Day 2: Jesse Richman
Jesse Richman is a 2011-2012 APSA congressional fellow and political science professor at Old Dominion University.
Our morning began with oral arguments at the Canadian Supreme Court. The case dealt with judicial instructions to the jury in a case involving tragic injuries sustained by a four-year old in 1994 when he was hit by a school bus. In spite of close argument, Canadian collegiality was also on display when the lawyer for one side allowed a lawyer for the other side to borrow case books so that he could reference a quotation addressed by a justice.
Following arguments, the charming and thoughtful Supreme Court Justice Morris J. Fish spent 40 minutes talking with us and answering our questions on everything from technological change in court operations to the way court decisions are reached.
As the rain clouds parted, we walked up Parliament Hill and toured the Centre Block, where the library struck us as particularly beautiful.
The generosity and hard work of our Canadian hosts was on ample display soon thereafter. Marc Garneau (House Leader of the Liberal Party) provided insight into the structure and organization of the party, and the way the Liberal Party is working to rebuild after a string of electoral disappointments. He outlined the care with which Question Period (one of tomorrow's highlights!) is organized. For the curious, the NDP asks the first five questions, then the Liberals get 3 then NDP gets 9 questions, and the Liberals get 3 more, and so forth. Time limits are strict: 35 second questions get 35 second answers.
We concluded with an opportunity to see the dress rehearsal of the National Arts Centre production of King Lear. This novel reinterpretation of the play sets it among the native peoples of North America and is performed by a cast drawn entirely from the descendents of those peoples. Lear set in 17th Century North America draws particular power from the broader historical context. Like Lear, many lost lives, and have struggled to regain their patrimony.