Several safeguards that may have prevented at least 12 Lev Tahor children from leaving the country were not in place despite a clear flight risk based on the group’s history. . . . Lawyer Ian Mang, who teaches child protection law at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School, said the issue over flight risk rarely comes up in child protection cases because they are usually “poverty-driven”, meaning the parents or custodians don’t have the financial means to flee a jurisdiction. “This is a one-off type of case that is far removed from the standard child protection issue,” he said in the Toronto Star March 8. Read full story.
Man who sabotaged condoms guilty of sexual assault, top court rules
The Supreme Court was unanimous that Craig Hutchinson of Nova Scotia was guilty of sexual assault for poking pin-sized holes in condoms because he hoped to keep his girlfriend from leaving him by getting her pregnant. His fraud carried such a risk of harm it nullified her consent, four of seven judges said. . . . Others, including Michael Plaxton of the University of Saskatchewan law school, Sonia Lawrence of York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and Luke Craggs, the lawyer for Mr. Hutchinson, disagreed, saying the court would limit charges to cases where there was bodily harm, reported The Globe and Mail March 7. Read full story.
6 Essential Questions: A play that eschews narrative clarity
6 Essential Questions is poet and York University Professor Priscila Uppal’s first play, a companion piece to her 2013 memoir Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother. . . . A compelling story that raises essential questions about the limits of reunion and redemption, but the parallel universe of Uppal’s play doesn’t get around to any of these until it’s too late, eschewing narrative clarity for non-linear fantasy, reported The Globe and Mail March 7. Read full story.