St. Lewis v. Rancourt::: Responding Factums filed, Joseph Hickey intervenes for public and media on open court motion Leave to Appeal

Elected University of Ottawa Senate Member and physics graduate student Joseph Hickey has filed a Motion Record and a Factum as an affected-person intervening member of the public and media in the Defendant's (Rancourt) motion for leave to appeal a judge's decision to not allow an open court motion to be heard on it merits.

2012-03-22::: Motion-9 -- Plaintiff's lawyer's Factum (Richard Dearden): HERE-Factum.

2012-03-22::: Motion-9 -- University's lawyer's Motion Record and Factum (Peter Doody): HERE-Motion-Record, HERE-Factum.

2012-03-22::: Motion-9 -- Intervener Joseph Hickey's Motion Record and Factum filed: HERE-Motion-Record, HERE-Factum. And Hickey's report: HERE.

The public in-court judicial hearing of the arguments for and against granting leave to appeal will be held at 10:00 AM, March 28, 2012, at the Elgin Street Courthouse, Ottawa.

The central issue is whether court proceedings such as the cross-examinations of the submitted evidence of university president Allan Rock and common law dean Bruce Feldthusen will be public (with media access) or strictly private.

The first matter is for an appeal to be granted towards allowing the arguments for and against public access to be heard.

As background, all related posts about the lawsuit are HERE.

Links to all pleadings and court documents in the lawsuit are HERE.

A Law Times media article about the lawsuit is HERE.
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St. Lewis v. Rancourt::: Rancourt's Factum filed, motion for Leave to Appeal the Case Conference decision on the open court motion

A factum is a presentation of one's legal arguments.

In a motion for Leave to Appeal a judge's decision, a factum is required.

Rancourt's factum for his motion for Leave to Appeal the case conference judge's decision to not schedule or allow his open court motion was filed on March 19, 2012 and is HERE-LINK.

All court-filed documents are public by virtue of the open court principle which is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The motion will be heard at 10:00AM on March 28, 2012 at the Elgin Street Court House in Ottawa. The hearing is open to the public and media, by virtue of the open court principle which is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The court transcript of the February 8, 2012 Case Conference hearing in question is HERE-LINK. The transcript of the case conference is accessible and can be made public by virtue of the open court principle which is enshrined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Civil Liberties Association, National Capital Region's statement about Rancourt's open court motion is HERE-LINK.

The University of Ottawa president is refusing that his cross-examination on his affidavit evidence about how university public funds are being used to finance the litigation be accessible to the public and media. See his affidavit evidence HERE-LINK (at page number "34"). The Plaintiff through her lawyer is arguing that the open court principle does not apply to cross-examinations of affidavit evidence which itself is public.

As background, all related posts about the lawsuit are HERE.

Links to all pleadings and court documents in the lawsuit are HERE.

A Law Times media article about the lawsuit is HERE.
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St. Lewis v. Rancourt::: U of O Senate shuts down rather than discuss open court principle

Is it the governing academic body at "Canada's university" or is it a lemonade stand?

Two elected Members of the University of Ottawa Senate duly submitted a motion to their Senate -- the highest governing body of the institution on all academic and freedom of expression matters -- to discuss the open court motion submitted to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice which would make the anticipated cross-examination of U of O president Allan Rock open to the public and media, regarding why the President decided to fund plaintiff Joanne St. Lewis' private litigation against defendant Denis Rancourt.

Instead of adding the Senate motion to the agenda, as required by the rules, VP-Governance Diane Davidson, an outsider hand-picked by Allan Rock, decided instead to simply shut down Senate and not have the April meeting of the institution's largest and most significant democratic body.

Davidson justified her move by asserting that the courts had already ruled on the open court principle as it applies to cross-examinations, in contradiction to a recent Statement from the Civil Liberties Association, National Capital Region:

Diane Davidson Creates Veto Power to Hide Allan Rock?

Sophistry at the Highest Level: Diane Davidson’s Cancellation of UofO Senate

Of course Davidson's "reason" is just bad lemonade because: (1) the Court allows the cross-examinations to be public if both sides agree, and (2) the Court's decision in question is scheduled for leave to appeal.

This follows the recent sudden departure without notice or explanation of second-in-command VP-Academic Francois Houle, to which the academic community's response was... deafening silence.

Not democracy's finest hour at the institution once known for integrity and institutional continuity.

St. Lewis v. Rancourt::: 'Open court principle' appeal to be heard

Main updates in the Joanne St. Lewis v. Denis Rancourt lawsuit include:


(1) Self-represented Rancourt is advancing a motion to stay or dismiss the action as an abuse of process, the so-called "champerty motion".


(2) As next steps in the "champerty motion" Rancourt will cross-examine:

• U of O President Allan Rock
• U of O Chairman of the BOG Robert Giroux
• U of O Dean of Common Law Bruce Feldthusen
• Ottawa lawyer Celine Delorme

[Cross-examination dates to be set by a judge, see below.]
The University volunteered Rock as the person who directly made the funding decision, after Rancourt proposed to summon Rock as a witness. The Court offered the University an occasion to move that Rancourt's summons to Giroux be quashed but the University declined the offer.

(3) Rancourt has advanced an "open court motion" seeking that all the cross-examinations be open to the public and media.


(4) Rancourt's "open court motion" was quashed by a judge on February 8, 2012.


(5) Rancourt filed a motion for leave to appeal the judge's decision to reject the open court motion and called on the Regional Chief Justice to schedule the appeal prior to the cross-examinations.


(6) The cross-examination schedule was stayed in order for the motion for leave to appeal to be heard in court on March 28, 2012 at 10:00 AM at the Elgin Street Court House. All court proceedings are bilingual, following Rancourt's request to exercise his language rights.


(7) Civil society is reacting to the open court proposal:

The Civil Liberties Association - National Capital Region (CLA-NCR) has published a statement in favour of Rancourt's open court motion: HERE.

University of Ottawa Senate Member Hazel Gashoka has publicly called on Allan Rock to stop refusing a public cross-examination on the question of his decision to finance the St. Lewis litigation against Rancourt: HERE.

As background, all related posts about the lawsuit are HERE.

Links to all pleadings and court documents in the lawsuit are HERE.

A Law Times media article about the lawsuit is HERE.
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Student in battle with U of O over his currency proposal -- METRO News

JESSICA SMITH
METRO NEWS
Published: March 12, 2012 11:39 p.m.

A University of Ottawa student was found guilty Monday of escaping lawful custody in April after he ran away from campus security guards onto an OC Transpo bus while handcuffed.

Marc Kelly has had a series of disputes with the university. In April, he was apprehended for trespassing, at which point he ran away.

“I fled the security guards to try to reach the police before they did,” he said, adding that it was to stop the guards from lying to police about him.

He was charged with mischief, breaching the peace and escaping lawful custody, but the first two charges were dropped, he said.

The judge in his trial heard about his “Blinky Blinkies” — a form of currency similar to the Internet-based currency Bitcoin — because security guards testified that he was throwing them to a crowd of students when he was arrested.

“It’s decentralized, it’s not controlled by the banks,” he said, describing the currency as electronic light pulses. “It’s an innovative idea of replacing money on campus with a campus-specific currency that would enable a market independent of society. It’s one possible solution to eradicating tuition fees.”

Since his arrest, Kelly has been banned from contacting U of O students, faculty and staff because he has developed a mass-email system that he has used to contact them about various things, including his currency, he said.

See all UofOWatch articles about student Marc Kelly

Faculty for Palestine (Canada) calls for action to redress the Allan Rock administration

Today Faculty for Palestine put out this call:


*URGENT CALL FOR SOLIDARITY: UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA TRIES TO SILENCE SOLIDARITY FOR PALESTINIAN HUMAN RIGHTS (SPHR) AND WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!*

Defend the right to critical discussion around Israeli apartheid on our campuses! Call on the University of Ottawa Administration to uphold free expression and follow clear and transparent procedures.

On March 5th, Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) 2012 opened at the University of Ottawa to a packed room, as students, faculty, and community members were treated to an informative lecture entitled “Arab Spring, Apartheid Falls? The Egyptian Uprising and Possibilities for Palestinian Resistance.” It featured an Egyptian activist who played an important role in the revolution that overthrew the Egyptian dictatorship, as well as a community activist from Montreal (for full schedule, see: http://ottawa.apartheidweek.org/).

Moreover, two students from the organizing committee were harassed by unidentified individuals, who on several occasions attempted to intimidate SPHR and Students Against Israeli Apartheid (SAIA) just outside the lecture hall during the event.

On March 6th, a member of SPHR received an email from Conventions and Reservations Services at the University of Ottawa telling her that their room booking for Thursday’s Keynote IAW event is now “on hold”, that SPHR “may not continue with this event for now”, and that SPHR's contract was being forwarded to “Protection Service for evaluation.” These heavy-handed measures are because of an unnamed “incident” that supposedly occurred at Monday’s event. When members of SPHR met with the University administration, they were not told what this “incident” was (see below for full email from U of O). The very fact that the organizers were put in a situation, where their event was threatened with cancellation, is a form of intimidation from the University of Ottawa administration.

In 2009, the Administrations at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University banned the international-used IAW poster, gaining national and international headlines. SPHR and SAIA see today's email as another attempt to silence the voices of students who advocate for Palestinian human rights. When the IAW poster was banned in 2009, we stood up and fought back with all of your support.


In response to this email:

Email sent to SPHR from University of Ottawa:

Hello [SPHR member],

Following the incident that occurred during your event in Fauteux 147A on March 5th 2012, your event scheduled for March 8th in Hagen 302 from 18:00 to 23:00 is on hold therefore in ``Pending`` mode. You may not continue with this event for now. Also, I urgently need you to provide the name of the speaker(s) who spoke on the 5th of March as well as the ones that are scheduled to speak on the 8th of March 2012 in Hagen 302. This information needs to be provided to me no later than today. Also, I am forwarding your contract to Protection Services for evaluation. Again, you may not proceed with your event in Hagen 302 on the 8th of March until I confirm.

Please respond to this email promptly

Martin Bergeron
Agent de coordination, Coordination agent
Service de congrès et réservations / Conventions and Reservations Service

UofOWatch Note: The last time this happened the CCLA wrote THIS stern letter of reprimand to Allan Rock. This time, the CCLA boss is Nathalie Des Rosiers, whose salary is paid by the University of Ottawa.

Rancourt exige des contre-interrogatoires publics -- La Rotonde

The St. Lewis v. Rancourt litigation was covered in the University of Ottawa French-language student newspaper La Rotonde:

Rancourt exige des contre-interrogatoires publics -- La Rotonde

The article is mostly about Rancourt's open court motion to require that all out-of-court cross-examinations be public; starting with Rancourt's motion to stay the action on the basis of an alleged champertous relationship between the plaintiff and the University of Ottawa which is entirely financing St. Lewis' lawsuit.

St. Lewis' lawyer Richard Dearden is quoted in part as saying (translated from the French):

"Cross-examinations are private. I have never, never, never heard of a public cross-examination."

Both president Allan Rock and chair of the Board of Governors Robert Giroux are to be examined by Rancourt regarding the champerty charge.

As background, all related posts about the lawsuit are HERE.

Links to all pleadings and court documents in the lawsuit are HERE.

A Law Times media article about the lawsuit is HERE.
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Former USA Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney at University of Ottawa

Former USA Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney led a Black History Month workshop in the Rotunda of Tabaret Hall at the University of Ottawa on February 27, 2012, 7pm to 10pm.

The event was sponsored by PSAC. Co-organizers Hazel Gashoka and Jean-Marie Vianney were highly pleased with the depth and quality of the event. McKinney stressed a multicultural mosaic of allies to fight racism at the University of Ottawa. She showed awareness of local issues and brought her vast experience into play in catalyzing a search for answers.

Shamefully, university president Allan Rock was "out of the country" and left the organizers with the impression that he supported the event while his chief of staff was not even able to provide chairs. The university did provide security, following some Jewish Student Association attempts to intimidate Gashoka away from the event. McKinney is a known critic of Israeli policy against Palestinian rights.

The entire event has been posted in nine parts on YouTube:
http://youtu.be/gLkeghEDMBo