The torch of the Desautels Review was passed from former Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Virginia Torrie, to the MLJ’s Co-Editors-in-Chief Dr. Bryan Schwartz and Professor Darcy MacPherson. The excellent work done through Desautels by Dr. Torrie’s team has been invaluable and provides a strong foundation for TRETL, as does the Asper Review’s reputation as a leading publication in the realm of international business and trade law. The range of papers included in this issue set the stage for the many issues yet to be covered.

Photo credit: Joey Senft on Unsplash.

Contributors Sarah Richardson and Virginia Torrie each take different looks at an integral aspect of life, business, and economic trade in Manitoba: modern farming. Their respective articles are literally “barn burners” with Richardson raising a discussion of the regulatory and legal protections – or lack thereof – afforded to farmers and their livestock facing the very real issue of barn fires. Torrie looks back almost a century to the Great Depression and its impact on prairie farmers through the ensuing enactment of the Farmers’ Creditors Arrangement Act. Her article takes an empirical look at FCAA applications and whether this program has kept “the farmer on the farm” as it aimed to.

Darcy MacPherson discusses the remediation-agreement regime and the scandal within the SNC-Lavalin Affair. He asks whether said regime does enough to provide appropriate legal guidance to executive actors, and should a Prime Minister dancing the “Cabinet Shuffle” undermine decisions made by the previous Attorney General. MacPherson finishes by outlining concerns in the organization and wording of Subsection 715.32(2), and its reliance on “one-way factors.”

Joel Badali focusses on employment law in First Nations communities, the uneven application of Wilson v. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd, and the principle therein that First Nations employers ought to be held to Provincial employment standards in all but specific cases. He looks to instances of inconstant application (i.e. in schools and Human Rights regimes), the effects that the competing jurisdictions would have, and argues for a more consistent application of Provincial jurisdiction.

Bradley Bryan also looks to Indigenous issues, specifically the constraints placed on Indigenous governments & Indigenous economic development corporations by limited partnership law. He outlines how inconsistent interpretation of legal rights and responsibilities between limited partnerships, limited partners, and Indigenous governing bodies has led to difficulties for Indigenous governments hoping to use limited partnerships for investments while protecting themselves from liability. Bryan illustrates through the lens of recent cases how this is currently hindering reconciliation and efforts at “inclusion without assimilation.”

Martin-Joe Ezeudo’s case comment on Ontario’s Libfeld v. Libfeld picks apart the convoluted web of business instruments and relationship/relational breakdowns over a multi-generational development empire, in order to explore the merit of the decision. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice was tasked with fairly untangling the four remaining brothers’ assets, “winding-up” an unusually structured partnership – one littered with corporate holdings, about 350 purpose-built corporate entities, and worth between $2.5-$4 billion.

Finally in a notable collaboration between professor and student, MacPherson and recent law graduate, Matthew London [JD/2024] offer a review of John Carreyrou’s book, Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies Inside a Silicon Valley Start-Up, a tale of the rise and fall of Theranos Inc. and its founder Elizabeth Holmes. This review provides a substantive summary of the work, as well as critical and theoretical insight to legal principles not fully delved into by this piece of popular literature, and why it should matter to a Canadian audience. For anybody who followed the Theranos scandal, this review is a must-read.

Read the MLJ’s Volume 46, Issue 7, The Review of Enterprise and Trade Law (2024) online on the Manitoba Law Journalwebsite.

Volume 46, Issue 3, Online Dispute Resolution: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic, is part oral history, part academic exploration of ODR. The issue begins with an introductory word from Darcy MacPherson, reminding us that, though many of us would have rather not hit “pause,” or seen the programming of our daily lives change, crisis is, and was, an opportunity for positive change through adaptation and recognition of our shared needs.

The first article sets the stage for the issue by diving into the possibility of developing a more rigorous, post-COVID system of ODR in Manitoba, one bringing together existing and novel applications of ODR, drawn from across Canada and the UK, into a comprehensive whole. The next piece, co-authored by our Faculty’s Dean Richard Jochelson, now-Judge David Ireland, and Brandon Trask et al peers into the possibility of developing a system of virtual jury trials – they take an empirical look, through news-media articles, at Canada’s courts’ reactions to, and concerns with, resuming jury trials during the pandemic.

The oral histories – interviews with some of Winnipeg’s leaders in collaborative family, child protection, civil, administrative, labour and employment law, mediation, arbitration, and legislation – make up the bulk of this special issue. The stories they tell, and lessons they provide, are both insightful and entertaining, full of both skillful flourishes and the occasional faux pas.

Kris Saxberg touches on everything under the civil-law sun, from child protection and the needs of Indigenous communities relative to current tech systems, to administrative law, to many Canadians’ favorite comedy trio, “The Trailer Park Boys,” and the “right” to smoke and drink in (virtual) court. Greg Evans digs into the collaborative potential of a family law practice, the “perfect” Family Law class (it involves people yelling on the phone), practice management and competency in the tech era, and the positives and pitfalls of access to online legal services.

Cynthia Lazar shares her seasoned perspective on virtual negotiations and collective bargaining, the pitfalls of virtual testimony, and how to elicit that sweet “Legally Blonde” gotcha-moment, while Pamela Leech and Dr. Schwartz discuss the bane of many a practitioner or professor’s career – screen share – as well as post-COVID technology they would like to see stick around.

Deputy Minister Dave Wright closes out the issue with a birds-eye view of the pandemic and how justice technology has or hasn’t advanced (and jealousy of B.C.), how crisis forced long-awaited reform, and the challenges that endure into the present. All of these perspectives, proposals, and anecdotes come together to provide a snapshot of a moment in legal history that was unprecedented in the modern era, but that might form a valuable precedent moving forward, helping us, our clients, and our educators adapt, overcome, and ultimately thrive in the at-times-questionable circumstances we find ourselves.

“Dr. Shariff brings a wealth of experience and a distinguished record of academic and professional accomplishments to this role. Her extensive expertise, leadership and vision will enhance its academic excellence and foster a dynamic learning environment,” said Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of Law. “Her work ethic, deep compassion for the rights of all living beings, and curiosity for researching different areas of human rights-related laws make her a matchless force to drive this program forward for its next exciting chapter.”

“I am absolutely delighted and honoured to take on the role of Director of the MHR Program,” said Shariff. “As Director, my goal is to build on the strengths of the program and our University community to provide students with educational opportunities and experiences that will inspire and support their creativity and enthusiasm for human rights and social justice.

“My aspiration is that our MHR students and graduates will take their passion, knowledge and skills to serve and make our communities places for all to thrive. By continuing outreach and building relationships with community partners and stakeholders (e.g. the Canadian Museum for Human Rights) and other University of Manitoba centres and programs (e.g. the Centre for Human Rights Research, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, Peace and Conflict Studies and the Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace and Justice), the MHR program itself will actively participate in this same vision, increasing MHR student opportunities at the same time.”

Shariff recalled the words of the late Dr. Arthur V. Mauro when he announced the endowment of the Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice, a key part of the MHR program: “This city [Winnipeg], to me, represents the best that people can do when good people come together with goodwill and seek solutions… Education and research are fundamental if we are to carry on what this city has become.”

Shariff has been a valued member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba since 2007, where she currently serves as a Professor and has previously held several leadership positions, including Associate Dean (Academic, JD Program) and Associate Dean (Research and Graduate Studies).

With a PhD and LLM from Trinity College Dublin, an LLB from the University of Manitoba, and a BSc from the University of Winnipeg, Shariff’s educational background is impressive. Her teaching areas encompass a wide range of subjects, including Contracts, Issues in Law and Bioethics, Law and Religion, Animals and the Law, Natural Resources Administration and the Law, and Graduate Legal Research and Theory.

Her research interests are equally diverse and impactful, focusing on Law and Aging, Death, Dying and Palliative Care, Human Rights of Older Persons and Persons with Disabilities, Quality of Life and Rights of Residents in personal care home communities, Natural Resources and Animal Law, Legal Strategies, Legal Pedagogy, and the Law of Contract.

Shariff has authored numerous publications with notable works including chapters in Canadian Medical Law, and articles in various prestigious journals. Shariff has also received several accolades for her contributions to teaching and research in the field of law, including a 2023 SSHRC Insight Development Grant (co-applicant), the 2018 Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Research Award, and the 2016 Students’ Teacher Recognition Award (STRR), and the 2013 University of Manitoba Merit Award, Combination Category (Teaching, Service and Research).

Her commitment to the academic community extends beyond her research and teaching. She is involved in the Canadian Association of Law Teachers, serves as a Commissioner at the Manitoba Law Reform Commission, serves as a Research Affiliate at the University of Manitoba’s Centre on Aging (also serving as Chair of its Advisory Board), and has served as a Research Associate at the Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law.

“I decided to do this magazine after learning that fellow hockey scholar Dr. Courtney Szto does something similar in her Kinesiology course at Queen’s University,” Dennie explained. “I followed Courtney’s lead because I thought it was really cool that students were able to showcase their hard work with a tangible research output at the end of the course that they can share with family, friends, and employers.”

Dennie, who joined the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law in 2021, holds a BA in law and justice from Laurentian University, a JD from the Université de Moncton, a Master of Arts in Sociology from Laurentian University, and is currently completing a PhD at the University of Calgary. Her doctoral research, funded by SSHRC and Sport Canada, is an examination of participant liability and compensation for intentionally or negligently injured hockey players.  She has published in this area with articles touching on ice hockey violence, legal complexities of sports injuries, as well as articles related to multiculturalism and ice hockey. She started teaching the Sports Law course in the winter term of 2023.

Articles included in the magazine come from class assignments that first underwent rigorous peer review of classmates. Even the reviewing was part of the coursework, with each student responsible for reviewing four to five articles written by their peers before publication in the magazine.

“I thought it would produce high quality work since they knew their magazine contributions would be made public and I can honestly say any expectations I had going in were greatly exceeded,” said Dennie. “There was a lot of excitement around this in class and so many great ideas were shared among the class that culminated into the magazine you see now.”

The project was funded through the Law Endowment Fund and the Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law to help with costs of design and printing. “I remain grateful for their support,” said Dennie.

The inaugural issue of Robson Rundown: Navigating the field of sports law is now available for download from Dennie’s sports law research blog, Sports and the Law in Canada.

Civil forfeiture regimes that allow governments to seize citizens’ assets, along with unexplained wealth orders — a type of court order that requires people to explain to a judge how they acquired funds — are often described as essential weapons in the battle against money laundering and profitable criminal activity, most notably illegal drug trafficking.

British Columbia’s 2023 embrace of unexplained wealth orders was accompanied by several references to cracking down on organized crime.

“People were always inviting me to alumni events, and I was regretfully having to say, “Actually, I didn’t study law here,”” says Lebois, who holds both a BA (2005) and an LLB (2008) from the University of Ottawa.

Lebois had initially selected the U of O because, he explains, “continuing my education in French was important to me, and very few options were available in Western Canada at the time. I was thrilled when Robson launched the A2J in French program, and saw an opportunity to celebrate that and participate in Robson’s French common law culture by completing my thesis in French.”

While Lebois was contemplating whether or not to do an LLM at the University of Manitoba, the founders of the Access to Justice in French (Common Law) Concentration program, then-Professor Gerald Heckman (now Justice Gerald Heckman of the Federal Court of Appeal), and Professor Lorna Turnbull, reached out for support from the Francophone legal community. The timing was right, and Lebois joined the Faculty’s graduate program in 2021 as an LLM student, inspired by the research of (now-retired) Professor Karen Busby, founder of the Centre for Human Rights Research housed in Robson Hall.

His thesis, written in French under Turnbull’s supervision, was titled, “Les modes substitutifs de résolution des différends en matière de violence à caractère sexuel ou de discrimination chez les institutions postsecondaires au Manitoba.”

Lebois’ thesis drew from a number of experiences including his time working as in-house Counsel at the University of Manitoba, where one of his portfolios was serving as Human Rights Counsel for the Office of Human Rights and Conflict Management. “As I was continuing to learn about the investigatory process and continuing to administer it at the University, I was also talking to counterparts across the country and seeing what was going on at their universities,” recounts Lebois. “I was asking questions about how their systems worked and what was successful within their areas, and how we could improve.”

These mechanisms are provincially legislated but not very standardized, and Lebois argues that they could be improved.

“My generalized observation was that everyone who is involved in the complaint mechanism is somehow diminished by the complaint process,” Lebois says. “So, whether you’re the complainant or the respondent, and regardless of how the outcome ended up flowing, whether the complaint was substantiated or not, whether there was obviously visible discipline of the respondent or not, that didn’t really matter, people were finding themselves lacking something for having participated in it.”   

He wondered if there was a better way to handle complaint mechanisms. Then he discovered the book, Achieving Fairness: A Guide to Campus Sexual Violence Complaints (Thomson Reuters, 2020) by Johanna Birenbaum and now-retired UM Faculty of Law professor Karen Busby, which goes into depth about the complaint mechanisms that exist across Canada at post-secondary institutions. He used this book as a roadmap and focused his research on a complimentary idea—how to better integrate certain types of dispute resolution models into the complaint mechanisms that currently exist.

Lebois’ bold and innovative research focuses on complaint mechanisms for human rights violations as they exist at postsecondary institutions in Manitoba. Based on his careful research and experiences, Lebois’ dynamic thesis proposes a different system than the one that postsecondary institutions currently use. The current model is a concurrent offering of resolution options, where a complainant is offered alternative dispute resolution concurrently to more formal mechanisms of redress. “Offering these concurrently is the wrong choice in my opinion, and that is what I argue in my thesis,” Lebois explains. “I believe that they should be offered as a cascade where the alternative dispute resolution for non-criminal behaviors should always be offered first before a formal complaint mechanism is explored.”

“ADR doesn’t get necessarily a great rap outside of certain types of uses, and certainly, there are some who say alternative dispute resolution is only appropriate in certain circumstances; for example, only when desired or asked for explicitly by a complainant. I’m not necessarily in agreement with that assessment,” Lebois explains. “I think that there are a number of examples wherein groups have participated in alternative dispute resolution even if it wasn’t given as an entirely opt-in option and that’s still benefited a number of the stakeholders. In the criminal sphere you see this a lot already, where you have diversion programs that move someone to sentencing circles or to alternative resolution where they have to take actions that are really specific to the crimes that they have committed, and the accused is expected to take ownership of the actions that they have posed within their community. And that is something that works.”

Lebois admits that there are valid critiques of ADR, and in some cases, it certainly draws out more of the complainant’s time and energy. But, as Lebois says, “There is a lot of opportunity for presenting a space in which the accused can take ownership, can apologize, can learn, and can make concrete steps towards restitution.”

He drew a lot of inspiration from the Dalhousie School of Dentistry case from 2015, where many of the students involved saw great outcomes from ADR rather than more formal mechanisms. “There is much more room for alternative dispute resolution to take centre stage as part of the complaint mechanisms that exist at post-secondary institutions,” is a key takeaway from this research according to Lebois.

When asked who benefits from his thesis, Lebois says, “It’s not really a stretch to say it’s everyone that benefits from this. […]  Universities are an economic driver within Manitoba, representing a lot of important work being done, a lot of important training being done, and a lot of innovation that’s taking place. You want the systems that underpin all of that to work well as well.”

However, the research itself gears more towards the decision-makers of complaint mechanisms, boards of governors and directors, depending on which post-secondary institution, because it is about the ways that the system can be adjusted to better serve everyone.

Lebois is a testimony to the University of Manitoba’s LLM program at the Faculty of Law.  Completing a master’s degree in law, being a Francophone lawyer, and conducting research in the French language are possible, even outside of Canada’s Francophone hubs like Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick.

Even though his thesis topic is not related to language rights, his decision to write it in French, is “a nod to the language rights that are entrenched in the University of Manitoba Act,” he explains, “and an acknowledgement of the oft-forgotten cultural realities that founded both the province of Manitoba and the University of Manitoba (thanks to its founding colleges, one of them now operating as Université de Saint-Boniface). Just as we seek to show prospective JD students the value of completing the A2J in French program, I also wanted to be an example of that at the graduate level.”

Lebois recommends that lawyers with the capacity to upgrade French/English bilingualism to communicate clearly and concisely should do so, as this opens a lot of opportunities, including a graduate degree. He suggests that more lawyers should consider investing in their French skills because of the benefits to themselves and to the community they serve. “Bilingualism really does have a lot of benefits noted throughout the profession, and so I really wanted to shout that from the rooftops as much as I could to say it’s doable, and it’s worth taking the time and effort to do it,” he says.

The Faculty of Law at the University of Manitoba hosts the Access to Justice in French Concentration program for JD students, and now has graduated its first of hopefully many more LLM students in French.

The award provides $1.5 million through the New Frontiers in Research Fund (International) to study the ecological, health, and cultural values of small fish, wild rice, and other traditional foods. Co-led by UM’s Dr. David Levin, Professor in the Price Faculty of Engineering and Indigenous partners, the international team of researchers from Canada, Germany, India, Norway, South Africa, the United States, Australia, Vanuatu, Morocco and the United Kingdom will use Indigenous and local knowledge to improve access to traditional foods and support climate change mitigating and adaptive food production systems. Including partner contributions, the project funding totals over $6 million. With developed countries supporting developing countries, the project is a model of duty bearers helping to support and empower rightsholders. 

The project leverages the work of Myera Group Inc., an Indigenous-led and Manitoba-based company that creates food system technologies with Indigenous communities. The company’s innovative technology and relationships with Indigenous communities will be used to apply Indigenous circular bio-economy strategies to fish farming, wild rice and other traditional medicinal foods to directly meet the needs of vulnerable groups.

“Rediscovering Indigenous food systems is vital for combating climate change and alleviating pressures on our healthcare system,” said Bruce Hardy, CEO of Myera Group. “By embracing these traditional practices, we can also ensure that our youth have access to equitable career opportunities that are culturally restorative, preserving heritage while promoting sustainability and well-being.”

“This visionary project will reimagine food systems and mobilize the rights of systemically disadvantaged people worldwide for climate change adaptation and social justice,” said Dr. Mario Pinto, Vice President (Research and International). “By collaborating with Myera Group, Bruce Hardy and researchers from across the globe, it will chart the course towards building a resilient network of community-based food production systems with opportunities for large-scale commercial application and economic prosperity.”

Changes to food systems have threatened traditional food and income sources

Complex factors including the increase in low cost, highly processed foods are disrupting the food systems of Indigenous populations and small-scale producers, resulting in increased rates of poverty, undernutrition, and malnutrition. Displacement of Indigenous Peoples and other disadvantaged groups to marginal lands has increased their susceptibility to increasingly extreme climate change events, such as droughts, flooding, and heat waves. Marginalization, further, has led to greater risks of economic and gender-based exploitation, impoverishment, and food insecurity.

Indigenous Peoples and small-scale food producers have a deep understanding of food security, sustainable diets, and production systems derived from place-based knowledge and livelihoods spanning thousands of years. Project researchers will collaborate with Indigenous and local Knowledge Keepers to enhance the food and nutrition security, access, and other human rights of vulnerable populations in ways that promise to reduce emissions from food production systems.

For example, the project leverages Myera’s Integrated Multi-Trophic Ecosystem (IMTE), which offers a unique approach to sustainable aquatic food production. IMTE imitates a natural ecosystem by amalgamating the farming of varied, compatible species from different levels of the food chain. It also takes the byproducts of one aquatic species and repurposes them as fertiliser or food for another. By converting these byproducts from aquatic species into harvestable crops, the approach increases environmental and economic sustainability in vulnerable communities, reducing waste while increasing food security.

Diverse research team aims to improve human rights and social justice

The research team brings expertise in agronomy, anthropology, biology, biosystems engineering, economics, geography, international human rights law, and nutritional science. The project’s interdisciplinary approach to individual and community health recognizes the intersection of financial, environmental, logistical, and social factors that influence community health and well-being.

Other UM collaborators include Az Klymiuk, Assistant Professor, Biological Sciences, Cyrus Shafai, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Derek Johnson, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Dylan MacKay, Assistant Professor, Department of Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, Nathan Derejko, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Rotimi Aluko, Professor, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, Stephane McLachlan, Professor, Department of Environment and Geography, Trust Beta, Professor, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences and Zahra Kazem Moussavi, Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The New Frontiers in Research Fund supports world-leading interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, transformative and rapid response Canadian-led research. The international stream enhances opportunities for Canadian researchers to partner on international projects. For more information, visit the Government of Canada website.

There are as many, if not more dimensions of Schwartz as there are of The Manitoba Law Journal, the peer-reviewed academic legal research periodical he currently co-edits with his University of Manitoba Faculty of Law colleague, Professor Darcy MacPherson. Since taking the helm 14 years ago as editor of the 139-year-old journal, Schwartz adapted the need for including different areas of legal research by creating “dimensions.” These include annual issues covering criminal law, Indigenous law, legislation and public policy, latest developments in courts and tribunals, special issues on past, present, and future aspects of the Manitoba legal profession, and most recently, international business and trade law.

This last dimension is the result of the 25-year-old Asper Review of International Business and Trade Law merging with a newly developed journal on private enterprise that stemmed from a former colleague’s project at the Faculty of Law’s Marcel A. Desautels Centre for Private Enterprise and the Law.

In total, Schwartz’s involvement with the MLJ has resulted in him being responsible for the production of over forty of the journal’s volumes.

Academic

The MLJ produces more articles every year than any other law journal in Canada (see Visualizing the Landscape of Canadian Law School Journals – Slaw). The quality of the MLJ has been recognized by the repeated funding awards it has achieved in the highly prestigious and competitive Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Aid to Scholarly Journals program.

In the 43 years that Schwartz has been on faculty at Robson Hall, a concrete edifice that houses Manitoba’s law school, he has taught many more different dimensions of legal practice ranging from Labour law to Oral History, Indigenous Peoples and the Law, to Legislative Process and International Trade, Internet, and E-Commerce law. He has practiced law at Winnipeg firm Pitblado Law for decades, and holds two graduate law degrees from Yale University.

Renaissance Scholar

Having already authored, edited or contributed to a vast body of work, the latest quintet demonstrate how Schwartz is widening the dimensions of his writings to include his Jewish roots and to incorporate all that he has studied and learned about the legislative process and the inner workings of government in Canada. Jewish Post News reporter, Myron Love describes Schwartz as “the very model of a modern-day Jewish Renaissance scholar,” being a “legal educator, passionate Zionist, and student of the Holocaust as an in-demand commentator on modern legal and constitutional issues”. Here is a look at the latest additions to Schwartz’s bibliography.

The Passover Seder: It’s About Time – 104 dimensions of Time during Passover (e-book), April, 2024

Inviting readers to re-examine Passover from a fresh perspective, Schwartz wrote in The Times of Israel, “My aspiration would be for the book, in some form or the other, to become a familiar companion to the Haggadah as we re-experience Passover every year, For some readers, it might help to make everything old seem new again.”

The book is available to read on his website The Sacred Goof, named after his second collection of musical compositions published in illustrated book form along with a studio-produced album containing twenty-four songs.

The Sacred Goof (book and CD) with Maren Amini, illustrations, 2023

Music, songwriting and humour are further dimensions of Schwartz’s creative life. The Sacred Goof, published both as a CD and lyric book illustrated by Maren Amini, is a follow-up to his first musical production Consoulation. The former, which Schwartz successfully produced as a stage musical in 2018, is about “why we need to sing,” while The Sacred Goof is about “how we can still laugh.”

Read more about Consoulation:
“Not your ordinary law professor,” April 23, 2018, UM Today News
“Consoulation: A Musical Meditation,” Bryan P. Schwartz website

Re-Enlightening Canada (book) Frontier Centre for Public Policy (November, 2023)

In Re-Enlightening Canada: A Legislative Program for Promoting Open, Democratic and Rational Policymaking, Schwartz appeals to “reasonable people across the political spectrum” to respond moderately and practically in the face of “the ideological excesses of our time” as the book description explains.

Schwartz discussed the book at an event held on November 30, 2023 at Berney Theatre at the Asper Jewish Campus with moderator, Dr. Ruth Ashrai. Watch the video titled: Bryan Schwartz – Re-Enlightening Canada on Youtube (chat starts at 09:40).

Read a review of the book by Gary Slywchuk, titled “New Book a Battle Cry Against the Silencing of Democracy,” published on West Central Crossroads, January 8, 2024. Slywchuk writes, “As we grapple with expanding government repression, identity politics, and diminishing policy effectiveness in today’s Canada, Schwartz’s work is a timely and indispensable resource. It serves as a clarion call to legislators, policymakers, and university administrators to seek common ground and nurture deeper understanding, guiding Canada toward a more prosperous and relevant future.”

Online Dispute Resolution: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic The Manitoba Law Journal Volume 46, Issue 3 (2024)

In addition to being Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Manitoba Law Journal, Schwartz co-conducted five of the six interviews published in this special issue of The Manitoba Law Journal that focusses on what legal practice looked like and how it adapted throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together with law students participating in his scholarly publications course, Schwartz interviewed legal practitioners Kris Saxberg, Greg Evans, Cynthia Lazar, and Pamela Leech. Finally, he co-wrote for the issue, a paper examining new initiatives to enhance Online Dispute Resolution in Manitoba. The entire volume is available to read on The Manitoba Law Journal website.

Humanity in Doubt: Reflections and Essays by Philip Weiss (Second Edition) edited by Bryan Schwartz, Eliana Schwartz, and John Richthammer (2023)

Finally, Schwartz co-edited the second edition of his father-in-law Philip Weiss’s writings, Humanity in Doubt: Reflections and Essays. A survivor of the Holocaust, Weiss’s writings bear personal witness to the devastation of this terrible event. Weiss was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Winnipeg in 2003 in recognition of his contributions to Holocaust education in Manitoba. He passed away in 2008, and the second edition of his writings includes his Eulogy, delivered by Schwartz.

In addition to these five volumes, Schwartz has continued to publish a series of blogs in The Times of Israel, including the “Esther Trilogy” (“Esther? The Politics: The book explores all options…but one,” “Esther: the creator and the Creator,” and “Esther! The Musical: How the sounds match the words.” These three articles were republished in The Winnipeg Jewish Review on March 24, 2024 under the title, “Bryan Schwartz on How the Purim Story is Much too Relevant Today.” 

Learn more about Dr. Bryan Schwartz’s work:

• The Manitoba Law Journal (An Open-Access and Peer-Reviewed Journal about Law in Manitoba and Beyond.)
• Bryan P. Schwartz (The official website for Dr. Bryan P. Schwartz, K.C. scholarly activities.)
• The Sacred Goof (Listen to musical albums The Sacred Goof and Consoulation for free.) 

The Faculty Recognition Reception honoured recipients of Teaching and Community Engagement Awards, Merit Awards and those granted Tenure. Hosted by the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), the event marked an occasion to celebrate the achievements of some of UM’s dedicated faculty members.

Congratulations to all the honorees:

Dr. and Mrs. H. H. Saunderson Award for Excellence in Teaching (2023)

• Bruno Dyck (I.H. Asper School of Business)

University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association (UMGSA) Teaching Award (2023)

• Youngjin Cha (Price Faculty of Engineering)

Dr. and Mrs. Ralph Campbell Outreach Award 

• 2022 – Hee Jung Serenity Joo (Faculty of Arts)
• 2023 – Randy Herrmann (Price Faculty of Engineering)

Annual Community Engagement Award (2024)

• Polina Anang (Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Julien Arino (Faculty of Science)
• Jacquie Dawson (Desautels Faculty of Music)
• Adam Muller (Faculty of Graduate Studies)
• Janine Newton Montgomery (Faculty of Arts)
• Brandi Smith (Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management)
• Katinka Stecina (Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Mario Tenuta (Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences)
• Shirley Thompson (Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources)
• Heather Watson (Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Andrew Woolford (Faculty of Arts)
• Carla Zelmer (Faculty of Science)

Community Engagement Fund Award (2023)

• Shawna Ferris (Faculty of Arts)
• Zana Lutfiyya (Arthur V. Mauro Institute for Peace & Justice, St. Paul’s College)
• Emily McKinnon (Access & Aboriginal Focus Program, Extended Education)
• Victoria Sparks (Desautels Faculty of Music)

Merit Award (2022)

Each year, Merit Awards are awarded to faculty members for their outstanding achievements in teaching, research, scholarly work and creative activities, and service in three different categories. View the 2022 recipient list here.

Tenure (2024)

• Kjell Anderson (Faculty of Law)
• Devi Atukorallaya (Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Yik Au (I. H. Asper School of Business) 
• Nandika Bandara (Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences)
• Denice Bay (Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Lori Blondeau (School of Art)
• Cara Brown (College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Leo Butler (Faculty of Science)
• Amine Choukou (College of Rehabilitation Sciences, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Susan Cooper (Faculty of Science)
• Andrew Deruchie (Desautels Faculty of Music)
• Philip Ferguson (Price Faculty of Engineering)
• Julia Gamble (Faculty of Arts)
• Aleeza Gerstein (Faculty of Science)
• Jason Gibbs (Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences)
• Colin Gilmore (Price Faculty of Engineering)
• Jesse Hajer (Faculty of Arts)
• Sarah Hannan (Faculty of Arts)
• Cameron Hauseman (Faculty of Education)
• Mohammad Khan (Faculty of Social Work)
• Bradley Klus (Dr. Gerald Niznick College of Dentistry, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Christian Kuss (Faculty of Science)
• RJ Leland (Faculty of Arts)
• Xihui (Larry) Liang (Price Faculty of Engineering)
• Robert Martin (Faculty of Science)
• Neil Minuk (Faculty of Architecture)
• Hee Mok Park (I. H. Asper School of Business)
• Jeremy Patzer (Faculty of Arts)
• Leslie Roos (Faculty of Arts)
• Soodeh Saberian (Faculty of Arts)
• Ben Schellenberg (Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management)
• Jillian Seniuk Cicek (Price Faculty of Engineering)
• Tanveer Sharif (Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health Science)
• Olivia Wilkins (Faculty of Science)

The year associated with each award differs due to the timeframe of program. Learn more about the awards on the Faculty Awards webpage.

In seeking to further the understanding of the human experience of coerced and forced ignorance on social, human rights and criminal justice related topics, the editors of this book have drawn together scholars from multiple disciplinary fronts. As a whole, the book argues that people in our social world are forced or coerced through either implicatory or interpretive denial that is normalized through specific cultural and social mechanisms by which we refer to as non-knowledge or agnosis.

This book’s focus fills a gap in scholarship examining how human victimization and power intersect through the systematic orchestration of forced ignorance and doubt upon daily human life. The chapters examine the ways in which people find themselves in social spaces without empirical clarity and understand that absence as satisfaction, stability, or perhaps even pleasure. This book seeks to make visible the role of ignorance in governing society, highlighting how the late modern human experience in a post-World War II human rights era subsumes, subverts, and sublimates the complex relationship between knowledge and denial; and that the empirical gulf between knowledge and resistance may indeed breed complicit bliss.

The book includes chapters written by other UM Faculty of Law affiliated scholars including: Assistant Professor Martine Dennie, author of “You Just Roll with the Punches”: The Production of Ignorance in Professional Ice Hockey“; Gacek and Jochelson with former Associate Professor David Ireland [JD/2010; LLM/2014] (now a Manitoba Provincial Court judge), co-authors of “Gone, but Not Forgotten: The Agnotological Necropolitics of Inquest Fatality Reports“; Shawn Singh [JD/2022] and Assistant Professor Brandon Trask [JD/2012], co-authors of “Faded by Design: Manufacturing Agnosis of Settler-Colonialism in an Era of Indigenous Truth and Reconciliation in Canada“; Dr. Katie Szilagyi, author of “Fragmenting Epistemologies: Toward Philosophical Foundations for Machine Learning in Law“; and finally Shawn Singh and Brandon Trask individually with papers titled “Shortfalls of the Bioethical Approach to COVID-19: Vaccine Hesitancy, the Right to Choose and Public Health Management in Canada” (Singh); and “Call It Democracy: The Slippage Amongst Rights, Laws, and Values in Canada During the Pandemic Era” (Trask).

Upon the release of Justice in the Age of Agnosis Jochelson and Gacek addressed some questions regarding the need for this book at this time in this era of widespread access to information and widespread ignorance and misinformation.

What inspired you both to join forces to publish a book on this topic?

Gacek: During the height of the pandemic I watched how various conspiracy theorists seemed to be gaining traction on social media. I, like the rest of the world, was concerned about the uncertainties of Covid-19, but I was also alarmed with how misinformation was being weaponized to attack scientists, academics, and health care practitioners. Speaking to Richard on these topics, we agreed that this production of non-knowledge, or the avoidance of knowledge, seemed to leach into other areas of our social world – like how those who are climate change deniers could also potentially deny the benefits of vaccines, or believed that if they ‘did their own research’ on vaccines they would end up realizing a ‘New World Order’ was coming to replace them (i.e., where we see inklings of white nationalist thought).

[W]e felt it necessary to question whether ignorance was indeed blissful, or if the production of non-knowledge or said avoidance would worsen the conditions of already marginalized populations more so than the privileged. – Dr. James Gacek, Department of Justice, University of Regina

As an academic I’m not immune to hate mail on my justice research and teachings, but even I couldn’t believe the correspondence I received during the pandemic, with the rationales some individuals used to suggest the examples above were facts! Climate change denial, anti-vax conspiracy, white nationalism… the list goes on, but how firmly rooted these perspectives are in these people is where the ruminations on the book began. These people, whether they peddle in ignorance claims or are victims to said claims (or both), exist, and Richard and I became fascinated with them. [This was] where we set out to conceive the book.

Richard and I have worked on projects for a few years now, and given our interdisciplinary research relationship, we felt it necessary to question whether ignorance was indeed blissful, or if the production of non-knowledge or said avoidance would worsen the conditions of already marginalized populations more so than the privileged. Agnotology – the study of ignorance, misinformation, and following on, conspiracy—is a new area for us, but it is where we felt we needed to be having this discussion alongside other pertinent and cognate disciplines like law, socio-legal studies, criminology, and criminal justice (among others). Our discussion slowly evolved into where we assert in the book we are living in now: the Age of Agnosis; the political warfare and weaponization of non-knowledge and avoidance of knowledge to harm people in our world.

Jochelson: I was interested in the seeming disconnect between empiricism and the growing spiritual claims of both the left and right of the political spectrum. This is something I had commented on in 2016 upon USA presidential elections and it was a good example of how the left reacted to that election almost spiritually in its conception of repugnancy of the result. I noted that the left was making claims that were echoing some of the right’s moralistic reasoning during the 1980s.

There seems to be a late modern anxiety about waiting for science, law or disciplinary skill to yield a final result, and we seem to be advocating, shouting down and calling out each other, increasingly and at times, in a vacuum of empirical findings. In other words, in a state of ignorance. – Dr. Richard Jochelson, Dean of Law, University of Manitoba

I had always viewed the left of the spectrum as prizing evidence-based practice. In the intervening years, spiritual polarization between left and right has increasingly mobilized social movements. The Pandemic is a good example, with true believers on both sides of the political spectrum.  There seems to be a late modern anxiety about waiting for science, law or disciplinary skill to yield a final result, and we seem to be advocating, shouting down and calling out each other, increasingly and at times, in a vacuum of empirical findings. In other words, in a state of ignorance. 

What audience can benefit from the knowledge contained in this book and how?

Gacek: A wide range of readers can benefit from this book! Of course, we know undergraduate and graduate students, but also scholars, policy workers, and community activists would benefit from a fresh lens on world issues like what we incorporate here. Justice impacts all in society, but not all equally; how ignorance, misinformation, and conspiracy not only takes root but insidiously pervades our world needs to be further understood.

Jochelson: Agnosis knows no politics. From political actors through to people with main character syndrome, I think readers should challenge their views by reading the book, which contains views across a reasoned political spectrum.

What solutions to the problems of oppression and ignorance does this book offer?

Gacek: It would be easy for us to say that education, like sunlight, would be the best disinfectant to shine light upon what we don’t know – but as agnosis teaches us, the politics of ignorance is profitable. Our contributors, in various ways, demonstrate that it is not just education that we need; we need compassion and empathy for the marginalized; strong legal mechanisms to hold those tasked in the political and private spheres accountable, especially those who peddle in hate and conspiratorial claims; and better ways to reconcile with traumatic histories that still play into contemporary realities for many marginalized groups in society.

Jochelson: I think we need to return to evidence-based practice whether it is the fuel that drives advocacy, social movements or law reform. We need to learn to drop straw person arguments and tether ourselves to the technologies of something more objective than blind belief or wilful spiritualism.

Do the ideas presented in this book scratch the surface of this area of legal research or is there more work to be done in this area?

Gacek: Our book endeavours to challenge readers on how they gain their knowledge of the world, on how we think about accountability for ignorance production, and on the longstanding harms marginalized peoples continuously face because of agnosis. The potential to have a more informed and empathetic world is real, and our book is a starting point for this discussion.

Jochelson: I think it is an opening salvo. I would challenge all social science, humanities and socio-legal scholars to ask themselves about the objective foundations of their arguments. To the extent that their labour is emotional or spiritual, an objective tethering point ought to at least frame the analysis so we engage in critical analysis apprised of the best information.