Events

PLRG Members

Wade Wright, Richard Albert, Justice Russell Brown, Kate Glover and Michael Pal

The Public Law Research Group actively strives to bring together dynamic groups of scholars, students, and jurists to explore foundational and cutting-edge issues of public law.  In recent years, the Group has organized and supported lectures, conferences, public forums, roundtables, research showcases, and reading groups that have wrestled with a diverse set of issues.

Conferences and Symposia

  • Rewriting the Canadian Constitution
  • Proportionality in Law
  • Originalist Constitutional Interpretation
  • Constitutional Interpretation and Morality

Public Forums & Reading Groups

  • The Public and Private Law Implications of the Trucker Convoys
  • Crown liability: Can the Crown do no wrong again … in Ontario?
  • The Public Law Implications of the SNC Lavalin Saga
  • The Constitution Notwithstanding – The Implications of a Reinvigorated Notwithstanding Clause
  • University-wide reading group on Canada’s Indigenous Constitution by John Borrows (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010).
  • Polygamy in Canada
  • The Role of the Governor General
  • Electoral Reform

Workshops, Roundtables, Lectures & Showcases

  • Courts Without Cases: The Law and Politics of Advisory Opinions with Prof. Carissima Mathen (University of Ottawa)
  • The Future of the Supreme Court with Prof. Kate Berger (Osgoode Hall Law School, York University)
  • Canada’s Indigenous Constitution with Prof. John Borrows (University of Victoria Law School)
  • Anishinaabe Law Camp at the Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, facilitated by Prof. John Borrows (University of Victoria), Prof. Heidi Stark (University of Victoria) and Lindsay Borrows
  • Junior Scholars Research Showcase with Prof. Asad Kiyani (University of Victoria), Prof. Wade Wright (Western Law) and Prof. Kate Berger (Osgoode Hall Law School, York University)
  • The New Commonwealth Model of Constitutionalism with Prof. Stephen Gardbaum (UCLA School of Law)
  • Community and Collective Rights: A Theoretical Framework for Rights Held by Groups with Prof. Dwight Newman (University of Saskatchewan) 
  • The Negotiable Constitution: On the Limitation of Rights with Prof. Grégoire Webber (Queen’s University)
  • Constitutional Rights, Moral Controversy, and the Supreme Court with Prof. Michael Perry (Emory University)