Dalhousie University
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Entrenchment of Employment Inequality in the Academic Workforce: The Implications of “An” Appropriate Bargaining Unit
Full text linkThe academic workforce has changed dramatically in recent years. Formerly, universities were staffed primarily by tenured faculty, making possible the collegial governance models under which they operate statutorily. There has been a shift away from this model, however, and universities now rely more heavily on part-time professors. Postsecondary institutions are among the most heavily unionized workplaces in Canada. Yet, while academic unionization is widespread, the unionization model is inconsistent: some unions are faculty associations, while others are not; some unions represent only full-time professors; others represent part-time instructors; others represent both; and some also include other types of academic employees. The multi-union fragmentation of campuses reflects the fragmentation of the academic workplace, but bargaining unit structures in the Canadian university sector fall short of effectively or fairly aligning with the academic goals and functions of the university. This has consequences for academic freedom, collegial governance, and the quality of education and research that academics provide and undertake. This paper opens with an overview of the evolution of the academic workforce in Canada. It then reviews the principles behind the Wagner model of labour relations and the factors used to determine bargaining unit appropriateness, including the community of interest test. The third section analyses the benefits of the multi-union campus model and why it is prevalent. Finally, the article considers the disadvantages of the multi-union campus and argues that it likely exacerbates systemic inequalities. It proposes that to better protect academic employees and the mission of universities, mechanisms should be developed to promote the broadest units possible to counter legal and institutional structures that contribute to workplace fragmentation.
Le personnel universitaire a changé radicalement au cours des dernières années. Autrefois, les universités étaient principalement composées de professeurs permanents, ce qui rendait possible les modèles de gouvernance collégiale en vertu desquels elles fonctionnent statutairement. Les universités se sont toutefois éloignées de ce modèle et s’appuient désormais davantage sur des professeurs à temps partiel. Les établissements d’enseignement postsecondaire comptent parmi les plus syndiqués au Canada. Pourtant, si la syndicalisation des universitaires est très répandue, le modèle de syndicalisation n’est pas uniforme : certains syndicats sont des associations de professeurs, alors que d’autres ne le sont pas; certains syndicats ne représentent que les professeurs à temps plein, d’autres les instructeurs à temps partiel, d’autres encore représentent les deux, et certains incluent également d’autres types d’employés universitaires. La fragmentation multisyndicale des campus reflète la fragmentation du milieu universitaire, mais les structures des unités de négociation dans le secteur universitaire canadien ne s’alignent pas efficacement ou équitablement sur les objectifs et les fonctions académiques de l’université. Cette situation a des conséquences sur la liberté académique, la gouvernance collégiale, ainsi que sur la qualité de l’enseignement et de la recherche, que les universitaires dispensent et entreprennent. Cet article commence par un aperçu de l’évolution de la main-d’œuvre universitaire au Canada. Il passe ensuite en revue les principes qui sous-tendent le modèle Wagner des relations de travail et les facteurs utilisés pour déterminer la pertinence d’une unité de négociation, y compris le test de la communauté d’intérêts. La troisième section analyse les avantages du modèle de campus multisyndical et les raisons de sa prédominance. Enfin, l’article examine les inconvénients du campus multisyndical et soutient qu’il exacerbe probablement les inégalités systémiques. Il propose que pour mieux protéger les employés académiques et la mission des universités, des mécanismes soient développés pour promouvoir les unités les plus larges possibles afin de contrer les structures juridiques et institutionnelles qui contribuent à la fragmentation du lieu de travail
A Synthesis of Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Growth and Calcification Responses Under Changing Environmental Conditions
No full textEastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are foundational reef builders and ecosystem engineers that provide habitat complexity, enhance biodiversity, and influence biogeochemical cycles by shifting local carbonate chemistry in estuaries along the U.S. Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico. However, the environmental ranges governing oyster shell growth and calcification rates remain poorly constrained because available studies vary in the metrics quantified, experimental settings, and spatial coverage. We synthesized existing literature on C. virginica growth and calcification, assessing directional responses to changing environmental conditions. Variability in ecological, spatial, and temporal scales among studies and disparities between laboratory and field-based measurements complicate direct comparisons. Despite heterogeneity in the synthesized data, consistent patterns emerged; shell growth limitations were common at salinities below ~ 12 in U.S. Gulf of Mexico populations, and calcification declines were frequently observed under acidified conditions (pH < 7.7) in U.S. Atlantic populations. By summarizing patterns across life stages, regions, and study types, we highlight environmental stressors likely to impair oyster reef resilience and function. A more integrative research approach, incorporating both individual- and reef-scale processes across experimental and natural settings, is critical for refining predictions of oyster reef resilience. Standardized methodologies and interdisciplinary frameworks will enhance our ability to quantify the role of oyster reefs in carbon cycling and assess their response to future environmental stressors.Open access funding provided by Texas A&M University-
Corpus Christi. This research was supported by the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration Margaret A. Davidson Graduate
Fellowship under Award #NA24NOSX420C0017, the United States
Department of Agriculture under Award #NR217442XXXXC022, and
the Coastal Conservation Association
The Invisibility of TPMs in Academic Libraries How Digital Content Protection Has Become Part and Parcel of Platform Design
No full textThis article investigates a growing divide in how TPMs are understood and encountered across two domains: digital content access and software-dependent device controls. Through legal and qualitative empirical lenses, it reveals that TPMs guarding digital content access across Canadian academic institutions (particularly relating to e-books, journals, and streaming media) have become seamlessly embedded into platform design and licensing schemes. This facilitates their ubiquity and invisibility, while at the same time making them difficult to challenge from a law and policy reform perspective. It also makes content TPMs difficult to identify, measure, or challenge in furtherance of lawful exceptions and limitations to copyright, even for information management professionals. By contrast, device TPMs (those locking down physical hardware through embedded software and firmware) have operated much more visibly and discretely, making them more amenable to legal and policy reform in recent years (e.g., through Bills C-244 and C-294). The article argues that this divergence has left policymakers and open knowledge advocates struggling to identify and remedy the impacts of content TPMs, despite the longstanding debates within copyright circles. Understanding this bifurcation is essential for crafting targeted future policy that can preserve users\u27 legitimate access rights in furtherance of fair dealing and the exceptions and limitations to copyright.
Cet article enquête sur l\u27écart croissant qui existe dans la façon que les mesures de protection technologiques sont comprises et rencontrées dans deux domaines: l\u27accès au contenu numérique et le contrôle des appareils qui dépendent de logiciel. Une revue de la situation à travers un cadre juridique et qualitatif démontre que les mesures de protection technologiques qui protègent l\u27accès au contenu numérique dans les institutions académiques canadiennes (surtout en ce qui traite de livres numériques, et les revues et les médias en diffusion) aient été intégrées de manière homogène dans la conception de plateforme et les systèmes d‘octroi de permis d‘utilisation. Cela facilite leur présence et invisibilité tout en rendent leur remise en cause difficile. De plus, cela rend le contenu des mesures de protection technologique difficile à identifier, mesurer ou à contester dans le cadre de l\u27application des exceptions et limitations juridiques au droit d\u27auteur, et ce même pour les experts en gestion d‘informatique. En revanche, les TPM des appareils (verrouillant le matériel physique grâce aux logiciels et micrologiciels intégrés) ont fonctionné de manière beaucoup plus visible et discrète. Ceci les a rendus plus favorables aux réformes juridiques et politiques au cours des dernières années (par exemple, par le biais des projets de loi C-244 et C-294). Cet dissertation soutient qu’à cause de cet écart les décideurs politiques ainsi que les défenseurs de la libre connaissance seraient aux prises avec la difficulté de cerner et remédier à l\u27impact des TPM de contenu, nonobstant les débats de longue date dans les milieux de droits d\u27auteur. Toute création de politique future ciblant la préservation des droits d\u27utilisateurs dans le cadre de l‘application de l\u27utilisation équitable et les limitations aux droits d‘auteur devrait être axée sur la compréhension de cette bifurcatio
Under the Eyes of the Oppressors: Exploring the Spatial Oppression of African Nova Scotians
Full text linkSpatialization is a theoretical understanding of how space is used to enforce and replicate hierarchical power structures. Nova Scotia has used spatialized processes, such as enslavement, segregation, and panoptical power, to subjugate, oppress, and control African Nova Scotians for over 400 years. These practices of spatialization have been established and perpetuated by the law and legal mechanisms, creating a complex spatialized system of oppression against African Nova Scotians. This article defines spatialization, explores the historical and contemporary uses of spatialization, and analyzes the actuarial and symbolic effects created by spatialization. The author concludes by proposing remedial and reparative action that can be taken by the government and private actors to begin acknowledging and addressing these oppressive practices against African Nova Scotian people and communities.
La spatialisation est une compréhension théorique de la manière dont l’espace est utilisé pour mettre en oeuvre et reproduire des structures de pouvoir hiérarchiques. La Nouvelle-Écosse a utilisé des processus spatialisés, tels que l’esclavage, la ségrégation et le pouvoir panoptique, pour soumettre, opprimer et contrôler les Néo-Écossais d’origine africaine pendant plus de 400 ans. Ces pratiques de spatialisation ont été établies et perpétuées par la loi et les mécanismes juridiques, créant ainsi un système complexe d’oppression spatialisée contre les Néo-Écossais africains. Cet article définit la spatialisation, explore les utilisations historiques et contemporaines de la spatialisation et analyse les effets actuariels et symboliques créés par la spatialisation. L’auteur conclut en proposant des mesures correctives et réparatrices qui peuvent être prises par le gouvernement et les acteurs privés pour commencer à reconnaître et à traiter ces pratiques oppressives à l’encontre des personnes et des communautés afro-néo-écossaises.
This paper was one of the 2023–2024 recipients of the JSD Tory Writing Prize at Dalhousie University.
*This contribution has not been peer-reviewed
Nourishing the Living Tree: Vincent MacDonald and His Constitutional Thought
Full text linkSince the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Canadian judges have increasingly approached the Constitution through a living constitutionalist lens, adapting the Constitution to contemporary realities and treating the text as but one interpretive modality alongside purpose and context. The Supreme Court has rooted this living constitutionalism in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council’s judgment, Edwards v Attorney General of Canada, wherein Lord Sankey introduced the metaphor of the “living tree.” Justice Robert Sharpe and Professor Patricia McMahon have suggested that the “living tree metaphor remained a forgotten footnote until 1982.” Indeed, more formalist approaches towards both constitutional and statutory interpretation endured well into the 20th century. In this article, I argue that Vincent MacDonald, who served, inter alia, as Dean of Dalhousie Law School and then as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, did much to keep living constitutionalism alive during the mid-20th century. Drawing on MacDonald’s published writings and jurisprudence as well as on a wealth of archival sources, I argue that MacDonald articulated and implemented a robust vision of living constitutionalism at a time when many of his peers advocated for a return to the original intentions of the Fathers of Confederation. MacDonald advocated for a type of living constitutionalism known as common law constitutionalism, based upon respect for precedent, recognition of judicial discretion, and appreciation for clear legal reasoning. In laying out the tenets of MacDonald’s constitutional thought and contrasting his thought with that of his contemporaries, I complicate the existing narrative on Canada’s 20th century constitutional development.
Depuis l’adoption de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés, les juges canadiens abordent de plus en plus la Constitution dans une optique de constitutionnalisme vivant, en adaptant la Constitution aux réalités contemporaines et en traitant le texte comme une simple modalité d’interprétation parmi d’autres, au même titre que l’objet et le contexte. La Cour suprême a fondé ce constitutionnalisme vivant sur l’arrêt Edwards c. Procureur général du Canada rendu par le Comité judiciaire du Conseil privé, dans lequel Lord Sankey a introduit la métaphore de « l’arbre vivant ». Le juge Robert Sharpe et la professeure Patricia McMahon ont fait remarquer que « la métaphore de l’arbre vivant est restée une note de bas de page oubliée jusqu’en 1982 ». En effet, des approches plus formalistes de l’interprétation de la Constitution et des lois ont perduré jusqu’au 20e siècle. Dans cet article, je soutiens que Vincent MacDonald, qui a notamment été doyen de l’École de droit de Dalhousie, puis juge à la Cour suprême de Nouvelle-Écosse, a beaucoup contribué à maintenir le constitutionnalisme vivant au milieu du 20e siècle. En m’appuyant sur les écrits publiés de MacDonald, sur la jurisprudence et sur de nombreuses sources d’archives, je soutiens que MacDonald a élaboré et mis en oeuvre une vision solide du constitutionnalisme vivant à une époque où bon nombre de ses pairs préconisaient un retour aux intentions initiales des Pères de la Confédération. MacDonald prônait un type de constitutionnalisme vivant connu sous le nom de constitutionnalisme de common law, fondé sur le respect des précédents, la reconnaissance du pouvoir discrétionnaire des juges et l’appréciation d’un raisonnement juridique clair. En exposant les principes de la pensée constitutionnelle de MacDonald et en la comparant à celle de ses contemporains, je complexifie le récit existant sur le constitutionnalisme évolutif du Canada au 20e siècle
Sentencing Vulnerability: Conceptualizing the Incorporation of Personal Characteristics and Experiences at Sentencing
Full text linkSocial inequalities that lead to criminal conduct are often not considered in sentencing; individuals subject to structural inequities receive the same formal sentence as those convicted of like crimes irrespective of the latter’s social advantage. Individual characteristics may also affect how a sentence will be experienced by an individual. While Characteristics and Experience-Sensitive Sentencing (CESS) already exists in various forms and to various degrees in sentencing theory and praxis, a more cohesive, comprehensive, and principled CESS remains wanting. Building on existing approaches, this article locates CESS as a necessary response to equality-based concerns arising from current mainstream sentencing practice. Thus, it is not merely that CESS could be incorporated in sentencing or that judges have the discretion to consider and perhaps should more often consider personal characteristics and experiences at sentencing. Rather, the alignment of sentencing with overarching Charter values and equality-based ideals requires an intentional, cohesive CESS framework that routinely informs the practice of sentencing
Jury Decision Rules in Criminal Trials
Full text linkDiscussions of juries in democratic systems often frame the jury as a symbol of democracy, an essential safeguard for an accused, and a legitimizer of state authority. However, the context in which the jury operates has evolved, and there is a widening gap between our empirical understanding of juries and our commitment to their theoretical value. Piecemeal reforms of the jury have also moved the system away from the historical model, with the consequence of undermining the remaining aspects. This paper argues one such aspect is the decision rule under which a jury renders its verdict. Canada is one of the last jurisdictions requiring juror unanimity in the criminal context. The United States of America had previously permitted nonunanimous juries but more recently declared nonunanimous verdicts unconstitutional. By contrast, in England and Wales, the birthplace of the common law jury, Parliament legislated supermajorities in 1967 and has not returned to a unanimous decision rule. This paper comparatively analyzes the evolution of the jury decision rule across these three jurisdictions to better understand whether the requirement for unanimous juries is still essential in Canada’s criminal justice system. In today’s jury context and given the content of the decision made by the jury, unanimity appears to be largely symbolic
Evaluating the weathering and transport of plastic nurdles along the north- and southwestern Gulf of Mexico coasts
No full textPlastic nurdles, as small resin pellets, are a significant pollutant across the north- and southwestern Gulf of Mexico (America) coasts from Texas to the Yucatán Peninsula. This study identified the potential source of nurdle pollution using a combination of chemical analysis and numerical modeling. Chemical data of the nurdles collected from over 70 sites from Houston to the Yucatán Peninsula during 2021–2024 revealed distinct patterns in polymer type, color distribution, and weathering status, providing strong evidence for Texas as the primary source of these nurdles. Color distribution results showed that white nurdles, representative of fresher nurdles, dominated the Texas sites and more weathered, yellow nurdles, were found in Mexico regions. This color trend suggests an increased surface degradation as nurdles move southward. Analysis through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows polyethylene (PE) as the dominant polymer across all sampled sites, showcasing a linked homogeny through the regions, and the data were further used to build chemical weathering indices, which provided a way of quantifying the degree of oxidation nurdles have undergone. Results showed that the Mexico nurdles had higher indices than those in Texas, reinforcing the hypothesis that the Mexico nurdles have undergone longer environmental exposure. Physical oceanographic modeling, incorporating wave and current dynamics, confirmed that nurdles released from Texas can be transported to Mexican coastlines, while nurdles released from Mexico do not reach deep into the US. shorelines due to strong prevalent downcoast currents along the inner shelf. This movement pattern, together with chemical and weathering evidence, strongly supports Texas as the primary source of nurdle pollution along the gulf coast. Identification of the pollutant source will assist management practices and international cooperation to tackle nurdle pollution