We are delighted that Vanessa MacDonnell, Associate Professor at uOttawa Faculty of Law and Co-Director of the uOttawa Public Law Centre, will be giving a talk at Durham's Human Rights and Public Law Centre on 9th October.
Abstract:
As democracies experience erosion worldwide, there is increasing interest in the constitutional functions of, and limits on, the executive branch of state. Understanding the mechanics of executive decision-making under the constitution remains a challenge, however, since so many of its activities occur behind closed doors. Drawing on my ongoing ethnographic research on Canada’s federal executive, I show that the federal executive is a prolific interpreter and producer of constitutional law. Only some of this constitutional law is knowable to individuals outside government, raising rule of law concerns and questions about democratic accountability. At the same time, these activities can also be seen as contributing to the rule of law through the development of norms, processes, guidelines and structures that help implement the constitution. This presentation eschews simple narratives about executive power in favour of a more context-dependent assessment of the complex intra-executive interactions that define Canada’s federal executive.
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