Canada and the African Union: Towards A Shared Agenda
By: Rita Abrahamsen and Barbra Chimhandamba
A new policy report, written by CIPS Director, Rita Abrahamsen, and Alex Trebek Postdoctoral Fellow, Barbra Chimhandamba, is now available.
“This is an important moment to reconsider Canada – Africa relations. The rules-based international order is in flux, threatened by the rise of illiberal powers like China and Russia and the growing strength of right-wing nationalism and populism in established democracies. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has further strained multilateral cooperation and heightened geopolitical divisions. At the same time, Africa is emerging as a strong, dynamic continent, increasingly asserting its own agency and voice in global affairs.” Read the rest of the report here.
Thickening Autocracy in a Non-Democratic State: Changing Demographics in Syria to Maintain Authority
Ghuna Bdiwi, Ph.D., Alex Trebek Postdoctoral Fellow
This article analyses several authoritarian practices in Syria since 1971 and demonstrates that, since the 2011 uprising, its authoritarian regime has successfully remained resilient instead of collapsing. The post-2011 Syrian Government under Al-Assad is no longer the Ba`thist government of old, albeit still autocratic but adept at adapting to hostile changing political environments. Al-Assad’s regime no longer relies on Ba’ath Party loyalty and appearances of legitimacy but both during and post-war has depended more on social re-engineering to sustain its political, economic power. The Syria example demonstrates that, when threatened, authoritarian regimes may thicken the layers of their autocratic rule to sustain their grip on power, even changing the composition of its citizenry to create a new population to rule. We demonstrate how the Syrian Government has used urban planning, housing, and property laws to re-engineer its demographics so that friendly foreign nationals will receive permanent citizenship and displace indigenous citizens.
The Dangers of Big Data Extend to Farming
Kelly Bronson, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa June 2022, The Conversation
Big data from social media have been revealed as biased, but we should also pay attention to agriculture firms whose play for big data is likely to have detrimental environmental and social impacts.
Canada Water Agency: Multisectoral Issues of Law and Governance
Co-edited with Marie-France Fortin, Eric Champagne, Lauren Touchant and Thomas Burelli, this book is the result of collective work within the The University of Ottawa’s Forum on Water Law and Governance.
This book consists of papers based on the national conference presented by the University of Ottawa’s Forum on Water Law and Governance. Written by experts in various fields of law and governance, it addresses freshwater from Indigenous, municipal, international, ecosystemic, intergovernmental, and agricultural perspectives. It also provides considerations related to the institutional development of the Canada Water Agency.
This collective work brings together contributions from experts in law and governance from Canada and abroad, including Erum Sattar, Sylvie Paquerot, Aimee Craft, Florence Robert, Caitlin De Simone, Louis Simard, Jenna Khoury-Hanna and Lauren Touchant, and a preface by Rosa Galvez.
New Challenges Threaten Zimbabwean Democracy
Farai Chipato
Zimbabwe has been gripped by political controversy over the past six weeks, as opposition parties and activists objected to the passing of two bills amending the country’s constitution, threatening to erode Zimbabwe’s ailing democracy further. The bills pushed through several changes, including removing age limits for judges and an extension of presidential powers to appoint members of the judiciary and vice presidents.
Selling Human Rights Due Diligence in Canada
David Hughes
On 29 November, Swiss voters gathered for a referendum. They affirmed that the country’s constitution should be amended to impose human rights due diligence (HRDD) requirements on multinational firms headquartered in Switzerland. The proposed amendment, which would require companies to proactively manage the adverse human rights impacts of their business activity, ultimately failed.
The Ties that Bind? The Increasing Complexity and Indeterminacy of Inter-Governmental Organizations
John Packer
The State-based system of international governance that evolved from the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 is struggling in the face of contemporary realities. Today, developments in technology permit instantaneous movement of capital and information, quick movement of goods, and the simultaneous presence of persons – whether as State agents, commercial actors, or private individuals – in different territories and time-zones.
AI & Health Care: A Fusion of Law & Science. An Introduction to the Issues (2021)
The report was prepared by Michael Da Silva, Alex-Trebek Postdoctoral Fellow in AI and Health at the AI + Society Initiative. Professor Florian Martin-Bariteau, University of Ottawa Research Chair in Technology and Society and Professor Teresa Scassa, Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy, also contributed to the report's findings.
AI in Healthcare: What's Law Got to Do With It? (2020)
Canada has 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves — this is how to protect it
Thomas Burelli, Professor of Law, Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa
Les enjeux juridictionnels de la future Agence canadienne de l’eau (2021) 51:1 RGD 201-244 (in French only)
Marie-France Fortin, Alexandre Lillo
Regulating the Safety of Health-Related Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Michael Da Silva, Colleen M. Flood, Anna Goldenberg and Devin Singh
This article analyzes whether Canada's present approach to regulating health-related artificial intelligence (AI) can address relevant safety-related challenges. Focusing primarily on Health Canada's regulation of medical devices with AI, it examines whether the existing regulatory approach can adequately address general safety concerns, as well as those related to algorithmic bias and challenges posed by the intersections of these concerns with privacy and security interests.
Legal concerns in health related artificial intelligence: a scoping review protocol (2022, Syst Rev 11, 123)
Michael Da Silva, Karni A. Chagal-Feferkorn, Colleen M. Flood, Tanya Horsley, Devin Singh, Emily Da Silva, Valentina Ly, Bryan Thomas, Ryan C. Daniel, Samantha Iantomasi, Kelli White, Arianne Kent
Medical innovations offer tremendous hope. Yet, similar innovations in governance (law, policy, ethics) are likely necessary if society is to realize medical innovations’ fruits and avoid their pitfalls. As innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) advance at a rapid pace, scholars across multiple disciplines are articulating concerns in health related AI that likely require legal responses to ensure the requisite balance. These scholarly perspectives may provide critical insights into the most pressing challenges that will help shape and advance future regulatory reforms. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, there is no comprehensive summary of the literature examining legal concerns in relation to health related AI. We thus aim to summarize and map the literature examining legal concerns in health related AI using a scoping review approach.
Rethinking gender mainstreaming in agricultural innovation policy in Nepal: a critical gender analysis
Rachana Devkota, Laxmi Prasad Pant, Helen Hambly Odame, Bimala Rai Paudyal, Kelly Bronson
Gender mainstreaming has been prioritised within the national agricultural policies of many countries, including Nepal. Yet gender mainstreaming at the national policy level does not always work to effect change when policies are implemented at the local scale. In less-developed nations such as Nepal, it is rare to find a critical analysis of the mainstreaming process and its successes or failures. This paper employs a critical gender analysis approach to examine the gender mainstreaming efforts in Nepal as they move from agricultural policies to practices.