Université McGill,Faculté de Droit

Volume 31, no. 149 mars 2010

McGill University,Faculty of Law

Volume 31, no. 14March 9th, 2010

QQUUIIDD NNOOVVII

IN THIS ISSUE...

3. Texas...

4. Traffic Act

5. Legal Essay Writing Contest

6. Dean Maxwell Cohen

7. THE COMPOSTING REPORT

8. Droit à l’image

10. Passing the Québec Bar, Part 2

12. Passing the Québec Bar, Part 3

16. We Animals...

17. Dear Abby II

18. Annual Lecture in Jurisprudence...

19. What does a JD mean for me?

20. Gratitude, Praise and Hope...

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All contents copyright 2010 Quid Novi.

Les opinions exprimées sont propres aux auteurs et ne réflètent pas nécessairement celles de l’équipe du Quid Novi.

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Envoyez vos commentaires ou articles avant jeudi 5pm à l’adresse: quid.law@mcgill.ca

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Contributions should preferably be submitted as a .doc attachment (and not, for instance, a “.docx.”).Contributions should also include the student year of the contributor.

QUIDNOVI

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Editors-in-ChiefCourtney RetterChanel Sterie

In-House DivaCharlie Feldman

WebmasterRyan Schwartz

Layout EditorsJames Nowlan

Lexi Pace

Associate EditorsStefanie Carsley

Eliza CohenMichelle FelskyAndrea Girardin

Faizel GulamhusseinDaniel HabouchaAllison Jaskolka

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Marie-Pier LeducCarrie LevittCorey Omer

Evan PapermanBrett PedvisDavid Rapps

Christina SauroLaura ScheimNikita StepinLucinda TangEva WardenRandee Zeitz Krista Zeman

Staff WritersChase BartlétKirk Emery

Andrea GirardinMichael ShorttMarc Tacheji

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continued on p.21

Éditorial/Editorialby Chanel Sterie (LAW II)

Run for or Away From the LSA?

I can’t help but notice the scarce list ofnominations for next year’s LSA Execu-tive. More than half the positions wereleft vacant following the first set ofnominations due this past Friday. Of thenine available positions, five are vacant,three are presently acclaimed, includingthe President position, meaning therewill be a vote for only one post. Thesenumbers differ from last year’s elec-tions, in which only two positions wereacclaimed; two positions had three can-didates vying for the spot.

So what’s changed since last year? Arepeople suddenly disinterested in stu-dent politics? Although there has been alot of discussion over the past fewweeks about the LSA and their work, itseems few want to pick the ball up andrun with it. Whatever happened to ‘bethe change’?

It is unsettling that so few people arewilling to run for LSA Executive andcontribute to student life at the Faculty.The LSA serves an important purpose -to represent students and their interestsboth within the Faculty and beyond. Italso works to create a sense of com-munity within the Faculty.

Texas,Big State, Bigger Misunderstanding

by Wela Quan (LAW III)

I was very disappointed to read ChaseBarlet’s article in the February 16th edi-tion of the Quid bashing all thingsTexas. Even though I am not personallyfrom Texas, some of you may know thatmy long time boyfriend (and yes, I pre-fer the term “boyfriend” to “partner”) isTexan and very proud of it. While thearticle claims to be a satire, I could notfor the life of me figure out what the ac-tual satire was intended to be of. Ac-cording to Wikipedia, the satire’ssarcasm “often professes to approvethe very things the satirist actuallywishes to attack”. I don’t know aboutother readers but I found that the arti-cle didn’t profess to approve anythingand just ended up attacking. Or maybeI have it all backwards and the article’sattacks on Texas are really meant to beread as the author’s approval of Texas?Whatever the case may be, I only wantto respond by pointing out the fact thatnot all of us see Texas the same way.

Having visited Texas several times, Ithink it is wrong to paint this big statewith one sweeping generalization. Icannot claim to know a whole lot aboutTexas since I’ve never lived there butbeing Albertan, I can sympathize withhow Texans must feel when they leavehome. Let’s face it; to the rest ofCanada, I am no different than our gun-toting, god-fearing, oil loving Texan sis-ters to the south. I know you will beshocked to learn that despite havingspent 15 years of my life in Alberta Ihave never actually touched a gun. Gofigure.

It is easy to focus on the negativescoming from Texas. It is easy to pointour fingers and blame George Bush(whose family is actually from Con-necticut) because it is hard to ask our-selves what went so wrong with thelegal and political system. It is easy toproject homophobia onto Texas be-cause it is hard to ask why Proposition8 and why only 5 states out of 50? It is

easy to blame Texas and Big Oil be-cause it is hard to make our own per-sonal sacrifices for the environment.Like Quebec, there is always talk of ces-sion from the union in Texas but no oneever stops to wonder why. Would youwant to stay in a family which singlesyou out as the sole cause of all prob-lems when no one even considers therole of the 49 other members?

Instead of pointing our fingers, weshould attempt to understand and en-gage those who we are not familiarwith. Encouraging these negativestereotypes only serves to further alien-ate Texans and make them more defi-ant. Texas is not perfect. My boyfriendadmits that there is still a lot of racismand homophobia, but this does notmean the situation is static. Over thenext few years, the demographics ofTexas may bring about a big politicalchange. According to the Economist,“The body to watch is the MexicanAmerican Legislative Caucus (MALC),which claims 44 of the 74 Democrats inthe Texas House (there is not one His-panic Republican there, a gigantic prob-lem for the party)”. If this keeps up, ademocratic majority in Texas would notbe far away. Beyond this, Houston, the

4th largest city in America, just recentlyelected an openly lesbian mayor. AnniseParker took office on January 2nd ofthis year and it was her long time part-ner Kathy Hubbard who held the Biblefor her swearing in ceremony. Just asAmerica is swept up with the hope ofchange, Texas too can look to a moretolerant and inclusive future.

The last time I went to Texas, I visitedboth San Marcos (population 50, 000)and Austin (capital of Texas; home toUniversity of Texas at Austin - myboyfriend’s alma mater). The two citiescould not have been more different.During my entire 5 day stay in San Mar-cos, I did not see a single minority. Allthe students I met drove big trucks,their families probably all own guns andI couldn't even finish a quarter of anyof the meals I was served. San Marcoswas overwhelmingly and stereotypically“Texan”. On the other hand, Austin wasteaming with diversity in all senses ofthe word. I saw several great livebands, ate normal sized Mexican din-ners and enjoyed going out on 6thstreet (bar street). This street, thestomping grounds of the 80,000 plusUT Austin students, is no more of a“cesspool of alcoholic lust” than St-Lau-

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rent during McGill Frosh Week. One cansay, Austin was ‘anything but’ stereo-typically Texan, especially since it votesdemocrat. But last time I checkedAustin was, and still is, in Texas whichmakes it every bit as Texan as San Mar-cos. Besides, Texans are just sodamned nice. The people I met in SanMarcos and in Austin were equally wel-coming. Call me old fashioned but Igenuinely enjoyed the southern hospi-tality.

In July of 2009, the Economist ran awhole series of articles based on therise of Texas. The articles discussed

among other things the fact that Texasis poised to be a crucial leader for thefuture of America. I highly recommendthem because they present both thepositives and the negatives of Texas inwhat I consider a more diplomatic andobjective light. Whether we like it ornot, the Lone Star will light up the mapand I invite all of you to learn moreabout this complicated state.

As a side note: In the last federal elec-tion, Edmonton-Strathcona, where myalma mater the University of Alberta islocated, elected an NDP candidate asour member of Parliament. Even though

Stephen Harper is from Calgary, Ed-montonians proved in the last electionthat Albertans are also changing.

I invite all of you to get over your ownstereotypes and talk about Texas with aTexan. If you do I am sure you will findthat “real men [do] come from Texas”;that they too can be modern and not“old-fashioned”, progressive not “ultra-conservative”, realistic not “conceited”and open minded not “close-mindedjerks”. But having said this, even I can'tcompletely promise that they won't bearmed, because seriously, Don't MessWith Texas.

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Traffic Actby Guillaume Ste-Marie (LAW I)

“Are you bringing back anything ofvalue? You didn’t fill in that part of theimmigration form.” This customs agentsure knew how to make me feel like acheap bastard. “No,” I didn’t bring any-thing back. Despite the fact that I hadleft this town six months ago to tem-porarily live at the end of the world, Ididn’t bring anything back. Not for me,or anyone else. Thanks.

It was spring, and the idea of comingback was appalling. Not that Montreal’sa bummer; it’s quite the opposite, es-pecially in the summer. The thing is, mysavings account had run dry weeksprior, and I had busted what was left ofmy available credit on gin and tonic atthe airport before my connecting flight.Needless to say, the effect had worn off.I picked up my bags and took a bushome, not knowing what I’d do duringthe following months. I skimmed thepapers for a job the next morning andfound out that some Crescent Streetguido-hole was looking for a busboy.They hired me on the spot that sameday. The pay check was irrelevant butthe tips were good, so much soonerthan expected, I had gathered a rea-sonable stash of twenties. While drunk-enly cleaning up tables one afternoon(I had befriended the bartender), I de-cided it would be most reasonable toplan a decent road trip. All I’d need wasto not drink or smoke away the moneyI had made, and some square time to

plan it. Saving money was easy enough.Problem was I had some generousfriends in the city that kept my mind ina haze throughout the first weeks ofsummer. By the time I was ready toleave, the money was still there but Ididn’t know where I was going. Ibought a beat-up car with half my stashand packed it with a guitar, a pocked-sized journal, an inadequate amount ofunderwear, a few shirts and, just incase, a sweet three-piece suit I hadgotten tailored for cheap in Hong Kong.There I was, following the East Coast-teenager dream of driving West.

Now this all may seem like a rather ro-mantic endeavour. Little did I know thata westbound 1994 Civic with a tank-fullof gas wouldn’t get me much furtherthan a highway super-mall near Brock,Ontario. It was still early and I hadnowhere else to go, so I fuelled up,bought a pack of smokes and decidedI’d get to Chicago that night. “I gotfriends there”, I convinced myself. I canbe quite persuasive. Crossing the Sar-nia customs wasn’t as complicated as Ihad expected, considering my unkempthair and the fact that I couldn’t clearlydefine my destination.

“Where you going?”

“Chicago, then west.”

“How long are you planning to stay in

the United States?”

“A few weeks, I don’t know.”

“Have a nice stay.”

Stay? I slept in the car in a Wal-Martparking lot just outside the city, hopingI could reach someone in Chicago in themorning.

Photo credit: Charlie Feldman

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MARCH 9TH, 2010

1st place

SOQUIJ prize of $1500

2nd place 3nd place

$1000 $500

* The Contest is reserved to the students registered

in an undergraduate program of Law in a Quebec university

or in the Civil Law program at the University of Ottawa.

For the complete rules, visit www.abcqc.qc.ca.

For more information, contact Ms. Geneviève Cabana

at gcabana@abcqc.qc.ca

To participate*, you must

submit a legal essay

of 8 to 12 pages answering

the following question:

M. Lightfoot, alpinist, has entered into a contractwith a Québec company toadvertize mountain shoes.Informed that the company,which manufactures theshoes in its factory in Absurdistan, systematicallyrefuses to hire women, he now wishes to terminatethe contract and claim damages. Can he do so?

The Essay must be submitted by May 31st, 2010.

J U R Y

Ms. Carine Bouzaglou

Mr. Alexandre Fallon

Ms. Anne-Marie L. Lizotte

Mr. Sylvain Lussier, Ad.E.

Mr. Nicolas Nadeau Ouellet

Ms. Julie Patry

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Dean Maxwell Cohenby Professor William Tetley (Faculty)

I. Maxwell Cohen is to be hon-oured at McGill on March 17, 2010for his accomplishments person-ally and for his contributions to theMcGill Law Faculty.

II. Dean Maxwell Cohen, it shouldnever be forgotten, made threemajor contributions to the McGillLaw Programme.

Firstly - The national programme - civillaw and common law - was his concep-tion and was established by him.

Secondly - The building of ChancellorDay Hall and thus a real and first McGillLaw School building was inspired andbrought about by Dean Cohen.

Thirdly - The bilingual nature and pro-gramme of McGill - French and Englishin the classrooms, for examinations, incasebooks and documents, and for theprofessors, the students, and the ad-ministration. It was and is true bilin-gualism and was and is expected ofeveryone.

It was not double unilingualism, which Ihave defined as some participants ex-pected to speak only English and oth-ers expected to speak only French,while a few in the middle are expectedto speak both languages. This wasbrought about by the inspiration of Max.

III. “Survival and Fulfilment: Arewe Two Floundering Peoples orOne Blundering Nation?”

On November 7, 1967, Dean MaxwellCohen gave the 87th Anniversary Lec-ture to the Institute of Chartered Ac-countants of Quebec at the QueenElizabeth Hotel. Several quotations fromthe speech on the subject of “Survivaland Fulfilment: Are we Two FlounderingPeoples or One Blundering Nation?” ap-pear below.

IV. The Constitution of Canada andSpecial Status

Maxwell Cohen was a very fluent (andfluid) speaker. He could talk extempo-raneously at the drop of a hat, could goon at great length and was often criti-cized for this. See p 29 where he him-self declares: “I am afraid I havespoken longer than expected.”

But at p 28-29, he also makes the prin-cipal and important point of his paper,that he can accept special status forQuebec like Senator Maurice Lamon-tagne but only with an enormous pro-viso as follows:

V. Cohen makes one importantproviso

“I make one proviso however; I am pre-pared to support the symbolic creationin some as yet undefined way of a spe-cial status for Quebec, as the homelandof French-speaking Canadians but, ifthat means a redistribution of federal-Provincial powers, I cannot accept it.This must be primarily a symbolic mat-ter; it is not a matter of legislative com-petence. It must not mean a significantredistribution of power, or it will breakup the Canada we know.” (At p 28-29,emphasis added)

VI. Thus effectively Maxwell Cohenagrees with Pierre Elliott Trudeauand not Senator Lamontagne

VII. Conclusion

Maxwell Cohen’s three major contribu-tions to McGill were extraordinary whilehis opposition to special status for Que-bec was important and rare amongstoutspoken and even thoughtful leadersat the time.

William Tetley

Prof. William Tetley, C.M., Q.C. McGill Law Faculty3660 Peel Street, Room 1112 (Ground-floor McGill Law Library) Montreal H3A 1W9 CANADA

E Mail: william.tetley@mcgill.caWebsite entitled "TETLEY'S MARITIME& ADMIRALTY LAW" athttp://www.mcgill.ca/maritimelaw/Phone Business (514) 398-6619; FAX (514) 398-4659 Phone Residence (514) 733-8049

Tetley's latest book - "Marine CargoClaims IV Ed., 2008"(3288 pages in 2volumes) is now available for deliveryand may be purchased from "ÉditionsYvon Blais" - E-mail: editionsyvon-blais.commandes@thomson.com. Theprice is $450 CAN or U.S., plus shippingand handling.

Nota Bene: Marine Cargo Claims IV Ed., 2008 (2Vols., 3288 pages) was recently namedco-winner (with Bradley Crawford Q.C.and his book "The Law of Banking andPayment in Canada") of the CanadianBar Association "Walter S. Owen BookPrize". The prize was for the best bookin law in the English language duringthe past two years in Canada and waspresented jointly to Bradley Crawfordand William Tetley.

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9 MARS 2010

THE COMPOSTING REPORT: WEEK 4par Hugues D. Bergeron (DROIT III) et Meredith Cairns (DROIT II)

La quatrième et dernière semaine de l’étude de compostage s’est bien déroulée. Nous avons recueilli approximativement120 livres de matières compostables: un record! L’étude de compostage, comme nous l’avions mentionné dès le début decelle-ci, ne durait que quatre semaines. Il était toutefois possible pour nous de garder un contenant de compostage pourune semaine supplémentaire, afin d’informer graduellement les gens que celle-ci se terminait et afin de leur permettre deconsulter notre texte dans le Quid de la semaine dernière (qui expliquait comment il était possible pour eux de continuerà faire du compost).

The bins and signs we have been using up to now were made available in order to run these composting audits. Therewill be a new audit, starting at the beginning of March, in the Engineering Faculty and these bins and signs will be usedfor that purpose. Obviously, there are other reasons explaining why we could not continue with this audit in our faculty.As was explained in the Quid last week, what made it possible is, to a large extent, the fact that it was temporary. Thereare several issues that would have to be tackled if we wanted it to be permanent. We are aware of these issues and havestarted to think about how we could deal with them. The objective is, obviously, to end up having composting bins per-manently in our faculty.

However, this audit was also helpful for a myriad of other reasons: it made us realize that composting would definitely bepossible in our faculty; it gave us an idea of the quantity of organic waste we would collect weekly as well as the rate ofcontamination we would have to deal with. Finally, it put us on the radar! Indeed, we have been in contact constantlywith Dennis Fortune, the Sustainability Director of McGill University, since the beginning of the audit. We will be writing areport on the experience and this report is likely to appear on the website of the McGill Office for Sustainability. The lawfaculty’s concern for the environment will, therefore, be known to all! Mr. Fortune is also working, along with several oth-ers, on the possibility of having permanent composting facilities at our university. He now knows, without a doubt, thatthe Faculty of Law would be a great place to start!

Bref, nous continuons de travailler sur le dossier et espérons, tout comme la majorité d’entre vous, qu’il sera un jour pos-sible d’avoir des installations de compostage permanentes à la faculté!

Si vous avez des questions ou des observations, n’hésitez pas à nous contacter!

hugues.dorebergeron@mail.mcgill.ca; meredith.cairns@mail.mcgill.ca

Vos commissaires à l’environnement,

Hugues D. Bergeron et Meredith Cairns.

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DROIT À L’IMAGE Charlie Feldman (LAW II)Dear Reader,

I love the Quid. Ilove my section. I’m glad so many of you seem to enjoy it (or, well, very few of yousay you dislike it to my face). Sadly, this week has been crazy. Between Skit Nite and my academicresponsiblities (*cough* I love you, CML prop *cough*) it’s been hard to get everything together. Thatsaid, my section will be back with avengence next week with more quotes than you can shake a stickat! I swear! Don’t forget to send me stuff - quid.charlie@gmail.com. ANDTHANK YOUSOMUCHTOMYSPIES WHOSENDMESUCHGREATQUOTES..... actually, I’ll share one this week that Iadore:

Prof. Dedek: "The cow was named Rose... I don't know a lot of cow names. Amber. Or Ginger."L1 [whispering]: Those are all stripper names.

And.. my favourite quote of the past week:Prof. Klein: “A spontaneous utterance is neither spontaneous nor an utterance... talk amongst your-selves” (oh Coffee Talk....)

Other notes: I’m sorry the planned Quid Oscar pool didn’t work - and because we go to press beforethe awards are given out, we won’t be able to publish the winners. That said, the Tony award pool be-gins soon - make sure to send us your nominations before the big night - Sunday, June 13th!!

So, for this week, it’s random stuff... but next week will be amazing. Like War and Peace, only better!-Charlie

2L Town Hallvendredi, le 12 mars 201016h30 - Thomson House

*as required by By-law 3.3

Come, discuss, drink (but you’ll have to pay because we use our LSAbudget for that...)

SKIT NITE - LAWSCHOOL OFROCKFEEDBACK

If you’re seeing this on Tuesday - go to Skit Nite. If it’s past Tuesday, keep reading:

The Skit Nite - Law School of Rock Committee is formed each year from student volunteers who takeon the mandate of putting together both events. If you have any comments or feedback about the

events (good or bad) let us know so we can pass this input along to next year’s committee. We reallyappreciate your feedback, and together we can improve the events for future years. Thanks!

Laura Easton, Charlie Feldman, Steven JegouSkit Nite & Law School of Rock Committee 2009-2010

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MARCH 9TH, 2010

DROIT À L’IMAGE Charlie Feldman (LAW II)

! " # $ % & ' " ( ) * % + $ & , " - $% " $ - . + - , , * / . 0 ! " 1 # 2 $* 3 # . 4 # , ' 2 2 " " 3 * 5 4 - 3 /$ . 4 $ $ + 4 $ % 3 ! 0 0 & ) , 2 # ," + & % , 3 , " " ! - $ ' * - " 0 , *' % % % ! ' * 4 , , + 3 + & # 6 - 0 -" & $ - " ( ' 3 " , " " " + . " . $ /% * % 3 - " 0 % ! % & 3 + 3 - # - % -- + * & ' 3 " % $ 0 ' * 3 / 1 $ + . 0. % % ' & " - & " # 3 % ' # , $ * & -" " - & ' % * # , 5 " , # 1 $ + % - ++ 0 " 7 + $ % " ' + % # $ + % ' 3 # $# $ 5 $ # " % 2 3 - $ ' + ' # & . ' ,, . 1 3 3 " / % + ) 4 ! - ' * " , " ,6 & - ' . " + % * * " " , & % ! $ 6 -* + - . . * " # ' 0 , - , # & % " 3 !$ + 0 + 3 " % 8 , " ! - " 4 3 " % + $" + - # ' 4 $ % $ # 3 6 $ + - 0 0 5 %* , - 4 $ , $ 8 2 - + 5 % . ! ' - 0 0

$bella abusus avocat bar barreaubiens capacity causation charter civilclause code common contract courtcricket crime delit denning dissentdol droit equity federal fiduciefoundations fuller harm hart jurisdictionjutras law lawyer legal lesionliability matteos mcgill memo mootnegligence obligations pointfirst prejudice provincequid remedy roncarelli rule statutetort tribunal trust victim

QUIDFINDRules: words can be any direction!

Bonus: find three errors in this week’s Quid!BONNECHANCE! (answers on page 22)

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Passing the Québec Bar - Part 2by Narimane Nabahi (LAW ALUMNUS)

In the first part of this series of articles,I addressed issues that preceded theactual classes at the Québec Bar. Thisarticle will address the topics of booksand other things you have to preparebefore classes start. And since westarted on the right foot in the previousarticle, we will again switch to Frenchfor this article.

Disclaimer: insert your favorite warninghere – this is simply my opinion. Dates,requirements, exam structure, justabout everything can change, so useyour own judgment when reading thisarticle.

PréparatifsLivresQuels livres acheter? Yvon Blais? WilsonLafleur? Puis-je garder mon édition duCPC 2007-2008? Code criminel, annotéou non? Tant de questions, et si peud’information.

Lorsque j’étais à McGill, j’utilisais leCode civil d’Yvon Blais. J’avais achetécertains des autres codes sans tropprêter attention à la maison d’édition.Au Barreau, pour différentes raisons, ilfaut choisir plus intelligemment ces dif-férents ouvrages. J’ai choisi les codesde Wilson Lafleur – à l’exception du

Code criminel. J’ai acheté le Code crim-inel annoté Cournoyer-Ouimet.

Conseil : on ne peut pas amener deuxlivres similaires aux examens, par ex-emple le Code civil de Wilson Lafleur etle Code civil d’Yvon Blais.

Conseil : Wilson & Lafleur, situé à deuxpas de l’École du Barreau, offre desrabais aux étudiants.

Les index et les renvois ne sont pastous les mêmesSur ce point, de nombreuses personnesm’ont dit que les indexes des codes deWilson Lafleur sont bien meilleurs queceux d’Yvon Blais. Je n’ai pas fait lacomparaison moi-même. Néanmoins, jeconnais quelqu'un qui après s’êtreprocuré un Code civil d’Yvon Blais s’enest acheté un nouveau de WilsonLafleur en raison des indexes. Dans cer-tains cas, certaines lois dans les codesd’Yvon Blais n’ont même pas d’index.Chez Wilson Lafleur, par exemple, la Loisur la justice administrative à un index,tandis que la même loi chez Yvon Blaisn’en a pas. Les indexes et les renvoissont importants pour les examens, ilfaut donc choisir judicieusement sescodes et ses lois, même si dans certainscas on doit payer un supplément : chez

Wilson Lafleur, par exemple, certaineslois comme la Loi sur la justice admin-istrative sont des recueils reliés séparésqui, au total, coûtent plus cher que lescodes lorsqu’on regarde le nombre depages de ces suppléments.

Bigger is better?On peut surligner nos codes et mettredes renvois à d’autres articles. Lescodes d’Yvon Blais sont souvent pluspetits que ceux de Wilson Lafleur. Si l’onne veut pas que nos pages de codessoient trop surchargées, l’espace sup-plémentaire devient utile.

Anciennes éditionsPuisque le Barreau coûte plus de troismille dollars, ce serait navrant d’é-chouer en raison d’un code qui n’est pasà jour. Dans ma classe, j’ai parfois vudes élèves fournir des réponses incor-rectes en raison d’un ancien code. J’yreviendrai plus tard, mais chaque erreurà l’examen du Barreau est extrêmementcoûteuse. La meilleure chose à faire estdonc d’envoyer un courriel à Notice1

pour vendre ses anciens codes et enacheter de nouveau.

Code criminel, annoté ou nonLa seule loi annotée qu’il est permis d’a-cheter est le Code criminel. Le code an-

1 Notice : liste de courriel utilisée en droit àMcGill pour, en autre, vendre ses livres àd’autres étudiants.

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9 MARS 2010noté est beaucoup plus cher que lecode non annoté. Selon moi, ce codedemeure un bon investissement –même en sachant que le droit crimineln’est pas à l’examen final.

Je trouve le Code criminel particulière-ment difficile à lire. La lecture de la ju-risprudence accompagnant les articlesen facilite grandement la compréhen-sion. De plus, la jurisprudence est sou-vent la bonne réponse dans lesquestions de droit criminel. Bref, cetoutil aide à comprendre le cours. Maispourquoi l’acheter même s’il n’est pas àl’examen final? Je crois qu’il estpréférable de s’habituer bien à l’avanceà son code. Le pire serait de rater l’ex-amen final et de devoir se familiariseravec un nouveau code pour l’examende reprise! Le Code criminel annoté, enparticulier, est très volumineux et diffi-cile à naviguer. Mieux vaut donc payerles 60 ou 70 dollars supplémentaires etne pas avoir à se soucier de ces prob-lèmes.

Conseil : regardez combien ce livrecoûte à la COOP Droit de l’Université deMontréal.

Une bonne collection de classeursOn reçoit beaucoup de papier au Bar-reau. Il y a d’abord les 40 jours d’an-nexes (lire : plein de papier!) que l’onnous donne avant de commencer. À ces40 jours se rajoutent 30 autres joursque l’on nous donne en cours de route.De plus, les professeurs nous donnentsouvent des annexes qui doivent êtrerajoutées aux annexes qu’on reçoit d’a-vance. Par exemple, si l’annexe 1 dujour 17 traite d’une requête introductived’instance, il est fréquent que le pro-fesseur nous remette l’annexe 2 qui estle corrigé de cette requête. Finalement,certains sujets sont traités de manièredisjointe, par exemple le droit des af-faires : dans ces cas, il faut souventamener les anciennes pages au cours.Bref, les papiers s’accumulent et sebaladent de droit à gauche. Conclusion: avoir une bonne collection declasseurs pour tout ce que l’on reçoit au

Barreau.

Accès légal de GaudetCe DVD, que les étudiants au Barreauet de McGill peuvent obtenir gratuite-ment, est un outil incontournable. Eneffet, le DVD contient non seulementtoutes les lois du Québec et du Canada,mais aussi un Code civil annoté et leslois historiques du Québec. Lorsque l’onfait d’anciens examens, il est parfoisutile de voir une loi dans sa forme an-térieure. De plus, ceux qui amènentleurs portables en classes peuvent s’enservir pour faire rapidement desrecherches, pour copier-coller des arti-cles dans leurs notes ou tout simple-ment afin d’éviter d’amener une loi encours. Le Code civil annoté est partic-ulièrement bon, car il ne s’attarde pastrop sur la jurisprudence, mais au con-traire, fait de très bons liens entre lesdifférents articles du Code.

Pour obtenir ce DVD, il suffit d’envoyerpar courriel à dvd@gaudet.qc.ca lesinformations suivantes : nom, adressepostale, établissement d’enseignementet no d’étudiant.

* * *Dans le troisième article de cette sériede six, j’aborderai le sujet de lajournée typique au Barreau. Si vousavez des questions, n’hésitez pas à lesenvoyer à narimane.nabahi à (@)mail.mcgill.ca.

Figure 1 - Exemple d’article du Code civil annoté

Passing the Québec Bar – Part 3by Narimane Nabahi (LAW ALUMNUS)

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In the first part of the article, I ad-dressed issues that preceded the ac-tual classes at the Québec Bar. Thesecond part dealt with the issue ofbooks and papers. This article will ad-dress the actual classes. And onceagain, it’s time to switch to French.Disclaimer: insert your favorite warn-ing here – this is simply my personalopinion. Dates, requirements, examstructure, just about everything canchange, so use your own judgmentwhen reading this article.

Qu'est-ce que l’expérience de l’É-cole du BarreauIl y a plusieurs manières de définirl’expérience de l’École du Barreau eten particulier la formation profession-nelle. On peut la définir comme desjournées de cours qui se succèdent.On peut la définir de manièrechronologique : trois périodes sé-parées par trois examens bien dif-férents. On peut aussi limiter notreanalyse aux examens. Je vais regarderle barreau sous ces trois angles. Danscet article, je traiterai de la journéetypique.

La journée de cours typiqueLa journée typique au barreau sedéroule comme suit. La veille, ou lematin même, on regarde notre guided’activités de l’étudiant pour voir cequi est prévu pour la journée à venir.Pour la plupart des journées, on voitune feuille comme celle que l’on peutvoir ici.

Figure 1 - Exemple d’agenda pour une journée

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On peut voir sur cette feuille le « but »de la journée. Dans mon exemple (lejour 5), c’est d’apprendre commentavoir une conduite professionnelle etéthique.

Les travaux préparatoires sont lestravaux que l’on doit faire avant de seprésenter en classe. Ici, il fallait fairedeux annexes, soit la seconde et laquatrième. Une annexe, c’estgénéralement une série de questionsauxquelles on doit répondre. Lesréponses peuvent se trouver dans laloi, dans la jurisprudence ou dans laCollection de droit – et dans certainscas – nulle part.

Annexe typiqueL’exemple que l’on voit est celui d’uneannexe typique.

Conseil : Il est impératif de faire cesexercices avant d’aller en cours. Lesannexes sont la pierre angulaire ducours et c’est pourquoi il est si impor-tant de bien les préparer, quitte à sac-rifier d’autres activités. Voici plus endétail ma suggestion d’approche.

Comment faire les annexesCette question suscite souvent beau-coup de réactions, et elle est intime-ment liée aux autres documentsutilisés au Barreau, soit les lois et laCollection de droit. Ma suggestion, quiressemble plutôt à un algorithme, selit comme suit.

Figure 2 - Exemple d’annexe

1. Préparatifsa. Trouvez les lois qui sont requises pour la journée en questionb. Brièvement, survolez ces lois pour au moins être capable de les localiserc. Même chose pour la Collection de droit: identifiez le volume et la partie du volume qui sera nécessaire pour faire les ex-ercices

i. Mieux : téléchargez la section de la Collection de droit en ligne à partir du site du CAIJ pour être capable derapidement chercher de l’information dans ces chapitresd. Trouvez un ou plusieurs fichiers contenant les réponses aux annexes des années antérieures

2. Recherche soloa. Lisez la (première) questionb. Essayez de trouver la réponse

i. Regardez l’index de la loiii. Lisez la loiiii. Cherchez dans la Collection de droit

c. Après quelques minutes – ou quelques heures – formulez votre réponse3. Vérificationa. Regardez dans les réponses antérieures ce que les autres ont répondub. Comparez ces réponses à votre réponse

Dans cette approche, il y a deuxétapes clés. La première est celle derecherche dans la loi. C’est en fait maméthode pour lire la loi sans jamaisvraiment « lire la loi ». Au lieu deprendre la loi comme un roman, qu’onlit du début à la fin, on lit la loi avecun but précis en tête. Par exemple, jecherche dans le Code criminel un arti-cle qui traite de la détention d’un ac-cusé. Ceci me force à regarder l’index.Ceci me force à identifier un ou desarticles qui m’apparaissent pertinents.En réalité, je suis en train de lire la loisans m’en rendre compte. Pour quecette recherche soit utile, il faut toutde même se concentrer pour bien lireles articles, et de temps en temps,pousser plus loin sa recherchelorsqu’un article pique notre curiosité.Dans ces cas-là, je vais regarder dansla Collection de droit le sens de cet ar-ticle, les cas où il s’applique, etc. Jepeux aussi aller regarder les renvoisqui sont indiqués au bas de l’article.

La deuxième étape clé est celle d’allercomparer sa réponse préliminaire àcelle des anciens élèves. D’un côté,cela peut paraître néfaste puisqu’on al’impression de « tricher » en regar-dant les anciennes réponses. Mais sion a bien fait l’étape clé précédente –c’est-à-dire qu’on s’est bien creusé lesméninges – la réponse elle-même apeu d’importance : le lendemain, leprofesseur va nous donner cetteréponse. Ici, le but est d’anticipercette réponse et de bien préparernos questions par rapport à cetteréponse. Voici pourquoi : si on attendle lendemain pour attendre la bonneréponse, on perd une occasion pré-cieuse d’avoir une bonne question àposer au professeur et de bien profiterdu cours.

Par exemple, imaginons que j’arrive àla conclusion, après ma recherchesolo, que la réponse à une des ques-

tions est l’article 2925 du Code civil. Sicette réponse est fausse, mais que jele réalise à la maison, je peux prendremon temps pour comprendre pourquoicette réponse est fausse, et je peuxaussi reformuler ma réponse. Si à lafin de cette réflexion je ne suis tou-jours pas convaincu que ma réponseest fausse, je peux poser la questionle lendemain en classe.

Par contre, si j’attends le lendemainpour réaliser que ma réponse estfausse, deux mauvais scénariosrisquent d’avoir lieu. Le premier est lesuivant : le professeur va donner labonne réponse, je vais noter la bonneréponse, mais je ne comprendrai paspourquoi ma réponse n’était pasbonne. Je viens de perdre une occa-sion en or de poser une question cri-tique pour ma réflexion. De plus, je neconnais pas nécessairement l’article enquestion, et dans ce cas c’est unerecherche frénétique à travers le codepour le localiser.

L’autre mauvais scénario est le suivant: je réalise que je ne comprends pasquelque chose, je lève ma main pourposer ma question, mais en fait jepose une question « inutile ». Par in-utile, je parle d’une question à laquellej’aurais pu répondre la veille avec trèspeu de réflexion. Et en posant unequestion inutile, j’ai peut-être raté machance de poser une question plusutile pour ma compréhension. Sanscompter que j’ai interrompu la classeinutilement.

En résumé, le but de cette approcheest de :1. Lire et décortiquer les lois en ayantun but précis en tête2. Essayer de comprendre la matièrele mieux possible avant le cours pourmaximiser les précieuses heures decours

Une note sur les anciennes réponses :il est très probable que les anciennesréponses soient fausses ou inexactes.C’est pour cette raison qu’il faut leslire, mais arriver à sa propre conclu-sion. Ce qui compte, c’est d’avoir bienfait le tour de la question. Simplementrecopier les réponses d’autres person-nes n’a strictement aucune utilité.

Annexe d’informationPour la journée 5, l’annexe 1 était uneannexe d’information. Ces annexes ré-sument de manière sommaire un sujetparticulier. Toutes les journées n’ontpas ce genre d’annexes, mais on lesretrouve souvent lorsque des sujetssont compliqués ou lorsqu’un tableauou deux peuvent grandement clarifierun sujet.

Conseil: Bien que ces annexes ne fig-urent pas toujours dans la liste destravaux préparatoires, il est fortementconseillé de les lire avant le cours.

Annexe remise en classeDans certains cas, des annexes sontdistribuées en classe telle une annexede questions. Le plus souvent, c’estune annexe de réponses qui est don-née en classe, en particulier pour lesexercices de rédaction. Donc par ex-emple, si l’annexe 1 demande de rédi-ger une requête introductived’instance, l’annexe 2, remise enclasse, établit la grille des éléments deréponse recherchés.

Annexe de mise en situationPour certains problèmes, tels que lesexercices de consultation, le pro-fesseur remet à différents élèves uneannexe comprenant les informationsfictives que l’étudiant doit avoir pourjouer son rôle correctement. Par ex-emple, l’élève 1 pourra recevoir uneannexe expliquant la position du sta-giaire, l’élève 2 recevra une annexeexpliquant les attentes du client, et

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c. Essayez de comprendre qui a « raison », à l’aide des lois, de codes annotés ou de la Collection de droiti. Pour la Collection de droit, on peut faire une recherche sur les numéros d’articles trouvés pour voir où exacte-

ment on traite d’un article donnéd. Formulez une nouvelle réponse qui intègre les éléments qui ont l’air le plus plausiblee. Formulez des questions à poser au professeur. Ces questions devraient être reliées à des réponses que vous jugezvalides, mais qui d’après votre recherche n’ont pas de sens

i. Par exemple : « Pourquoi est-ce que l’article 123 ne s’applique pas ici ? »

4. Passez à la prochaine question

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l’élève 3 recevra une grille de pointagepour noter les éléments que le sta-giaire aura correctement soulevés.

Les textes de loiComme on peut le voir dans la feuilledu jour 5, le Barreau nous indique lestextes de lois qu’il faut lire, maissurtout apporter en classe!

Conseil : Ne pas aller en classe sansses lois. Il est important d’y avoiraccès, pour comprendre les réponseset pour faire des renvois, si néces-saire. Et malheureusement, mêmelorsqu’il s’agit du Code criminel an-noté.

Tel qu’expliqué précédemment, je nesuis pas un grand admirateur de laméthode d’apprentissage intitulée «Lis ta loi! » Je sais par contre que denombreuses personnes ne jurent quepar cette méthode. Ce n’est pas quecette méthode ne soit pas bonne selonmoi, c’est simplement que je la trouveinefficace et ennuyante. Tous les arti-cles n’ont pas la même importance. Deplus, lire sans avoir de but précis nepermet pas de faire les liens qui jetrouve sont nécessaires pour les exa-mens.

La Collection de droitJe crois que parmi tous les docu-ments, celui-ci est le plus controversé.La Collection de droit est particulière-ment volumineuse : une douzaine devolumes avec des fascicules complé-mentaires. De nombreuses fois, j’aicommencé à lire les chapitres as-signés, et je n’ai ni pu finir ceschapitres, ni trouver le temps de fairemes annexes. De nombreux pro-fesseurs recommandent même de nepas lire la Collection de droit. Par con-tre, d’autres y réfèrent en classe avecl’impression que tous les élèves en ontfait la lecture.

Que faire? Je crois que deux ap-proches sont certainement bonnes. Lapremière est d’aller consulter la Collec-tion lorsque l’on cherche une informa-tion précise en faisant des annexes.Par exemple, si on conclut que l’article2925 est une réponse possible pourune question du droit des obligations,on fait une recherche dans la Collec-tion de droit pour avoir des précisions

sur cet article. La seconde approcheest de lire sur des sujets qu’on amoins bien compris.

Ce n’est pas que la Collection est mau-vaise, loin de là. Le problème est quela Collection ne correspond pas di-rectement avec ce qui va réellementêtre à l’examen, ou du moins le mini-mum nécessaire pour passer l’examen.Je suis persuadé que de ne pas lire laCollection va vous coûter quelquespoints à l’examen parce que pourrépondre à une question il y aura unélément qui se retrouve clairement (etvoir, exclusivement) dans cette Collec-tion. Le problème, c’est que nousn’avons pas le temps pour tout lire ettout faire. Puisque faire les annexesest nécessaire pour bien profiter ducours, lire la Collection est en quelquesorte secondaire.

Conseil : utilisez la Collection de droiten ligne pour accélérer vosrecherches.(http://www.caij.qc.ca/doctrine/collec-tion_de_droit/2009/index.html)

La jurisprudenceDe temps en temps, la jurisprudenceapparait, mais elle disparait aussi vitequ’elle est apparue. S’il faut retenirquelque chose de la jurisprudence, cen’est (presque) jamais le nom des cas,mais au mieux les principes. Bref, lireles cas en long et en large n’est pas lameilleure utilisation du temps possible.De plus, sachez qu’à l’examen, vousn’avez pas à citer un cas textuellementsi celui-ci est au cœur de la réponse.Si le principe constituant la réponseest dans un cas, vous pouvez en effety référez en citant simplement « ju-risprudence » ou « dans la jurispru-dence ».

Le minimum requisJ’ai ajouté les quelques lignes qui suiv-ent après avoir écrit cet article. Enparlant à mes amis qui font actuelle-ment le Barreau, j’ai réalisé que deuxrègles très importantes n’étaient pasassez claires dans cet article. Les voicidonc :

Règle 1 – Aller en cours tous les joursJe pensais que c’était évident, maisvisiblement, ce n’est pas le cas. Je nedis pas qu’il est nécessaire d’aller en

cours pour réussir aux examens. Parcontre, je ne vois pas de bonnesraisons de ne pas aller en classe. Ilfaut non seulement faire les annexes,mais il faut aller en classe pour enten-dre et discuter de la correction! Au lieude sécher un cours pour étudier toutseul, il vaut mieux aller en cours etétudier tout seul.

Règle 2 – Lire ses annexesJe sais qu’il n’est pas toujours possiblede faire ses annexes pour le cours dulendemain. Dans ces cas, il est forte-ment recommandé d’au moins lire sesannexes avant d’aller en cours. Celapermet, dans les cas où le professeurne lit pas la trame factuelle en classe(souvent longue, détaillée et évolu-tive), de comprendre un peu de quoil’on parle. Il est souvent impossible delire l’énoncé assez rapidement pourcomprendre la réponse donnée enclasse. Bref, en plus d’aller en classetous les jours, la deuxième chose àfaire est de savoir minimalement lamatière qui sera vue en classe et lesfaits qui composent les questions.

* * *

Et voici ce qui conclut ce troisième ar-ticle sur le Barreau. Dans monprochain article, j’aborderais le Bar-reau sous l’angle chronologique. Sivous avez des questions, n’hésitez pasà les envoyer à narimane.nabahi à (@)mail.mcgill.ca.

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Dear Abby,Is there a nice way to say 'no, Idon't want to give you my sum-mary'? When people want otherthings from you it's okay to say no,but there seems to be no good wayto avoid an unwanted summaryshare. What do you suggest?Secretly Saving Summaries

Dear Secretly Saving Summaries,

Have you noticed that you usually sitalone in the caf during universal break?When group projects come around, doyou find yourself having to ask the profto assign you to a group? This isn’t acoincidence, you don’t have friends.You see law school as an individualcompetition. And to some extent youwould be right- at the end of this jour-ney we each get our own transcriptswith our own grades. But indulge me inmaking an Olympic analogy. Remem-ber Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, thegold winning Canadian ice dancers whotrain day-in and day-out with the Amer-ican silver medal winning duo of MerylDavis and Charlie White? (If you don’t

know who these people are, you are abad Canadian). It is no coincidencethat these two couples finished on top.They train together and sharpen eachother, they share ice and tips, and indoing so make each other better on thewhole. When it comes to competitionday they are on their own, but theyboth benefit from all the collaborationwhich happen over the years leading upto that final test. Sure, one was a smallstep higher on the podium, but they allwent home with medals. And you don’thave to be the gold medalist to get anendorsement or a job.

That said, there are the rare individualshere at law school that are always tak-ing and never giving. If you really arefeeling used and abused by a particularindividual, when he or she asks for thesummary I would just reply “oh, don’tworry, it’s super easy to make one foryourself! Just attend every class, makesummaries of all the readings, compileit all, index and format everything, andyou’ll be set!” Flash a big smile andnever look back.

Dear Abby IIby Abby Becraft (LAW III)

Dear Abby,The student next to me keeps spy-ing on my computer during class.Is it bad if I open a word documentand type in a big font 'STOP STAR-ING, CREEPER' Or, is there a bet-ter way to do this? Thanks!Needing Privacy in IP

Is this person your Facebook friend?My suggestion is that during your nextclass, get a prime seat right in front ofthe creeper, pull up Facebook, and goright to Mr. Wondering-Eye’s profile.Spend the next 80 minutes blatantlylooking at all his pictures and wall posts.The most effective way to stop acreeper is to be a creepier creep.

Dear Abby,I am a Prof in need of advice... mystudents seem to be more inter-ested in checking their 'facebooks'than paying attention to my bril-liantly-crafted lectures. How can Iget students to focus, or, betteryet, participate?Ignored in NCDH

Dear Ignored in NCDH,

Have you noticed that the telltale, con-tinuous left-click (I’m-looking-at-Charlie’s-most-recent-facebook-album)motion actually STOPS when you starttalking? It’s not your brilliantly craftedlectures which are being ignored. Itwas just around the time that the pre-carious whipper-snapper in the secondrow started waxing prophetic aboutflood gates and social justice when50% of the room started typing“www.facebook.com” into their webbrowser (the other half opted forwww.google.com). So here’s my ad-vice- talk more! Your students careabout what YOU have to say, not whatwhipper-snapper has to say. When youdo talk, mention that every sentencethat comes out of your mouth is goingto be on the exam. This will work mir-acles.

That said, the way you could really getinto your student’s head is to createyour own Facebook account and then“friend” them all. After all, we’re McGilland we’re into experimental and inno-vative pedagogy, right? Just before yougo into class, post a bunch of picturesfrom your “crazy” weekend. Start usinganecdotes from said “crazy weekend” toillustrate your legal points. This will un-doubtedly capture the attention of yourFacebook addicted pupils.

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AUAL LECTURE I JURISPRUDECE AD PUBLIC POLICY

GEORGE TRIATISEli Goldston Professor Harvard Law School

Prof. Triantis is a leading scholar in the field of law and economics focusing principally onbankruptcy, commercial transactions, contracts and corporate finance. He has recently writtenon “Evidence Arbitrage: The Fabrication of Evidence and the Verifiability of Contract Perform-ance”; Completing Contracts in the Shadow of Costly Verification”; “The Economic and LegalBoundaries of Firms”.

“THE ECOOMICS, MORALITY AD PRACTICE OF COTRACTS”

Monday, 22 March, 2010 at 17h00New Chancellor Day Hall

Maxwell-Cohen Moot Court (room 100)

For more information, please contactProf. Richard Janda: Richard.janda@mcgill.ca

This lecture is made possible by a grant from theBeatty Memorial Lectures Committee

It’s 7:50am and for the last hour and ahalf I have been sitting on a VIA traingoing from Montréal to Toronto. I justgot a text message from a friend study-ing at another Canadian law school. Hermessage excitedly boasted of how heruniversity had just announced theswitch from the LLB to the JD program.Reading this, and not fully understand-ing the implications (partly due to a lackof sleep), I responded with a simple“congrats”. After thinking about it a bit more, Istarted to wonder if the switch to a JDwas something we at McGill should beconsidering. This is not to say that justbecause other schools are doing itMcGill should as well. Rather, I wonderif it is something that would add to theunique educational experience we havehere.While there are still many key distinc-tions between the LLB and the JD thatI don’t fully understand, I’d like to high-light a couple of the differences I no-ticed. First, the LLB comes from Britain

while the JD comes from the UnitedStates. Entry into a JD program gener-ally requires a minimum of three yearsof undergraduate study, whereas theLLB requires no post-secondary experi-ence (although in Canada, most univer-sities will only accept candidates withan undergraduate degree). Many of theother top universities in Canada, suchas Toronto and Osgood, have switchedto JD programs in recent years. Through conversations with somefriends in first year here, I learned thatthe LSA had formed a committee lastyear to investigate the topic. After read-ing the report, I found that the com-mittee’s enquête clarified quite a bit ofthe debate, and I believe it is a greatstep towards establishing a student po-sition. There are, however, a few ques-tions that still remain unanswered, suchas the potential impact of the switch totuition and the concrete impact thiswould have on employment opportuni-ties. Does a switch mean nothing morethan changing the letters on the back

end of my future business cards, or willswitching to a JD impact the content ofour education and our employment po-tential? Simply put, what does a JDmean to me as a McGill law student?Currently, the LSA is reconsidering thequestion. For all of those who, like me,want to see an in-depth and seriousstudy of this, I invite you to raise thepoint with any member of the LSA ex-ecutive or council. I do not think it isunreasonable to come up with a firmstudent position in the next one to twoyears supporting or opposing a switchto a JD program. It is important thatwe, as students, know exactly what achange could mean for us, since, basedon trends of the other top law schools,it is reasonably foreseeable that we’regoing to be discussing this with the fac-ulty in the near future.

What does a JD mean for me?by Gabriel Joshee-Arnal (LAW I)

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The Local Poverty Prevention Portfolio(LPPP) organized a donation drive inFebruary to benefit the Old BreweryMission homeless shelter. Some of youmay recall our relentless solicitationsand in-class announcements, and ourattempts to provoke cavities by sellingyou valentine goodie-bags in the hall-way. We’re pleased to announce thatthe drive was a big success: together,we managed to collect five boxes offood and clothing, in addition to nearly$300 in cash donations. The LPPPwould like to extend our sincere grati-tude to all of you who contributed tothis cause.

As a follow-up to this event, we wouldlike to share a few startling statistics re-garding homelessness in our commu-nity. You may be surprised to find outthat:

• There are over 30,000 homelesspeople in Montréal. (This is almosttwice the capacity of the Bell Centre) • 20% of homeless people in Canadalive in Quebec • In Quebec alone, over 4,000 home-less people rely on shelters for survivaleach year • Last year, the Old Brewery Missionhad 128 855 overnight stays (an aver-age of 353 people per night), andserved 259 333 meals (an average of711 meals per day).

The homeless come from varying lin-guistic, ethnic and social groups. Mosthave suffered major economic up-heaval:

• 80% have been abandoned bytheir families • 30% of men and 80% ofwomen have mental health issues • 60% have drug-related orother dependencies

Since 1889, the Montreal communityhas counted on the Old Brewery Missionto assist these vulnerable men andwomen. The Mission provides emer-gency services, transition programs,

permanent social housing services, andservices specifically for women; it sup-ports and assists clients in gaininggreater stability and autonomy. Al-though the Mission receives some gov-ernmental support, it relies ondonations of community members likeus to help them provide these essentialservices.

The LPPP would like to thank you allonce again for your support during thedonation drive. We look forward to or-ganizing another drive next year and togetting more students involved with theportfolio. Although the challenges fac-ing the homeless are formidable, to-gether we can help provide these fellowcommunity members with warmth andnourishment. Most importantly, we canhelp provide them with hope, securityand temporary shelter from the storm.

***'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil andbloodWhen blackness was a virtue and theroad was full of mudI came in from the wilderness, a crea-ture void of form."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

And if I pass this way again, you canrest assuredI'll always do my best for her, on that Igive my wordIn a world of steel-eyed death, and menwho are fighting to be warm."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Not a word was spoke between us,there was little risk involvedEverything up to that point had beenleft unresolved.Try imagining a place where it's alwayssafe and warm."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

I was burned out from exhaustion,buried in the hail,Poisoned in the bushes an' blown out

on the trail,Hunted like a crocodile, ravaged in thecorn."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Suddenly I turned around and she wasstandin' thereWith silver bracelets on her wrists andflowers in her hair.She walked up to me so gracefully andtook my crown of thorns."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Now there's a wall between us, some-thin' there's been lostI took too much for granted, got mysignals crossed.Just to think that it all began on a long-forgotten morn."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Well, the deputy walks on hard nailsand the preacher rides a mountBut nothing really matters much, it'sdoom alone that countsAnd the one-eyed undertaker, he blowsa futile horn."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

I've heard newborn babies wailin' like amournin' doveAnd old men with broken teethstranded without love.Do I understand your question, man, isit hopeless and forlorn?"Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

In a little hilltop village, they gambledfor my clothesI bargained for salvation an' they gaveme a lethal dose.I offered up my innocence and got re-paid with scorn."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

Well, I'm livin' in a foreign country but

Gratitude, Praise and Hope from the LPPP by Melanie Benard (LAW I)

QUID NOVI

20

continued from p.2

MARCH 9TH, 2010I'm bound to cross the lineBeauty walks a razor's edge, somedayI'll make it mine.If I could only turn back the clock towhen God and her were born."Come in," she said,"I'll give you shelter from the storm."

-Bod Dylan (Shelter From the Storm)Copyright ©1974 Ram's Horn Music

For more information on the Old Brew-ery Mission, visit: http://www.oldbrew-erymission.ca/

For more information on the LPPP, con-tact: melanie.benard@mail.mcgill.ca

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Maybe the problem is ignorance – peo-ple don’t know what the LSA does andwhat the roles are? Maybe it’s apathy,in which case the situation is even moretroubling. You pay LSA fees, you bene-fit from LSA services (coffeehouse, any-one?), you are probably part of anLSA-funded club – just you holding thisis something the LSA has a part in – theQuid gets LSA funding and relies upon itfor its survival. Everyone should care.Of course, everyone ‘should’ care abouta lot of things.

What makes this situation so unique isthat the power is here – it’s accessible –all you have to do is fill out a form andget some signatures. It’s not hard to do,it’s not too much. But, still, it seems thisis too much for 99.99% of the Faculty.Now, I know what you’re thinking: whydon’t YOU run? Well, I did. I didn’t win– I’m cool with it, now I have otherthings going on (aka the Quid and put-ting up with the ridiculous demands ofour staff, mostly Charlie…). But, andhere’s something to keep in mind – Igraduate next year. If you’re in 1L, youcould serve for two years and REALLYimpact things. Think about it – if there’sone thing the LSA could benefit from,it’s institutional memory. Except for Ste-fan, nobody nominated for the Exec has

served on the Exec before. This isn’t il-legal, but it may be problematic.

On a separate – yet equally importantnote – there is only one female candi-date for the Exec at present, and a verysmall percentage of francophone nomi-nees relative to the number of positionsavailable. Si on veut que nos intérêtssoient protégés et entendus, qui estmieux placé qu’un groupe d’élèves fran-cophones pour le faire?

A problem arises even with respect tothe acclaimed positions. Even if thepeople who volunteered for positionsare fit for the job, democracy demandsthat there be some competition – ifthere’s no debate, no dialogue, no dis-sent – the path to tyranny begins toform. Well, okay, so that’s obviously anexaggeration, but the point is nonethe-less important to make - the LSA hasgreat power to affect our life at the fac-ulty academically and “outside of class”.We should consequently care aboutwho ends up on the Executive and whowill serve on Council.

This paper comes out Tuesday – theday nominations are due. If you’rereading this and it’s before 5, go to theatrium now and grab a form – put your-

self out there. The worst that can hap-pen is you end up editing the Quid… thebest that can happen is that you do anawesome job and we all benefit fromyour efforts and participation.

Together we can make the faculty abetter place; apathy isn’t going to do it.

QUID NOVI

DROIT À L’IMAGE Charlie Feldman (LAW II)

22

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Upside down... to make it more difficult.... because we roll like thatat the Quid, yo.

“We’re going to a place nearby - gotta goooooo” - Chanel S.“Wait, what are you singing?” - Anon“I’m charging up my battery with love” - Anon“I think it’s ‘my battery is low’ ....” -Charlie ..... Patrick R. walks into Quid office.... (stop by the office during editing/singing hours and you get arequest) - he picks.... Bob Dylan. He is asked to leave the Quid office. Next up: Jo-Jo!