalism with which it began, concluding not with a bang but with a whimper.

Simon and Garfunkel Overrated: Cecilia Underrated: I Am a Rock People instinctively choose happy S&G (“Mrs. Robinson”, “Cecilia”, etc.) when it’s actually sad S&G (“The Sound of Silence”, “I Am a Rock”, etc.) that showcases the duo’s song writing prowess. Don’t get me wrong, I get the appeal of the comically silly “Cecilia” (Simon got up to wash his face and by the time he came back to his bedroom there was another guy snogging his gal, oh the thrills and spills!) but let’s be honest, the song is a bit of a nothingburger. It sounds like Paul Simon just wanted to write a song that would incorporate his recently-purchased bongos and quickly wrote two fourbar verses and called it a day.

“I Am a Rock” gently coaxes the listener into an all-too-familiar mindset of isolation and self-sabotage, distancing themselves from love and meaningful relationships in the hopes of avoiding future pain, with Simon sounding self-assured on each chorus, a faux sentiment of self-empowerment, before ultimately murmuring at the end of the song, “And a rock feels no pain / And an island never cries.”

Lana Del Rey Overrated: Summertime Sadness Underrated: Sad Girl “Summertime Sadness” is arguably one of the few songs off of Lana’s major label debut, Born to Die, that hasn’t aged atrociously. (I love the album as much as the next guy but it sounds extremely dated, as most genre-busting mega releases tend to sound in retrospect to be fair). It’s far from a

bad track, but when your song about losing your lover at the end of August and lapsing into seasonal depression is accompanied by a clubby, dancefloor chorus, something is amiss (as evidenced by the million “chopped and spliced” remixes of it on YouTube). Now, “Sad Girl”, off her greatest album, the film noire-esque Ultraviolence, is the true melancholic masterpiece that falls under far too many people’s radars.

I don’t blame people for forgetting about “Sad Girl”, when the song immediately preceding it is Del Rey’s best song (and one of the sexiest songs ever written) “West Coast”.

But West Coast is adequately “rated”; people recognize it for the perfect song that it is. So moving onto the true underrated masterpiece, “Sad Girl”… Filled with dripping, reverbed guitar and themes of infidelity and faux confidence, “Sad Girl” is Lana at her top form and brings to the fold the smooth, sad, summertime sensuality that Lana has become known for. She coos in the opening verse: “Being a mistress on the side / It might not appeal to fools like you.”

The verses and bridge portray a Lana living in a dreamy delirium, where the choruses portray her true feelings, where she realizes that she’s “a sad girl” who’s permanently relegated to “the side.” Needless to say, Lana can cry on me any day of the week and I’m anxiously awaiting her broken-beyond-repair 2 am phone call!

Marvin Gaye Overrated: Let’s Get It On Underrated: God Is Love As should be more than obvious, I’m far from a prude. But “Let’s Get It On” is practi-

cally a caricature of sex at this point. I can’t take it seriously, and I can guarantee you that if you play this to try and get your significant other in the mood, they won’t take you seriously either. “God Is Love” is wholesome and has a really beautiful message.

A far more timeless track that doesn’t involve getting laughed at by your significant other (because your significant other is God and God would never laugh at you, duh).

Prince Overrated: Purple Rain Underrated: The entire Dirty Mind album “Purple Rain” is a classic!

A memorable song with an iconic guitar lick, I get it. But what if I told you that Prince had like, 20 better songs than that? Exactly. Prince has a lot of classic albums (Purple Rain, Sign O’ The Times, 1999, etc.) but you know which album never gets mentioned in that category that should? Dirty Mind!

His third album is a classic and showcases his most provocative album cover (a black and white portrait of Prince giving you bedroom eyes, clad in an open jacket with no shirt underneath, a bandana is wrapped around his neck and a speedo adorns his waist as the image cuts off just before the crotch – what a tease)! While the album is critically acclaimed and thus, by definition, perfectly rated, its individual tracks become underrated when you realize that Prince’s aforementioned more mature releases are even more respected and continue to overshadow this feel-good sexscapade! With

tracks like “When You Were Mine”, “Do It All Night”, “Uptown”, “Head”, “Sister”, and “Partyup”, this is not an album to be forgotten (or an album to be played within the vicinity of small children or your rabbi)!

Led Zeppelin Overrated: Stairway to Heaven Underrated: D’yer Mak’er I could go my entire life never hearing “Stairway to Heaven” ever again. Honestly. Now, “D’yer Mak’er” off 1973’s Houses of The Holy? Inject that directly into my veins please! What a jovial ditty.

Kanye West Overrated: The entire 808s and Heartbreak album Underrated: Never Let Me Down (ft. Jay-Z & J-Ivy) I don’t care that you listened to this album three times straight while crying into your pillow after your ex dumped you, it’s an absolutely atrocious album from beginning to end. I recognize that there wouldn’t be a My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy without 808s so I recognize the Faustian Bargain here (truly the biblical 7 years of plenty, 7 years of famine). I also recognize that 808s was instrumental in inspiring sensitive, emotional rap and that Drake probably wouldn’t be a thing without it (so perhaps in that sense, 808s created Frankenstein’s monster but I digress). But as I mentioned with regard to Childish Gambino’s “This is America”, I don’t listen to music to listen to “influence.” The music needs to stand on its merits and put simply, this doesn’t. 808s is a

clunky album that over-utilizes auto-tune and lacks any kind of lyrical depth, flopping in both the production and poetry category. The worst song on the LP by far is “Heartless” which contains the following line that was somehow uttered unironically: “How could you be so Dr. Evil?” THIS is what you’re defending, half-assed Austin Powers references on an album about heartbreak.

But I digress. Enough about that. “Never Let Me Down” is off Yeezy’s ground-breaking debut, The College Dropout and not only features the ever-triumphant Jay-Z (“first I snatched the streets, then I snatched the charts”) but also features a racially-aware Kanye West, a rare sight for today’s Trump-supporting iteration of Kanye “slavery-was-a-choice” West. But the real treat is the guest appearance from slam poet J-Ivy who has one of the richest cadences I’ve ever heard, instantly pumping me up with his gospel-inspired lines (“Let it be known that God’s penmanship has been signed with a language called love…

Cause whenever I open my heart, my soul or my mouth, a touch of God reigns out”). Just a beautiful track from beginning to end.

Johnny Cash Overrated: Ring of Fire Underrated: Rusty Cage The corny mariachi band intro to “Ring of Fire” sounds like a jingle that would be played at the end of a Taco Bell commercial. Cash at his best is during the Rick Rubin-produced American Recordings series that began in the 90s. Rusty Cage is Cash covering Soundgarden (yes, the borderline forgettable grunge group) and

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Vol 42 ● No 4 his guttural, deep voice clearly articulates each and every syllable as his acoustic guitar strums along. By the end of the second chorus, the electric guitar come in, giving a brash reinforcement to the tune that few saw coming.

If “Ring of Fire” were a Taco Bell commercial, this is an advertisement for a Ford F-150.

Radiohead Overrated: Karma Police Underrated: Electioneering Both tracks are off 1997’s OK Computer. The former is the definition of overrated: a good track that everyone instinctively calls their favourite song on the album for no logical reason. The latter is the definition of underrated: a song that you probably originally deleted from your phone because the guitar-playing and vocals were too jarring but then you listen to it again and realize that its jarring nature is actually what makes it good.

Doja Cat Overrated: NOTHING Underrated: EVERYTHING

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Doja is Queen Kitty and can do no wrong. Yes, I’m serious.

Elton John Overrated: Candle in the Wind Underrated: Funeral for a Friend (Love Lies Bleeding) Originally a corny and overly sappy track about Marilyn Monroe, “Candle in the Wind” eventually grew to become Elton’s ode to Princess Diana (if my eyes could roll back any further, I would literally see my brain’s 16

frontal lobe). “Funeral for a Friend”, the immediate track before “Candle in the Wind” on John’s magnum opus, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, is an 11-minute track, beginning with a near 5-minute instrumental (Elton stated that he was inspired to write an instrumental that he would want performed at his own funeral) before delving into the up-tempo verse. A masterful song that sets the tone for a masterful album.

Fiona Apple Overrated: Criminal Underrated: Not About Love “Criminal” is a great song!

But it seems wrong that THAT is the song that Apple won a Grammy for. I’m not here to fault Fiona for “Criminal’s” lyrical simplicity because it’s far from bad and I’m pretty sure she was a teenager when she wrote it. But “Not About Love” is a brilliant and far more mature song (released in the middle of her career) that not enough people truly appreciate. “Not About Love” recounts Fiona’s post relationship-ending-fight realization that her former boyfriend was never good for her to begin with and that she’s now free, albeit angry that she fell for the clown in the first place. Filled with multiple tempo changes and biting wit (“Took a vacation / My palate got clean / Now I can taste your agenda / While you’re spitting your cud”), the song’s bridge is among the most imaginative I’ve ever heard (a crescendo of piano, cymbals and bass).

Bonus fact: The music video features Zach Galifinakis!

Outkast Overrated: Hey Ya Underrated: Chonkyfire “Hey Ya” is a dope track!

I’m not here to tell you otherwise. BUT far too many people don’t know any Outkast songs beyond “Hey Ya”, which is a massive indictment of the radio for effectively relegating one of the most talented rap duos in the history of the world to R&B one hit wonders! Check out all of Aquemini to get your serving of what Andre 3000 and Big Boi have to offer.

Specifically, “Chonkyfire”, the rawest and most overtly southern track on the album, complete with snaking wah-wah’d guitar licks.

Panic! At The Disco Overrated: I Write Sins Not Tragedies Underrated: The A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out album Everything I said about O u t k a s t ’s “ H e y Ya ” applies to PATD’s “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”. Just listen to the entire debut and you’ll quickly realize that you’ve been duped!

Lenny Kravitz Overrated: Are You Gonna Go My Way Underrated: Baptized It’s a great track – but why is this like, the only song

by Kravitz that rock-oriented radio stations are willing to play? Further proof that radio stations are as irrelevant as ever (unlike music critics who write for faculty newspapers, who are, in my

opinion, at the cusp of relevance). Want a really beautiful track by Kravitz that you most likely have never heard? Look no further than his 2004 heavenly ballad, “Baptized”, where Kravitz informs the listener that “I need a love that takes me higher / So high I’m never coming down” before proclaiming that he yearns to be “baptized in your love.”

Complete with a moving guitar solo and a church choir outro, Lenny proves once and for all that religious music can be cool.

Drake Overrated: Hotline Bling & The entire If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late (IYRTITL) mixtape Underrated: Too Much (ft.

Sampha) Calling “Hotline Bling” “trash lyrics over elevator music instrumentation” shouldn’t be too controversial. But calling If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late “not good” may actually get me the hate mail I crave.

Well, I’ll tell y’all the truth: “10 Bands” and “6PM In New York” are fine tracks, but you’re giving Drake way too much credit. Most people like IYRTITL because it’s a “pure rap album” from an artist that routinely insists on burying his rap songs in between unimaginative and overly auto-tuned club bangers. But listen to the mixtape, the beats are boring and homogenous, leaving the listener to have to focus their entire energy on Drake’s subpar-to-average lyricism.

Pass. Now, “Too Much” is off 2013’s Nothing Was The Same (or as I like to call the

album “The Beginning of the End”) and features stellar production, down to earth lyrical themes, and a beautiful hook sung by the velvetvoiced Sampha. It’s easy to forget about “Too Much” when you have tracks like “Pound Cake” and “Wu-Tang Forever” on the same album stealing the spotlight, but it’s well worth your time to give this emotional nugget a listen.

Fleetwood Mac Overrated: Go Your Own Way Underrated: NOTHING – the rest of their catalogue is pretty much just “rated.”

It’s not that it’s a bad song, I just think it’s sad that Rumours is a classic album and casual music listeners only really know “Go Your Own Way” when it’s arguably the worst song on the album.

Metallica Overrated: Enter Sandman Underrated: Creeping Death Children’s nursery rhymes aren’t metal. But a recounting of the Exodus from Egypt and 10 plagues IS metal!

Green Day Overrated: Wake Me Up When September Ends Underrated: East Jesus Nowhere “Wake Me Up When September Ends” is maybe one of the worst songs Green Day has ever released (and I say that knowing that in 2012 they released THREE albums with literally no good songs on them). When

you think of latter career Green Day, you’ll probably think of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (which also merits an eye roll of its own) but on that same album there’s the upbeat, crunchy and distorted “East Jesus Nowhere”.

Listen to that track instead.

The Black Keys Overrated: Lonely Boy Underrated: Hard Row If you’re tired of hearing an overly-polished, poppy, inconsequential Black Keys, you can turn back the clock to 2003’s Thickfreakness and listen to the far grittier, industrial, late-night-highwaydriving bop “Hard Row”.

Jay-Z Overrated: Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) Underrated: Picasso Baby “Hard Knock Life” is arguably the song that made Jay-Z a household name, famously sampling “It’s a Hard Knock Life” from the movie Annie. The problem? It’s a REALLY annoying sample that begins to get grating within the first few seconds. Really not good.

“Picasso Baby”, on the other hand, features TWO solid beats (who doesn’t love a good ol’ fashion beat switch halfway through?) produced by the infallible Timbaland.

Come for the fine art word play, stay for that classic HOVA wealth braggadocio where he gives his two-year-old daughter permission to ruin a million-dollar painting

(“Yellow Basquiat in my kitchen corner / Go ahead, lean on that shit, Blue, you own it”).

Jeff Buckley Overrated: Hallelujah Underrated: Grace Yes, “Hallelujah” was originally by Leonard Cohen but Buckley’s cover is arguably even more famous than the original (and if I’m being honest, I’m not too enthused by Cohen’s version either – a particularly egregious sin to say in av Montreal publication). But Grace, Buckley’s only album to be released before his untimely death is a masterpiece and the title track is the best song on the album, despite being relegated to the dustbin of modern music history as casual listeners flock to hear “Hallelujah” and more experienced ones skip it to get to the 7-minute mega-ballad, “Lover You Should Have Come Over”.

“Grace” is raw, emotional, musically complex and features some of the most impressive vocals of that decade (especially on the jaw-dropping climax).

Queen Overrated: Somebody To Love Underrated: You’re My Best Friend When it slowly dawns on you that “You’re My Best Friend” has a practically identical musical style as “Somebody To Love”, you’ll realize that it’s the song with the better message and the significantly less corny call and response.

The Smiths Overrated: Th ere Is A Light That Never Goes Out Underrated: Handsome Devil You’re no doubt asking yourself how one of the most hipster indie bands of all time could possibly have any songs that are considered “overrated.”

But with movies like 500 Days of Summer and The Perks of Being a Wallflower celebrating the ever-elusive cute quirky girl, The Smiths were introduced to a whole new audience of wannabe posers who all got into the song that’s in every 2000’s indie flick’s soundtrack: “There Is A Light That Never Goes Out”. Now, it’s a great song with some classic Morrisey sad boy irony (“And if a double decker bus crashes into us / To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die / And if a ten tonne truck kills the both of us / To die by your side, well, the pleasure and the privilege is mine”).

Fantastic! Agreed! But allow me to out-hipster the hipsters and present you with the most underrated Smiths track off their 1984 compilation album Hatful of Hollow. “Handsome Devil” is Morrisey at his peskiest, with the singer poking fun at the types of grotesque men who have finally become outed for the predators that they are 40 years after the song was released (“I know what hands are for / And I’d like to help myself…Let me get my hands / On your mammary glands / And let me get your head / On the conjugal bed”). I wonder if Zooey Deschanel likes The Smiths IRL or if the quirky thing is just a gimmick…These are the questions that keep me up at night…

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Vol 42 ● No 4

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LE BILINGUISME À LA FACULTÉ Un enjeu de plus en plus pressant?

Darien Bahry | 2L

La faculté de droit à McGill est assez particulière en raison de plusieurs choses, comme son corps étudiant formidable et son programme de droit transsystémique. Je pense également ici au fait qu’on pourrait obtenir un bac en droit civil ainsi qu’en common law. Cependant, il n’en demeure pas moins que le bilinguisme à la faculté ressort comme étant un des atouts les plus importants et une des particularités les plus remarquables de la faculté. Il ne faudrait que penser à l’atrium (en temps normal), où l’on pourrait entendre et écouter aux conversations qui se passent en anglais et en français, pour voir que le bilinguisme amène une unicité à notre corps étudiant aussi bien qu’à notre communauté et expérience éducative. En outre, l’éducation juridique bilingue nous ouvre plein de portes en créant de nous, si l’on prend des cours en notre deuxième langue, des avocat.e.s bilingues, c’est-à-dire éduqué.e.s et versé.e.s dans les deux langues officielles, qui sont capables de travailler et contribuer dans toutes sortes de situations partout dans le monde pour rectifier les enjeux pressants où qu’ils soient. Pourtant, je crains que la faculté n’incarne pas convenablement cet idéal de bilinguisme. Il faudrait commencer à se questionner en ce qui concerne la notion du bilinguisme et en quoi consiste-t-il, pour mieux déterminer si la faculté est bilingue et si l’on veut continuer, ou non, d’avoir une faculté bilingue. Donc, cet article essaiera de souligner quelques enjeux linguistiques, mais pas tous, qui me semblent pressants à l’égard du bilinguisme.

Le premier problème auquel je pense c’en est un qui est à priori assez mineur, mais qui est toutefois un enjeu poignant pour nos étudiant.e.s francophones. Ici, je parle du site web du SAO qui n’est pas du tout dingue du mot bilingue. Pour un.e étudiant.e francophone qui n’a pas été éduqué.e en anglais (qui est tout à fait légitime au Québec, puisque la langue de la province est le français), le fait de lire le site web d’une faculté soi-disant bilingue seulement dans leur deuxième langue pourrait est un point de malaise, particulièrement avant d’avoir été accepté. En effet, mettons qu’un.e étudiant.é prospectif voulait chercher de l’information par rapport à la fac en se servant du site web du SAO, il se peut que l’étudiant.e ressente un certain stress ou peur de mal comprendre un truc ou une consigne importants, sans jamais avoir à prendre en compte le fait qu’il leur prendrait plus de temps à naviguer le site web pour repérer des informations pertinentes à leurs questions. D’ailleurs,

si un.e étudiant.e francophone voulait fouiller le site web du SAO pour découvrir des ressources utiles à leurs études en se servant de la barre de recherche pour justement faire des recherches en français, une langue de la faculté, leurs recherches ne reçoivent pas de réponse, étant donné que le site web n’est qu’en anglais.

Néanmoins, on ne doit penser qu’aux étudiant.e.s francophones, mais également leurs familles et proches qui veulent se renseigner davantage sur le programme offert par la faculté de droit à McGill, mais qui ne peuvent pas en raison de l’usage unique d’Anglais. Effectivement, si un père, une mère quiconque avait envie d’avoir un aperçu du programme, les opportunités à la fac ou bien les cours donnés pour en discuter auprès de l’étudiant.e, il serait actuellement impossible de ce faire, à moins que la personne possède une connaissance suffisante en anglais, qui n’est pas toujours le cas dans une province francophone. De cette façon, l’unilinguisme du site web du SAO n’impacte pas seulement les étudiant.e.s, mais aussi leurs familles.

Donc, en ayant un site web uniquement écrit en anglais, dans une faculté bilingue, on s’attend à ce qu’un groupe de notre corps étudiant, et leurs familles et proches, aient une connaissance assez élevée de leur langue seconde pour naviguer le site web du SAO et découvrir toute l’information qui s’y trouve, tandis que l’inverse n’est pas attendu. En effet, si la faculté voulait être fière de son bilinguisme, il faudrait rectifier ce problème évident.

Le deuxième problème linguistique que je vois tourne autour de l’offre de cours en français. The Report of the General Consultations on Language Policy Held During the 2018-2019 Academic Year nous offre des informations sur le sujet, et nous indique que pendant l’année scolaire de 2018-2019 il y avait 8 cours sur 59 en français, soit 13,6%.1 D’ailleurs, l’année passée a vu 8 cours offerts en français, soit 8,6%, alors que 83 sont donnés en anglais (89,2%).2 Ces faits nous amènent à nous poser la question suivante : est-ce que la faculté pourrait se classifier et se nommer comme une faculté bilingue, si l’offre de cours ne représente pas cette réalité ? Autrement dit, si l’offre de cours depuis 2 ans vacille entre 8,6% et 13,6%, la faculté pourra-t-elle justifier son titre de faculté bilingue auprès de ses étudiant.e.s. Par ailleurs, il faudrait réfléchir, tout en tenant compte de ces statistiques, aux étudiant.e.s francophones qui voudraient suivre plusieurs cours dans leur langue maternelle, ainsi que les anglophones, comme moi, qui sont venu.e.s ici en grande partie du bilinguisme à la fac. Avec l’offre de cours actuel, il nous est très difficile d’avoir une éducation digne du mot « bilingue ». De plus, une connaissance du français est exigée pour ceux et celles qui veulent travailler au Québec et une éducation qui ne permet pas aux étudiant.e.s de prendre la plupart de leurs cours en français dans tous les domaines différents est Le comité sur les langues officiels, “Report of the General Consultations on Language Policy Held During the 2018-2019 Academic Year,” pg. 9.

2 Ibid.

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Vol 42 ● No 4 vraiment une situation troublante et désavantageuse pour nous, particulièrement les non-francophones issues des autres provinces. Donc, une rectification de cette inégalité linguistique est importante, pas juste pour les francophones, mais tout le corps étudiant qui songe un jour à travailler au Québec.

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Je tiendrais également à ajouter que l’augmentation des cours donnés en français n’est même pas un enjeu controversé parmi le corps étudiant à la fac. Par exemple, the Report of the General Consultations on Language Policy Held During the 2018-2019 Academic Year note que 78% des étudiant.e.s sondé.e.s soutiennent une croissance eu égard aux nombres de cours non obligatoires offerts en français, alors que 11% sont contre l’idée et l’autre 11% n’ont pas d’opinion sur cette question.3 Par conséquent, la faculté pourrait facilement résoudre le problème qui est l’offre de cours en français en augmentant le nombre de cours intéressants qui sont donnés en français. Cet aspect linguistique et les statistiques susmentionnés m’amènent à un autre problème d’inégalité à la faculté, à savoir le fait que pour beaucoup de francophones il faut absolument suivre des cours en anglais pour faire leurs études, tandis que l’inverse n’est souvent pas vrai.

Je comprends tout à fait l’argument qu’on ne veut pas forcer les gens à prendre des cours dans leur deuxième langue (ou bien troisième/quatrième langue dans certains cas), mais la réalité c’est que les étudiant.e.s francophones doivent essentiellement prendre des cours en anglais afin d’être diplômé à cause de l’offre de cours insuffisant en français dont je discutais tout à l’heure. En vue de remédier à cet enjeu, une possibilité qui existe pour les francophones serait de suivre des cours à l’UdeM ou bien l’UQAM en fonction de l’entente qu’a McGill avec ses universités québécoises, mais une telle situation ne devrait pas être la solution pour une faculté qui se vante de son bilinguisme. Donc on revient à l’idée que la faculté doit envers ses étudiant.e.s une meilleure offre de cours en français pour justement rectifier la situation injuste dans laquelle se trouvent les étudiant.e.s de notre faculté.

En conclusion, j’aimerais mettre de l’avant que cet article n’est bien entendu pas suffisant pour complètement aborder le sujet, mais que ce n’était pas du tout son objectif. Son objectif est plutôt de vous faire réfléchir à la situation et de commencer un dialogue honnête parmi les gens à la faculté vis-à-vis ces questions pertinentes. Selon moi, l’utilisationw des deux langues à la faculté apporte une diversité de gens avec une diversité d’expériences qui nous est extrêmement vitale en tant que faculté, et il serait injuste de ne pas prôner l’amélioration du bilinguisme à la faculté, surtout en ce qui a trait au français. Alors, pour terminer, je suis optimiste qu’on puisse remédier à ces problèmes afin de faire en sorte que la faculté est bilingue comme elle pourrait l’être. Cependant, il faut également être honnête et commencer à avoir ces genres de conversations dans le but de remettre les pendules à l’heure par rapport au bilinguisme à la faculté, car, pour l’instant et d’après moi, elle ne respecte pas ses engagements de langue comme une faculté bilingue.

3

Ibid.

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E-HEARINGS AT THE FEDERAL COURT Has cybersecurity been ignored? Émilie Weidl | 1L

As part of integration week last month, 1L students were able to take part in a (virtual) discussion with the Chief Justice of the Federal Court focusing on the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the Federal Court. The Federal Court, along with other courts around the world, has had to move its activities online in order to maintain access to justice. Transitioning to e-hearings, however, hasn’t proven simple.

It poses many problems, namely with regards to cybersecurity.

The Federal Court has been holding hearings over Zoom over the course of the pandemic, a platform that does not have the best track record when it comes to privacy and security. At the outset of the pandemic, when Zoom all of a sudden became an integral part of everyone’s lives, Taiwan outright banned the use of Zoom for official use,1 while Germany’s foreign ministry restricted it to fixed-connection computers,2 both citing concerns over cybersecurity. In perhaps the largest cyberattack over zoom, hackers were able to steal data of over 500 000 zoom members in April.3 And while Zoom has made efforts to improve its security over the past six months, the changes have been slow in coming.4 Furthermore, the security measures ae only effective if used properly.

When I asked the Chief Justice whether he was worried about cybersecurity issues, especially given the spike of cybercrime during the pandemic, he told me that there was nothing to worry about, since the Court uses passwords. While refugee claimants, among others, had expressed concerns over the safety of e-hearings, the Federal Court has taken this precaution, so these hearings are safe. Also, if someone joins the room, the judge will always inquire as to who just joined the call. This safeguards against zoom-bombing, where random individuals are able to bomb your zoom call and oftentimes display inappropriate images or videos.

See Debby Wu & Samson Ellis, “Taiwan Bans Official Use of Zoom Over Cybersecurity Concerns”, Bloomberg (7 April 2020), online: <www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-07/taiwan-bansgovernment-use-of-zoom-over-cybersecurity-concerns> 2 See Reuters, “German foreign ministry restricts use of Zoom over security concerns,” Reuters (8 April 2020), online: <https://www. reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-germany-zoom/germanforeign-ministry-restricts-use-of-zoom-over-security-concerns-reportidUSKBN21Q1SC>.

3 See Chris Kelly, “We reveal the biggest data breaches of 2020”, ITP. net (13 Sept 2020), online: <www.itp.net/news/93796-we-reveal-thebiggest-data-breaches-of-2020>.

4 See Rachel Sandler, “Zoom Finally Rolling Out End-To-End Encryption Next Week”, Forbes (14 Oct 2020), online: <www.forbes.com/sites/ rachelsandler/2020/10/14/zoom-finally-rolling-out-end-to-endencryption-next-week>.

1

That is all fine, but zoom-bombing is not the only concern when it comes to privacy. Zoom’s track record with data protection is far from great. It was revealed earlier this year that calls were accidentally being routed through China—a practice which Zoom has since suspended, but only for paid users.5 While Zoom initially did not offer end-to-end encryption, leaving user data extremely vulnerable, it introduced it for paid users over the summer.6 However, using end-to-end encryption prevents users from accessing certain features on Zoom. For example, once end-to-end encryption is enabled, it becomes impossible for anyone to dial into the call through their phone. People are still calling into e-hearings through their phones at the Federal Court when they lose connection, according to the Chief Justice. This means that e-hearings are not end-toend encrypted, putting the data of all those involved at risk.

Over email correspondence, McGill Law Professor Allen Mendelsohn pointed out that allowing anyone to join hearings over Zoom shouldn’t be considered any different than the practice of the open courts principle in person. While this may be true, this only applies to the problem of Zoom-bombing. Anyone should be allowed—and, according to Professor Mendelsohn “even encouraged”—to attend or view public hearings.

However, this does not extend to access to the personal data of individuals implicated in public hearings, which is protected in person. Conducting business online, on the other hand, poses important threats to data protection.

The point of this article is not to criticize the Chief Justice personally, but rather to highlight the difficulties posed by the necessarily rapid transition to online activities for courts. In general, policy moves at such a slow pace compared to technology, that laws are often obsolete before they are even enacted.7 Furthermore, as Professor Mendelsohn agrees, it appears that judges would benefit from better technology training. While it was necessary to move online to preserve access to justice, the necessary precautions seem to have been sacrificed. As we move forward, courts need to provide more training on cybersecurity measures and best practices for their judges, since technology will surely become more central to official court activities in the future, and not less.

See Paayal Zaveri, “Zoom is giving paid users more control over where their calls are routed, after it got slammed for ‘mistakenly’ using data centers in China”, Business Insider (13 April 2020), online: <www. businessinsider.com/zoom-data-routing-control-china-servers-2020-4>.

6 See Kate O’Flaherty, “Zoom Security: 100 New Features Later, Can You Trust Zoom?”, Forbes (2 July 2020), online: <www.forbes.com/ sites/kateoflahertyuk/2020/07/02/zoom-security-100-new-features-latercan-you-trust-zoom-yet>.

7 See Tom Robertson & Simon Van Hoeve, Offensive Shifts, Offensive Policies: Cybersecurity Trends in the Government Private Sector Relationship (Calgary: Canadian Global Affairs Institute, 2019) at 7.

5

SAY WHAT YOU MEAN: GETTwllTO THE POINT your truth, with substance.

Vidish Parikh| 1L

“You know what I mean,” and “and yeah…” are likely two of the most overused and ambiguous filler phrases ever. No exaggerations.

We use them generously, mostly when we talk to our friends (understandably, they are our friends — if our friends don’t “know” the real us, then who does, right…right?). However, sometimes, we also let such filler phrases seep into our professional communications. And when that happens, it can be confusing for no other reason than that not everyone will know what you mean all the time: We also can’t expect them to know.

Further, the phrases are leading. They shift the focus on the receiver to decipher what your message is. “One may retort, “is it not the listener’s job to separate the relevant from the irrelevant?” Well, sure. But as the communicator, we should always strive to be as clear and concise as possible. The adage of getting to the point applies well here. Assuming someone else can read your mind is a bold assumption and one that will, more often than not, backfire.

By using these phrases and their variants, the message we risk sending the listener is that we are unsure what we meant in the first place. If we cannot clearly and concisely say what we mean, how can we develop into convincing communicators? Muddled messaging is confusing and can be annoying, even at the best of times.

I get it; coming up with the words we want to say in real-time can be painful. Sometimes our minds have a bunch of ideas, and we need a sounding board — in the form of another human — to help us collect our thoughts. But we need to learn to embrace comfortable silence in place of vague or leading phrases that place the onus on the other party to filter our thoughts. We also need to learn how to feel comfortable enough to tell our truths in a respectful but comprehensive way.

When you think your argument is generic, don’t cut it off and let the other person fill in the rest of the content: have enough agency over your ideas to be willing to tell your truth in a meaningful way. Conversely, just because your point is short, don’t try to add to it in hopes that its length will increase its legitimacy. Less is more.

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Vol 42 ● No 4 Let’s take a moment to acknowledge that ambiguous phrases over digital platforms only amplify confusion. In a world where the line between work and personal life is getting increasingly blurry due to tele-work/tele-school, it is critical that we get to the point. Our digital realities may not provide the same benefit of reading each other’s tone, as in-person communications do.

The ambiguous and leading phrases undeniably detract from the point: they can lead to a misunderstanding that could be avoided.

Take a second, and think about what you want to say before you say it. Speak with purpose.

Build a rapport, complement others’ conversation. Don’t start off assuming that a stranger — or even an acquaintance — will know what you mean to say, especially in the professional world. As law students, we know, arguably better than anyone, t h a t w o r d s m a t t e r. E ff e c t i v e communication should — and can — be our strength.

MEET THE TEAM Chris Ciafro | 2L Copy Editor

What did you do before McGill Law? I completed a political science degree, also at McGill. I also spent some time working for Global Affairs Canada and the Prime Minister’s Office.

Nomme une chose que tu feras dès que la pandémie sera terminée ?

I would love nothing more than to go to a party again.

Where are you from / where have you lived?

I was born in Montreal. I have lived in Windsor/Detroit, Ottawa, and France.

What was your favourite new discovery (TV show, talent, self-development) during lockdown?

I have slowly but surely learned how to let go of the things I can’t control.

Qu’aimes-tu faire quand tu n’étudies pas ?

My favorite thing to do in my off time is cooking. I can spend hours reading new recipes, experimenting, and learning how to balance flavours in a dish.

Où aimerais-tu travailler dans cinq ans ?

I want to be a journalist. My dream job is to work at the CBC! I would love to tie my legal education into my work, and help make social justice theories more accessible.

LAW IMITATES ART A JICP Masterpiece Series

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Jakub Adamski Basquiat

Pre-Trial Procedure in Québec and Ontario (2020) x 50 Cent Piece & Boxer Rebellion (1983) 22

Film screening & panel discussion:

Filmed in Iran by women and men who risked arrest to make this film, NASRIN is an immersive portrait of one of the world’s most courageous human rights activists and political prisoners, Nasrin Sotoudeh, and of Iran’s remarkably resilient women’s rights movement.

with

Vrinda Narain (Moderator) Homa Hoodfar (Panelist) Hon. Irwin Cotler, PC, OC, OQ (Panelist) Jeff Kaufmann (Panelist)

November 5th 5:30 ET Eventive

# F R E E N A S R I N 23

Vol 42 ● No 4

LA BOURSE EN MÉMOIRE DE J. STEPHEN TATRALLYAY

THE J. STEPHEN TATRALLYAY MEMORIAL AWARD

La bourse en mémoire de J. Stephen Tatrallyay (J. Stephen Tatrallyay Memorial Award) est décernée par le Collège canadien des avocats en droit de la construction (« le Collège ») à un étudiant en droit sélectionné par le Collège à sa seule discrétion et selon les critères énumérés ci-dessous. Feu Stephen Tatrallyay était un des chefs de file dans le domaine du The J. Stephen Tatrallyay Memorial Award is given by the Canadian College of Construction droit de la construction au Canada, un ancien Président du Collège et un de ses membres fondateurs. Stephen était reconnu pour ses contributions à la to doctrine dans le domaine du droitby de the la construction. bourse a été créée en discretion mémoire de Lawyers ("CCCL") a law student selected CCCL inCette its sole and absolute Stephen pour encourager les étudiants en droit à rédiger et à soumettre un article à l’intention du Collège.

based on the criteria below. The late Stephen Tatrallyay was one of the leading construction

L’étudiant en in droit choisi seand méritera: lawyers Canada a past

President and Founding Fellow of the CCCL. Stephen was well

known his de consistent i. unefor bourse 1 500 $; contributions to the body of literature in the area of construction ii. aura son article publié dans le Journal du Collège qui est publié à chaque année depuis 2007; et This sera Award was created in lamemory Stephen and law students to prepare iii. également publié dans section « of Articles » du site webtoduencourage Collège.

law. and

submit a paper for consideration by the CCCL. Critères de sélection L’article soumis devra:

The law student with the successful submission will:

i. ii.

iii. iv. v. vi.

être écrit par un étudiant en droit inscrit dans une université canadienne; traiter d’un sujet d’intérêt pour les avocats en droit de la construction et d’actualité pour la pratique du droit de la construction au Canada;a $1,500 Award; (i) Receive contenir pas moins de 1 400 mots; n’être soumis à aucune restriction de publication; être(ii) bien rédigé avec their des idées originales et novatrices appuyé sur des recherches consciencieuses; et Have paper published in etthe Journal of the Canadian College of être d’une qualité académique satisfaisante pour fins de publication par le Collège.

Construction Lawyers which has been published annually since 2007; and

Pour être éligible, l’auteur de l’article doit pouvoir affirmer par écrit que l’entièreté du travail est originale et il doit accepter de transférer ses droits d’auteur à l’éditeur du Journal. L’étudiant qui soumet un article est réputé avoir accepté ces Be featured in the Articles section of the CCCL website. conditions. (iii) Le Collège se réserve le droit de n’accorder de bourse à aucun candidat.

Criteria

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

La Bourse The paper submitted must be: 1. Le Collège, par l’entremise de son comité exécutif, à sa seule discrétion, détermine si les articles soumis rencontrent les critères etby choisit par la suite qui se méritera bourse at (le a cas échéant). Le Collège ne peut être obligé (i) a student whol’article is pursuing a law la degree Canadian University; de dévoiler quelque soumission que ce soit ou l’évaluation de celle-ci.

2. Tout étudiant en droit qui soumet un article digne de mention peut se faire offrir l’opportunité de voir son article publié dans le Journal du Collège. (ii) on any current issue of interest to construction law practitioners and topical to the 3. Le Collège, par l’entremise de son comité exécutif, prévoit sélectionner un gagnant de la Bourse au plus tard le 31 mars 2021. practice of construction law in Canada;

Date limite pour participer Les candidats articlewords; par voie électronique au plus tard le 15 janvier 2021 à l’attention de Brian (iii)devrontnotransmettre less thanleur 1,400 Samuels, Président du comité des publications du Collège, à l’adresse courriel suivante : brian@samuelslawcorp.com.

(iv) seront notreçus subject to any restriction on publication; Tous les articles et traités en toute confidentialité. (v)

well written with original and innovative thought and based on thorough research; and

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THE J. STEPHEN TATRALLYAY MEMORIAL AWARD

THE J. STEPHEN TATRALLYAY MEMORIAL AWARD

The J. Stephen Tatrallyay Memorial Award is given by the Canadian College of Construction Lawyers ("CCCL") to a law student selected by the CCCL in its sole and absolute discretion based on the criteria below. The late Stephen Tatrallyay was one of the leading construction lawyers in Canada and a past President and Founding Fellow of the CCCL. Stephen J. Stephen Tatrallyay Memorialto Award byin the Canadian College Construction wasThe well known for his consistent contributions the bodyisof given literature the area of construction law.ofThis Award was created in memory of Stephen and to encourage law students to prepare and submit a paper for consideration by CCCL. Lawyers ("CCCL") to a law student selected by the CCCL in its sole and absolute the discretion

on with the the criteria below.

The late Thebased law student successful submission will: Stephen Tatrallyay was one of the leading construction in aCanada and a past President and Founding Fellow of the CCCL. Stephen was well i.lawyers Receive $1,500 Award; ii.known Havefor theirhis paper published in the Journal of the of Construction which has been law. consistent contributions to Canadian the bodyCollege of literature in theLawyers area of construction published annually since 2007; and iii.ThisBeAward featuredwas in thecreated Articles section of the CCCL website. and to encourage law students to prepare and in memory of Stephen submit a paper for consideration by the CCCL. Criteria The paper submitted must be:

The law student with the successful submission will:

i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi.

by a student who is pursuing a law degree at a Canadian University; on any current issue of interest to construction law practitioners and topical to the practice of construction law in Canada; (i) Receive a $1,500 Award; no less than 1,400 words; not subject to any restriction on publication; well written originaltheir and innovative and based on thorough research; and Canadian College of (ii) with Have paper thought published in the Journal of the of sufficient scholarly quality for publication by the College.

Construction Lawyers which has been published annually since 2007; and

To be eligible for consideration the author of the paper must be prepared to confirm in writing that the entirety of the work is original and to must agree to transfer copyright in the paper to the Journal publisher. Submission of a paper for Be featured Articles section the CCCL website. consideration(iii) is a representation that in thethe student agrees to theseof terms.

CCCL reserves the right not to award the prize to any person.

Criteria

TheThe Award paper submitted must be: 1. The CCCL, through its Executive shall, at its sole and absolute discretion, determine if any submission meets the (i)and then byselect a student who issubmission pursuingtoabe law degree a Canadian University; criteria the successful awarded theat J. Stephen Tatrallyay Memorial Award (if any).

CCCL cannot be compelled to disclose any submission received or its evaluation of those submissions.

2. Any law student with a submission deserving of an honorable mention may be offered the opportunity to have their oninany current issue of interest to construction law practitioners and topical to the paper(ii) published the CCCL Journal.

3. The CCCL through its executive expects to select a winner of the Award by March 31, 2021.

practice of construction law in Canada;

Due Date for Submissions Submissions (iii) are to beno delivered electronically no later than January 15, 2021 to Brian Samuels, CCCL Publications less than 1,400 words; Chair, at brian@samuelslawcorp.com.

not subject to anyinrestriction Submissions (iv) will be deemed to be received confidence. on publication; (v)

well written with original and innovative thought and based on thorough research; and 25

QUID NOVI • 3 NOV 2020

Vol 42 ● No 4

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