This week on Fundamentals of Canadian Law, the “Convict Code,” duress as a defense, and prison discipline — we’re joined by professor Lisa Kerr, a faculty member at Queen’s Law and the creator of the Criminal Law module of Law 201/701: Introduction to Canadian Law for the Queen’s Certificate in Law. We talk about a recent court case and how the “prison code” and the principle of duress as a defense factor into disciplinary decisions in prisons. Brought to you as always by the Queen's Certificate in Law, the only online legal certificate program in Canada taught by a law faculty, at t ..read more

Yesterday, Queen's Law joined its faculty partners across the Queen's University campus in announcing a Fall 2020 semester that will be largely remote, and similar announcements are being made at colleges and universities across Canada. Where does that leave students who are now not planning on returning to their campus homes in the fall - and what are their obligations to their leases (and landlords)? Queen's Legal Aid director Blair Crew has been helping students with lease issues for years, and shares the ins and outs of the lease and the law, covering obligations, responsibilities, and two ..read more

Students who have taken Law 201/701 are familiar with Professor Lisa Kerr through her Criminal Law module in the course. The CBC’s Sunday Edition recently gave her an opportunity to explore some of the issues that are covered in passing in her criminal law overview. Michael Enright interviews Dr. Kerr in a 30-plus minute exploration of prison law, sentencing, and issues with how sentencing is currently managed in Canada. You can listen to the full audio of this interview here ..read more

Note: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we're posting some extra content about legal issues arising from the Canadian responses. Expect sporadic (and more frequent) episodes in the coming weeks! It's a pandemic! Even today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned "enforcement" as a measure to encourage compliance to social distancing and other pandemic best practices. But what are a government's emergency powers? How do they get to call them into force? And what do they let a government do? We're joined by Queen's Law PhD candidate Rory Fowler, an administrative law expert and former militar ..read more

Yesterday, Queen's Law joined its faculty partners across the Queen's University campus in announcing a Fall 2020 semester that will be largely remote, and similar announcements are being made at colleges and universities across Canada. Where does that leave students who are now not planning on returning to their campus homes in the fall - and what are their obligations to their leases (and landlords)? Queen's Legal Aid director Blair Crew has been helping students with lease issues for years, and shares the ins and outs of the lease and the law, covering obligations, responsibilities, and two ..read more

If prisoners can't receive education beyond a GED, how will they acclimate and survive when they leave prison? That's the starting point of some research work by Queen's Law criminal law professor Lisa Kerr and Queen's Law student Sam Bondoux, looking at issues around prisoner education in federal prison in Canada -- starting from the bizarre and nearly unique fact that Canada doesn't allow prisoners Internet access. Lisa Kelly is a criminal law scholar, examining privacy issues among other things. She recently published a paper on the Jarvis case... and some of the issues that the Supreme Cou ..read more

Note: As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we're posting some extra content about legal issues arising from the Canadian responses. Expect sporadic (and more frequent) episodes in the coming weeks! It's a pandemic! Even today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned "enforcement" as a measure to encourage compliance to social distancing and other pandemic best practices. But what are a government's emergency powers? How do they get to call them into force? And what do they let a government do? We're joined by Queen's Law PhD candidate Rory Fowler, an administrative law expert and former militar ..read more

A few years ago, the City of Kingston introduced some measures designed to curb some of the excesses of student life, especially at certain times of year. The creation of new powers to govern partying in the city with special attention on students has obviously attracted the attention of Queen's Legal Aid, the law school's clinic dedicated to supporting students and residents with low incomes in a wide variety of legal matters. The director of Queen's Legal Aid, Blair Crew, joins us this week to talk about the University District Safety Initiative, busting some myths and also looking at the re ..read more

If prisoners can't receive education beyond a GED, how will they acclimate and survive when they leave prison? That's the starting point of some research work by Queen's Law criminal law professor Lisa Kerr and Queen's Law student Sam Bondoux, looking at issues around prisoner education in federal prison in Canada -- starting from the bizarre and nearly unique fact that Canada doesn't allow prisoners Internet access. Lisa Kelly is a criminal law scholar, examining privacy issues among other things. She recently published a paper on the Jarvis case... and some of the issues that the Supreme Cou ..read more