Translating the printemps érable
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For more useful English-language sources on the conflict, see:
CUTV - broadcasting live from the protests nightly
Rouge Squad - Tactical Translation Team
Rabble.ca's Maple Spring Coverage
Jessica Nadeau July 24, 2012
Original French text: http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/education/355233/pas-de-sursis-en-attendant-le-debat-sur-la-loi-speciale
The court of appeal rejects Juripop’s request
The court has refused an appeal from Juripop, a legal organization representing student associations, regarding the judgment that refused the suspension of certain of articles contained in bill 78. We will have to wait for a hearing on the substantive issues involved to determine if the law is valid or not.
“It’s only a partial surrender,” says the president of the Federation of Quebec college students (FECQ), Eliane Laberge.
“We know that our chances with this request for an injunction were not great,” says Felix-Antoine Michaud of Juripop, “But since the petition on the substantive issues won’t be heard before December at the earliest, we have nothing to lose.”
Marc Cassivi June 7, 2012
Original French Text: http://www.lapresse.ca/debats/chroniques/marc-cassivi/201206/07/01-4532509-faire-sa-juste-part.php
PHOTO: François Massicotte, Guy Nantel, André Sauvé, Daniel Lemire, Mario Jean, Guillaume Wagner and Laurent Paquin are among the comedians who will take part in the protest show against the special law (78), June 18.
No, these are not marginal far-left artists joining up to sing the Internationale. These are main-act humorists. Popular artists, whose voices carry, who have formed the Coalition of Indignant Humorists (CHI) in the aftermath of the passing of the special law (78), at the initiative of the author Daniel Thibault (Mirador).
June 18, Martin Petit, André Sauvé, Mario Jean, Daniel Lemire, Jean-François Mercier, Laurent Paquin, Guy Nantel, Mike Ward, François Massicotte, Emmanuel Bilodeau, Maxim Martin, Claudine Mercier and Guillaume Wagner will stand together on the stage of Théâtre St-Denis, thanks to the competition of producers Luce and Lucie Rozon, in order to denounce the Charest government’s special law and raise funds to support student associations.
What was originally meant to be a politically-flavoured show, planned in the fall to take the place of Parlementaires, has become a militant event, which will only be shown once, in less than two weeks, outside of the Just for Laughs Festival.
“People often complain that humorists don’t get their hands dirty. They’re going to get their hands dirty,” says Daniel Thibault, director of this indignation-themed gala, who says Laurent Paquin convinced him it was urgent to put the show on as soon as possible.
“With Law 78, we didn’t put the cover on the pot, we put the heat on high,” declared Daniel Thibault yesterday at a press conference, “And because the fire was red, people pulled out their pots and pans. I remind you that Amir Khadir was arrested but Tony Tomassi is still on the run….”
by Maxence Knepper May 22nd, 2012
Original French text: http://journalmetro.com/actualites/national/77523/requete-en-nullite-deposee-par-les-etudiants/
Although on Tuesday the Minister of Public Safety defended Law 78’s compliance with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the student federations are preparing to submit a request to nullify this same law in front of tribunals.
“The Juripop judicial clinic received over 500 résumés from lawyers who want to work on this case,” confirmed Léo Bureau-Blouin, president of the Federation of College Students of Québec (FECQ). “Of course, they won’t all be able to collaborate with us, but it shows a real uneasiness among the members of this profession.”
“This is a law which contains discretionary measures and cannot be applied other than arbitrarily,” stated Marc-Antoine Cloutier, president of the Juripop judicial clinic, who believes that Law 78 is unconstitutional.
The University Federation of Québec (FEUQ) and FECQ have decided to submit this request before Friday.
More than 170 000 people have already signed the petition in support of this judicial challenge. The petition has been incredibly successful on social networks where it circulated widely last weekend.
The project does have some risks associated with it, however. This type of request is not always validated by judicial authorities. Of 50 nullification requests submitted recently in the province, only nine received a favourable recommendation. “In the judicial world, one can never know in advance what the repercussions of an action will be, but we will work as hard as we can,” concluded Bureau-Blouin.
In the meantime, the federations are counting on the fact that this law doesn’t prohibit organizing protests if they are declared ahead of time.
Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.
*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.
Clinique Juridique Juripop, May 18, 2012
The original French text can be found here: http://www.juripop.org/medias/nouvelles/projet-de-loi-78-un-veritable-manifeste-contre-les-libertes-fondamentales-de-tous-les-citoyens-quebecois/
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE CIRCULATION
Bill 78: A veritable manifesto against the fundamental freedoms of all citizens of Quebec.
Quebec, May 18, 2012 – The Juripop Legal Clinic denounces both the spirit and the effects of Bill 78 which creates a form of criminalization of the right to protest and flouts the fundamental liberties protected by the Canadian and Quebec Charters of Rights and Freedoms, namely by renouncing three guarantees of our free and democratic society: freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly and of association. The Clinic’s lawyers are currently working towards building a judicial contestation of the future law.
In fact, Bill 78 deprives Quebecois of their fundamental right to peacefully express their opinions in the place of their choosing and forbids any kind of spontaneous exercise of that freedom of expression or of peaceful assembly. By also bestowing to educational institutions the power to destroy a student association by unilaterally taking away its right to collect student fees, this document brings Quebec back decades and goes against all rights that naturally follow from community life.
“This is a bill whose measures are discretionary and could only ever be applied arbitrarily. Who will decide if a group of ten people or more [amended to fifty or more] violates the law? In what circumstances? For what cause? Of what age? This bill is not only ensuring the free access to educational institutions. It forbids protesters from being less than fifty meters from all quebecois places of learning, renounces the autonomy of universities, overturns the burden of proof, and threatens students and all Quebecois with fines of up to $250 000. All this while renouncing the primary function and the role of student associations and transforming each and every citizen, student and parent into a police officer”, declared Marc-Antoine Cloutier, founding president and general director of the Juripop Legal Clinic, an organization working towards greater access to justice and the advancement of the law.
The Quebec Bar Association’s Position
The Juripop Legal Clinic salutes and recalls the Quebec Bar Association’s most recent position which straightforwardly invites the government to go back to the negotiation table rather than forcing the adoption of a special law, all while respecting Quebec’s courts of justice. The Clinic is also glad to read the Bar’s comments about wishing to work on a new legislative framework inspired by orders prevailing in matters of labour law. “Rather than acting as though student associations have never existed, adjourning the semesters of thousands of students and weakening the social climate even more, the justice minister should assume his responsibilities and act as the protector of the civil liberties inscribed in the Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, of which he is responsible,” Mr.Clouter concluded.
Judicial Contestation
More than five law professors and ten lawyers, mandated by collegial and university student federations, have been working nonstop tonight and will continue to do so through the day, alongside the Juripop Legal Clinic team and lawyer Félix-Antoine Dumais-Michaud, in order to be capable of rapidly addressing the tribunals following the passing of the special law. Each and every citizen is invited to take part in this massive contestation through the following website: www.loi78.com
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The lawyers of the Juripop Legal Clinic have represented numerous student associations challenged by recent injunctions. In addition, they act directly on the campuses in order to promote their respect. The organization has been working towards greater access to justice since 2009.
For more information:
Florence Bouchard Santerre
Mobile: 418-934-1563
Translated from the original French by Translating the printemps érable.
*Translating the printemps érable is a volunteer collective attempting to balance the English media’s extremely poor coverage of the student conflict in Québec by translating media that has been published in French into English. These are amateur translations; we have done our best to translate these pieces fairly and coherently, but the final texts may still leave something to be desired. If you find any important errors in any of these texts, we would be very grateful if you would share them with us at translatingtheprintempsderable@gmail.com. Please read and distribute these texts in the spirit in which they were intended; that of solidarity and the sharing of information.
