S3E5: Asper Centre 15th Anniversary

Charter: A Course - A podcast about Canadian Constitutional Law & Litigation

About the Series

Charter: A Course is a podcast created by the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights (the Asper Centre) and hosted by the Asper Centre’s Executive Director Cheryl Milne.

Charter: A Course focuses on leading Canadian constitutional cases and current constitutional law issues, highlighting strategic aspects of constitutional litigation and exploring what it’s like to practice in this area of law in our Practice Corner segment.

Whether you are a law student, a lawyer, or just an interested person, we hope that you learn about an aspect of constitutional law and litigation that interests you in our podcast.

Show Notes

This final episode of Season 3 is a special episode, which departs from our usual style and focus in each regular episode on a different Canadian Constitutional law issue or Charter right.

The Asper Centre recently marked its 15th anniversary and to celebrate, we convened a live recording of this podcast, with the “tables turned” to start, and with several special guests.

In the first half of the episode, U of T Law’s Dean Jutta Brunnée interviews our podcast host and Asper Centre Executive Director, Cheryl Milne. And, in the second half of the podcast, the Asper Centre’s current Constitutional Litigator in Residence, Ewa Krajewska interviews the following Asper Centre alumni, who discuss their experiences with the Asper Centre and their current legal practices: Neil Abraham (JD 2016), Geetha Phillipupulai (JD 2017), Keely Kinley (JD 2021), and Ryan Deshpande (JD 2021), who is counsel in the Litigation, Extradition, and Advisory Division at the Toronto office of the Department of Justice Canada.

Listen to this episode to learn more about the breadth of work that the Asper Centre has undertaken over the past 15 years and its vision for the future.

Find a FULL transcript of this episode HERE.

Case Links and other Resources

In this episode, the following cases in which the Asper Centre has intervened and Annual Report were discussed:

Asper Centre 2022-2023 ANNUAL REPORT

R. v. Conway, 2010 SCC 22, [2010] 1 S.C.R. 765

Canada (Attorney General) v. Bedford, 2013 SCC 72, [2013] 3 S.C.R. 1101

Carter v. Canada (Attorney General), 2015 SCC 5, [2015] 1 S.C.R. 331

Ontario (Attorney General) v. G, 2020 SCC 38, [2020] 3 S.C.R. 629

Canadian Council for Refugees v. Canada (Citizenship and Immigration), 2023 SCC 17

R. v. McGregor, 2023 SCC 4

R. v. Hape, [2007] 2 S.C.R. 292, 2007 SCC 26

Mathur v Ontario

Attorney General of Canada v. Joseph Power

Her Majesty the Queen v Kevin Morris

About the Asper Centre

The Asper Centre, a part of the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law since 2008, is devoted to realizing constitutional rights through advocacy, research and education. The Centre aims to play a vital role in articulating Canada’s constitutional vision to the broader world. The cornerstone of the Centre is a legal clinic that brings together students, faculty and members of the bar to work on significant constitutional cases and advocacy initiatives. The Centre was established through a generous gift from U of T law alumnus David Asper (LLM ’07).

Thank You’s

Thank you to our wonderful guests and special “guest-hosts” on this episode: Dean Jutta Brunée, Ewa Krajewska, Neil Abraham, Geetha Phillipupulai, Keely Kinley and Ryan Deshpande.

Thank you for the audio recording services of U of T’s Media Production Services. And, thank you to our wonderful audio editor Liam Morrison of Bell Room Media Solutions.

Thank you to the creators of our theme music, Charter: A Course! During the pre-production of our first season of the podcast in 2021, Constitutional law professor Howie Kislowicz and law professor Rob Currie gave us the licence to use their constitutional law shanty in exchange for a donation to the Calgary Food Bank. The song’s performers are Vanessa Carroll, Rob Currie, Howie Kislowicz, Avinash Kowshik, Anna Lund, Patricia Paradis, Elin Sigurdson, Lyle Skinner, and Dave Wright. You can listen to the entire shanty here: Charter a Course. Please consider contributing to your local food bank.

As always, thank you to our dedicated listeners!