Conference Examining Canadian Constitution Scheduled for April 12

Yale Law School will hold a conference titled “Canada in the World: Comparative Perspectives on the Canadian Constitution," on April 12, 2016. 

This conference will gather over 20 leading scholars from around the world to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Constitution of Canada, which will mark the occasion in 2017. The program will feature four panels structured around a keynote address by the Rt. Hon. Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of Canada.

Richard Albert '03, Visiting Associate Professor of Law and Canadian Bicentennial Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science, and David Cameron, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Yale Program in European Union Studies, are convening the conference. Albert, a Quebec native and a former law clerk to Chief Justice McLachlin, is also an Associate Professor at Boston College Law School and a specialist in comparative constitutional law. Cameron has taught at Yale since 1975. He has served, at various times, as chair, director of graduate studies, and director of undergraduate studies of the department. He teaches courses on European politics and the European Union.

“Canada has become a global constitutional power. Constitutional actors abroad often look to the Canadian experience to diagnose and resolve constitutional questions of their own,” Albert said. “This conference will help us understand how and why this came to be.”

During the conference, participants will attend panel discussions on topics including Federalism and Pluralism in the Canadian Constitution, the Court in Canadian Constitutionalism, the Migration of the Canadian Constitution, and Rights and Freedoms in the Constitution of Canada.

The keynote address will take place over lunch when the Hon. Guido Calabresi ’58, of the U.S. Court of Appeals and former Dean of Yale Law School, will introduce the keynote speaker, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. McLachlin will speak about “Constitutionalism in a Multicultural Society: The Role of Courts in Articulating Common Values.”

Professor Bruce Ackerman ’67, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale Law School, will give closing remarks.

This conference is sponsored by the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale and by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School.