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West Coast Environmental Law TwtMoot 2014:
Putting the #hashtag in advocacy
@NINAMAZZE &
@MICHAELCAPITANO
Contributors
On Friday, February 28th, we had the incredible opportunity to represent Osgoode in the 3rd
Annual West Coast Environmental Law Twitter
Moot (TwtMoot). We greatly appreciate the support of Saxe Law Office, who sponsored Team
#Osgoode Law. This was one of our favourite
experiences at #Osgoode, giving us the opportunity to transcend conventional notions of advocacy. Five teams across Canada put the #hashtag
in advocacy, submitting arguments for their clients in tweets of 140 characters or less before the
Supreme Twitter Court of Canada #STCC. This
innovative moot takes steps towards accessibility
to legal issues one tweet at a time (#access2justice!).
Five teams were selected among nine teams
who tried out from seven law schools Canadawide. We were joined by teams from Schulich
School of Law (Melanie Gillis and Sarah Walsh),
Lakehead University (Elysia Petrone and Ayoub
Ansari), University of Alberta (Kim Hyok and
Matthew Mowbrey) and the University of Victoria (Erin Gray and Mae Price). Each team was
given 10 minutes to submit the arguments and
answer questions from the judges (Omar Ha-Redeye @omarharedeye, Justice Robert Johnston @
islandpuisne, and Theresa McClenaghan @TheresaMcClenag), which was a test that called on
our ability to be concise, accurate, and creative
with our character choices.
The case at issue was an appeal of the Ross
River Dena Council v Yukon decision from the
Yukon Court of Appeal level to the #STCC.
Arguments focused on reconciling the conflict between open-entry mining interests and
Aboriginal rights. We represented the Yukon
Chamber of Mines in the moot. To view the
Counsel’s arguments and to see the winning
tweets, visit the #twtmoot list on Twitter @
https://twitter.com/WCELaw/lists/twtmoot.
To read the Yukon Court of Appeal Judgment,
visit Canlii at http://www.canlii.org/en/yk/ykca/
doc/2012/2012ykca14/2012ykca14.html.
Congratulations to @_ErinRGray and @
MaePrice for winning the #twtmoot, who represented the Ross River Dena Council. We had
a great time tweeting with all of the competitors and encourage the Osgoode community to
try-out for next year’s #twtmoot. The #twtmoot hashtag was trending in Canada, generating more awareness to the cause, showing us the
importance of social media and public education
in striving for access to justice.
We had a great time connecting with new friends
from British Columbia to Nova Scotia with
similar interests in environmental and aboriginal law. We are forever grateful for this experience, but at the same time, are very thankful
that our exams do not have a 140 character limit!
Thank you West Coast E nvironmental Law for
hosting the #twtmoot, to Saxe Law Office for
sponsoring Team #Osgoode and to all the competitors and judges. Thank you for an interactive
and innovative experience, showing us the power
of knowledge, advocacy, and social media! A
Sustainability Through Collaboration: The Food
Services Advisory Group
JAMIE PRSALA
Contributor
In September of 2013 Osgoode decided to
reconstitute the Food Services Advisory Group
in order to ensure that students’ expectations
regarding the food services at Osgoode Hall
were being satisfied. From an environmental
perspective, how and what we choose to consume are easy and effective ways to decrease
our carbon footprint. As the effects of climate
change begin to manifest themselves throughout
world, it has become painfully clear that displacing the environmental costs of consumption onto
future generations is neither a moral nor a rational option. By re-forming the Advisory Group,
the student body was given the opportunity to
collaborate with the Osgoode administration and
THUMBS UP to. . .
morning beer and Canada’s
gold.
The Obiter Dicta
the staff of Aramark to help facilitate our ability
to make sustainable choices.
The principle issues addressed at the Food
Services meeting centered on the inability of
the student body to make informed, sustainable choices at the Osgoode Bistro. Compostable
coffee cups were replaced by non-recyclable cups,
re-usable cutlery were replaced with plastic utensils, and bottled water (an item that has drawn
the ire of students across Canada) was available
for purchase. These changes meant that students
who wished to eat or drink on campus had no
other option but to produce unnecessary waste,
and thereby increase their carbon footprint.
Both Aramark and the Osgoode administration
were extremely open to all suggestions regarding initiatives to decrease the Bistro’s environmental impact, displaying interests congruent
with those of the student body.
First up was the issue of the coffee cups.
Unfortunately by using Starbucks coffee the
Bistro was required to use Starbucks’ brand of
disposable coffee cups. This meant that instead of
using the compostable cups of the past, Starbucks
cups had to provided. As coffee is the lifeblood
of any academic institution (an Osgoode without
caffeine would be akin to “Night of the Living
Dead”) it is simply not an option for students
to go without. Fortunately many students have
taken it upon themselves to purchase re-usable
mugs and Aramark has provided a discount for
those who have made the effort. However, we
all have days when we forget to bring our mugs,
and buying multiple re-usable mugs is contrary
to an attempt to reduce one’s carbon footprint.
Therefore many eco-minded students ended up
using the disposable cups despite having a legitimate desire to reduce waste. When we raised
this issue, Aramark, though unable to bring back
compostable cups, agreed to supply the Bistro
with reusable mugs available to anyone who
wishes to purchase coffee (no deposit necessary).
The administration, in an effort to ensure that
the mugs find their way back to the Bistro, has
proposed to create drop sites on both floors, for
used mugs. Once these are in place, there will
be no reason a Starbucks cup ever needs to find
itself in an Osgoode trash can!
Next on the docket was the cutlery situation.
Due to a shockingly high loss rate the Bistro was
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