13 research outputs found
Developments in Canadian Adult Guardianship and Co-Decision-Making Law
Guardianship was originally developed as a social and legal tool meant to protect vulnerable persons. It is now evolving as a mechanism to promote autonomy. This paper examines the Canadian law of guardianship, including its historical evolution, the social and legal catalysts for its reform and related constitutional issues. Guardianship law has a long history in Western society, and has traditionally been paternalistic and property-focused. Early Canadian guardianship laws were largely based on English lunacy acts, and continued unchanged into the second half of the twentieth century. Reformation in Canadian guardianship law began in the 1970s and 80s, with criticism that the current law intruded unjustifiably into an individualâs personal sphere of autonomy. This criticism arose from an increased understanding of human capacity and the recognition of autonomy as a foundational human right. In 2000, Saskatchewan introduced comprehensive guardianship legislation: The Adult Guardianship and Co-decision-making Act. This Act authorizes the appointment of co-decision-makers as an alternative to the traditional court- appointed guardian. This alternative provides Saskatchewan courts the ability to effectively address the need and capacity of the adult in question. The co-decision- making provisions of the Act are unique in Canadian guardianship law: the co- decision-maker shares legal authority with the adult, must acquiesce to an adultâs reasonable decision and is statutorily required to minimally interfere in the adultâs life and decision-making process. The co-decision-maker is further required to act in a manner that protects the adultâs civil and human rights. The Saskatchewan Act represents an important attempt to rethink guardianship concepts in Canada, and should form the model for future guardianship legislation in this country
The Relevance of Government Practice in Constitutional Decision-Making: A Review of the Supreme Courtâs Federalism Jurisprudence
This article explores the role of government practice in the Supreme Court of Canadaâs (âSCCâ) constitutional jurisprudence. With the exception of conventions, practices of government actors are not usually thought to have constitutional force or significance. However, a systematic review of the SCCâs federalism decisions from the last five decades reveals that government practice has a gravitational pull in the Courtâs decision-making. This article investigates the ways in which justices understand and attribute significance to government traditions or practices when resolving jurisdictional challenges. It also explores possible explanations for why justices might believe government practices are relevant to validity determinations
The Hyperactive L Dwarf 2MASS J13153094-2649513: Continued Emission and a Brown Dwarf Companion
We report new observations of the unusually active, high proper motion L5e
dwarf 2MASS J13153094-2649513. Optical spectroscopy with Magellan/MagE reveals
persistent nonthermal emission, with narrow H I Balmer, Na I and K I lines all
observed in emission. Low-resolution near-infrared spectroscopy with IRTF/SpeX
indicates the presence of a low-temperature companion, which is resolved
through multi-epoch laser guide star adaptive optics imaging at Keck. The
comoving companion is separated by 338 \pm 4 mas, and its relative brightness
(\Delta K_s = 5.09 \pm 0.10) makes this system the second most extreme flux
ratio very low-mass binary identified to date. Resolved near-infrared
spectroscopy with Keck/OSIRIS identifies this companion as a T7 dwarf. The
absence of Li I absorption in combined-light optical spectroscopy constrains
the system age to >~0.8-1.0 Gyr, while the system's kinematics and unusually
low mass ratio (M_2/M_1 = 0.3-0.6) suggests that it is even older. A coevality
test of the components also indicates an older age, but reveals discrepancies
between evolutionary and atmosphere model fits of the secondary which are
likely attributable to poor reproduction of its near-infrared spectrum. With a
projected separation of 6.6 \pm 0.9 AU, the 2MASS J13153094-2649513 system is
too widely separated for mass exchange or magnetospheric interactions to be
powering its persistent nonthermal emission. Rather, the emission is probably
chromospheric in nature, signaling an inversion in the age-activity relation in
which strong magnetic fields are maintained by relatively old and massive
ultracool dwarfs.Comment: 15 pages, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
Large Scale Searches for Brown Dwarfs and Free-Floating Planets
Searches of large scale surveys have resulted in the discovery of over 1000
brown dwarfs in the Solar neighbourhood. In this chapter we review the progress
in finding brown dwarfs in large datasets, highlighting the key science goals,
and summarising the surveys that have contributed most significantly to the
current sample.Comment: Accepted to appear in the Handbook of Exoplanets (Springer); Editors:
Hans J. Deeg & Juan Antonio Belmont
The Relevance of Government Practice in Constitutional Decision-Making: A Review of the Supreme Courtâs Federalism Jurisprudence
This article explores the role of government practice in the Supreme Court of Canadaâs (âSCCâ) constitutional jurisprudence. With the exception of conventions, practices of government actors are not usually thought to have constitutional force or significance. However, a systematic review of the SCCâs federalism decisions from the last five decades reveals that government practice has a gravitational pull in the Courtâs decision-making. This article investigates the ways in which justices understand and attribute significance to government traditions or practices when resolving jurisdictional challenges. It also explores possible explanations for why justices might believe government practices are relevant to validity determinations
Policy recommendations for addressing privacy challenges associated with cell-based research and interventions
Background:
The increased use of human biological material for cell-based research and clinical interventions poses risks to the privacy of patients and donors, including the possibility of re-identification of individuals from anonymized cell lines and associated genetic data. These risks will increase as technologies and databases used for re-identification become affordable and more sophisticated. Policies that require ongoing linkage of cell lines to donorsâ clinical information for research and regulatory purposes, and existing practices that limit research participantsâ ability to control what is done with their genetic data, amplify the privacy concerns.
Discussion:
To date, the privacy issues associated with cell-based research and interventions have not received much attention in the academic and policymaking contexts. This paper, arising out of a multi-disciplinary workshop, aims to rectify this by outlining the issues, proposing novel governance strategies and policy recommendations, and identifying areas where further evidence is required to make sound policy decisions. The authors of this paper take the position that existing rules and norms can be reasonably extended to address privacy risks in this context without compromising emerging developments in the research environment, and that exceptions from such rules should be justified using a case-by-case approach. In developing new policies, the broader framework of regulations governing cell-based research and related areas must be taken into account, as well as the views of impacted groups, including scientists, research participants and the general public.
Summary:
This paper outlines deliberations at a policy development workshop focusing on privacy challenges associated with cell-based research and interventions. The paper provides an overview of these challenges, followed by a discussion of key themes and recommendations that emerged from discussions at the workshop. The paper concludes that privacy risks associated with cell-based research and interventions should be addressed through evidence-based policy reforms that account for both well-established legal and ethical norms and current knowledge about actual or anticipated harms. The authors also call for research studies that identify and address gaps in understanding of privacy risks.Population and Public Health (SPPH), School ofOther UBCNon UBCMedicine, Faculty ofReviewedFacult