Black Legal History Matters Too: Counter-Narrating Smithers v The Queen
奥颈迟丑听Professor听Amar Khoday,听Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba鈥檚 Faculty of Law and former O鈥橞rien DCL Graduate Fellow from the 缅北强奸 Faculty of Law, and moderated by听Me. Tamara Thermitus.
Abstract
In this presentation, Dr. Amar Khoday examines the Supreme Court of Canada鈥檚 unanimous 1977 decision in听Smithers v The Queen. Smithers is a criminal law case that focused largely on the issue of causation and is likely taught in most if not all Canadian law faculties annually. The case arose out of a fight following an under-18 hockey league game where one of the combatants died. In constructing its brief narrative of the facts, the Court drastically understated the racial dynamics that were in play before and during the game which prompted Paul Smithers, a Black teenager to confront Barrie Cobby, who was white, and his primary racial antagonist. In framing its narrative, the Court caricatured Smithers as a Black aggressor preying on Cobby. Drawing from critical race theory and various primary sources, Khoday advances a detailed counter-narrative challenging the Court鈥檚 official account which largely ignored Paul Smithers鈥檚 experiences of racism and interpretation of events leading to Cobby鈥檚 death.
Bio
Dr. Amar Khoday is an associate professor at the University of Manitoba鈥檚 Faculty of Law. He earned his Doctor of Civil Law (2014) and Master of Laws degrees (2008) from 缅北强奸 and his Juris Doctor (2004) from the New England School of Law in Boston. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from Concordia University. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and the Massachusetts bar. A researcher with varied interests, he is the author or co-author of over 20 articles or book chapters in addition to numerous blog posts. These interests include criminal law and procedure with a focus on rights related to police interrogations and detentions, legal history, race and the law, as well as the intersections of law and resistance. Prof. Khoday is听a former O鈥橞rien DCL Graduate Fellow from the 缅北强奸 Faculty of Law
RSVP to听penelope.plessas [at] mcgill.ca听is required.
