The Racialization of the African-American and Asian-American Citizen: A Comparative Legal Analysis

The perception of racial tensions in North American settler countries has historically been focused on the Black/White relationship, as has much of the theoretical legal discourse surrounding the concept of “race”. Accordingly, the scope of much critical race scholarship has been restricted such that it rarely acknowledges the racial tensions that persist between different racially-excluded minorities. This paper hopes to expand and integrate the examination of Black and Asian-American racialization that critical race scholars have previously revealed. It will do this by historicizing the respective contours of Black and Asian-American racialization processes through legislation and landmark court cases in a neo-colonial context. The defining features of racialization which have culminated in the ultimate divergence of each group’s racialization will be compared and contrasted. This divergence sees the differential labeling of Asian-Americans as the ‘model minority’ while Blacks continue to be subjugated by modern modalities of exclusionary systems of control. The consequences of this divergence in relation to preserving existing racial and social hierarchies will be discussed in the final sections of this paper.

Rights, Authority, and Workability: An Examination of Universal Jurisdiction

In this paper, I conceptualize ‘universal jurisdiction’ along three axes: rights, authority, and workability to reduce the compendium of scholarly work on the subject into three prominent focus areas. I then review the longstanding debates between critics and supports, and ultimately show the vitality of this debate and persuasiveness of each side’s sets of arguments. By using these three axes as a sort of methodological filter, one can develop a richer understanding of universal jurisdiction, its theoretical pillars, practical barriers, and the core areas of contention that form the contemporary state of knowledge.

Redefining “Family” and Reconstructing Child Custody in Canada

This paper examines the historical revolution of custody regimes in Canada, with an emphasis on the twentieth century to custody practices in courts today. The law has undergone numerous critical reforms to restructure what it means to be a ‘political family’ from a socio-legal perspective. The last decade we have seen a shift in the framework that is used to define the concept of family that has paralleled changes in cultural values, gender roles and parental responsibilities. The family model now largely focuses on the child as the centerpiece of the framework, which has been reflected in recent legal reform and ongoing revisions. The shared responsibility of raising a child as a married couple reflects both the slight shift in the gender roles defined by society and the changing configuration of family dynamic from the nuclear family norm (traditional) towards a “political family”. In the political family, whether the family is “traditional” or “alternative”, each family is understood as a product of collective decisions and values. As a result of the shift towards the understanding of intersectionality within families, and acceptance of the complexity of families, legal activism in family law studies are pushing for legislation that can provide an all- encompassing framework to better aid judges within the family courts to reduce the potential for bias in judicial review. Family law studies are challenging the language around rights and obligations within a family and pushing for a “responsibility framework”. Further, the field is emphasizing a child-centered approach to divorce cases, to assess what is ultimately in the best interest of the child. As we understand the role of the family in society, we need to emphasize the responsibility of a parent and what it means to be a parent to better understand what ‘custody’ of a child entails in today’s society.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: The Good, the Bad, and the Useless

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC), put forth in 1989, has generated a global movement in the direction of protecting and promoting children’s rights, resulting in a paradigm change in how children are perceived under the law. While the UNCRC is the most widely ratified international human rights treaty in human history, children’s fundamental right to protection continues to be violated through actions instigated by adults, such as neglect, physical, sexual, or emotional abuse, or being coerced into marriage, wartime activities, or slavery. This is largely a result of international law having no empirical legal binding; since countries are sovereign upon themselves, without domestic enforcement by each individual signatory country, there is no obligation to abide by the terms of international treaties. Applying both a philosophical and legal framework, this paper seeks to provide a critical analysis of whether or not treaties of international law, such as the Convention on the Rights of Children (UNCRC), have an unyielded potential to spark a tangible, beneficial change in the promotion of children’s rights, or if such doctrines are nothing more than glorified pieces of lip service paid to bolster the signatory country’s face value on a global level.

Authority of Law: An Analysis of The Role of Police

<div class="page" title="Page 3"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Veronika is a recent graduate from the Honours Legal Studies program at the University of Waterloo. Her passions are socio-legal research, policy development, feminist legal theory, and crime control development. Veronika is currently working a full-time job at Oracle Canada, planning on pursuing further education in a Masters program. </span></p></div></div></div>

Is Canada a Religiously Neutral State?

<div class="page" title="Page 3"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Karen Van Staveren is a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo- St. Jerome’s. She has just completed her undergraduate degree in Honours Legal Studies minoring in International Studies. She is looking to continue her studies in the fall at the Balsillie School of International Affairs doing her Masters in International Affairs. Her areas of interest include human rights and the intersectionality of gender and religion in policy. She hopes to go into policy development and analysis at a federal or international level. Her vast volunteer experience has and continues </span>to influence her life path as she hopes to eventually go into the realm of social justice. </p></div></div></div>

The Benefits of an Intersectional Approach to Violence Against Women in Indigenous Communities

<div class="page" title="Page 3"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Tearney recently graduated from the University of Waterloo’s Honours Arts and Business Co-op program, where she studied Legal Studies and Political Science. Throughout her studies, she developed her passion for legal analyses in the context of policy development and reform. In the academic sphere, she geared her focus towards feminist legal issues, and specifically those pertaining to prejudices against women. As she moves on to begin her Juris Doctor (JD) studies this fall, she plans to use her knowledge of the legal framework and the necessary cooperation between public-private enterprise, to assist in future consultations between industry and public institutions. </span></p></div></div></div>

The Difficult Progression of the Rights of Canada's Indigenous Peoples and the Obligation of Fiduciary Duty Indigenous Rights in the Canadian Legal Context

<div class="page" title="Page 3"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Sukhraaj Singh Shergill is a recent graduate from the University of Waterloo’s Bachelor of Arts Co-op Program. Graduating with he continues to follow his passions in legal analysis, policy development, human rights, Indigenous issues and fiscal management. Just shy of celebrating three years of experience dealing with Indigenous issues as a member of the Federal Public Service, he hopes to combine his passions and use his degree to affect efficient policy and legal reform as a human rights lawyer or continue as a Federal Public Servant. Following his second publication with the University of Waterloo Legal Studies Undergraduate Journal, he begins his pursuit of his Juris Doctor Degree at the Bora Laskin Faculty of Law at Lakehead University in September 2017. </span></p></div></div></div>

Are Masculine Ideologies Still Dominant in Today’s Canadian Justice System?

<div class="page" title="Page 3"><div class="layoutArea"><div class="column"><p><span>Erin is a fourth year Arts student pursuing a Joint Honours in Legal Studies and in Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Waterloo, with a minor in Social Development Studies. Her passions are in the intersections of feminism and law, indigenous issues in Canada, and mental health. Going forward Erin hopes to research fat-phobic attitudes in Western culture, and size discrimination as a human rights violation. </span></p></div></div></div>