Journal des étudia nt-e-s en droit de l’université M cGill

McGill Law’sWeekly Student Newspaper

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Photo: Charlie Feldman

WHAT’S INSIDE? QUEL EST LE CONTENU?

WANT TO TALK? TU VEUX T’EXPRIMER?

ÉDITO 3WHY I VOTED AGAINST THE J.D. 4JUST CAREER DEVELOPMENT (PART TWO) 5SKIT NITE SUCCESS 7A HAIRY SITUATION INDEED FOR MR. MULCAIR 9A 2L SPECIAL: TOWN HALL, PIZZA & DEAN JUTRAS 102L FOLLOW-UP : Q&A WITH THE CDO 11VOLUNTEER AT THE LEGAL INFORMATION CLINIC AT MCGILL 12END-OF-YEAR REPORTS 13FACULTY COUNCIL REPORT 24EASTER BREAK @ THE CAF 24UPCOMING EVENTS 25MR. DAISEY AND THE MEDIA INDUSTRY 26OVERHEARD AT THE FAC 27

QUID NOVI

3661 Peel Street Montreal, Quebec H2A 1X1

http://quid.mcgill.ca/

EDITORS IN CHIEFAmanda PetrakisHélia TaheriThomas Gagnon-van Leeuwen

ASSOCIATE REVIEWERSKatherine AbarcaAlexandra Belley-McKinnonIvana CescuttiEliza CohenKelly CohenGiselle DavidianKai Shan HeAlexandra LazarAngèle Périllat-AmédéeCatherine HamillAudrey MayrandGolnaz NayerahmadiAnh Thang NguyenJames NowlanLaura ScheimDaniel Tsarevsky

LAYOUT EDITORSKatherine AbarcaJérémy Boulanger-BonnellyNicholas ChoinièreKai Shan HeMaxime PuteauxGabriel Rochette

STAFF WRITERSLudovic BourdagesJonathan BrosseauDavid GrovesAlexandre MichaudVincent RangerMichael Shortt Derek Zeisman

CARTOONISTAndrew Baker

WEBMASTERJérémy Boulanger-Bonnelly

Envoyez vos commentaires ou articles avantjeudi 17h a l’adresse : quid.law@mcgill.ca

Toute contribution doit indiquer le nom del’auteur, son année d’étude ainsi qu’un titrepour l’article. L’article ne sera publiee qu’a ladiscretion du comite de redaction, qui

basera sa decision sur la politique de redaction.

Contributions should preferably be submitted asa .doc attachment (and not, for instance, a“.docx.”).

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 2011 Quid Novi.Les opinions exprimees sont propres aux auteurs et ne refletent pas necessairement celles de l’equipe du Quid Novi. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views of the McGill LawStudents’ Association or of McGill University.

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J o u r n a l d e s é t u d i a n t - e - s e n d r o i t d e l ’u n i v e r s i t é M c G i l l

M c G i l l L a w ’s W e e k l y S t u d e n t N e w s p a p e r

É D I T O

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 3

HÉLIATAHERI

C o - r é d a c t r i c e e n c h e f

PRACTICE YOU WHATYOU PREACH

« Il est défendu de tuer; tout meurtrier est puni, àmoins qu’il n’ait tué en grande compagnie, et auson des trompettes. », dit Voltaire dans son Dictio-nnaire philosophique. Ne nous illustre-t-il pas unexcellent exemple d’un double standard? Conceptuniversel qui a toujours été présent dans la so-ciété et qui l’est encore. Concept universel quipasse presque inaperçu; peut-être que nous nousy sommes habitués.

Mais qu’est-ce qu’un double standard? D’où vientce concept et quelle place occupe-t-il dans la so-ciété? Je doute fortement pouvoir répondre à cesquestions, mais essayons d’y songer un peu.

Dictionary.com defines double standard as “anycode or set of principles containing different provi-sions for one group of people than for another, es-pecially an unwritten code of sexual behaviorpermitting men more freedom than women.”Wikipedia gives a more general definition: “A dou-ble standard is the application of different sets ofprinciples for similar situations, or to differentpeople in the same situation.”

Peut-être que le terme double standard est assezjeune en soi. Mes recherches n’ont pas étéfructueuses à ce sujet. Or, le concept remonte à...eh bien, à il y a très longtemps! L’exemple le plusancien que j’ai trouvé figure dans leDeutéronome, le cinquième livre de la Biblehébraïque. De Saint Augustin à Virginia Woolf,nombreux auteurs, poètes et philosophes, au fildes années, exposent les problèmes qui survien-nent lorsque l’on applique un principe à une cer-taine situation, mais pas à d’autres situationshomologues. Que ce soit dans un contexte poli-tique ou social, l’on a critiqué cette partialitébasée sur le sexe, l’orientation sexuelle, la religion,

l’ethnicité, etc. Mais a-t-on critiqué sa présencedans la vie de tous les jours? Nous rendons-nouscompte de l’abondance avec laquelle nous ap-pliquons un double standard à nos conversations,à nos arguments et à notre comportement avecles autres?

Facebook statuses, Facebook comments! Take alook at them and maybe it will hit you too. We allknow that Facebook has become a new forum fordebates. Take a look and ask yourself if the authorwould have made a certain comment had heshared the opposite point of view.

Human interactions! Take a look at them andmaybe it will hit you too. We declare holding eachother to a single standard. But in practice, we dis-regard the standard when it is time to apply it toourselves. Take a look and ask yourself if we wouldreact the same way had we been the authors ofan act that we denounce. We often act with suchself-righteous outrage as if we were saints and wehave never done something equally con-demnable! Easy to condemn when we are not theones being condemned.

Je crois qu’un peu d’introspection et une légèretouche d’autocritique ne peuvent que nous fairedu bien. Je crois qu’il est possible d’argumentersans livrer bataille; la nuance entre être provoca-teur et être irrévérencieux reste une nuance, maiselle est là. Je crois qu’il est possible d’interagiravec les gens sans s’attendre à ce qu’ils nous of-frent plus que ce que nous leur offrons. Peut-êtredevrait-on être plus attentif à nos gestes, être plusouvert d’esprit et être plus honnête avec soi-même. Peut-être que le monde serait alors un en-droit plus paisible.

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Acknowledgement: The opinions expressedbelow are entirely my own. However, I amindebted to Professor Macdonald's use ofthis topic in a lecture in The AdministrativeProcess for my approach to the issue.

I write without benefit of knowing the LSAelection results. It seems to be a safeguess that the referendum question onchanging the degree designation fromLL.B. to J.D. will have passed easily, and Iwrite from that assumption.

Voting in favour of this question was amistake. Not because there's an intrinsicvalue to be retained in the LL.B. designa-tion, but because we were asked to sup-port a proposition for which there isinsufficient evidence. Some of the argu-ments in the preamble to the questiongive good reason to support gathering fur-ther evidence; asking students to supportthe switch is at best premature.

The preamble refers extensively to the re-port "Juris Doctor McGillensis" in supportof its arguments, reducing it to six mainpoints which I will paraphrase: (1) Eve-ryone else is doing it, (2-3) the J.D. is morerecognizable and failure to adopt it mayhinder employment, (4) maintaining theB.C.L./LL.B. designation may hinder stu-dent recruitment, (5) opposing argumentsare unreasonable and wrong, (6) and it'sjust a cosmetic change anyway.

I'd like to begin by rejecting the argumentimplicit in the final point: although, ofcourse, changes to the curriculum gothrough a process entirely separate fromthis decision, names and labels matter.This is why proponents of the J.D. are pus-

hing so hard, and why it's important tohave a serious discussion. Changing thename of our degree reflects how we thinkabout the degree itself and what it repre-sents. Like it or not, we're asking an exis-tential question and thorough institutionalself-reflection is necessary to answer it.

The remaining argument can be boileddown to how others’ perception of ourprogram is shaped by the name of the de-gree awarded. It expresses an anxiety thatthe current degree designation puts thefaculty and its students at a competitivedisadvantage. Without discounting the se-riousness of this claim, I would point tothe letter from Professor Van Praagh,found at the end of the report, for thetypes of questions that still must be explo-red. I would suggest they can be summari-zed as one fundamental question whichhas not been answered: what would bethe consequences of choosing to adoptthe J.D. designation at McGill?

A reality that must be acknowledged, cen-tral to the question of how we designateour degree, is that the McGill Program,that transsystemic ideal to which we allwrote odes in our application letters, isnot the same as a Common Law programelsewhere in Canada, nor is it the same asuOttawa's National Program. This is ack-nowledged at the beginning of the report,but it is cast aside without serious consi-deration of its bearing on the conclusionsto be drawn and the questions to beasked.

This is important in part because McGilldoesn't award an isolated LL.B. degree.

When asking how our degree designationis perceived, the subject of the inquiryshould not be LL.B., but B.C.L./LL.B. Theremay be merit in avoiding a switch to theJ.D., embracing the difference in designa-tion, to celebrate McGill's distinctiveness.This is not unheard of: my first degree wasdesignated B.Hum., as opposed to a B.A.,in a conscious effort to indicate its diffe-rence from a typical B.A. The factors in fa-vour of a switch may nonethelessoutweigh this consideration and others –of course, it’s important to designate thedegree in a way that effectively communi-cates what a McGill law degree is, and ifB.C.L./LL.B. doesn’t accomplish that any-more a change ought to be made. What'simportant is that we engage in questionslike these, most of which cannot be ans-wered confidently from the experiences ofother law faculties, and we gather empiri-cal evidence before making our conclu-sions.

To be clear, I mean in no way to denigratethe work done in preparing "Juris DoctorMcGillensis". Although I take issue withthe decision to advocate the J.D., andsome of its conclusions leading to the ulti-mate recommendation, it is clearly the re-sult of a great deal of commendable work,and it provides a very strong argument tocontinue the conversation about changingthe degree designation. My complaint, as Ihope I have made clear, is that there is stillmore evidence to be gathered, narrowingdown from the experiences of others to ananalysis of our own peculiarities, in orderto support a conclusion one way or theother.

MARCROY

L a w I

WHY I VOTED AGAINST

THE J.D.

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 5

JUST CAREER DEVELOPMENT ANDSOCIALIZATION OF THE LEGAL

PROFESSION AT MCGILLBiLL

ShipLeY

L a w I I I

PART TWO OF TWO

This is not merely a concern germane tothose dedicated to careers in public serv-ice. Concerns about access to justice, therule of law, and the ability of our legal sys-tems to adapt to the twin challenges ofclimate change and declining energy re-serves will require us to consider novelforms of legal practice. I recently servedas a rapporteur at the "Responsibility, Fra-ternity, and Sustainability in Law" sympo-sium in honour of former Supreme CourtJustice Charles Gonthier (the proceedingsof which, on a side note, were quiteamazing and are available here in toto :http://cisdl.org/gonthier/judge-gonthier-symposium/reports-videos.html). It wasonly after participating in the symposiumthat I understood that his commitment tosustainability was not a side interest, butimplicit in and fundamental to his under-standing of the role of law in society andour responsibility as jurists. The norma-tive lodestone of "fraternity" that JusticeGonthier so fervently called attention tocaptures the common thread in under-standings of constitutional order andequality, the responsibilities we have to-wards current and future generations, andthe democratic ethos that underpins re-spect for the rule of law and our under-standing of what constitutes a democraticsociety. Appropriate regard to the extentto which the institutions that govern oursociety also concern themselves with theleast of its members derives from thissame concern. Yet the uniqueness ofthose who are the most capable amongus following a path in the public interestwas driven home further with the tragicloss this autumn of Alexandra Dodger,

who was herself just beginning to embarkon a career in social justice with AmnestyInternational. Both Alex and JusticeGonthier took very seriously the need forinstitutions of justice, not least of whichMcGill but also the Supreme Court, to"walk the walk" as well as "talk the talk"of social justice - of holding ourselves toaccount for the ways in which we as indi-viduals, as members of institutions, and asa community are giving due regard to so-cial inequities.

We should have an understanding of howto approach the practical issues that ariseout of such considerations not only in theclassroom as students, or through intern-ships or credited clerkships of limited du-ration, but also as potential futurepractitioners. To put the disproportionateburden for discovering these paths on stu-dents is to waste the potential we as afaculty have for a more profound contri-bution to the furtherance of the use oflaw as a mechanism for achieving justice.I for one would love to pursue a career insustainable development, environmentaljustice, or accountability for corporatemalfeasance which is necessary for ourglobal economic systems to properly func-tion. I still have only a very foggy notionof how to go about doing that, and cer-tainly not how to do so while managingthe significant debt burden I will have ac-cumulated by the end of this year. As aninternational student I have a heavier bur-den than most, but students graduatingfrom McGill who are called to such a pathoften must already take a "vow ofpoverty" in many cases (relatively speak-ing of course) to pursue social justice, andthat's assuming they even find a positionmatching their interests. But on top ofthat, students who are curious aboutthese possibilities may be burdened withthe subconscious feeling that such a path

is not "typical"- that it is in a sense de-viant relative to those career paths thatare very clearly and openly laid out to usas students like hors d'oeuvres on an ap-petizer plate, both for those who followthat path and those who don't.

McGill has been an innovator in the studyof law and the use of technology in theclassroom. Could it not do so also with re-spect to the pursuit of alternative careersin law? Can there be "virtual on-campusinterviews" for NGOs that do not have themoney to send representatives to travelto present their work to McGill students?Are there other ways that McGill canmake it easier on students who do notwant to pursue traditional career paths todo so, and ways for McGill to promote anethic of genuine public service for thosewho do? Can there not be some onlinetools that match organizations in need oflegal research with students eager to un-dertake such research? Are those of uswho as future alumni may earn a veryhealthy salary willing to undertake a com-mitment to subsidize the efforts of stu-dents or our classmates who choose lesslucrative career paths in the furtheranceof justice and the public interest? I hopewe could take seriously some of thesesuggestions, not only with respect to spe-cific programs, but with respect to howthey are envisioned within the McGillcommunity and the priority that is ac-corded to them.

I strongly applaud all that we haveachieved and continue to achieve in thisregard with our teaching and course offer-ings, our student groups and advocacy,our clerkships and legal clinics, throughthe research institutes within the faculty,and with the career services and careerguides and the hard work of our profes-sors, support staff, and administration.

This is the second half of Just Career De-

velopment and Socialization of the Legal

Profession at McGill. Part one appearedin last week’s edition.

6 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

This is not meant as an indictment of thevery hard and accomplished work of theindividuals who do their best to accom-modate the needs and insecurities of the~160 of us making our way through thisinstitution every year, nor is it meant todiscount the many professional opportu-nities for research and legal work that we

are afforded as a result of this ongoingwork. But as I discovered was the case formany of the offerings at Public InterestCareer Day, many of these opportunitiesare limited to summer internships, manyof which are unpaid, and few of whichhad much promise for an articling posi-tion or long-term career. As potential and

future jurists, as an institution, and as acommunity, there is so much more thatwe can and must do, commensurate withthe mission of an institution that aspiresto regard itself as just, in deference to theprinciples that such an aspiration requiresus to consider seriously, both collectivelyand individually.

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

PHOTOThursday March 22, 2012: a hundred or so students from the Faculty of Lawtook the streets with fellow students to protest the Quebec government’splanned tuition hike. Une manifestation historique!

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 7

SKIT NITE SUCCESSNiChOLASChOiNieRe

L a w I I

Mardi dernier, le 20 mars, a eu lieu le Skit Nite de la Fac-ulté de droit de l’Université McGill. L’évènement estd’abord et avant tout une activité de financement pourquatre organismes communautaires de Montréal : ChezDoris, Dans la rue, Share the Warmth et la Mission OldBrewery. Cette année nous avons amassé plus de 3 000$avec les billets en pré-vente. Le montant total n’a pas en-core été confirmé, mais il devrait l’être dans les prochainsjours.

Skit Nite est également l’occasion de découvrir les talentscachés de ceux que nous côtoyons tous les jours, de semoquer de la vie quotidienne à McGill et à la Faculté dedroit en particulier et, surtout, de s’amuser. Cette année,le spectacle a réussi à allier l’humour, la musique et lemonde juridique. Voilà quelque chose qu’on ne voit pastous les jours.

Ceux qui n’étaient pas présents au Club Soda mardidernier ont manqué un excellent spectacle. Voiciquelques-uns des points saillants de la soirée.

One of the main reasons for coming to Skit Nite is to seeour professors perform. We were fortunate enough tohave some great faculty participation this year. DeanDaniel Jutras opened the show with a cover of SimplePlan’s hit song Jetlagged. It was probably the first timeanybody wrote a song about a Civil Code. We also had thedynamic duo of Professors Van Praagh and Jukier singtheir take on the song I’m a Believer. One of the most orig-inal skits of the evening featured Professors Leckeyand Piper, as well as Maryse Chouinard from theCDO. Their skit told the story of how the transsys-temic program came to be (hint: it has to do with anepic wizarding duel). Last but not least, the eveningsaw special video appearances by Professors Mac-donald and Janda.

Videos are another important part of Skit Nite, andthe 2012 edition was no exception. The eveningkicked off with a hilarious law school version of thepopular Sh*t People Say videos. It was filled withone-liners any student could relate to, with my per-sonal favourite being “I can’t believe there are stillperiods in these footnotes!” A big hit of the eveningwas the Gelber Shore video, which was a joint effortby Krista Kais-Prial, Francesca Taddeo and ZacharyMasoud. The spoof of the television series Jersey

Shore also featured the acting talents of Marco Garofalo,Roger Cheaib and Marc James Tacheji. The last video ofthe evening was A Drunken Legal History, created by RyanGallant and Adam La France. It featured an inebriatedMatt Saunders as its narrator.

Despite all this, it is still live skits that are the heart of SkitNite. Probably the biggest crowd-pleaser of the eveningwas the skit performed by Brodie Macrae and Meara Con-way. I was blown away by their opera singing talents, aswas the rest of the crowd if the standing ovation they re-ceived is any indication. The skit cleverly told the story ofa young law student who is convinced to get a job atBlightman McPox Coq LLP, a big law firm – speaking ofwhich, the Skit Nite Committee wishes to emphasize thatany likeness with real events is purely a matter of coinci-dence. Two other great skits were “Occupy Everything”and the LSA skit, called “Coffeehouse Through the Ages”.The former was a personal favourite of mine, as it was co-written by 1Ls David Groves and Sheel Chaudhuri. I am de-lighted to know that next year’s Skit Nite is in good hands!As for the LSA skit, it was the most ambitious one of theevening, at least on a technical level. Somehow they man-aged to make everything look easy, from quick costumechanges to disco dancing. Chris Durrant also wrote a saucyscript called “Rejected Skits”, which was a great review oflife at our faculty in the last year.

Last but not least, there can be no Skit Nite without good

Scott Horne, Snail Hunter (one of Chris Durrant’s Rejected Skits)

8 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

music. There was an extremely witty number calledFoosball Wizard featuring Dan Lawlor, Marcel Daigle,Arthur Nahas and myself – OK, I’ll admit that I am abit biased –. Most impressive was the Skit NiteBand, which rocked out to four songs. This year’sBand featured veterans Krista Kais-Prial and PhilDehm, as well as new recruits Will Colish, ArthurNahas and Lisa So.

Before ending I would like to thank everybody whomade this year’s Skit Nite possible. There was ofcourse Blakes, Cassels and Graydon LLP, without

which we would not turn a profit. Most important,though, are the people. A successful show like thisyear’s is not possible without all the actors,scriptwriters, ticket-sellers and stagehands who vol-unteered their time. Special thanks are due to Je-remy Boulanger-Bonnelly, who took care of all thetechnical details of the show, as well as the Presi-dent of the organizing committee, Krista Kais-Prial,who put more time into the show than all the rest ofus combined.

On se voit l’an prochain!

Brodie and Meara amazed us all with theiropera singing and witty skit.

The Seventies are Stayin’ Alive thanks to the LSA.

The Skit Nite Band, with guest dancer Michèle.

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 9

A HAIRY SITUATION INDEEDFOR MR. MULCAIR

DeRekZeiSMAN

L a w IDATUM ERRATUM

With last Saturday’s vote, Thomas Mulcairis now the official reigning monarch of thefederal NDP, heir to that party’s electoralcrown.

With his victory, the New Democrats arenow led by a former Liberal, while BobRae’s Liberals are led, amusingly enough,by a former New Democrat. This is astrange twist for Canadians who fancysuch political trivia.

Much has been made by certain disgrun-tled Dippers (i.e. those supporting othercandidates) of the fact that Mr. Mulcair isa former Liberal. Or more specifically, aformer provincial Liberal: he once sat asenvironment minister in the cabinet ofQuebec Premier Jean Charest.

Personally, I think it’s a bit rich to trybranding Mr. Mulcair as a party flip-flop-per, a disloyal ex-Liberal who hijacked theNDP. After all, how could he have everbeen a provincial New Democrat in Que-bec? Such a thing does not exist.

In Quebec, the traditional choice for thepast 40 years has been federalist v. sepa-ratist, rather than left-wing v. right-wing.Mr. Mulcair is obviously a federalist, andin Quebec being a federalist pretty muchlimits one’s options to a single party. Hiscritics conveniently fail to mention thissmall fact.

Still, Mr. Mulcair is facing some image-re-lated challenges. Who will he surroundhimself with? Who will form the nucleus,the core of his political team? Will he be agood team player himself? Will he holdhis fiery temper in check?

All these questions are important to con-sider as we contemplate his tenure at theNDP helm. But they pale in comparison to

the hairiest issue of all: Mr. Mulcair’sbeard.

Yeah, I said it. I’m just that shallow.

I like the man, but c’mon. There must besome good reason why we haven’t had anelected prime minister with whiskerssince the much-forgotten AlexanderMackenzie ran our fair Dominion, from1873 to 1878.

Canada’s first Liberal PM was scrupulouslyhonest and fair-minded, which made himunpopular enough with his Liberal col-leagues. But A-Mack’s questionable “lep-rechaun look” (big beard, no moustache)probably didn’t win him many fans withthe voters, either. He got tossed out onhis ear after one term, so I’ll leave it toyou, dear reader, to draw your own con-clusions.

Then there was grouchy old MackenzieBowell, a hapless Tory PM who reignedfrom 1894 to 1896. The unfortunately-named Mr. Bowell had a dazzling whitebeard more impressive than that ofAlmighty God Himself.

But Mr. Bowell was never an electedprime minister. Hell, he wasn’t elected toanything, period – he ran the countryfrom the floor of the freakin’ Senate. Andwhen his cabinet colleagues revolted (asTories are wont to do – they are a revolt-ing bunch, after all) he declared them all“a nest of traitors” and quit the PMOfaster than you can say “shave and a hair-cut.”

I can’t help but wonder whether Canadi-ans – or most people in general – aren’t,at least subconsciously, kind of suspiciousof a man sporting a beard. I see two rea-sons why this may be the case.

First, beards are pretty anti-establishmentin this tightly wound, image-consciousage. What are the main bearded sub-groups these days? For starters, they arecomprised entirely of men (obviously).And since it is men who are mainly re-sponsible for the lousy state of our gov-ernment, that’s a good reason right offthe bat to distrust beards.

Putting aside the “man factor,” most peo-ple with beards nowadays are professors,students, bums, hobos, or some un-savoury combination thereof. The generalpublic has a pretty well-ingrained sense ofdistrust for all these groups, not entirelywithout reason. (Nudge nudge, winkwink.)

Secondly, there’s the “what the hell is hetrying to hide?” factor. When I see a fel-low with a full beard (rather than just thelight scruff preferred by so many “I’m latefor class, to hell with it” students), I findmyself wondering whether the guy isusing his beard to conceal something. Ahideous scar? A terrible facial deformity?An obscene tattoo? A swastika, à la ChuckManson? The absence of a neck, à laGeorge Lucas?

Who is to know for sure? But the seeds ofdoubt are planted in the mind of thevoter, and the end result, come ElectionDay, is generally disastrous.

Although beards, by virtue of their sizeand prominence, must be of paramountconcern to any political hopeful withprime ministerial aspirations, moustachesare not without their own problems. His-tory shows, as it does with beards, thatvoters do not look favourably upon facialhair of any kind.

10 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

Of course, every rule must have its excep-tions. There was Sir Robert Borden, theguy with the walrus moustache and nerdy,parted-down-the-middle hairdo whograces our $100 bills, and who served asCanada’s Tory/Unionist prime ministerfrom 1911 to 1920. Yes, Mr. Borden hadquite the plush moustache. It went wellwith his Model-T Ford.

Then there was Canada’s last mustachioedPM, Louis St. Laurent, who led Canada’sNatural Governing Party through its 1950sheyday, till Diefenbaker came along andruined his fun. “Uncle Louis” had a neatly-trimmed nose-tickler, though it was sowhite it tended to blend into his facial fea-tures – almost giving the illusion of nomoustache at all. So he really doesn’tcount.

Since 1957, the year the voters sent Mr.St. Laurent to the political glue factory,not a single Canadian prime minister oropposition leader has been caught deadsporting a beard or moustache. Long side-burns reigned for several years in the de-baucherous 1970s, but even those weresoon scaled back.

Pierre Trudeau grew a god-awful beardafter he flubbed the 1979 election andtook off on an extended canoe trip

through the Canadian wilds. But P.E.T. wasback nine months later, clean-shaven andrespectable, after Joe Clark made a fatalflub of his own – and the whiskers werenever seen again.

Things have been no different south ofthe border. The U.S. hasn’t had a beardedpresident since William Howard Taft (alsoa future Chief Justice of the SupremeCourt) sat in the White House from 1909to 1913. In the 1912 election, both Taftand Teddy Roosevelt (sporting a Borden-esque walrus moustache of his own) viedunsuccessfully for the Oval Office, losingbadly to the clean-shaven Woodrow Wil-son. Since then, no mainstream presiden-tial candidate has even attempted amoustache, let alone the forbidden beard.

The odds against whiskers have been simi-larly steep for Canada’s provincial politi-cians. Beards have become asunfashionable as buggy whips and discobell-bottoms. A few recent premiers, suchas Quebec’s Jacques Parizeau and B.C.’sMike Harcourt and Glen Clark, haveplayed with political fire by brandishingmoustaches. But in the end, they all gotburned. All were one-termers – merefootnotes in history, exceptions thathelped to prove the rule.

And that rule, dear reader, is this: in poli-tics, hair is best kept on one’s head, andnot on one’s face. History shows thatmoustaches and (especially) beards arepersona non grata in the field of modernelectoral politics.

We can debate the reasons for this untilwe sprout long grey beards, but the factremains that facial hair is a risky move intoday’s image-obsessed political realm.For a leader like Mr. Mulcair to break fromthe pack by sporting a beard, howeverwell-kempt, is very hairy business indeed.

Then again, Mr. Mulcair’s ability to grow abeard shows that, at the very least, he isnot a godless killing cyborg, unlike certainsitting prime ministers who shall remainnameless. And that must surely count forsomething.

Derek Zeisman, like his good friend DavidGroves, is utterly incapable of growing aproper beard, and thus need never worryabout the concerns raised above.

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

A “2L SPECIAL” - TOWN HALL, PIZZA AND DEAN JUTRASNB: 2L Class members ONLY

eMiLYeLDeR

& JAiMieTAX

You asked your questions, we discussed them withthe Dean (Dean Daniel Jutras, aka “DJ”), and hewants to meet with you. You bring your questions,he will bring responses, and we provide the pizza.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012 - 12:30-2:00 - Room16 (adjoining the Dean’s office)

RSVP by email to Emily or Jaimie so we know howmuch pizza to order

Quick report of what your 2L Co-Presidents have

done this year:

•Welcome Back Beers at Benelux•Language Conversation Groups at Thomson House•Legal Methics End-of-Quiz Trivia with Beer andNachos at Thomson House•“Fact-DONE” Party at Jello Martini Lounge•Continual advocacy and representation of classmembers’ interests and concerns, especially:

- to the CDO - to Associate Dean Ellis- to Dean Jutras

2 L C o - P r e s i d e n t s

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 11

2L FOLLOW UP: Q&A WITHTHE CDO

eMiLYeLDeR

& JAiMieTAX

2 L C o - P r e s i d e n t s

Earlier this month, Emily and I asked foryour questions, feedback, and concernsregarding your experiences with the CDOthus far. Recently, we had the opportu-nity to meet with Maryse Chouinard, Di-rector of the CDO, to get your answers(please see below). Big thanks to Marysefor taking the time to meet with us! Ifyou have any more questions or wouldlike clarification on any of the questionsbelow, please feel free to contact us atjaimie.tax@mail.mcgill.ca oremily.elder@mail.mcgill.ca.

1. Is it true that we only get one appoint-ment with the CDO per year?

In theory. During peak periods (likecourse aux stages and OCIs) this rule ap-plies. However, appointments are alwayssubject to availability, and often duringnon-peak periods, appointments are avail-able and we are more than happy to seeyou!

2. I wasn’t able to participate in themock interviews because there were notenough slots. Is there any way of increas-ing the number of slots?

The Association du Barreau Canadien runsthe mock interviews and the number ofslots are based on the availability of theirvolunteers. We increased the number ofavailable slots by running extra mock in-terviews for those interviewing with theDepartment of Justice or smaller-sizefirms, for a total of 54 slots. We also pro-vided extensive interview preparation re-sources for all members of the Course auxstages distribution list.

3. Is there any way to ensure that thereare only law-related jobs on myFuture?

Students are able to refine the job searchif they wish. However, the job postings are

a CaPS service from McGill, which you allpay for, and which many students benefitfrom.

4. Where do I find job postings?

On myFuture. Jobs are usually postedTuesdays and Fridays: https://law.myfu-ture.mcgill.ca/students/

5. Is there any way to create a shortguide to CV/cover letter writing?

Great idea!

6. Is it possible to add more French to theCareer Development Guide?

Definitely!

7. How do we know when we should beapplying for articling positions?

Check out the “Organized recruitment”section of the CDO website. Dates bycity/province are available:https://home.mcgill.ca/cdo/recruitment/.If specific dates for a particular processare not yet known for the year, you canstill get a general idea from past dates, asthey usually don’t change drastically fromyear to year.

8. For summer positions generally andfor non-OCI recruitment: how do we ap-proach firms? Cold call? Email? Be directand ask if they are hiring or meet firstand then inquire?

Good question. There is a whole sectiondevoted to this topic on pages 69 of theCareer Development Guide, in the “Publi-cations” section of the CDO website. Ifstudents feel they are in a situation whereanother approach might work better thanwhat is explained in that section, they canalways come and talk to us.

9. How can the faculty underline the ex-istence of alternative careers in law- es-pecially for those who do not want to dobig law?

The CDO has set this as a priority and isseeking to network with more diverse em-ployers. One initiative this year was thepublic interest career day, which provedvery successful. The CDO has also beenworking to network with more small andmedium sized firms. We are also currentlylooking into increasing the number of in-ternational opportunities through alumnioutreach.

10. Is there anything that you would liketo add?

Yes, I would like to remind students thatthere are a lot of career resources avail-able for free on the CDO website. Sincewe cannot duplicate every piece of infor-mation on the website by sending anemail, it’s always a good idea to go andhave a look if you think you may be inter-ested in our services, an event or a re-cruitment process.

J’aimerais aussi dire que le CDP est un es-pace de dialogue, et que nous sommesouvertes à vos idées, projets, commen-taires et initiatives. Aussi, votre rétroac-tion sur vos expériences en entrevueservent à améliorer nos ressources, etnous sommes toujours ravies quand vousprenez le temps de la formuler et quevous nous permettez de l’utiliser. Bref,sous réserve de la confidentialité, beau-coup d’information importante circuledans les deux sens au CDP, et c’est excel-lent ainsi. D’ailleurs c’est aussi nécessaire,puisque nous ne sommes que deux pour600 étudiants et des milliers d’employeursjuridiques. Une autre chose très utile queles étudiants peuvent faire pour nous est

12 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

de remplir le sondage du CDP quand ilsobtiennent leur diplôme (voir site duCDP). C’est la façon la plus efficace quenous ayons de voir combien de finissantstravaillent dans tel ou tel secteur et devous fournir ces stats et ces personnes-ressources que vous appréciez tant!

A word on signing up for events on myFu-ture: the point of asking you to do this isnot to police who is there or not, or tostart a file on your CDO-event habits! Ex-cept for schedule-type events (ex. CBAmock interviews), I don’t care if your

plans change and you need to cancel yourattendance (I’m sorry that myFuture’s au-tomatic message makes it sound like a bigdeal when you do – I have no control overit). The point is to see how many intend toshow up (panellists’ always want to knowthis), to confirm that we have a bigenough room, to be able to inform all par-ticipants of a room change, time changeor cancellation in a timely manner, tokeep accurate stats on attendance forbudgetary considerations, and to relay im-portant follow-up information and re-sources to students. In the case of

distribution lists for recruitmentprocesses, it’s even more crucial: most ofthe info will not be repeated on the web-site, and will not be sent to CDO News. Soplease sign up when we ask you to do so –it takes 30 seconds.

Thank you so much!

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

LeGALiNFORMATiONCLiNiC ATMCGiLL

VOLUNTEER AT THE LEGALINFORMATION CLINIC AT MCGILL

Spending the summer in Montreal? Hopingto put your legal skills to practical use? LaClinique d’information juridique à McGillest à la recherche de bénévoles!

The Legal Information Clinic at McGill is anon-profit, student-run, bilingual and freelegal information service. Notre mandat estde fournir de l’information juridique et d’of-frir des références à la communauté deMcGill ainsi qu’aux populations marginal-isées du Québec.

We are seeking volunteers who have com-pleted their first year of law (and beyond)by the end of this semester. The commit-ment will be 2-3 hours per week and train-ing will be provided.

En faisant du bénévolat à la Clinique, vous aurez une excellenteoccasion de mettre en pratique ce que vous avez appris dans voscours cette année. Not only will you get to work directly withclients who have real legal questions, you will also have the op-

portunity to develop your legal researchskills and explore areas of the law that arenew to you.

Volunteering at the Legal Information Clinicat McGill can also serve as great prepara-tion for those interested in the Student Ad-vocacy Program, a very proud part of theLegal Information Clinic at McGill. Ce serv-ice offre aux étudiants impliqués dans desprocessus disciplinaires, de grief ou d’appel,des conseils gratuits et confidentiels ainsiqu’une représentation par un représentant-étudiant. L’appel aux candidatures pour lespostes de représentants-étudiants adjointsse fait pendant l’automne.

Pour plus de renseignments, pour rencontrer les directeurs et di-rectrices, et pour vous ajouter à la liste de distribution veneznous rejoindre à COFFEEHOUSE le 29 mars! You can also e-mailhr.mlic@mail.mcgill.ca to be added to the mailing list, whetheryou are interested in volunteering this summer or in the fall.

CDO

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 13

END-OF-YEAR REPORTSThese reports appear in the Quid per By-Law 1 of the LSA Constitution.

LSA PRESIDENTCATheRiNeCOURSOL

Pour commencer, je dois vous dire que j’aiadoré mon année en tant que présidenteet que ça termine très bien mes quatreannées à McGill. Vous trouverez ici uncourt résumé de mon expérience et de ceque j’ai réalisé au courant de l’année.

D’abord, mon rôle principal était d’assisterles vice-présidents dans leurs différentsprojets et au meilleur de mes capacitésj’ai tenté d’être la plus présente possiblepour les aider dans leurs réalisations. Jetiens d’abord à les remercier et lesféliciter pour leur excellent travail. Aprèsquatre ans à la Faculté, je peux dire sansgêne que c’est l’asso qui a eu l’équipe laplus unie. Tous ont travaillé très fort et jevous encourage fortement à les remercierpour le temps qui ont passé pour veiller àvos intérêts et s’assurer que votre passageà la Faculté ne se résume pas qu’à vosétudes et à la bibliothèque.

My first goal as president was to meetwith all members of the Executive in earlyMay to get to know them better and fos-ter team spirit. Unsurprisingly, this wasnot a difficult task and we quickly becameclose as we planned next year’s big proj-ects and helped out with Orientation.Moreover, in the summer, I met all Presi-dents from the Student Society of McGillUniversity to discuss joint projects and is-sues. This allowed the LSA to build betterrelations with lower campus throughoutthe year. Although we are different in sev-eral respects, these meetings were verybeneficial in allowing me to understandhow the others associations function andalso allowed me to better understand theAdministration of McGill. Some of the is-

sues we discussed at the Presidents’meetings included the opt-in campaignand addressing demands to improve theportfolio of the Provost Student Life &Learning. In the summer, I also met withthe Presidents of UdeM and UQAM to dis-cuss about our projects and sponsorships.

Ensuite à l’automne, après la folie d’Orien-tation, nous sommes parties tous lesexecs ensemble en retreat pour faire lepoint et mettre sur pied nos différents ob-jectifs de l’année. Ce fut une très belle ex-périence et cela nous a permis entre autrede renforcer nos liens, mais aussi de con-crétiser comment nous allions réaliser nosprojets. Ce fut aussi un moment ou nousavons fait des mises en situation et quenous avons mis sur papier ce que c’étaitpour nous l’AÉD. En regardant les docu-ments de cette fin de semaine, je peuxdire qu’en cette fin d’année tout le mondea bien réussi ses objectifs. Bien sûr, celan’a pas toujours été parfait, mais engénéral ce fût des succès et tous ont tra-vaillé fort et n’ont jamais abandonné.

Suite à la manifestation du 10 novembre,j’ai commencé à avoir des rencontresavec l’administration de McGill ce qui s’estavéré assez nouveau. Nous avons eu desrencontres pour savoir comment les étu-diants pouvaient se sentir plus impliquésdans les décisions administratives, com-ment améliorer la sécurité, pour avoir noscommentaires sur le rapport de notredoyen et sur le Protocole de sécurité.Honnêtement, je peux dire qu’il y a euune grande amélioration du côté de lacommunication entre étudiants et admin-istration ce qui aura été un point positif

des événements du 10 novembre, maisaussi de l’occupation du James Building.

En tant que présidente, j’ai aussi rencon-tré environ deux fois par mois notredoyen afin de discuter de toute sortedequestions que les étudiants avaient. Nousavons convenu que nous installerons bien-tôt dans la Faculté des télévisions afin defaciliter l’échange d’informations et de fa-ciliter la vie des étudiants pour savoir cequi se passe à chaque jour dans la Faculté.De plus, nous avons discuté, par exemple,de comment améliorer l’espace de la bib-liothèque et de nouvelles mesures sontprésentement discutées pour avoir plusd’espaces durant la période d’exam enavril.

Mon objectif cette année était de rendrel’AED plus accessible et que chaque étudi-ant nous connaisse et n’hésite pas à venirnous voir. J’ai donc décidé de mettre surpied les « Breakfast with the Execs ».Nous ne savions pas au début si cela allaitfonctionner, mais nous avons été trèsheureux des résultats. Les étudiants quivenaient nous voir étaient très diversifiéset nous avons eu d’excellentes discussionsavec plusieurs d’entre vous. C’est défini-tivement une activité que j’encouragemon successeur à continuer et en plus, çafaisait chaud au cœur de vous voir de trèsbonne humeur avant vos cours matinales:)

On a sadder note, we lost a recent gradu-ate student this fall. To honour her mem-ory, the LSA has created the AlexandraDodger Award for Social Justice. It will beawarded for the first time this year to astudent who has contributed to the Fac-

14 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

Writing this final report makes me LS-sAd.My time LS-yAying is now over. Booh. Buthonestly, LS-yAy is the most adequate wayto describe my year as VP-PR. Being VP-PRis stressful at times (or most of the time),but also very fun. This year, my personalgoals as VP-PR were the following: getnew sponsors and raise more money for

the LSA by creating new opportunities andwork closely with the CDO to make surethat our activities did not overlap. More-over, I tried to think of ways for Public In-terest organizations to benefit from morevisibility at the Faculty.

Les mois de mai et juin ont été consacrésà l’amélioration du plan de commandites

de l’année passée. À celui-ci, j’ai ajoutétoutes les idées que l’Exécutif souhaitaitvoir en place. Le kiosque de crème glacéeBilboquet commandité par BLG ainsi queles tacos gratuits de Gowlings en sont desexemples. J’ai également eu à m’assurerque certaines activités soient perpétrées,comme le Law Partner Lunch payé par

ÉLOÏSeGAGNÉ

ulty community through commitment andleadership in the fields of law and socialjustice within and outside the faculty.Presently, friends of Alexandra are plan-ning to raise sixty thousand dollars inorder to permanently establish theAlexandra Dodger Memorial Award.Please help them make this a reality. To

learn more, or to make a donation, pleasevisit:http://alexdodgerbursary.webstarts.com/index.html

Enfin, un merci tout spécial aux membresdu LSA Council qui ont aussi fait un excel-lent travail en participant à toutes lesdeux semaines à des rencontres et en ap-

portant des points de vue sur des sujetsimportants au sein de la Faculté. Il ne fautsurtout pas les oublier! Je vous laissedonc avec cette photo qui vous rappellerapeut-être quelque chose!

Bon succès dans vos examens et dans vosprojets futurs! Merci à tous pour votre im-plication cette année!

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

AÉD VP RELATIONS PUBLIQUES

QN • MARCH 27, 2012 • 15

Stikeman Elliott et la commandite ducocktail du Welcome Ball par McCarthyTétrault. C’est également à ce momentque la commandite des Law Games a étéconfirmée.

Dans la même optique, j’ai essayé d’en-courager de plus petits cabinets à opterpour des activités moins dispendieuses,mais qui leur offriraient tout de mêmeune belle visibilité. En effet, j’ai proposéque des coffeehouses commanditéssoient organisés par deux ou trois plus pe-tits cabinets ou organisations publiques.J’ai également créé un système similairepour les conférences. Malheureusement,personne ne s’est montré très réceptifcette année mais je suis certaine que c’estquelque chose que mon successeur de-vrait considérer!

Vers la fin juin, j’ai envoyé mon plan decommandites aux cabinets et autres insti-tutions. Dès lors, j’ai eu à monter et gérerle calendrier des activités commanditéesde l’année (activités de l’Orientation, cof-feehouses, conférences…). Durant le restede l’été, j’ai également eu à trouver descommanditaires pour le site Internet del’AÉD, l’Agenda étudiant, le bottin, le QuidNovi... Après une centaine de courriels en-voyés et une facture de téléphone salée,j’étais alors prête en août à mettre tousles événements planifiés en œuvre.

Une fois les cours commencés, je me suisassurée que toutes les activités comman-ditées de l’Orientation se déroulent sansanicroches. Plus tard en septembre, il y aaussi eu le premier coffeehouse comman-dité par Baker McKenzie (un cabinet deToronto) ainsi qu’une conférence de Mc-Carthy sur l’heure du midi, illustrant lequotidien des étudiants dans un grandcabinet. Cinq autres conférences ont aussieu lieu cette année, dont une organisé parLenczner Slaght, un nouveau commandi-taire que j’ai «recruté» cette année. Égale-ment, bien que les fusions et acquisitionssoit le sujet qui vous passionne tous leplus, je me suis assurée que les thèmesprésentés puissent aussi vous donner desatouts dans la vie de tous les jours. Par ex-emple, une conférence porta cette annéesur les moyens de faire une bonne im-

pression. Une autre, donnée par AndréBacchus de chez Heenan Blaikie Torontoexposa différentes carrières du droit pos-sibles pour les étudiants gradués.

The Sponsored Coffeehouse Carnivalstarted off on October 27th. Overall, ninecoffeehouses were sponsored this year,which means that I organised two morethan in past years. The CDO and myselfalso worked hard in order to put togethera Public Interest «sponsored» Coffee-house. The idea was well received but weboth lacked the time and resources to or-ganize it properly. We are both hopingthat this project will be possible next year.Also, the famous Lavery Hockey game washeld early in January. As usual, it was well-attended.

On a more miscellaneous note, four iPodraffles happened this year. I built a newsponsorship with another financial institu-tion and coordinated the sponsorship ofLaw School of Rock and Skit Nite (spon-sored by Blakes) and the Fashion Show(Gowlings). This year, an etiquette work-shop was also organized through the LSAExec and Stikeman Elliott. I got the repara-tion of our sound system sponsored byLavery and they even offered to reuphol-ster some sofas in the student lounge! Fi-nally, I organized the lunch for the ABC’smock interviews, which was a joint CDO /LSA event. There are probably a fewthings that I am forgetting but I tried togive you a very condensed and edited ver-sion of what I did this summer and thisyear. You know… when I joke that I had nolife… well, I was not joking.

Officiellement, toutes les activités com-manditées sont maintenant terminées. Jesuis présentement en train d’envoyer lesfactures pour l’année. Comme l’a dit Mike: «it feels like Christmas.» Cependant, jene peux m’empêcher de poser un regardnostalgique sur l’année qui vient depasser. La réalisation de tous ces événe-ments ne se seraient jamais fait sans lesupport et l’aide de l’AÉD. Vraiment, nousétions une équipe unie et jamais je n’au-rais pu y arriver sans eux. Chacun a tou-jours été de bon conseil et cetteatmosphère m’a sincèrement motivée à

faire de mon mieux afin de développer denouvelles opportunités et d’obtenird’autres commandites.

Également, j’aimerais dire que j’ai rencon-tré à toutes les deux semaines MaryseChouinard, directrice du Centre dedéveloppement professionnel. Un sincèreeffort a été mis des deux côtés afin queles activités du CDP soient vraiment objec-tives et que les étudiants soient éveillés àdifférents métiers. Comme une certainepolémique réside toujours à ce sujet,j’aimerais clarifier un point importantdans mon rapport. Dans l’organisationd’activités, lorsqu’il s’agissait de comman-dites privées, les activités ont été organ-isées à travers l’AÉD. Comme vous pouvezle voir, tout ce qui est Coffeehouse, con-férences données par un seul cabinet,iPod, free booze… c’était moi. Lorsqu’ils’agissait plutôt de panels, journées car-rières, speed-meets, etc., c’était Maryse.C’est une distinction importante surlaquelle nous avons toutes deux travaillécette année afin de coordonner nosévénements et de clairement distinguernos mandats. Maryse s’est donc toujoursassurée que vous ne soyez pas directe-ment dirigés vers un cabinet spécifiquemais que vous puissiez avoir une visionplus objective de ce qui est possible.

Finalement, un merci spécial au SAOd’avoir étampé au moins 200 affiches an-nonçant les événements commandités,mais aussi d’avoir été très patients avecmes demandes pressantes et à la dernièreminute de réservation de salle. Merci en-core aux secrétaires de m’avoir aidé à dif-férents égards, que ce soit en recevant lespaquets qui m’étaient destinés ou enm’assistant dans l’emprunt de tables et dechaises. J’aimerais aussi remercier lesconcierges de leur précieuse aide àchaque événement.

Now, I would really love your feedback onthe year that has passed. If you have anyideas, contacts, comments… please emailme (vp-pr.lsa@mail.mcgill.ca) and I willforward the information to my successor!It was a great pleasure working for youthis year!

16 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 17

My main goals this year were (1) creating the greatest faculty ac-ademic agenda, (2) turning the website into a point of referencefor the student body, (3) increasing the overall effectiveness ofthe Law Students’ Association Executive through a good adminis-tration.

L’agenda de l’AÉD, rempli de phrases de dragues afin d’enjolivervos semaines, contenant plus d’espace pour écrire et disponibledans un format plus pratique (youpi pour les reliures spiralées),a, je crois, atteint un succès modeste. En gardant en tête que laplupart d’entre nous utilisons maintenant nos téléphones intelli-gents ou nos ordinateurs portables pour organiser nos journées,plus de 200 agendas ont été ramassés par les étudiants au débutde l’année. De plus, environ 50 agendas ont été distribués auxmembres du SAO, CDO et du Bureau du Doyen et nous avonsreçu beaucoup de commentaires positifs à propos de l’outil detravail. Ma suggestion pour l’année prochaine? Commander unmaximum de 300 agendas et en imprimer davantage plus tard sibesoin est!

As for the website, although the layout remained virtually thesame, it was updated on a much more frequent basis this year(about every two days), and most major club activities were fea-tured on it. Online payment was made available for the purchaseof LSA sweatpants/sweatshirts, registration for the MalpracticeCup and the purchase of Grad Ball Tickets (still not over!!!). Fur-thermore, the LSA Calendar and the front page of the LSA web-site featured LSA, Clubs and CDO events so that advertisement

for the biggest faculty events would be concentrated on a singlepage. Finally, the minutes of LSA Council were made availablequickly (although I’m not sure how many of you even knew theywere made public) and special pages under the “Events” sectionwere set up for the major activities: Orientation, Elections, Mal-practice Cup, Ski Trip, Grad Ball Survey, Grad Ball tickets, etc.

Furthermore, better administration of the LSA was achievedthrough an overall increase in communications between the LSAand the student body, particularly through the website and thelistservs. Indeed, the bi-weekly listservs now have a short tableof content (scoop: same format as the Notice Board, as I wasyour Noticee for a year, spamming you four times a week overthe fall semester!!!), colour, and respect McGill’s bilingualism.The LSA Council Minutes also have colour (!) and are much moredetailed than they’ve ever been – practically everything thatcomes out of your elected VPs, Class Presidents or Members atLarge’s mouths are faithfully transcribed.

En somme, je suis fière de ce que j’ai accompli en tant que Vice-Présidente Administration cette année (la plupart de mes tâchesn’étant pas décrites dans ce rapport puisque la majorité d’entrevous n’êtes probablement pas intéressés par les détails de mestâches administratives) mais, surtout, par ce que nous avons ac-compli en équipe, Catherine, Éloïse, Georgia, Graham, Michèle,Faiz, Ian, Mike et moi-même. Comme Graham l’a si bien exprimédans son rapport: “I think that this year’s LSA succeeded at facili-tating a stronger and more open community”.

CAROLiNe-ARiANeBeRNieR

ADAMLA FRANCe& LAURieBiRBiLAS

Dear 3Ls,

It has been an honour to serve as your Co-Presi-dents this past year. Sachant que vous êtes prob-ablement trop occupés avec votre préparationpour les examens à venir pour lire un long rap-port détaillé, nous vous le proposons dans laforme d'un haïku:

Third year went by so fastThe après-ski party was a blastA Plus

Adam & Laurie

LSA VP ADMINISTRATION

3L CO-PRESIDENTS

18 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

Serving as your VP-Finance for the past year has been a privilege.While I will miss working with Caro, Ian, Fuzzy, Élo, Catherine,Georgia, Michou, and Graham, I look forward to working withthe incoming executive. Below are some of the major projectsthat I worked on this past year and how I plan to approach themnext year.

AuditsL’AÉD a complété des audits pour les années FY2010 et FY2011.Ces audits sont exigés par notre Protocole d’accord avec l’univer-sité pour recevoir nos frais. Mon objectif est d’avoir complétél’audit pour FY2012 avant la fin de l’été afin que ça va m’aider acréer le budget pour FY2013.

BudgetsThis year, the LSA budgeted for a small deficit. We did this be-cause conservatively estimated revenues and expenses havetended in consistent large surpluses. This isn’t necessarily a goodthing. Substantial surpluses mean that students are contributingmore to the LSA than they are getting out of it. If the LSA man-ages to finish the FY2012 audit before the end of the summer, Ihope to see how well this budget strategy worked before I final-ize the FY2013 budget and present it in October.

Online PaymentsPour la première fois cette année, les étudiants pouvaient s’en-registrer pour l’orientation de la première année et pouvaient

commander leurs chemises sure notre site internet. Sous le sys-tème actuel, l’administration de l’université traite les payements.Mon objectif est de remplacer ce système par un système dePayPal afin que l’AÉD aura plus de contrôle sur le système et aurade meilleurs rapports.

GST & QST (TPS & TVQ) The LSA began charging GST & QST (VATs) for some of its activi-ties this year. This change allows the LSA to add GST & QST on itsinvoices to law firms, which costs the firms nothing since theycan simply deduct this from the taxes on their legal fees. Like-wise, the LSA can also deduct the GST & QST on some of its ex-penses and pocket some of the extra revenue. While sales tostudents (orientation registration, event tickets, clothing etc.)will now include GST & QST, the change will not actually increasetotal prices since the cost of these sales are mostly made up ofgoods and services that include tax. Essentially, the LSA makesmore money at the expense of Revenue Canada and RevenueQuebec, but it will require the LSA to itemize its revenues andexpenses into taxable and non-taxable activities. Please let meknow if you have any questions about this.

Merci de m’avoir donné l’opportunité de vous servir en tant quevotre VP Finances. J’ai vraiment hâte de vous servir pour encoreune année.

MiChAeLMULRONeY

AÉD VP FINANCES

iANCLARke

LSA VP EXTERNAL

What a crazy year! The portfolio was verychallenging at times, but it was an incredi-ble learning experience for me. It will bevery difficult to sum up what happened in1000 words. Let’s begin with a brief re-view of my campaign promises.

1. Gaining access to SSMU club fundingand resourcesThe SSMU and the LSA had a memoran-

dum of agreement to govern the relation-ship between LSA clubs and the SSMU.Unfortunately, the agreement had longsince been forgotten and had expired. Iinitially came to an informal agreementwith the SSMU VP that LSA Clubs couldgain access to lockers/room rentals/clubfunding through the use of the LSA name.Negotiations are closing up that will see

the SSMU commit more resources to LSAclub funding.

2. Passing along information from exter-nal bodiesI have poured through the SSMU weeklylistservs, and forwarded all tangentiallyrelated information to the key stakehold-ers or through the LSA weekly listservs.SSMU events, such as General Assemblies

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 19

and Consultation Forums, also saw recordlaw student attendance. We also had ourfirst-ever Faculty Olympics team.

3. Articulated stance on tuition increases For the first time in recent memory, theLSA took a political stance when the LSAAGM passed a tuition policy resolution.This was the result of several town halls,hosted by both the SSMU and the LSA.From that policy, the LSA published anopinion-editorial in the Montreal Gazette.We were also a driving force for CADED,the Civil Law Schools Student Associa-tions, as we were a role model in terms ofinternal consultation and external out-reach. A recent article was published in LeDevoir by CADED with the LSA endorsingit.

One of the biggest challenges that I facedthis year was student consultation and therelationship between elected representa-tives and their constituents. This wasmost apparent during the MUNACA strikewhere the LSA Executive and LSA Councilthought it was best to not choose a side. Ican freely admit that I was anxious/terri-fied in engaging in dialogue on the issue.Unfortunately, this created a kettle effectwhereby stifling dialogue caused the situ-ation to boil over at a General Assembly.This was not the way to engage withpeers, and I apologize. But it was also alearning experience.

The much more constructive and effectiveapproach was the one used during the Tu-ition and Bill C-10 discussions, and it is aprocess that I would like to see employedin future situations. Hosting town halls,general assemblies and other consultativeforums really helped promote a healthydialogue, and I feel it brought out a wholenew set of LSA members that had previ-ously felt disenfranchised with its stu-

dents association. By allowing individualsto be heard and listened to, it promotedan environment that empowered stu-dents to take the initiative and buy-in. Theexchange of ideas was apparent through-out the hallways, in the Quid, and in ourrecord referendum turnouts, and it dis-pelled the notion that law students areseparate from the rest of the world.

Another benefit from this discussion isthat we are moving closer towards defin-ing the role of the LSA and the stated pur-pose in our constitution. From neverhaving taken a political stance before, tovoting on the MUNACA strike, tuition pol-icy and Bill C-10, we have opened thedoors towards a restrained sense of politi-cal activism. However, it is difficult to as-certain a bright line rule from ourreferendum results as to when the LSAwill speak out on a political issue. It couldbe said that the Bill C-10 issue was theperfect storm for LSA political activismdue to its direct impact on the legal sys-tem and its widely-acknowledged inade-quacies. This ambiguity will need to beaddressed in the future.

There are positives and negatives if theLSA does decide to wade into more politi-cal waters. The positives could be in-creased student engagement andawareness of socio-political issues, andalso more student involvement in the LSAas it branches out from its traditional apo-litical role. The inherent problem with po-litical activism is that the issues tend to bevery divisive, and must be handled with asoft touch (see my first MUNACA email asa poor choice of wording). There is alsothe risk of spewing out hundreds of policywithout any concrete action. This concernis very real where there is only one VP-Ex-ternal. Ways to mitigate this fear is to tap

into this new area of student energy andpassion, and delegate power to commit-tees of interested individuals.

In SSMU-related news, we played a muchmore influential role. In our strategy topromote Bill C-10 awareness, the LSAsponsored a Bill C-10 resolution at theSSMU Winter Semester General Assembly.After it unanimously passed at SSMUCouncil, the SSMU began a media cam-paign in tandem with ours. I also initiateda referendum question that will ask stu-dents to decide whether General Assem-bly resolutions should be ratified with anonline vote. This reflects the concernsthat, as law students, we are all ratherbusy and sometimes cannot find time toattend the SSMU General Assembly, andthat General Assemblies with such poorattendance cannot be representative ofthe student body. The proposed new ap-proach will mimic the strategy employedby the LSA this year by hosting a townhall/ general assembly to initially deter-mine if the issue at hand is of pressingconcern, and then allow the entire stu-dent body vote on the issue.

There were many, many, many otherthings that I have created and developedthis year, but I have simply no space towrite all of it. Please have a chat with meas I don’t want this institutional memoryto go to waste! If I could emphasize any-thing for the next VP-External, it is to clar-ify the LSA’ stated purpose in theConstitution and to create a committee-like system to help spread the work and tokeep people engaged.

Oh, and the sweatshirts and sweatpantsare fine.

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

20 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

Prior to handing my LSA office key toAlexandra Belley-McKinnon, your VP-Aca-demic for 2012-2013, I would like to giveyou an idea of what I have focused on thisyear as one of your LSA representatives. Imention the key, because to me it trulywas a magical moment. I felt so powerful,in a good way. I promise.

In April of 2011, the LSA received a clearmandate to advocate in favour of chang-ing the name of our common law degreefrom an LL.B. to a J.D. 212 students votedin favour, while 87 were opposed and 11spoiled their ballots. Durant l’année sco-laire 2010-2011, mon prédécesseur avaitcréé un comité J.D./LL.B. qui a rédigé unrapport neutre destiné à informer le corpsétudiant en présentant les argumentspour et contre ce changement. Cetteannée, les étudiants de ce comité, soitScott Horne, Derek Zeisman et MartinBergeron ont rédigé un plaidoyer enfaveur de l’adoption du J.D., qui comprenddes réponses aux objections et auxmythes souvent associés à ce débat,l’ensemble des arguments appuyant lechangement, certains témoignages d’étu-diants ayant subi un préjudice en raisonde la désignation LL.B., ainsi qu’un his-torique de l’évolution de ce débat au seinde la faculté depuis 2009. In addition tothis student committee, an advisory groupwas instituted by Dean Jutras, which wascomposed of students as well as facultymembers. In order to provide guidanceand advice on the issues surrounding thedegree name change, this advisory groupgathered input from the McGill Law com-munity and ensured open communicationwith the LSA and the student body. Thisyear, my goal with respect to the J.D./LL.B.was to make sure your voice, as it was ex-pressed in April of 2011, was heard andbrought to the Faculty Council. I am veryhappy to reassure you that there havebeen productive and helpful ongoing dis-

cussions with faculty about this issue, andconstructive feedback has been ex-changed between the LSA membershipand the Faculty. Having also recognizedthe need to gather and disseminate fur-ther information on the J.D., the J.D. stu-dent committee has made the reports of2009, 2011 and 2012 available to you thisyear (I swear, check the listserv). Also, aTown Hall was held on February 1st,where students were invited to ask theirquestions and express their concerns,which were subsequently communicatedto the Faculty. Students mainly askedabout the effect of the change on cegepstudents, the proposition of a cosmeticchange v. substantive change to curricu-lum (what a substantive change would en-tail), the procedural steps required tomake the change, as well as whether theLL.B. could potentially discourageprospective students to apply. Just lastweek, a second referendum was held,where 287 of you voted yes, 74 voted no,and 49 expressed no opinion. The pur-pose of this referendum was to reiteratestudent support for the change. This man-date is still remarkably strong, and ratherconsistent with last year’s numbers, butwith a higher voter turnout than the refer-endum of April 2011.

Outre la question J.D./LL.B., l’un de mesobjectifs en tant que votre Vp-Académique de cette année, étaitd’inciter les étudiants à tisser des liensplus rapprochés et à favoriser l’entraide etla collaboration entre eux. En effet, aumois de décembre a eu lieu un deuxièmeLaw Partners Lunch, où les mentors desannées supérieures furent encouragés àdonner un dernier coup de main aux étu-diants de première année avant la périodedes examens. Je crois sincèrement que laraison d’être de ce jumelage ne devraitpas se réduire à une simple rencontre du-rant la semaine d’orientation au mois

d’août. Ainsi, j’encourage les futurs lawpartners à préserver un certain contactavec leur étudiant de première année endemeurant disponible pour répondre àses questions et à ses inquiétudes tout aulong de l’année scolaire. Enfin, le jumelagepeut se faire à n’importe quel momentdurant l’année scolaire, pas nécessaire-ment uniquement au mois d’août.

Toujours en lien avec mon objectif précé-dent, j’ai mis sur pied un programme detutorat pour les étudiants de premièreannée. Last semester, a total of ten tutorshad drop-in hours during which studentscould ask their questions in contracts,constitutional law, torts, or civil law prop-erty. This semester, in order to have amore effective system, each student willbe matched directly with one upper yeartutor. I invite all first year students prepar-ing for final exams to get in touch with meif they feel tutoring could be helpful forApril exams. Since this is the first year weattempt this project, your suggestions andcomments on how the program can be setup for next year are welcomed and appre-ciated.

In addition, as part of my portfolio, I was amember of the Curriculum Committee. Asmost of you are probably aware, the Fed-eration of Law Societies of Canada’s Com-mon Law Degree ImplementationCommittee developed a proposal to im-plement a uniform national requirementfor entry to law society admission pro-grams in Canadian common law jurisdic-tions. The Curriculum Committee studiedour program and made recommendationsfor complying with the national require-ments. Thus, a basket of administrativelaw courses from which students mustchoose a mandatory course was created,and the business associations course wasmade obligatory.

LSA VP ACADEMICGeORGiApApADOLiAS

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 21

Enfin, au mois de janvier, un comité surles langues officielles a été créé pourréviser la politique linguistique de 1992qui ne reflète plus adéquatement les réal-ités présentes à la faculté. En plus deprocéder à une reconfiguration et à unenouvelle rédaction de la politique, lecomité entreprend l’écriture d’un rapportqui fera la mise au point en étudiant laplace du français à la faculté et en justifi-ant les amendements faits à la politiquede 1992. Ce projet devrait être complétéd’ici le mois de septembre 2012.

Since it is impossible to exhaustively sum-marize everything that has been done thisyear in a couple of paragraphs, I stronglyencourage students to get in touch withme if they have any questions. Pour con-clure, je souhaite d’abord et avant tout re-mercier toute l’équipe de l’AÉD pour leuraide précieuse tout au long de l’annéescolaire. Un gros merci également auxétudiants membres du comité J.D. pourleurs efforts et tout le temps qu’ils ontdévoué à ce projet, ainsi qu’aux tuteurs

sans lesquels le programme de tutorat nese serait jamais concrétisé. Before hand-ing over this special key (and the comfycouches that come with it), I would alsolike to thank students for giving me theopportunity to live this incredible experi-ence. Even though my mandate is comingto an end, I am still available to respondto your questions and concerns regardingall matters of academic nature. Bonne finde session!

LAW SENATORiANCLARke

C O N T I N U E D F R O M P R E V I O U S PA G E

Serving as law senator was a very interest-ing experience as it gave me a more in-side-view into the internal operations ofMcGill University. I would begin by sayingthat Senate Student Caucus, under theleadership of SSMU VP-University AffairsEmily Clare, was the most remarkable stu-dent body I have ever sat on. The wide-ranging set of talents and expertise, thetime and energy invested into McGill Sen-ate and consultative bodies, and the re-straint, respect and understanding shownby each student senator was simply in-credible.

Two particular events stand out as attesta-tions of the pivotal role Senate StudentCaucus played last year. The motion con-cerning Academic Amnesty, in lieu of theMUNACA labour dispute, proved the cau-cus’ ability to strategically discuss theplace of dissent on campus. Knowing priorto the meeting that this will be a cause forcontroversy amongst other senators, themembers of the committee in due dili-gence researched other cases related toAcademic Amnesty and collaboratively au-thored an air tight motion.

The senate meeting after the events of

November 10th, 2011, also proves theability for the SSMU Senate Caucus to mo-bilize under time constraints. The conver-sations concerning this particular issuewas relentlessly in a state of follow-up andthe caucus did its best to hold people ac-countable for the safety and well-being ofits constituency’s living and learningspace. Whether it was through consulta-tion forums, university processes, or col-laborative means, the committeeenforced the necessity of the reparativenature of the university’s actions concern-ing November 10th.

Here are some of the projects SSMU sena-tors have worked on throughout the year:

- Consultation Fairs: These were eventswith multiple round-table discussionsfocusing on different issues concerningstudents. The goal was to bring to-gether students and administrators tofoster open dialogue. The second Con-sultation Fair featured key issues follow-ing the events of November 10th- A completely new website for theSSMU Senators blog, Senators’ Corner,was created as a way for the committeemembers to better connect with stu-dents, and for them to understand the

caucus’ exact role on campus- The second annual Forum on Under-graduate was held to discuss key issuesfacing Undergraduates at McGill such asstudy space on campus, degree flexibil-ity, and career services availability- A review committee of McGill’s GreenBook on Student Rights & Responsibili-ties as current processes place unduestress and anxiety on students

I would finish by saying that I was ecstaticto see the Law Senator position contestedthis year, and that there was record stu-dent participation in the election. Law stu-dents heavily influenced Senate StudentCaucus this year due to all your enthusedresponses to our consultative outreachinitiatives, and I thank you for this!

My one recommendation to the new LawSenator is to maintain strong ties with LSACouncil in order to relay information backand forth. Senate Student Caucus is agreat place to learn about new and excit-ing initiatives being implementedthroughout campus, which could be suc-cessfully transplanted into the Law Fac-ulty.

22 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

LSA VP CLUBS & SERVICESFAiZLALANi

SummaryAt the beginning of the semester, I set three broad benchmarksfor the VP Clubs & Services portfolio: firstly, to significantly in-crease funding for clubs; secondly, to simplify the clubs fundingapplication process; and finally, to provide extensive logisticalsupport to clubs. I am happy to report that the LSA was able to –by and large – meet and exceed its goals with respect to studentclubs and groups at the Faculty. Moreover, from speaking withclub leaders, I have come to the conclusion that there is generalsatisfaction with the timeliness and efficacy of the support pro-vided by the LSA to clubs.

Clubs : les chiffresTandis que le nombre des clubs inscrit auprès de l’AÉD à peu prèsle même cette année par comparaison à l’année passée, le fi-nancement destiné aux clubs a été augmenté de quarante pour-cent. Par conséquence, tous les clubs ayant soumis leursdemandes dans les délais prescrits ont reçu des fonds. Certes,quelques dépenses ont été rejetées, mais ceci n’est arrivé querarement. L’effet de l’augmentation du financement est palpable,notamment en observant le nombre d’événements organisés parles clubs cette année. Quelques événements et initiatives sontsoulignés vers la fin de ce rapport.Pendant la session d’autonome, l’AÉD a reçu et a approuvé vingt-neuf demandes de financement. Plus de deux-tiers des fonds ontété alloués. Le reste a été déboursé pendant la session d’hiver,où quatorze demandes de financement ont été soumises. Étantdonné que parfois les clubs ne demandent pas le rembourse-ment, j’ai assuré d’allouer des montants excédant mon budgetdes clubs.

Access to fundingOne of the main concerns I had coming in as the Vice-PresidentClubs & Services was to ensure that LSA funding would be easilyaccessible – that is, that there wouldn’t be bureaucratic hurdlesin receiving funds. That concern had to be balanced against pre-venting a misappropriation of funds, however unlikely that maybe. The clubs and DDF funding forms were shortened, simplyasking for a description of the events planned for and a basicbudget for each event. On that basis, allocation decisions de-tailed the restriction on spending per general item. For example,simple categories of “publicity” or “food” were employed toallow clubs for some amount of discretion, but restricting reim-bursements for inappropriate spending. And whenever a clubasked to change their specific allocation during each semester,

allowances were made to accommodate such requests.

Les CoffeehousesPlusieurs clubs ont soumis des demandes de coffeehouse pourun nombre limité de dates. Afin d’assurer que chaque club-de-mandeur puisse organiser un coffeehouse, j’ai du faire desgroupes de deux pour la majorité des coffeehouses. Pour cer-tains clubs les coffeehouses servent de moyen de collecte defonds supplémentaire ; le but principal pour la plupart des clubsreste de se faire connaître à travers la Faculté.

Logistical supportBesides funding and coffeehouses, the LSA was able to supportclub activities by providing logistical support. For example, theVice-President Internal (On-going Event), Michèle, arranged forvarious alcohol permits throughout the year so that clubs couldserve alcohol at events. A range of resources – from our soundsystem and mic, to the LSA fridge – were also made available toclubs. McGill Special Events was especially cooperative in re-sponding to order requests.

Événements Je souligne ici quelques événements et initiatives des clubs de laFaculté pour vous montrer la variété des groupes qui ont reçu lesoutien de l’AÉD cette année :- Le deuxième tournoi de foosball de McGill International Foos-ball Association, qui a rassemblé plus de $1 000 pour l’organismede bienfaisance « Right To Play ».- Un voyage organisé par le Caucus des femmes à la CourSuprême du Canada à Ottawa.- Une conférence sur le Plan Nord, organisé par l’association étu-diante pour les droits des peuples autochtones, Droit Environ-nemental McGill et La Revue internationale de droit et politiquedu développement durable de McGill.- La Revue de droit de McGill a reçu des fonds pour organiser undébat constitutionnel sur la place du Québec et la conférenceannuelle de la Revue donnée par Mary Dawson, rédactrice de laCharte.- De plus, plusieurs projets du Human Rights Working Group ontété bénéficiaires de notre soutien, y compris le Speed Meet endroit de l’immigration, une table ronde sur le « Ethical Engage-ment » et Kony 2012, de même qu’une conférence sur les mé-dias sociaux et le printemps arabe.

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 23

24 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

STUDeNTMeMBeRS

ON FACULTYCOUNCiL

FACULTY COUNCIL REPORTMarch 14th, 2012

Ce mois-ci, le Conseil de la Faculté a été surtout préoccupé pardes questions concernant les études supérieures, alors en tantque vos représentants de premier cycle nous avons peu à vousrapporter.

La question à savoir si la bourse Ogilvy Renault devrait êtrerenommée la bourse Norton Rose Canada pour refléter lechangement de nom de la firme donatrice originale fut contro-versée de façon pour le moins surprenante. Après un vif débatsur la question, qui englobait aussi une discussion à savoir si etquand il était approprié pour des firmes d’avoir des salles, desbuildings, des bourses et des chaires nommés en leur noms, leConseil de la Faculté en est venu à une décision : le nom seraitchangé.

Other name changes included that of the courses currentlyknown as European Community Law I & II, which shall hence-forth be known as European Union Law I & II… until the EU de-cides to disband! (That’s Michael’s joke – don’t blame us if it islame).

Moving now to substantive curriculum issues, Employment Law(LEEL 570) was added to the transsystemic basket, and will countas 1.5 credits towards each of the common law and civil lawcourse requirements. Labour Law (LEEL 369) was added to theComplementary Human Rights and Social Diversity basket.

Finally, recruitment efforts at the faculty continue at a high pace,as the Hiring Committee seeks to fill a number of vacancies inthe coming years. Students are encouraged to attend the ques-tion and answer sessions that will allow them to meet potentialprofessors and provide feedback.

Eden AlexanderPascale AprilEric BrousseauMichael ShorttDerek Zeisman

EASTER BREAK @ THE CAFBy Michèle Lamarre-Leroux, LSA VP Internal (Ongoing Events)

Please note the following opening hours for the cafeteria during Easter Break in April:Thursday the 5th: 7h30-17h30

Friday 6th and Monday 9th: Closed

Also, Scott, the cafeteria manager, wants to you what YOU want to eat! He is making big changes to add somevariety to the menu, so please let him or myself know what YOU want to eat. Parlez-lui à la cafeteria ou encore

envoyez-moi un courriel à vp-internal.lsa@mail.mcgill.ca

QN • MARCH 27 2012 • 25

AiShATOpSAkAL

D o y e n n e a d j o i n t e , É t u d e s e t v i e é t u d i a n t e

Therapeutic Paws of Canada at the Faculty of Law

Come join us for some “puppy love” in the Atrium, le vendredi30 mars de 11h00 à 13h00! Therapeutic Paws of Canada will visitus with a canine friend who will teach you how to reduce stressand balance your lifestyle through community-building. Venezdécrocher et faire le plein d’énergie positive grâce à quelquescâlins poilus.

Sponsored by the Mary H. Brown Fund & The Debra GrobsteinCampbell and Barry Campbell Fund. Organized by the Faculty ofLaw and the McGill School of Environment. Cupcakes will beserved.

Fourth floor “Spring Fling” – Cupcakes & Pep Talks

Ever wonder if the 4th floor is filled with real people and what itwould be like to see us come out from behind our desks? Vousaimeriez établir un contact au-delà des explications sur les règle-ments internes et sur les dates de tombée? Need a quick peptalk to keep your motivation levels high as we head into anotherhectic exam season? And most importantly…do you like cup-cakes?

In collaboration with your LSA, the 4th floor staff is happy to in-vite you to our annual “Spring Fling” on Wednesday, April 4thfrom 12:30-2:30. Come meet the people behind the acronymsand mass emails: the Student Affairs Office (SAO), Career Devel-opment Office (CDO), Admissions and Graduate Studies Offices.Venez nous dire un petit bonjour, nous poser vos questions dedernière minute et nous donner des nouvelles de votre annéescolaire, tout en dégustant un petit gâteau fait maison. See youthere!

UPCOMING EVENTS

26 • 27 MARS 2012 • QN

MR. DAISEY AND THEMEDIA INDUSTRY

DAViDGROVeS

L a w I

THE OPTIMIST

Back in January, the radio show “ThisAmerican Life” aired an episode called“Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory”. It wasbased on a piece performed by monolo-gist Mike Daisey about his investigationinto Foxconn, a Chinese company thatmakes iPads, iPhones, and various otheriProducts. He told stories of chemical poi-soning, of underage workers, and ofarmed guards preventing anyone from en-tering or exiting the factory. It was a bru-tal exposé and it prompted, like any goodpiece of journalism, long and tough dis-cussions about what responsibility we asconsumers have to our producers. It wasalso the most downloaded episode in ThisAmerican Life history, triggering an exten-sive bout of media inquiry and criticismtowards Apple and Foxconn. Not only wasit stirring stuff, it actually had an effect.

So you can understand why people wereso angry when it turned out to be mostlymade-up. Daisey had been to the facto-ries in China, had interviewed workers,and had done some degree of traditionalinvestigative journalism, but he larded thepiece with imagined vignettes about 12-year old workers and perpetual video sur-veillance, none of which held up to evenmoderate scrutiny. In the end, This Ameri-can Life had to dedicate a full episode(“Retraction”) to all the various fudgesand fabrications they had unwittingly puton air. The episode culminated with an ex-tremely painful interview with MikeDaisey in which he defended his actionson the lines that, as a theatrical performerand not a journalist, he should be held toa lower standard. Elsewhere, he statedthat his goal was only “to get the media topay attention to an issue that had previ-

ously been ignored”. Of course, it hadn’treally been ignored: there are numerousreporters on the Foxconn beat already,many of whom worry that Daisey has, bylying so egregiously, given the companysomething of a free pass.

The whole sad debacle raises an interest-ing question for us as modern media con-sumers: when do we expect to be told theunvarnished truth? More and more, newsis coming to the public in non-traditionalforms – twitter feeds, amateur onlinejournalism, Wikileaks, Reddit, whatever.How do we know who to believe? Ofcourse, trusting what you hear has alwaysbeen a problem (there’s nothing newabout tabloids). What makes the modernpredicament different is that the volumeand variety of sources and formats avail-able to us, from podcasts to livefeeds toviral videos, make careful discernment dif-ficult. If what Daisey does looks like jour-nalism, is broadcast on a radio show thatoften (but not always) features journal-ism, and makes no effort to distinguish itsjournalistic elements from its fictionalones, how are we supposed to identify itas “theatre?”

The Daily Show is another excellent exam-ple of this problem. Since the mid-2000s,the show has transformed from a low-keylate-night satire into a genuine newssource for young, progressive Americans.It has done so by combining a very partic-ular political perspective with smart, bit-ing, and often hyperbolic comedy. Bothmake for great TV. Neither are conduciveto journalistic neutrality. Jon Stewart haswalked the difficult line of being both anentertainer and a news source by insistingthat his allegiance is more to humour

than to accuracy. But when the showturns its ire on a particular target, it canhave a real political impact. If people lis-ten to what he says the way they wouldlisten to a journalist, what difference doesit make if he refuses to accept that man-tle?

Complicating all this, our expectations ofaccuracy often dovetail with our expecta-tions of civility. When Rush Limbaughcalled Georgetown law student SandraFluke “a slut”, his defenders asserted thathe’s an entertainer, and thus shouldn’t beexpected to speak or act like a politicianor a journalist might. But millions ofAmericans listen to him every day as asource of news and analysis. If so, whyshouldn’t he be held to a higher standardof decency? Or is it the responsibility ofRush’s audience to separate the factsfrom the invective?

As entertainment and reporting start toblend in more and more complex ways,these are the kinds of questions we asmedia consumers are going to strugglewith. Mike Daisey tricked This AmericanLife (and me) because he masked his fic-tion in the form of journalism, creating astory that managed to be both sensa-tional and plausible at the same time. Ifwe accept his argument that journalismand theatre are different art forms andthus have different standards, we thenhave to ask how we can tell the two apart.In an age of 24/7 media saturation, whatis art and what is truth?

OVERHEARD AT THE FAC

quid.overheard@gmail.com

1L: Getting through that Foundations reading was like slowlydrinking a glass of sand.

Guest speaker in IP: The 1980s weren't just an ironic memory Ibring up while wearing American Apparel.

Prof. Glenn: Class actions are like guacamole.

Prof Gold: I like playing devil's advocate because I'm usually abetter advocate for things I don't believe in than I am for my ac-tual beliefs. [Pause] That's kind of sad.

Prof. Macdonald: I spent a lot of time in my basement with asledgehammer busting up all the extra records I made in the 60s.

Prof. Smith: I’m losing control of this class… I never should haveworn this casual shirt.

Prof. Gold: So far no one has offered me enough money to sellmy soul. In fact, no one has offered me any money. I thought I'dbe able to get a free lunch for my soul... or at least a free sand-which.

SUMMER IS RIGHT AROUNDTHE CORNER...

NEXT WEEK IS THELAST ISSUE OF THE QUID

FOR 2011-2012!

Vous avez quelque chose à dire?C’est votre dernière chance!

quid.law@mcgill.caDate de tombée:

JEUDI LE 29 MARS 2012 à 17 H