Girard on Bastien on Laskin, Estey and Patriation

Philip Girard (now of Osgoode Hall Law School, and no longer of the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University*) has posted "A Tempest in a Transatlantic Teapot: A Legal Historian's Critical Analysis of Frédéric Bastien's La Bataille De Londres" on SSRN. This paper is forthcoming in the Osgoode Hall Law Journal..

* Philip, time to update your SSRN author profile!

Here's the abstract:

This review discussed the allegations in Frederic Bastien's book La Bataille de Londres, to the effect that two Supreme Court of Canada judges had improper communications with British and Canadian authorities before and after the hearing of the Patriation Reference. It analyzes in detail the five incidents upon which the allegations are based, and finds that the author's interpretation cannot be supported in four of them because of faulty interpretation of the evidence or incomplete research. The fifth incident, in which Chief Justice Laskin met with the English attorney general, is found to have been arguably inappropriate judicial behaviour, but to have no effect in law on the ultimate decision in the Patriation Reference. In addition, more recent evidence tends to confirm that no "leaks" to the Canadian government occurred while the Court was writing its decision. This article will be published in the next issue of the Osgoode Hall Law Journal (51:2).

Addition to Legal History Workshop schedule: Paul Finkelman

Professor Paul Finkelman, well-known as a leading US legal historian, is in Toronto next week for another purpose, and Jim Phillips has arranged for him to give a paper at the U of T law school. 

His seminar will be held on Thursday February 6, at 12.15 pm.

Seminar Room 3, Falconer Hall, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto

The title is Frederick Douglas's Constitution: From Garrisonian Abolitionist to Lincoln Republican. 

Anyone not on the Osgoode Society Legal History Workshop listserv who would like to attend should email Jim for a copy of the paper.

Girard awarded Research Fellowship for History of Canadian Law, 1500-2000

Philip Girard of Osgoode Hall Law School has been awarded an Osgoode Research Fellowship for 2014-5 to work on the research project "A History of Law in Canada, 1500-2000."

Dissertation on Legal Pluralism in the Red River Colony, 1811-69

A doctoral dissertation by Nelly Laudicina of the University of Ottawa "Droit et metissages, Evolution et usages de la loi a la colonie de la Riviere Rouge, 1811--1869" from 2013 is available on the ProQuest Theses & Dissertations database (in French).

Here's the abstract in English:

This dissertation examines the evolution of law in Red River (Assiniboia) through the systems, ideas and events that informed the inhabitants' conception of the juridical, from the colony's creation until its entry into the Canadian Confederation as part of the province of Manitoba. Assiniboia was founded in 1811 in the unsettled Indian Territories. Those vast stretches of land were used as hunting grounds by fur-trading companies, who developed the codes and practices of a lex non scripta on-site to regulate social norms, trade and competition. In the 1820s, the District of Assiniboia came under the management of the Hudson's Bay Company and was placed under its jurisdiction, and, until the late 1860s, Red River was the first and only settlement of the western interior to have its own government and institutions. By examining the legislative and judicial records of the district, the narratives, correspondence and journals composed by settlers, missionaries and rulers of Red River, this dissertation studies the uses of the law as a form of symbolic violence and a normative tool in the social context of the colony. This study contends that, half a century after its creation, Assiniboia was a hybrid legal space ruled simultaneously by customary and institutional law. It demonstrates the population's active role in its own governance and the gradual establishment of a legal pluralism that recognized and respected Red River's multicultural society, one composed of French and English speaking settlers, Amerindians, and a majority of semi-nomadic people of mixed descent. Ultimately, this study highlights the fundamental role played by the Métis and their Native background in all of the changes to the territory's legal system.

Nelly Laudicina has also published "The Rules of Red River: The Council of Assiniboia and its Impact on the Colony, 1820-1869" in Past Imperfect, the graduate student journal of the University of Alberta History and Classics Department.

Thesis in Alberta legal/labour history: 1986 Gainers' Strike

"Class Struggle and Solidarity in Neo-Liberal Times: The 1986 Gainers Strike," an M.A. thesis by Andrea Samoil  (Trent University, advisor Bryan Palmer) is now available through the ProQuest Theses & Dissertations database.

Abstract:
The lengthy and raucous 1986 Gainers meatpacking plant strike in Edmonton, Alberta was one of the most important events in recent Alberta labour history. In the midst of the economic crisis of the 1980s and the rise of neo-liberal ideas, the strike marked a backlash by both the labour movement and ordinary citizens against attacks on workers and unions. Characterized by widely covered picket line violence, repressive police and court actions, and government unresponsiveness, the strike generated massive solidarity within and beyond the labour movement. This solidarity originated in a rejection of the neo-liberal new reality of Alberta typified by high unemployment, anti-union laws and practices, and lack of government welfare support, and it generated a provincial change the law campaign, national boycott, and rising class consciousness. The working class mobilization during the Gainers strike was a watershed for the Alberta labour movement.

New from UTP: King, Fishing in Contested Waters

New from the University of Toronto Press, Sarah J. King, Fishing in Contested Waters: Place & Community in Burnt Church/Esgenoopetitj

After the Supreme Court of Canada’s 1999 Marshall decision recognized Mi’kmaw fishers’ treaty right to fish, the fishers entered the inshore lobster fishery across Atlantic Canada. At Burnt Church/Esgenoôpetitj, New Brunswick, the Mi’kmaw fishery provoked violent confrontations with neighbours and the Canadian government. Over the next two years, boats, cottages, and a sacred grove were burned, people were shot at and beaten, boats rammed and sunk, roads barricaded, and the local wharf occupied.

Based on 12 months of ethnographic field work in Burnt Church/Esgenoôpetitj, Fishing in Contested Waters explores the origins of this dispute and the beliefs and experiences that motivated the locals involved in it. Weaving the perspectives of Native and non-Native people together, Sarah J. King examines the community as a contested place, simultaneously Mi’kmaw and Canadian. Drawing on philosophy and indigenous, environmental, and religious studies, Fishing in Contested Waters demonstrates the deep roots of contemporary conflicts over rights, sovereignty, conservation, and identity.

Alan Borovoy memoir new from Irwin Law

A new release from Irwin Law: "At the Barricades," A Memoir by Alan Borovoy.

Says the publisher:

Best known as General Counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a position he held for over 40 years, A. Alan Borovoy was at the centre of many of the most profound and difficult public debates of last half century. In At the Barricades, Borovoy reflects on the events that have shaped the Canadian political legal landscape from the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s to the "war on terrorism" in the 21st century. Along the way he provides a first-hand account of Québec's FLQ crisis of 1970, the protests regarding the abortion controversy, the battles over free speech, hate speech, and pornography, and the struggles to protect the rights of Aboriginal peoples, the economically disadvantaged, and victims of police misconduct.

This book recounts the life of an activist; always principled and compassionate, usually controversial, often very funny, and never dull. It should be read by anyone who is interested in how we got to where we are today and concerned about where we are going.

Charlotte Gray's The Massey Murder shortlisted for RBC Charles Taylor prize

Charlotte Gray's The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master, and the Trial that Shocked a Country, a  co-publication of the Osgoode Society and Harper Collins, has been short listed for the RBC Charles Taylor prize for literary non-fiction. A winner will be announced March 10, 2014.

The other finalists are:

Thomas King (Guelph, Ontario) The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America (Doubleday Canada); J.B. MacKinnon (Vancouver, BC) The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be(Random House Canada); Graeme Smith (Afghanistan) The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan(Alfred A. Knopf Canada); David Stouck(Vancouver, BC)Arthur Erickson: An Architect’s Life (Douglas & McIntyre). 

Congratulations and good luck to Charlotte!

(hat-tip Canada's History)

Tunnicliffe on public debates about human rights legislation in Ontario, 1975-1981

Also in the November, 2013 issue of Histoire Sociale/Social History, an article by McMaster Graduate Student Jennifer Tunnicliffe, "“Life Together”: Public Debates over Human Rights Legislation in Ontario, 1975-1981."

Here's the abstract:

Between 1975 and 1981, government, activist groups and the larger public took part in a review of Ontario’s Human Rights Code, negotiating a new human rights framework for the province. This article addresses three questions: how were human rights understood in 1970s Ontario, to what extent did public debate influence government policy, and did legislative changes represent a genuine shift towards a code that could more effectively address discrimination? While this review period represents an important step in Canada’s so-called rights revolution, it also demonstrates the limits of this revolution. 

De 1975 à 1981, le gouvernement, des groupes militants et le grand public ont participé à un examen du Code des droits de la personne de l’Ontario, négociant un nouveau cadre des droits de la personne pour la province. Cet article s’intéresse à trois questions. Quelle interprétation faisait-on des droits de la personne dans l’Ontario des années 1970? Quel effet le débat public a-t-il eu sur la politique gouvernementale? Les modifications législatives ont-elles permis d’opérer un vrai virage vers un code susceptible de mieux combattre la discrimination? Bien que cette période d’examen ait marqué un pas important dans la révolution dite des droits de la personne au Canada, elle témoigne également des limites de cette révolution.

Henderson on banishment of convicted Patriotes to Bermuda post 1837 Lower Canada rebellion

In the November 2013 issue of History Sociale/Social History, an article by Jarett Henderson entitled "Banishment to Bermuda: Gender, Race, Empire, Independence and the Struggle to Abolish Irresponsible Government in Lower Canada."

Here's the abstract:

This article traces the process by which eight Lower Canadian Patriotes became Bermudian convicts to uncover what their transition from freedom to unfreedom can teach us about the intersection of gender, race, independence, politics, and empire during Lord Durham’s tenure as Governor General and High Commissioner of British North America. The Patriotes’ struggle to abolish irresponsible government, which led to their banishment to Bermuda in July 1838, reminds us that Lower Canada was part and parcel of social, cultural, and political changes that were taking the British empire by storm in the 1830s. Moreover, the actions of Lord Durham’s administration and the demands of these eight Patriotes raise important questions about colonial independence and Patriote efforts to ensure that Canadiens, as white non-British British subjects, received those political rights that white, bourgeois, and British men in England and its empire were increasingly demanding: specifically, the right to govern themselves.

Cet article retrace l’expatriation aux Bermudes de huit Patriotes du Bas-Canada afin de savoir ce que leur passage de la liberté à la non-liberté peut nous enseigner au sujet de l’intersection du genre, de la race, de l’indépendance, de la politique et de l’empire durant le mandat de Lord Durham à titre de gouverneur général et haut-commissaire de l’Amérique du Nord britannique. Le combat des Patriotes pour l’abolition d’un gouvernement irresponsable s’est soldé par leur bannissement aux Bermudes en juillet 1838 et nous rappelle que le Bas-Canada était un acteur à part entière de la transformation sociale, culturelle et politique qui frappait de plein fouet l’Empire britannique durant les années 1830. De plus, les actions de l’administration de Lord Durham et les exigences de ces huit Patriotes soulèvent d’importantes questions quant à l’indépendance coloniale et aux efforts des Patriotes pour veiller à ce que les Canadiens jouissent, en tant que sujets non britanniques, des mêmes droits que ceux que réclamaient de plus en plus les hommes blancs de la bourgeoise britannique de l’Angleterre et de son empire, en particulier celui de se gouverner eux-mêmes.

CLSA/ACDS Graduate Student Essay Prize

UPDATED: The Canadian Law and Society Association/Association Canadienne Droit et Societe invites submissions for the ACDS-CLSA Graduate Student Essay Prize. Graduate students at Canadian universities are cordially invited to submit papers on socio-legal issues (note: includes legal history.) Papers should be 6000-8000 words long and should be submitted in .doc or .docx format..

Deadline extension: CLSA/ACDS annual meeting

The deadline for submissions to the CLSA/ACDS annual meeting has been extended to January 31. For details go here.

CFP: "Inequalities: Politics, Policy and the Past," Social Science History Association Meeting, Toronto

The Labor Network of the Social Science History Association invites proposals for papers and complete panels for the 39th annual meeting of the Social Science History Association in Toronto, Ontario, November
6-9, 2014.  We also are looking for volunteers to serve as panel chairs and discussants.

For more information on the meeting as well as the call for proposals,
please refer to the SSHA website: www.ssha.org. Additionally, please note
that the SSHA grants several awards and student travel grants, for which
you also can apply.

The deadline for paper and/or panel submissions is February 14th, 2014.

The Social Science History Association Meeting provides a stimulating
interdisciplinary venue for exploring an array of issues related to the
study of social processes over time. This year's theme is Inequalities:
Politics, Policy and the Past.

We welcome and encourage papers and panel proposals on a wide array of
issues related to the historical study of labor and labor movements.
Network members have expressed specific interest in organizing panels
around the following themes:

1. Author-Meets-Critics:  Claire Crowston, Credit, Fashion, Sex:
Economies of Regard in Old Regime France (Janine Lanza, Wayne State
University, organizer)

2. Workers in the Fast Food Industry (Jeremy Milloy, Simon Fraser
University, organizer)

3. Work and the Environment (Josiah Rector, Wayne State University,
organizer)

4. From Labor and Working-Class History to Histories of Capitalism:  Where
Do We Go From Here

5. The Resurgence of Materialist Feminism:  Understanding Gender and Labor
Historically

6. The Decline of Organized Labor and the Rising Tide of Inequality

7. Labor in the Energy Sector

8. Restructuring Labor and the Evolution of Capitalism

9. Remaking the Global Working Class:  Inequality, Race, and Generation

10. The Labor of Knowledge:  The Political Economy of Higher Education,
Work, and Class Relations

11. The Nation-State in Labor History, especially Canadian-U.S. comparisons


Please use the SSHA's web conference management system to submit your
papers and panel proposals. Paper title, brief abstract, and contact
information should be submitted on the sitehttp://conference.ssha.org/.
(If you haven’t used the system previously you will need to create an
account, which is a very simple process.)

Thank you, and we look forward to a stimulating set of panels at this
year's SSHA meeting.

(via H-CANADA)

CFP: Conference on genocide and indigenous peoples at University of Manitoba

Eleventh Conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars

July 16-19, 2014, Winnipeg-Canada

CALL FOR PAPERS – EXTENDED DEADLINE: due February 17^th, 2014.

Time, Movement, and Space: Genocide Studies and Indigenous Peoples

The International Association of Genocide Scholars and the University of Manitoba welcome papers and sessions related to our conference theme of "Time, Movement, and Space: Genocide Studies and Indigenous Peoples." Innovative panels, workshops, and papers that consider the spatial and temporal issues as applied to Indigenous genocide and its commemoration are particularly encouraged, as are comparative studies. Besides panels and papers, the organizers invite other modes of dialogue, including workshops, roundtable discussions, cultural media, artistic works/readings, and forums that relate to policy initiatives, pedagogy, and education. Scholars, practitioners, and students interested in genocide studies from all disciplines are encouraged to apply. While our theme is centered on Indigenous issues, we also encourage innovative and original papers about other genocides. As 2014 marks the 20^thanniversary of the Rwandan genocide, we are eager to accept papers on! this genocide.

2014 marks an important year for Winnipeg and Canada. In this year, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) will open its doors to the general public. Established by Parliament through amendments to the Museums Act on March 13, 2008, which came into force on August 10, 2008, the CMHR is envisioned as a national and international destination - a centre of learning where Canadians and people from around the world can engage in discussion and commit to taking action against hate and oppression. Also in this year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada is scheduled to release its final report, after five years of hearings and research into Canada’s history and legacy of the forced assimilation of Indigenous children through residential schools.

h/t Canadian Law and Society Association

Campbell on J.L. Ilsley and tax reform 1939-43 on SSRN

Colin Campbell has posted "J.L. Ilsley and the Transformation of the Canadian Tax System: 1939-1943" on SSRN. This article appears in issue 3 of  Volume 61 of the Canadian Tax Journal/Revue Fiscale Canadienne.

Here's the abstract:

Between 1939 and 1943, the Canadian tax system was transformed under the guidance and leadership of J.L. Ilsley, the federal minister of finance from 1940 to 1946. The personal income tax was extended to most of the working population at high, progressive rates, and the corporation income tax was raised drastically and applied to excess wartime profits. Through the tax rental agreements, income tax jurisdiction was transferred from the provinces to the federal government. The effect was to make income taxation the principal source of federal government revenue for financing Canada's war effort and to lay the basis for financing the post-war welfare state. Ilsley's mastery of the issues and his leadership both in Cabinet and before the public were essential elements of this transformation.

New volume on Married Women's Property and Coverture from MQUP

Married Women and the Law: Coverture and the Common Law World, edited by Tim Stretton and Krista J. Kesselring has just been announced by McGill-Queen's University Press.

Here's the publisher's blurb:

Explaining the curious legal doctrine of "coverture," William Blackstone famously declared that "by marriage, husband and wife are one person at law." This "covering" of a wife's legal identity by her husband meant that the greatest subordination of women to men developed within marriage. In England and its colonies, generations of judges, legislators, and husbands invoked coverture to limit married women's rights and property, but there was no monolithic concept of coverture and their justifications shifted to fit changing times: Were husband and wife lord and subject? Master and servant? Guardian and ward? Or one person at law?

The essays in Married Women and the Law offer new insights into the legal effects of marriage for women from medieval to modern times. Focusing on the years prior to the passage of the Divorce Acts and Married Women's Property Acts in the late nineteenth century, contributors examine a variety of jurisdictions in the common law world, from civil courts to ecclesiastical and criminal courts. By bringing together studies of several common law jurisdictions over a span of centuries, they show how similar legal rules persisted and developed in different environments. This volume reveals not only legal changes and the women who creatively used or subverted coverture, but also astonishing continuities. - See more at: http://www.mqup.ca/married-women-and-the-law-products-9780773542921.php#sthash.G60ImDEt.dpuf

Accessibly written and coherently presented, Married Women and the Law is an important look at the persistence of one of the longest lived ideas in British legal history.

Contributors include Sara M. Butler (Loyola), Marisha Caswell (Queen’s), Mary Beth Combs (Fordham), Angela Fernandez (Toronto), Margaret Hunt (Amherst), Kim Kippen (Toronto), Natasha Korda (Wesleyan), Lindsay Moore (Boston), Barbara J. Todd (Toronto), and Danaya C. Wright (Florida). - See more at: http://www.mqup.ca/married-women-and-the-law-products-9780773542921.php#sthash.G60ImDEt.dpuf

And the table of contents:

1 Introduction: Coverture and Continuity 3
Tim Stretton and Krista J. Kesselring
2 Discourse on the Nature of Coverture in the Later Medieval Courtroom 24
Sara M. Butler
3 Coverture and Its Discontents: Legal Fictions on and off the Early Modern English Stage 45
Natasha Korda
4 Poor Law, Coverture, and Maintaining Relations in King’s Bench, 1601-1834 64
Kim Kippen
5 Coverture and the Criminal Law in England, 1640-1760 88
Marisha Caswell
6 Women and Property Litigation in Seventeenth-Century England and North America 113
Lindsay Moore
7 The Sailor’s Wife, War Finance, and Coverture in Late Seventeenth-Century London 139
Margaret R. Hunt
8 Written in Her Heart: Married Women’s Separate Allegiance in English Law 163
Barbara J. Todd
9 Tapping Reeve, Nathan Dane, and James Kent: Three Fading Federalists on Marital Unity 192
Angela Fernandez
10 “Concealing Him from Creditors”: How Couples Contributed to the Passage of the 1870 Married Women’s Property Act 217
Mary Beth Combs
11 Coverture and Women’s Agency: Informal Modes of Resistance to Legal Patriarchy 240
Danaya C. Wright
- See more at: http://www.mqup.ca/married-women-and-the-law-products-9780773542921.php#!prettyPhoto

Legal History Group change of venue

Due to the renovations planned for Flavelle House, the Osgoode Society Legal History Group is re-locating for the rest of the academic year. Sessions will be held in Room 20 of the Birge-Carnegie Library, Victoria University (U of T.) The Birge Carnegie Library (not to be confused with the E.J.Pratt Library, which is the main library for Victoria College) is just across the street from Flavelle House, on the east side of Queen's Park Ave, right at the east exit from the Museum subway stop.

Click here to access a map, a photo of the building and directions.

The first session is next week, Wednesday the 15th at the usual time, 6:30. We will be hearing Maynard Maidman, York University discuss "The Practice of Law in Ancient Mesopotamia: Two Cases from ca. 1400-1350 B.C." To receive a copy of the paper, please email Jim Phillips (j.phillips@utoronto.ca).

FWIW, I think this will be a fascinating session. I know some of us prefer to attend only papers which relate to their own area of research, jurisdiction or time period.  Personally, I feel that is a mistake. For anyone who is interested in law and society and its infinite permutations and variations, going outside one's comfort zone--even so far as ancient Mesopotamia--can be truly illuminating.

Warren, Pétitionner au Québec,1991-2011 (Right of Petition)

In the 2013 Winter issue of Bulletin d'Histoire Politique, "Pétitionner au Québec (1991-2011)" by Jean-Philippe Warren of Concordia University.

Here's the English abstract:

The article presents an historical overview of the right of petition in Québec, with a focus on citizen strategies to submit petitions reported by newspapers "Le Devoir" and "La Presse" from 1991 to 2011. It is the author's view that the most successful petitions among citizens are those that denounce corruption and violence. Topics mentioned include a new law on signing petitions through Internet since 2010, petitions as a right-wing strategy, and cycles on signing petitions.

Horrall on Dorothy Cameron 1965 obscenity trial

New in the Journal of Canadian Art History, “Adult Viewing Only": Dorothy Cameron's 1965 Trial for Exhibiting Obscene Pictures" by LAC archivist Andrew Horrall.

The article discusses the 1965 obscenity trial involving the Toronto, Ontario art dealer Dorothy Cameron. The case revolved around the exhibition "Eros 65" held at Cameron's gallery, which featured erotic works of art by various young Canadian artists, including Robert Nelson Markle. Police raided the gallery shortly after the exhibition's opening, removing seven artworks deemed obscene. The author traces the protracted legal battle that ensued, which resulted in Cameron's conviction. The article discusses the importance of the trial in Canadian art history and pays particular focus to the dissenting opinion presented by judge Bora Laskin.

Au début des années 1960, Dorothy Cameron, galeriste à Toronto, défend l'art canadien. Elle s'intéresse aux jeunes artistes torontois et cherche à créer un marché pour l'art contemporain canadien. La scène artistique torontoise est en pleine effervescence : toute une génération de peintres, de sculpteurs et d'artistes en tout genre se laissent inspirer par leur ville natale et décident d'y demeurer pour affirmer leur talent. En compagnie d'aùtres galeristes, Dorothy Cameron met cette esthétique urbaine à l'honneur dans des expositions qui bousculent ceux pour qui l'art canadien se résume essentiellement aux représentations du Bouclier canadien. En mai 1965, la police visite la galerie de la rue Yonge au cours des premiers jours d'une exposition sur l'amour intitulée Eros 65, après avoir reçu une seule plainte d'une personne présente au vernissage. L'escouade des moeurs examine les oeuvres exposées, saisit sept tableaux qu'elle juge obscènes et accuse Cameron d'avoir exposé du matériel obscène en public. L'intervention policière témoigne des tensions qui opposent alors les jeunes artistes et la contre-culture émergente aux groupes conservateurs plus âgés à Toronto. Dans les jours suivant la descente, la police est fortement critiquée et ridiculisée dans la presse et à la télévision par des citoyens incrédules qui n'arrivent pas à imaginer qu'on puisse assimiler des œuvres d'art sérieuses à la pornographie. Les partisans de Cameron sont en grande partie des amateurs d'art avertis, persuadés que l'évaluation objective des tableaux par un juge réfuterait la présomption d'obscénité. La galeriste refuse donc l'offre du procureur de la Couronne d'abandonner les poursuites, préférant se défendre contre ce qu'elle considère comme un acte de censure injustifié qui risque d'ouvrir la voie à d'autres attaques à l'endroit de l'expression artistique. Pendant le procès, la Couronne soutient que les tableaux sont obscènes parce qu'ils illustrent des actes hétérosexuels autant que lesbiens. L'avocat de Cameron fonde sa défense sur celle qui avait réussi en Grande-Bretagne et au Canada à réfuter les accusations d'obscénité portées contre le roman L'Amant de Lady Chatterley de D.H. Lawrence. Il fait appel à cinq experts en art qui expliquent en quoi les tableaux saisis sont des œuvres d'art sérieuses qui s'inscrivent dans la tradition artistique occidentale. Le juge n'est pas convaincu et condamne la galeriste en novembre 1965. Même si l'amende imposée est relativement légère, le jugement choque les partisans de Cameron, qui décide de porter la cause en appel. Sa démarche est appuyée par la toute nouvelle Association canadienne des libertés civiles. La condamnation de Dorothy Cameron suscite une nouvelle vague de moqueries dans la presse et sur les ondes, notamment à l'émission This Hour Has Seven Days, revue d'actualité satirique controversée diffusée à la CBC. Robert Markle (1936-1990), artiste émergent de Toronto et auteur de cinq des tableaux saisis, n'arrive pas à comprendre que ses œuvres puissent être taxées d'obscénité. D'autres craignent que la condamnation ne crée un précédent qui autoriserait la saisie éventuelle d'œuvres d'art légitimes au prétexte qu'elles auraient heurté la sensibilité d'un seul spectateur. Puisqu'ils ne peuvent présenter de nouvelles preuves lors de l'appel, les avocats de Cameron tentent de développer l'argumentaire fondé sur la tradition artistique qui avait été invoqué à propos du procès. En vain. Dans un jugement partagé, la Cour d'appel de l'Ontario rejette l'appel. La majorité des juges statue que les tableaux sont manifestement obscènes et contraires aux normes sociales. Selon eux, le regroupement des œuvres incriminées dans l'exposition Eros 65 en a accentué l'effet d'obscénité. Néanmoins, Bora Laskin, dernier juge nommé à la Cour et cadet de la magistrature, présente une vibrante opinion dissidente soutenant que l'art a pour fonction sociale de remettre en cause les idées et les opinions préconçues. Son opinion ouvre la voie à une éventuelle requête devant la Cour suprême du Canada. Cependant, le stress et la pression de la bataille juridique ont raison de la pugnacité de Dorothy Cameron, qui ferme sa galerie. L'art contemporain canadien perd alors une importante ambassadrice. Sa condamnation n'a toutefois pas eu les conséquences que redoutaient les défenseurs de la galeriste; en effet, on ne l'a jamais invoquée par la suite pour interdire des expositions. Par ailleurs, l'opinion dissidente de Bora Laskin est devenue l'un des arguments les plus cités dans les procès pour obscénité partout dans le monde.