This program is proudly offered in collaboration with the University of Alberta, Faculty of Law and the Centre for Constitutional Studies.
Join leading scholars and practitioners in examining pressing and evolving issues in Canadian constitutional law. Topics will include:
- Legal Pluralism, One Judicial System: When and How Canadian Courts Engage with Indigenous Laws
- Climate Federalism
- “Speaking with Counsel”: A Phrase of Constitutional Significance
- Insolvency Law and the Charter
- Legislated Standards of Review and Constitutional Values: Can We Legislate How Constitutional Review is Conducted?
This program honours Patricia Paradis, former Executive Director of the Centre for Constitutional Studies. It is intended for lawyers and academics who are interested in constitutional law.
______
Topics
Legal Pluralism, One Judicial System: When and How Canadian Courts Engage with Indigenous Laws
This panel examines when and how it is appropriate for Canadian courts to interpret and apply Indigenous laws. Panelists will discuss how Indigenous laws, as part of living legal traditions, enter Canadian legal analysis, including evidentiary recognition through oral histories, expert opinions, and accounts of traditional ceremonies and practices. Even though courts’ engagement with Indigenous laws is not something new (e.g. Woolrich v Connolly, Casimel, Delgamuukw, Tsilhqot’in), there are still questions regarding whether Canadian courts are competent and equipped to apply Indigenous laws as independent sources of authority, in all their depth and complexity, rather than as mere evidentiary inputs into common law. This includes assessing the implications of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and its emphasis on legal pluralism and self-determination. Attention will be paid to methodological challenges: how courts interpret Indigenous legal orders without distorting them, the risks of judicial translation into common law categories, and the institutional limits of Canadian courts as forums for plural legal expression. The panel is designed for legal practitioners seeking to understand how jurisprudential trends are redefining the boundaries between Canadian and Indigenous legal orders and what this means for litigation strategy, judicial education, and the broader project of reconciliation.
Climate Federalism 4.0?
There is no tidy formula for periodizing and characterizing climate governance in Canada, particularly when accounting for the federal-provincial dynamics which colour and define different regulatory epochs. By some accounts, Canada traversed three intersecting phases of climate federalism between 1990 and 2025, including a period of consensus decision-making (1990-2007), a phase of province-led initiatives (2007-2016), and an era of federal dominance (2016-2024). A combination of global and domestic developments, beginning with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, punctuated by Donald Trump’s election in the United States in 2024, and culminating in Mark Carney’s emergence as Canada’s prime minister in 2025, appear to have ushered in a new dispensation of climate federalism in Canada.
While ex-post periodization has its usefulness, identifying ongoing trends is essential both epistemically and functionally. The objective of this panel is to understand the current state of climate federalism in Canada. Several questions beg for answers. Is Canada truly in a new phase of climate federalism (climate federalism 4.0)? What are the characteristics of Canada’s current iteration of climate federalism? What are the constitutional issues likely to emerge from the current iteration? To what extent does Canada’s current climate federalism align with or diverge from its constitutional framework? Is the prevailing climate governance framework constitutionally consistent while lacking the ambition and urgency climate change requires? And what lessons from Canada’s history of climate federalism are helpful for understanding and addressing the current dispensation of climate federalism?
“Speaking with Counsel”: A Phrase of Constitutional Significance
Section 10(b) of the Charter provides a constitutional right to counsel for detainees. Recent jurisprudence across Canada has highlighted some tensions in the interpretation of this fundamental right, including, notably, the sufficiency of the one-time consultation, issues pertaining to the legal awareness of the detainee, and the impact of a more detailed definition of police duties under section 10(b) on other Charter rights.
Insolvency Law and the Charter
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms enshrines some of our cardinal legal rights and freedoms, but is generally viewed as limiting government power not private actors. Insolvency law enables private actors to discharge or restructure their indebtedness. At first blush, it may appear that the Charter has little applicability to insolvency law. To the contrary, this panel will explore some of the ways in which the Charter can engage with insolvency law and, in doing so, contribute to the larger conversation around the relevance of the Charter in private law.
Legislated Standards of Review and Constitutional Values: Can We Legislate How Constitutional Review is Conducted?
This panel will address the intersection between constitutional law and statutory interpretation, considering how “values” and “purposes” from the constitution should affect statutory interpretation, even when the statute’s constitutionality is not challenged. This panel will also address the extent, if any, that the manner of constitutional review can be prescribed by legislation, particularly looking at experiences in British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba.
Program formats and dates are subject to change. Prices are subject to GST. Early bird pricing ends on September 23, 2026.
Registration is open until 4pm on the business day prior to the program date.
Program materials (where applicable) will be provided in an electronic format. LESA typically posts program materials 1-2 business days in advance of the program date.
This program is being recorded and will be available as an on-demand program subject to any issues with the recording.
Nearby Hotels
Looking for nearby hotel accommodations in Edmonton? Click here for more info.
Group Discounts
This program provides firms or organizations the opportunity to purchase individual tickets for a group at a discounted rate or to purchase a firm broadcast ticket to watch the program as a group in one location.
See the accordion tab below for more details on how to send multiple people to this program with a group discount.
To purchase a firm broadcast, add the relevant “Firm Broadcast” ticket option to your cart. Facilitators who purchase a firm broadcast ticket can provide e-materials to participants in advance of the program, but participants will not receive individual access to the program and e-materials in their LESA Classroom accounts. Full details on how to be a facilitator for your firm or organization can be found here and will be emailed to you following your purchase.
Policies
For payment, cancellation, transfer, group discount, and firm broadcast policies, click here.
