In this episode, we sit down with Teresa Scassa, a Professor and the Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy in the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Law.

Professor Scassa has served as an advisor to the government on Intellectual property, AI, and Privacy Law, and keeps thousands of policy experts in Canada and around the world up to speed on new law through her blog: ⁠teresascassa.ca⁠. Dr. Scassa has written widely in the areas of privacy law, the regulation of artificial intelligence, data governance, and intellectual property law. Her books include The Future of Open Data; Artificial Intelligence and the Law in Canada; and Digital Commerce in Canada.

In our conversation today, we focus on AI — how a pending election in Canada will affect efforts to pass new AI regulation and how Trump's election will change the landscape for AI regulation and the industry generally in the next few years. We then shift our focus to AI and legal education, and what role she and others think AI will play in the future practice of law.

Hosted by Robert Diab

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In this episode, our guest is Dr. Emily Laidlaw, an Associate Professor at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law and the Co-Director of the Canadian Network on Information and Security. Emily joins us to discuss Canada’s Online Harms Act and her experience serving on the expert advisory group on online safety in the development of the legislation.

Overall, the conversation covers both the benefits and pitfalls of the novel act. Particularly, Emily shares her thoughts about the important need for law to better protect children and vulnerable people on Social Media. However, she also shares her criticisms about how that need has been muddied by the problematic inclusion of the amendments to the Criminal Code, the criminal designation of “hate speech”, and the attached maximum penalty of “imprisonment for life.”

In the latter portion of the episode, Emily shares some of her recent work with us on the online abuse of elected officials and its ramifications on our democracy. More information on Dr. Laidlaw and her work can be found here.

Hosted by Robert Diab

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In this episode, we sit down with Geoffrey Sigalet, an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus and the Director of the UBC Centre for Constitutional Law and Legal Studies. Geoffrey joins us to discuss Section 33 of the Charter, the Notwithstanding Clause, and his recent article published in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Legislated Rights as Trumps: Why the Notwithstanding Clause Overrides Judicial Review.

This episode covers the historic and increasing contemporary use of the Notwithstanding Clause, as well as what Canada’s top constitutional scholars have to say about Section 33 of the Charter.

Hosted by Robert Diab

Music by AudioCoffee: https://www.audiocoffee.net

In this episode, Matt Malone, joins us to talk about the Access to Information regime in Canada and its many challenges, as well as his effort in collaboration with the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF) to mitigate them. Matt Malone is an assistant professor at Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law and one of Canada’s leading experts in trade secrets, access to information, privacy, and cyber security.

With the technical support of the IJF, Matt founded Open by Default, a platform that automatically categorizes and hosts all freedom of information requests submitted to the government platform. Matt is also a frequent contributor to Canadian media outlets, and can be found discussing Canadian government and policy, Artificial Intelligence, and cyber security. Outside of his popular articles, Matt is a seasoned academic contributor and author.

For a more complete list of Matt’s work, please see the links here.

Hosted by Robert Diab

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In this episode, we sit down with Mark Mancini, an Assistant professor at Thompson Rivers University’s Faculty of Law and current PhD candidate at the UBC’s Peter A. Allard School of Law. Mark is an expert in Canadian administrative law – making waves in the legal world with his Substack ‘The Sunday Evening Administrative Review,’ and his blog Double Aspect. Mark joins us today to discuss the landmark decision from the US Supreme Court, Loper Bright, and the merits and misgivings of the bygone “Chevron Deference”.

The discussion springboards into a comparative analysis of the Canadian administrative law regime under Vavilov; the judicial review of the Emergencies Act’s invocation during the “Freedom Convoy”; and Mark’s current dissertation work analyzing the interplay between Canadian administrative law and the carceral state.

More information on the topics discussed in this episode can be found on Mark’s blog, on his X account, and in his recent publications.

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In this episode, we sit down with Richard Moon to discuss his new book, The Life and Death of Freedom of Expression. Richard is a law professor at the University of Windsor and an expert on the constitutional protection of expression in Canada. He is also a frequent popular commentator and a Senior Fellow and contributor to the Centre of Free Expression. Of particular interest is Richard’s recent discussion of freedom of expression and the Palestinian solidarity encampments that took place on university campuses across the country.

This episode deals with the important question: what are the limits of free expression in Canada and why do they matter? Other topics discussed include Canada’s recent bill, The Online Harms Act; the academic exodus from Twitter (X), and the differences between public and private space as it relates to university campuses.

For more information on the above, please see Richard’s X account; Jamie Cameron’s piece on section 2(c); and the list of Richards publications here.

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Today our guest is Dr. Ashley Barnes, an Assistant Professor at Thompson Rivers University and an expert in public and private international law.

Ashley joins us for a discussion around the merits and misgivings of contemporary international litigation. Topics of note include the impacts, or lack thereof, of international dispute resolution decisions; the challenges a UN Security Council veto presents to international court decisions; and the increasing use – or misuse – of international courts.

Hosted by Robert Diab

Music by AudioCoffee: https://www.audiocoffee.net

Welcome to Inter Vivos, a podcast hosted by the Law faculty at Thompson Rivers University that features conversations with Canadian law scholars on pressing events and policy debates in the news. "Inter Vivos,” a Latin term meaning "between the living," reflects our goal of bringing legal and policy issues to life through discussion and debate.

Some of the topics we aim to cover here include AI and tech policy, constitutional and democratic rights, and other topics in public and international law.

I'm Robert Diab, a prof at TRU, and I’ll host some of the episodes, along with other faculty. Join us as we take a deeper dive into the legal dimensions of some of today's most pressing issues and the insightful work that scholars doing across the country.