Year: 2012

Oasis juice gets slammed by the court of public opinion!

Though a simple copyright infringement case might not seem like the stuff of civil rights, a closer examination of the circumstances in Ms Deborah Kudzman’s legal struggle against the Lassonde Corporation (makers of Oasis fruit juice products) illustrates perfectly how access to justice in our system is definitely rigged in favour of the rich. The facts of this lawsuit may strike you as banal at first blush. Ms. Kudzman was served, back in 2005…

Welcome to The Comment Tree

Introducing The Comment Tree, a weekly collection of posts and commentary from social and mainstream media sources compiled by Tariq Jeeroburkhan – keeping up to date with the topics of interest in the current news cycle, international and domestic. This week: Random Thoughts, NDP Leadership, the 2012 Federal Budget and F-35 Fighter Jets…

The People vs. Justice

Back in 1803, the Supreme Court of the United States gave itself the power of judicial review. This ruling gives the Supreme Court the right to review the constitutionality of a law passed by Congress and declare it void if the judges feel the law violates the constitution. Judicial review is both celebrated and denounced by both Republicans and Democrats depending on which side of the fence the ruling finally lands. The Supreme Court has to interpret a document written over two hundred years ago and is subject to much interpretation…

CUTV journalist arrested live on the internet for doing his job (VIDEO)

This morning, CUTV (Concordia University Television) cameraman and programming director Laith Marouf was filming a student protest in Montreal when SPVM riot cops moved in. His footage was streaming out live on the web to approximately 5000 viewers. Despite repeated attempts to inform police that they, as journalists, were simply doing their job by filming the protest and police actions…

Craig Scott: The NDP’s brand new MP and public intellectual

As a New Democrat, nothing makes me prouder than to hear that the latest edition to the team blew his nearest rival (Gritty Grant Gordon) out of the water, in his resounding victory (nearly twice as many votes!) in Toronto-Danforth’s recent by-election. Jack’s spirit can rest easy knowing that his riding is still in good hands, and that his successor will continue his valuable work there. As a academic constitutional/human rights lawyer I couldn’t be more proud…

2012 Canadian Budget: A Nickel for my Thoughts

They say the first budget of a majority government is always the harshest; it’s a time when the government can do whatever it likes without the fear of answering to voters in an upcoming election. That being said, the first Majority Conservative budget in a generation could have been worse, but it could have been much better. The Conservatives plan to cut $5.2 billion over the next few years in an attempt to balance the budget before the next election. I have no qualms…

The Real Tragedy of Trayvon Martin

As much of the world knows by now, a young black teenager by the name of Trayvon Martin was killed last month by a volunteer Neighborhood Watch captain named George Zimmerman. Martin was walking back to his father’s house with a bag of skittles and talking to a friend on his cell phone. As he was walking, he noticed Zimmerman looking at him from his car and promptly lifted the hood of his hoodie over his head in an attempt to go unnoticed…

Big Tobacco’s Big Mistake

Few corporate so called legal “persons” are as heartless a big tobacco. When it comes to crushing their opponents, there is no low they won’t stoop to in their legal tactics, or, for that matter, their threats of violence towards whistle blowers (see The Insider, a movie about former tobacco company executive Jeffrey Wigand) and others who dare cross them. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprising when they dispatch a army of high priced lawyers to a small claims court in Rimouski Québec with the intention of scaring the shit out of the plaintiff…