Contemporary scholarship assigns the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms a central role in Canadian legal and political discourse. While the Charter is useful for lawyers in a courtroom, Professor Harry Arthurs says there is little reason to believe that the Charter is capable of achieving transformative social, economic or political change, and little evidence to support claims that it has actually changed much of anything. Arthurs will deliver the Annual Woodrow Lloyd Lecture on January 13 at 7:30 p.m. in room 119 of the Research and Innovation Centre at the University of Regina.  His lecture is titled "Subprime Constitutionalism: Why are we over-invested in the Charter?"

Arthurs, a member of both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario, will discuss why Canadians have invested so much hope in our Charter and what the Charter era tells us about our understanding of law's role in society.   

University Professor, former Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School (1972-77) and President of York University (1985-92), Arthurs has also been an academic visitor at Oxford, Cambridge and University College, London.  He has served as Commissioner reviewing Canada's labour standards legislation (2004-2006) and as Commissioner reviewing Ontario's pension legislation (2006-2008).

Co-sponsored by the Canadian Plains Research Center (CPRC) and the Faculty of Arts at the U of R, the Woodrow Lloyd Lecture is supported by the Woodrow Lloyd Trust Fund. The annual lecture features a nationally or internationally recognized scholar, writer, thinker, and/or activist who talks on an issue or issues of direct relevance to Saskatchewan. Past speakers include Dr. David Suzuki and Dr. Roy Romanow.

The annual lecture is open to the public free of charge. Parking will be provided in the ‘M' area in Lot 15. For more information, call 585-4226.