S Miller – Page 6 – Hearsay: UVic Law Library

July 16, 2019

Environmental Challenges on Indigenous Lands – Essay Series

The Centre for International Governance Innovation recently published an essay series entitled “Environmental Challenges on Indigenous Lands”.

The essay series was inspired by a conference held in Banff, Alberta in 2018, during which Indigenous leaders, environmental activists, human rights lawyers, academics and advocates gathered to discuss ongoing efforts to hold industry and government responsible for environmental damage and the potential for Indigenous law to provide solutions to present and future environmental challenges. The areas of discussion in the series include indigenous law applied to pipelines, resource management, human rights, indigenous environmental solutions and ecological restoration.

The essay authors include several of UVic Law’s current and former graduate students (Robert Clifford, Darcy Lindberg, Joshua Nichols, and Robert Hamilton) and faculty including Professor Sarah Morales.

Selected related resources in the library catalogue:

Laura Westra, Environmental Justice and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: International and Domestic Legal Perspectives (London: Earthscan, 2008). Call number: McPherson K3247 W47
Thora Martina Herrmann & Thibault Martin (eds), Indigenous Peoples’ Governance of Land and Protected Territories in the Arctic (Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2016). Electronic.
Donald K. Anton & Dinah L. Shelton, Environmental Protection and Human Rights (Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2011). Call number: K3585 A57 2011.
Lawrence Watters (ed), Indigenous Peoples, the Environment and the Law: An Anthology (Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2004). Call number: K3247 I52 2004.
David Gordon & Shepard Krech (eds), Indigenous Knowledge and the Environment in Africa and North America (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012). Electronic.

More publications by Sarah Morales in the library catalogue:

Sarah Morales, Snuw’uyulh: Fostering an Understanding of the Hul’q’umi’num Legal Tradition (PhD Dissertation, University of Victoria, 2014) [unpublished].
Sarah Morales, Reconciliation Beyond the Box (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018).
Sarah Morales, “Digging for Rights: How Can International Human Rights Law Better Protect Indigenous Women from Extractive Industries” (2019) 31:1 CJWL 58.
Sarah Morales, “Locating Oneself in One’s Research: Learning and Engaging with Law in the Coast Salish World” (2018) 30:1 CJWL 144.
Aimee Craft et al. UNDRIP Implementation: More Reflections on the Braiding of International, Domestic and Indigenous Laws (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018).

More publications by Darcy Lindberg:

Darcy Lindberg, kihcitwâw kîkway meskocipayiwin (sacred changes): Transforming Gendered Protocols in Cree Ceremonies Through Cree Law (LL.M Thesis, University of Victoria, 2017) [unpublished].
Darcy Lindberg and Jessica Asch (eds), Gender Inside Indigenous Law Toolkit (Victoria: Indigenous Law Research Unit, 2016).

More publications by Joshua Nichols:

Joshua Nichols, Sui Generis Sovereignties: The Relationship between Treaty Interpretation and Canadian Sovereignty (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018).
Joshua Nichols, Reconciliation and the Foundations of Aboriginal Law in Canada (PhD Dissertation, University of Victoria, 2016)
Aimee Craft et al. UNDRIP Implementation: More Reflections on the Braiding of International, Domestic and Indigenous Laws. Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018).

More publications by Robert YELKATTE Clifford:

Robert Clifford, WSANEC Legal Theory and the Fuel Spill at SELEKTEL (Goldstream River) (LL.M Thesis, University of Victoria, 2014).
Robert Yelkatte Clifford, “Listening to Law”, (2016) 33:1 Windsor YB Access Just 47.

More publications by Robert Hamilton:

Robert Hamilton, Indigenous Legal Traditions and Histories of International and Transnational law in the Pre-Confederation Maritime Provinces (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018).
Aimee Craft et al, UNDRIP Implementation: More Reflections on the Braiding of International, Domestic and Indigenous Laws (Waterloo: Centre for International Governance Innovation, 2018).

July 15, 2019July 10, 2019

New Titles in the Law Library

Watch this space regularly for updates of new print and electronic titles received at Law Library. Click on a book cover to find out more about the book and where it can be found in the Law Library.

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019

New Resource: ElgarOnline

Over 1,000 Edward Elgar publications are now available to UVic students and faculty on the ElgarOnline platform. ElgarOnline includes journals, ebooks, and research guides from a variety of subject areas including law, business, politics and public policy, and economics. Below is a small selection of the available ebooks:

All ebooks are discoverable in the Libraries’ catalogue and Summon. You can also browse the full collection here : ElgarOnline

Additional ebooks will be added over the next year , so make sure to check back again!

June 17, 2019June 14, 2019

Professor Emeritus Hamar Foster awarded Clio Prize Lifetime Achievement Award

Congratulations to Professor Emeritus Hamar Foster, QC who was awarded the 2019 Clio Prize Lifetime Achievement Award by the Canadian Historical Association. This is awarded for exceptional contributions to regional history across one’s career.

Hamar joined the Faculty of Law in 1978, and was promoted to professor in 1993. He taught Legal Process, Property, Criminal Law, The Law of Evidence, Legal History and Aboriginal Law before retiring in 2014.

Below is a small selection of Professor Foster’s publications on the legal history of British Columbia available through the library:

“For the Better Administration of Justice: The British Columbia Court of Appeal, 1910-2010” (2009) 162 BC Studies, pp 5-24 (co-edited by John McLaren and Wes Pue).

“‘We Want a Strong Promise’: The Opposition to Indian Treaties in British Columbia, 1850-1990,” (2009) 18 Native Studies Review, pp 113-137.

The Grand Experiment: Law and Legal Culture in British Settler Societies (Toronto: The Osgoode Society and the University of British Columbia Press, 2008), (co-edited with Andrew Buck and Benjamin Berger). Call number: KD5020 G72 2008

“We Are Not O’Meara’s Children: Law, Lawyers and the First Campaign for Aboriginal Title in British Columbia, 1908-1928” in Hamar Foster, Heather Raven and Jeremy Webber, eds, Let Right Be Done: Aboriginal Title, the Calder Case and the Future of Indigenous Rights (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2007), pp 61-84. Call number: KID4407 L47 2007

“Honouring the Queen’s Flag: A Legal and Historical Perspective on the Nisga’a Treaty” (1998) 120 BC Studies, pp 11-36.

“British Columbia: Legal Institutions in the Far West, from Contact to 1871″ (1995) 23 Manitoba Law Journal, pp 293-340.

“Hard Choices and Sharp Edges: The Legal History of British Columbia and the Yukon” in Hamar Foster and John McLaren, eds, Essays in the History of Canadian Law, Volume VI: British Columbia and the Yukon (Toronto: University of Toronto Press and the Osgoode Society for Legal History, 1995) pp 3-27 (co-authored with John McLaren). Call number: KF345 E8

“The Saanichton Bay Marina Case: Imperial Law, Colonial History and Competing Theories of Aboriginal Title” (1989) 23 University of British Columbia Law Review, pp 629-650.

“The Struggle for the Supreme Court: Law and Politics in British Columbia 1871-1885” in Knafla, Louis A, ed, Law and Justice in a New Land: Essays in Western Canadian Legal History (Toronto: Carswell, 1986), pp 167-213.
Call number: KF345 L388 1984

Congratulations Hamar!

June 14, 2019July 14, 2020

Professor John Borrows awarded Molson Prize

Congratulations to Professor John Borrows who was awarded the Molson Prize for humanities and social science for 2019! The prize is awarded to two people, one in arts and on in humanities or social sciences, who have distinguished themselves by their outstanding achievements.

John is the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Law and is a leading scholar in Indigenous law in Canada.

Professor Borrows’ most recent publication “Law’s Indigenous Ethics” is available on reserve in the Law Library (Call number KIC5780.5 B67 2019).

Check out some more of Professor Borrows scholarship held in UVic Libraries Collections:

John Borrows, Drawing Out Law: A Spirit’s Guide (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2010). Call number KIB190 B677 2010.
John Borrows. Canada’s Indigenous Constitution (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2010). Call number KIB190 B673 2010.
John Borrows, Freedom and Indigenous Constitutionalism (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2016). Call number KIA20 C66B6738 2016.
John Borrows, Indigenous Law and Governance: Challenging Pre-contact and Post-contact Distinctions in Canadian Law (Montreal, Les Éditions Thémis, 2017). Call number KI270 B67 2017.
John Borrows, Recovering Canada: The Resurgence of Indigenous Law (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2002). Call number KE7709 B68 2002
Michael Asch, John Borrows, & James Tully, eds, Resurgence and Reconciliation: Indigenous-Settler Relations and Earth Teachings (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018). Call number KIB530 R47 2018
John Borrows & Michael Coyle, eds, The Right Relationship: Reimagining the Implementation of Historical Treaties (Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2017). Call number KIB129 R54 2017
John Borrows, Seven Generations, Seven Teachings: Ending the Indian Act (West Vancouver, BC: National Centre for First Nations Governance, 2008). Electronic

Congratulations John!

April 12, 2019May 14, 2019

Marginalia – Double Indemnity

DOUBLE INDEMNITY

“First you dream, then you die”

~ Cornell Woolrich on the essence of film noir ~

Welcome to Marginalia. While our stated goal is to keep everyone up to date with the services we provide here at the circulation desk, the general idea is to present that information in a light-hearted, but relevant manner. With that in mind, did you know we have a vault full of videos for your educational and entertainment needs?

For this installment, we’re going to talk about a movie called ‘Double Indemnity’ which is widely considered to be the best film noir ever made. Directed by Billy Wilder, with cinematography by John F. Seitz, it stars Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson.

Before we begin though, I think a short introduction to the world of film noir is in order.

With the dissolution of the Blum-Byrnes accord in 1946 (a German edict that forbid the presentation of non-Axis films in France) an abundance of dark themed American movies flooded the French cinema. This initial run of what ultimately became known as film noir included ‘The Maltese Falcon’ (1941); ‘Murder My Sweet’ (1944); ‘Double Indemnity’ (1944); ‘The Woman in the Window’ (1944) and ‘Laura’ (1944). Dismissing Hollywood’s usual ice cream and apple pie optimism, film noir was much darker in tone and tended to explore the acidic underbelly of the American Dream.

For the most part, they were cheaply made and designed to be shown on the back end of a double feature (hence the term ‘B-film’). These studies in ethical corruption frequently involved the fate of a cynical, morally challenged male who was ultimately seduced by an attractive, but deceitful femme fatale. Source material was often lifted from the so-called ‘hard boiled’ school of detective fiction (including authors such as James M. Cain, Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler).

While it may have resembled German Expressionism and French Poetic Realism, film noir had a unique elegance all its own. However, unlike the omnipresent American western, war movie or musical, film noir should not be categorized as a genre, since the intention was more concerned with generating a particular tone than imitating a specific style. Therefore, it should be seen as a form of film-making which employed low-key lighting and oblique camera angles to promote its dark, pessimistic mood. As many fans have noted, “I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but I know it when I see it.”

James M. Cain’s 1943 novel ‘Double Indemnity’ provides the basic outline for Wilder’s film (with additional dialogue provided by Chandler). The story itself revolves around an experienced salesman, Walter Neff (MacMurray), who falls for the seductive charms of Phyllis Dietrichson (Stanwyck) while he attempts to renew her husband’s insurance coverage.

One plot twist quickly spins into the next and before we know it they are conspiring to exploit an accidental death, double indemnity clause in her husband’s policy. Eventually, a major roadblock appears when Neff’s boss, Barton Keyes (Robinson), begins to question the validity of the claim.

With all due respect to the rest of the cast, this is Barbara Stanwyck’s movie. Her mesmerizing depiction of Phyllis Dietrichson borrows elements from Clytemnestra, Salome and Lady Macbeth to set a standard that has seldom been equalled. Others have come close, namely Ann Savage in ‘Detour’ (1945), Jane Greer in ‘Out of the Past’ (1947) and Linda Fiorentino in ‘The Last Seduction’ (1994), but Stanwyck’s outstanding performance in ‘Double Indemnity’ truly defines the cinematic femme fatale.

Fiorentino, during her audition for the part of Bridget Gregory in ‘The Last Seduction’, reportedly told director John Dahl, “there are only two women who can play this role, myself and Barbara Stanwyck, and she’s dead.” Additionally, the film pays respect to Wilder’s earlier effort by referring to the central character as Mrs. Neff in one sequence and using the term ‘double indemnity’ in another.

Trivia:

The term ‘film noir’ was initially coined by Nino Frank, a French movie and literary critic.

Billy Wilder had originally shot a different ending for the film involving a scene at the San Quinton gas chamber, but it was pulled before the general release.

Raymond Chandler has a (very) brief cameo early in the film when Neff walks past him to go into Keyes’ office.

“How could I have known that murder

could sometimes smell like honeysuckle?”

-30-

You can find ‘Double Indemnity’ at the Law Library loan desk.

Call Number: Vid PN1997 D68 2006.

You can browse through the rest of our Video catalogue here.

Prose and photo credits:

Editorial support:

Kim Nayyer, Sarah Miller, Paul Totzke

and the crew at the loan desk

March 20, 2019

Marginalia – CirC Beat Magazine

Welcome to Marginalia. While our stated goal is to keep everyone up to date with the services we provide here at the Diana M. Priestly Law Library circulation desk, the general idea is to present that information in a light-hearted, but relevant manner. With that in mind, we’d like to dedicate this edition of Marginalia to the 45RPM record on it’s 70th Birthday – long may you spin (w/ thanks to Kim Nayyer for the tip).

Marginalia Presents: CirC Beat Magazine.

Hey, hi and hello to all you groovy guys and gals out there from your fabulous friends here at CirC Beat Magazine (where we only chatter about the platters that matter).

The name’s Riff Riley and I’m your Rock & Roll reporter (substituting for Lester Bangs – who is on assignment). Our ‘Feature Story’ today concerns everybody’s favorite all night party band, The Check-Outs. In case you’ve been lost in the ozone lately, they’ve been busy pleasing patrons at the Diana M. Priestly Law Library and we finally got a chance to interview them.

The Check-Outs latest chart topper is called ‘On My Way to You’ and it’s available on from Reference Desk Vinyl at your favorite independent record store (and we highly recommend The Turntable in Fan Tan Alley). Trust me here folks, ‘On My Way to You’ rocks harder than a sledgehammer on steroids.

The sound is loud, rough and raucous with a classic early ‘60’s style garage vibe. They’ll play anywhere at the drop of a hat as along as the venue is easy to find and wired for sound. Take note that their next big gig is an all ages affair at the Purple Onion with label mates Zero Deluxe and Flashback Academy on April First.

Now that you’re up to date, let’s meet The Check-Outs in person (please note that the individual band members have politely requested that we refer to them by their self-assigned stage names).

The newest member of the group, Ramona, doubles as their Bass & Furboard player (it’s a Furby covered synthesizer that provides the band with its warm, fuzzy sound). Ramona is a Scorpio/Sagittarius cusp who thinks ‘Tripoli’ by Pinback should be played much more often than it is. When she’s not slapping strings or twisting knobs she helps out at the loan desk with Papercut and wireless set-up questions and anything else that comes her way.

Juanita plays ‘Air’ guitar with the group in between shifts at the loan desk. Her song of choice is ‘Margaritaville’ and cites ‘Stop’ as her favorite astrological sign. Her library duties include organizing reserve room material, coordinating the desk staff, as well as responding to any number of Faculty requests and whatever else is necessary, whenever it’s necessary.

‘South-Side’ Mike runs his left-handed guitar through a ‘66 Pathfinder tube amp with the volume control locked on twelve. His duties at the Priestly include assigning graduate carrels, facilitating Inter-Library Loan requests and handling whatever else comes up during the course of his shift. He‘s a Capricorn who likes to listen to ‘Enjoy the Silence’ by Depeche Mode as often as possible on his portable cassette player.

Flossie Mc P. strums a 12 string guitar and sings harmony. Her day time duties include room bookings, item processing, answering emails, phone calls and loan desk requests along with a plethora of related services essential to the day to day operation of the loan desk.

‘Downbeat’ Dave manages (more or less) to keep his drum kit in tune, while preaching the importance of a basic backbeat. When he’s not playing with The Check-Outs you can find him working the late shift at the library where he updates loose-leaf binders, provides desk coverage and shelves books (both big and small). He claims to be a Taurus, but we all know that’s a lie.

‘Brother’ Paul plays piano, organ, and sings. He runs the show.

On stage visuals are courtesy of the Ectoplasmic Assault Light Show.

The Check-Outs are managed by Short Change Charlie at Hyperbole Entertainment.

The band would also like you to know that their instruments of choice include Rickenbacker Guitars, Farfisa Keyboards, Vox Amps and Premier Drums.

You can catch them in person ‘Eight Days a Week’ at the Diana M. Priestly Law Library.

CirC Beat Magazine’s Sweet Sixteen:

1- On My Way to You by The Check-Outs

2- San Francisco Girls – Fever Tree

3- Talkin’ Environmental Blues – ELC

4- Grand Slammin’ Jam (in ‘A’ Major) – Frozen Rope

5- I Want You Back – The Recalls

6- 60 Cycle Hum – Microphonics

7- In the Year 2525 – Zager & Evans

8- Short Term Loan – The Overnighters

9- Look it Up – OPAC

10- (This Ain’t No) Bureaucracy – The Rubber Stamps

11- Lost & Found – The Callslips

12- Mid Term Blues – The Dew Daytes

13- Tin Foil Hat – Alien Invasion

14- What’s the Problem – The Torts

15- Melody Hill – The Archies

16- Best Be Leaving by Sundown

March 5, 2019

Indigenous Awareness Week

This week is Indigenous Awareness Week in the Faculty of Law, hosted by ILSA. There are three lunchtime events discussing the theme of Local Indigenous Perspectives and the Law.

Tuesday March 5: The Significance of Time and Place with Sarah Morales, at 12:30-1:30 in rm 265.

Wednesday March 6: Plants in the WSANEC Legal Order with Belinda Seliliye Claxton, at 12:30-1:30, meeting in the Fraser lobby.

Thursday March 7: Indigenous Access to Justice with Bernice Kamano, 12:30-1:30 in rm 265.

Ideafest is also happening this week, and includes a panel on Wednesday night at the Belfry Theatre entitled “Indigenous Law, Women and Human Rights”, featuring Val Napoleon, Sarah Morales, Lana Lowe, and Tracey Lindberg. This event has sold out. Fortunately, it will be streamed live on Facebook at the UVic Faculty of Law facebook page.

February 6, 2019

2019 Research-a-Thon: Getting Current with the Current

This Friday is the all-day 2019 Research-a-thon: “Getting Current with the Current” event. The Environmental Law Club has partnered with the Environmental Law Centre and the Indigenous Legal Research Unit, to look at water law using both colonial and Indigenous research methodologies, focusing on water law in Nicola Valley.

Law librarians Sarah and Alex prepared a targeted and comprehensive research guide website to help the students identify and work with valuable resources in the law library collection, including BC legislative research content in our Quickscribe, HeinOnline, LLMC Digital, and BC Laws databases. It also incorporates the legislative starting points compiled by former ELC articling student Renata, and Kim’s chapter on researching BC legislation, as well as a list of Indigenous Law Resources.

The librarians will be on hand throughout the day, to help with the intricate process of historical legislative and contextual legal research.

The event runs from 10am – 5pm, with a lunchtime panel discussion from 11:30-12:30 in rm 157 featuring Deborah Curran from the Environmental Law Centre and Chief Harvey McLeod of the Upper Nicola Band.

January 28, 2019January 28, 2019

Marginalia: The Flitcraft Parable

Photo: Paul Totzke

Welcome to Marginalia. While our stated goal is to keep everyone up to date with the services we provide here at the circulation desk, the general idea is to present the information in a light-hearted, but relevant manner.

(Theme Music)

“The problem with putting two and two together is that sometimes you get four, and sometimes you get twenty-two.” Dashiell Hammett – ‘The Thin Man’.

Radio Noir Presents:

Raymond Marlowe, Private Investigator.

‘The Flitcraft Parable’

The name’s Marlowe and I’m a Private Investigator with the James M. Cain Detective Agency.

I’d been up all night working on ‘The Environmental Research Affair’. The boss had promised me a week off after solving the ‘Chinatown Caper’, but the Agency now thought the two cases were related and they desperately needed a solid lead. The job certainly looked simple enough – locate a missing document on Indigenous water rights and deliver it to a group of concerned stakeholders. Fortunately, I did have one clue to guide me; a severely crumpled piece of paper with an almost indecipherable series of oddly spaced numbers and letters scrawled across it (DMPLL-RM-171).

Thanks to a tip from an unnamed, but reliable source, I started the investigation with a visit to a top notch environmental lawyer named Calvin Sandborn, Q.C. (the Queen’s Counsel designation alone let you know right away that he was a man who knew a thing or two about a thing or two). Letting my fingers do the walking I tracked him down to a busy, well-staffed, second floor office inside the Faculty of Law at the University of Victoria. Sandborn was good, but he couldn’t do much more than direct me to the Circulation Desk at the Diana M. Priestly Law Library Circulation Desk one floor below.

I flashed my Community Borrower’s card and proceeded to query the on duty staff member about the missing information I needed to solve the case. She asked a few pertinent questions and politely suggested that I start my search with Alexander Burdett at the reference desk. Unfortunately, due to the upcoming influx of mid-term exams, there was an extremely long, rather nervous looking line of students in front of me, so I headed back to the circulation desk.

I asked for the location of any material on Indigenous water rights and she informed me that the majority of the items on the subject were in the process of being shipped over from the McPherson Library and they would arrive in a day of two. I took a chance and asked what else might be available on the subject. She checked the circulation module and noted that the remaining material was in the process of being collected for an Environmental Law Course ‘Research-A-Thon’ the following week and was therefore temporarily inaccessible.

As expected, the boss was none too happy about the turn of events and told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I enjoyed working for the James M. Cain Detective Agency on a regular basis I should locate the missing material ASAP.

Noting that the law library was open on weekends, I called early on Saturday morning and asked if a ‘HOLD’ could be placed on the requested material until I could pick it up. Unfortunately that type of request did not apply to items that were shelved in the reserve room. However, she smiled, the requested material would be ready by opening time on Sunday.

After reviewing the case file that night, I woke up early and headed over to the library by 10am. During a brief, but informative Q&A with the morning supervisor we eventually located the missing item on a book truck in the reserve room of the Law Library.

With the required document now firmly in hand, I asked about my options. The library staff member advised me that I could either check it out for two hours and/or photocopy the information. She then pointed out that, according to the official looking notice taped to the front of the the copier, I was limited to 10% of a copyrighted work or one entire chapter of a book. Seeing how I only needed one page I decided to purchase a vend card (on the company expense account of course) and copy both sides of the document.

It was only after I reached for my wallet that I remembered about the cryptic notation. I unfolded the note and studied the information on it (DMPLL-RM-171). Looking up, I noticed the sign behind the circulation desk and suddenly realized that the code was someone’s scribbled shorthand for the Diana M. Priestly Law Library Room 171.

Case closed.

The boss was ecstatic, the clients were euphoric, and my bonus covered a fifth of finely blended, imported Scotch Whiskey. Arriving home early, I set the radio dial to a local jazz station, cracked the seal, and carefully poured myself a healthy three-fingered shot. The only thing left to do now was to open my dog-eared copy of ‘The Maltese Falcon’ and try, for at least the twenty-second time, to decipher that strange business about a character named Flitcraft and his fascination with falling beams.

It was getting late and I was just savouring the last drop of Scotch when it slowly dawned on me that Dashiell Hammett’s mysterious parable had everything to do with the idea of contentment.

(Theme Music)

Please be sure to join us for our next action packed adventure of ‘Raymond Marlowe, Private Investigator’, in ‘The Case of the Missing McGuffin’, right here on ‘Radio Noir Presents’.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming.