Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
2023 17:09
URI : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1035651ar
DOI : https://doi.org/10.7202/1035651ar
Éditeur(s)
Éditions Wilson & Lafleur, inc.
ISSN
0035-3086 (imprimé)
2292-2512 (numérique)
Découvrir la revue
Droits d'auteur © Faculté de droit, Section de droit civil, Université d'Ottawa, Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d’auteur. L’utilisation des
2000 services d’Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique
d’utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne.
https://apropos.erudit.org/fr/usagers/politique-dutilisation/
Thomas A. CROMWELL, Danielle PINARD, man rights decisions on our courts, including
Hélène DUMONT (din), Canadian Institute the Supreme Court of Canada, where Chief
for the Administration of Justice, Human Justice Dickson has often referred to human
Rights in the 21st Century : Prospects, Insti- rights treaties and conventions in his deci-
tutions and Processes/Les droits de la per- sions. Professor Schabas notes that although
sonne au 21eme siècle : perspectives et modes Canada's higher court sometimes refers to
de protection, Montréal, Les Éditions The- such conventions, these are mostly cursory ex-
mis, 1997,338 pages, ISBN 2-89400-099-5. aminations. As a result, provincial courts are
less than willing to use international human
The Canadian Institute for the rights sources in their judgments.
Administration of Justice (CIAJ) is a non-
profit organization working towards the im- Two papers form the second
provement of Canada's court system by theme of the Conference as it focuses on hu-
encouraging reforms and disseminating in- man rights in the context of the Indépen-
formation through its newsletter and other dance of the Judiciary. The first one was
publications. The CIAJ is also active in pro- written by Mona Rishmawi, Director at the
moting and hosting scholarly debates and Geneva-based Centre for the Independence
conferences. In 1996 it hosted its fourth an- of Judges and Lawyers, in which she deals
nual National Conference, held in Halifax, with the impact of the judiciary and the legal
Nova Scotia. profession's independence on human rights
around the world. According to Mrs. Rish-
Over twenty scholars and ju- mawi, threats to judges and lawyers will
rists were invited to give a series of lectures have a direct impact on our human rights.
and debate on the theme of Human Rights in Some of those threats come from violence
the 21 s t century. This volume contains the directed at the judiciary, problems related to
speeches given on that occasion by judges, the separation of the legislative, executive
lawyers and university professors, including and judiciary powers, the budgetary re-
Judge Albie Sachs of the Constitutional sources allocated to the justice system and
Court in South Africa, Judge Michèle Rivet even the influence of commercial companies,
of Quebec's Human Rights Tribunal and as giant corporations try to influence the ju-
Mr. John C. Tait, Senior advisor to the Privy diciary in certain countries.
Council Office in Ottawa.
This international perspective
In an attempt to answer the is well balanced by Allan McChesney's pa-
question "What are the prospects for human per, "The Independence of Jurists in Canada
rights protection in the twenty-first century?", and in Other OSCE States". The indepen-
the lecturers examined six fields of interest : dence of the Bench and the Bar is a strongly
International Human Rights, Judiciary In- entrenched principle in the Canadian
dependence, Freedom of Expression and Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and it
Equality, Institutions, Judicial Neutrality, and would not be beyond Canada's role and abil-
Charter Remedies. The first theme was cov- ities to strongly encourage similar pro-
ered by Judge Sachs and Professor William visions for other, less democratically-
Schabas as they offered their views on how developed countries.
human rights are perceived on the interna-
tional scene. In a somewhat philosophical and The Conference then moves on
revealing manner, Judge Sachs examines, in to the aspect of human rights under the head-
"Human Rights in the Twenty First Century : line of Freedom of Expression and Equality,
Real Dichotomies, False Antagonisms", the a subject which is introduced by the Honour-
many opposing views and ideas that persist in able Mr. Justice Peter Cory. The context of
the realm of human rights according to South Freedom of Expression was dealt with
Africa's perspective : majority rights vs. mi- Sheila Block and Zarah Walpole, in a paper
nority rights, technological progress vs. hu- entitled "Application of Charter Values to
man rights, the right to the same vs. the right Defamation Actions" which studies the ef-
to be different, among others. Professor Scha- fect of large awards in libel cases on freedom
bas studies the influence of international hu- of expression. Unfortunately, the reader will
Notices bibliographiques 497
not find Professor Jacques Fremont's paper over the appearance of impartiality related to
in this book on the dissemination of hate lit- the nomination of its members and other
erature and pornographic material through structural difficulties, these tribunals bring to
new technological advances, even though it our attention the problem of discrimination,
is mentioned at length by Justice Cory. whether in trying to define it or in finding so-
lutions to its multiple faces. In addition, their
The context of Equality is then expertise is essential in our fight against dis-
studied by C. Lynn Smith in "Does Section 15 crimination. The English version of her text is
Have a Future?" and in a thought-provoking not available in this volume.
article, Professor Paul Chartrand examines
equality for Aboriginals in "Prospects for The next panel studied human
Equality for Aboriginal Persons and Nations rights in the context of Judicial Neutrality.
in Canada : Reflections on the Work of the Professor Katherine Swinton, with "Judicial
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples". Impartiality and Social Context Education"
Professor Kathleen Mahoney concludes this and the Honourable Judge Donna Hackett,
section with "Is There a Backlash to Human with "Finding and Following 'The Road Less
Rights?" in which she describes the nature of Travelled' : Judicial Neutrality and the Pro-
backlash and its motivations, the historical tection and Enforcement of Equality Rights
context, its intended targets and tactics and fi- in Criminal Trial Courts" contributed their ef-
nally the attempts to link this movement forts to this subject. Lastly, Charter Remedies
against the legal protection of human rights. were studied in a panel which included
John C. Tait with "Charter Remedies and De-
Russel Juriansz, the Honourable mocracy" and Andrew Sims with "Issues of
Judges Mark MacGuigan, James MacPherson Human Rights and Charter Remedies". The
and Michèle Rivet then studied the problem Conference was wrapped-up by the Honour-
of human rights in the context of the Insti- able Mr. Justice Michel Bastararache, now
tutions : human rights tribunals and com- with the Supreme Court of Canada. In a short
missions. Mr. Juriansz remarks, in "The speech given in both English and French, he
Effectiveness of Human Rights Commissions summarizes the more interesting highlights of
and the Need for Jurisdictional Focus" that the Conference, including some comments on
these commissions or boards are often slow the speeches given by Judge Hackett, profes-
and cumbersome, the result, over the years, of sor Schabas and Mr. Tait.
their expanding jurisdiction and subject mat-
ter, their lack of jurisdictional focus and their Human Rights in the 21st Cen-
failure to use administrative controls to turn tury : Prospects, Institutions and Processes as-
away an ever increasing number of com- sembles the ideas and opinions of scholars and
plaints. In "Institutions — Human Rights Pro- jurists from various international backgrounds
and experiences, thus making this work a valu-
tectors — Efficacy", Judge MacGuigan
able contribution to the debate on human
examines the differences between courts and
rights. The papers are all interesting, some
tribunals in matters of human rights, and simi-
controversial and others open to debate.
larly, Judge MacPherson's discourse is enti-
tled "The Interaction of Courts and Human The volume is not flawless re-
Rights Tribunals". Both agree in their conclu- gardless of the quality of the discourses.
sions that despite a few problems associated There are too many typographical errors dis-
with procedure and case load, administrative persed throughout the book, the missing text
tribunals and commissions exist for a worthy from Professor Jacques Fremont's speech is
cause : the protection of our social values a disappointment and Justice Bastarache also
through the enforcement of human rights. The mentions a text by another participant which
last paper in this section was written and pre- seems to have been omitted from this edition.
sented by Judge Michèle Rivet, "L'avenir des The organization of the book is also confus-
tribunaux des droits de la personne". Is the fu- ing : the chapters are divided according to the
ture of human rights tribunals threatened, she subjects discussed by the panelists, and no
asks? No, she answers unequivocally. Despite clear distinction exists between them except
long procedural delays, as well as questions for a short introduction by a guest speaker.
498 Revue générale de droit (1998) 29 R.G.D. 495-499
flexion l'auteure tente de trouver des solutions commune. Le problème des autres devient
afin de pallier ce dilemme. Elle allègue que notre problème. Les désastres biotechnologi-
tout développement durable dans le domaine ques ne s'arrêteront pas aux frontières. Un
de la réglementation des biotechnologies doit exemple est l'incident de l'invasion des
provenir de choix sociaux. Nous devons tous abeilles africaines en Amérique du Nord. Le
déterminer les valeurs qui nous sont importan- manque de réglementation des autorités
tes. Sommes-nous en accord avec les nouvel- mexicaines dans le domaine en est la cause.
les technologies et les avantages financiers et L'auteure en vient à la conclusion que l'utili-
matériels que ceux-ci apportent ou les effets sation adéquate des biotechnologies réside
secondaires sont-ils trop importants pour en dans une action multilatérale des autorités
justifier F utilisation? M e Juneau en vient à la concernées dans l'élaboration d'une politi-
conclusion qu'il y a trop d'enjeux pour laisser que de développement durable.
aux politiciens et aux groupes de pression le
Avec la vitesse à laquelle les
pouvoir de choisir pour nous tous. Elle favo-
découvertes dans le domaine des biotechno-
rise une consultation démocratique de la po-
logies surviennent, l'ouvrage de M e Juneau
pulation sur les solutions à prendre concernant lance le débat sur la nécessité de réglementa-
la réglementation de la technologie. La tech- tion. Le droit dans ce domaine n'en est qu'à
nocratie comme elle la surnomme, ou l'inté- ses premiers questionnements. L'intérêt pour
gration d'une participation du public sont les celui-ci ne peut aller qu'en augmentant.
deux solutions qu'elle propose. C'est pourquoi cet ouvrage touche une corde
avec le lecteur. L'intérêt que nous avons en
Toutefois, ces solutions doivent tant que juriste, mais aussi en tant que per-
nécessairement s'insérer dans une gestion in- sonne, pour les biotechnologies, exige que
ternationale du problème. Cette dernière ana- nous nous renseignions sur le sujet. La lec-
lyse est présentée dans la deuxième section ture de cet ouvrage est donc fortement sug-
du deuxième volet de l'ouvrage. M e Juneau gérée à quiconque cherche réponses à ses
nous fait remarquer le dernier mais principal interrogations dans ce domaine.
volet de cette problématique. Même avec
toutes les meilleures intentions des gou- Judith PLOURDE
vernements canadiens, l'application d'une Étudiante à la Faculté
réglementation dépend de l'uniformité des de droit de l'Université
politiques et d'une volonté internationale d'Ottawa