[Wamvan] Marlee Kline Lecture in Social Justice

[Lindsay Miles]

FYI :)


‎*** PLEASE RSVP TO COMMUNICATIONS at LAW.UBC.CA ***

Marlee Kline Lecture in Social Justice
"Jurisdictional Justice and the “Dream of Democracy”: Missing Voices in the
Struggle for Insite"

When: Thursday January 26, 2012, 6:00-7:00pm (followed by a reception)
Where: Room 104, Allard Hall
Speaker: Professor Hester Lessard, Faculty of Law, University of Victoria (
http://law.uvic.ca/faculty_staff/faculty_directory/lessard.php)

Abstract: Insite, North America’s first legally sanctioned safe injection
site, achieved a landmark victory at the Supreme Court of Canada in
September. The decision ensured Insite’s continuing immunity from the
application of the federal narcotics regime. However, neither the
jurisdictional nor the rights framework explored in the Insite litigation
captures the energy and institutional creativity of the political movement
in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside that led to Insite opening its doors in
2003. An expanded conception of democratic engagement in self-government
includes direct action, performance, protest and institution building. The
constitutional language of jurisdiction, although linked to the democratic
principle, gives little attention to its substantive dimensions. Rethinking
concepts of jurisdiction to take account of collective engagement by
politically marginalized groups is crucial to including missing voices in
our deliberations as a political community and to infusing constitutional
discourse with the “dream of democracy.”
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