A Profile of the Centre for Constitutional Studies

By: Jill Gamez (3L)

October is a busy month for the Centre for Constitutional Studies. The Centre is organizing four lectures, which range from a panel on recent Supreme Court Charter decisions to the 22nd annual McDonald Lecture by former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Frank Iacobucci. I recently spoke with Acting Executive Director, Patricia Paradis, to learn more about the Centre.

“The Centre is the product of collaborative efforts between the Faculty of Law and the Departments of Political Science, Philosophy, History, and Sociology,” says Paradis. Its mandate is to undertake, encourage and facilitate inter-disciplinary approaches to research on constitutional issues and to promote an understanding and appreciation of constitutional issues among the general public. “The Centre strives for excellence by creating and facilitating research on constitutional issues, and providing unbiased information regarding those issues,” Paradis explains.

In furtherance of its mandate of research and education, the Centre accepts Research Fellows, Visitors and Centre Associates, puts on academic conferences, publishes books and two journals: the Review of Constitutional Studies (an interdisciplinary, bi-annual, peer reviewed journal) and Constitutional Form (a medium for discussion of current constitutional developments published three times per year). One of the Centre’s key products is its website, currently being redesigned, which provides news-like articles on constitutional cases and issues. “The Centre employs three law and political science students during the summer to write these pieces,” explains Paradis. “The students work closely with Program Manager Ken Dickerson in identifying newsworthy issues and then writing articles which provide lay-people and legal professionals with concise and interesting summaries of current constitutional issues. In so doing, the students hone their research and plain-language writing skills.” The website also features constitutional case summaries and a section called “Constitutional Keywords”, a resource for anyone wanting concise explanations of constitutional concepts and terms. :These resources help the Centre fulfill its role to the general public, by promoting an understanding and appreciation of constitutional issues,” says Paradis.

Next month, the Centre is collaborating with the Health Law Institute to host a panel on the Insite case dealing with safe drug injection sites in B.C. It is also preparing a panel commemorating the 25th anniversary of section 15 of the Charter.

What makes the Centre, and its noteworthy mandate, possible? “We are funded by the Alberta Law Foundation,” explains Paradis, “and are very grateful for its support.”

For more information, please visit the Centre’s (soon to be redesigned) website: http://www.law.ualberta.ca/centres/ccs/