Canadian Lawyer

8 A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m \ AT L A N T I C \ C E N T R A L \ W E S T REGIONAL WRAP-UP C E N T R A L O n June 22, Anarchopanda won his case in Quebec's Supe- rior Court, which ruled that protesters could cover their faces when they are demonstrating. The plaintiff 's real name is Julien Villeneuve, a philosophy teacher at Montreal's Collège de Maisonneuve, who donned a panda costume at demon- strations that took place during the spring 2012 student crisis. The court struck down two controversial parts of the City of Montreal's regulation that banned masks and forced the organizers of the demonstration to provide the authorities with the itinerary of their marches a few hours in advance. Demonstrators still have to provide the itinerary but not if the demonstration is spontaneous. Justice Chantal Masse decided that freedom of expression out- weighed the dangers stemming from the unrest. She wrote that there can be legitimate reasons for a protester to wear a mask, and the right to peaceful demonstrations must remain unhindered as much as possible. During that spring of 2012, Quebec seemed to be in the clutch of serious civil unrest. Night after night, for weeks on end, the province saw tens of thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thou- sands, of demonstrators furiously beating pots and pans with metal spoons, walking through downtown Montreal and, from time to time, turning marches into riots. The judge notes that the context of urgency at the time of the crisis was not compatible with the thoughtful care required when writing legislation affecting people's fundamental rights. She thus invites the city to go back to the drawing board and draft a better law. — PASCAL ELIE pascalelie636@gmail.com STUDENTS DENOUNCE QUEBEC BAR EXAMS TIGHTER SECURITY AT MONTREAL COURTHOUSE A t least 260 students at L'École du Barreau signed a petition in June to denounce what they called the unfairness of the school's June 8 repeat business law exam, reports the web site Droit Inc. Those who had to take it had failed the first one during the year. On June 16, 40 students demonstrated in front of the school. Complaints were mainly about the fact that 20 per cent of the exam consisted of writing corporate resolutions, for which they had not been trained during the academic year. Failing the exam would cost a student an extra $7,000 in order to retake the whole year. The protesters claimed 224 students had failed the repeat exam the year before, which they found alarming and indicated, accord- ing to them, that the Barreau was exercising a stealth quota system to limit access to the profession. The petition states: "The drafting of corporate docu- ments represents only a small part of the curriculum, which was briefly reviewed within a lengthy business law file. . . . To allot 20 per cent of the final mark on such item deprives students of an exam that truly reflects the content of their training." — PE N ew security measures at the Montreal Court- house are up and running. There are 15 security X-ray scanners that will check over the 6,500 daily visitors walking in to the court- house. Built in 1971, the building's security system was obsolete, causing concern for all who worked there, not least judges and lawyers. The Department of Justice warned that the implemen- tation of these new security measures may cause delays and that it is therefore recommended to factor in the time required to pass through security checks. The public will be informed of the rules to follow by signage placed at the entrances of the building and by the security personnel. As for registered members, and their respective trainees, of the Barreau du Québec, the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and the Chambre des huissiers de justice du Québec, they must establish their identity and prove their professional membership to the security personnel. They can then access the courthouse without being subject to controls. This applies also for police officers. — PE Protesting undercover OK

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