The Arctic, long neglected, has been thrust into the limelight as climatechange dramatically transforms its landscape. The ice, which for centurieshas acted as a powerful barrier keeping the world at bay, is melting at analarming rate. The promise of greater accessibility to the region inevitablyraises a host of important issues. Donat Pharand, an internationallyrenowned scholar, has dedicated his long and illustrious career toresearching and understanding the legal issues pertaining to Canada's claimover the waters of the Arctic archipelago. This article chronicles the keyevents in his life and examines Pharand's profound contribution to the lawof the sea of the Arctic.

Le Système interaméricain dispose de toute une série de normes,d’institutions et de mécanismes visant un meilleur respect des droits de lapersonne dans les Amériques, entre autres en matière de droits économiques,sociaux et culturels. Cet article propose d’analyser les diverses approchesemployées par les instances interaméricaines pour évaluer le respect de cesdroits par les États, notamment quant aux personnes et aux groupes vivantdans des conditions particulières de vulnérabilité.

This article traces the evolution of the Canadian approach to privateinternational law from Morguard Investments Ltd. v. De Savoye to Castillo v. Castillo and identifiesfour major flaws that have significant implications for both privateinternational law and Canadian federalism: (1) ambiguous and inconsistentterminology that undermines the conceptual foundation of this approach whileobscuring its potential impact; (2) the Court’s use of American conflict oflaws jurisprudence to reinforce a deferential orientation in Canadianprivate international law; (3) the Court’s vision of the international orderand understanding of public international law, which has begun to affect theCanadian federal system; and (4) the model of the Canadian Constitutionemployed in these cases, which may have broad negative consequences forprovincial interests. The article argues that these flaws are remediable,that both constitutional text and recent opinions contain resources usefulto this end, and that, however the Court decides to address these problems,subsequent iterations of the Canadian approach to private international lawshould emphasize clarity, consistency, and comprehensiveness.

In recent years, Canada and the United States have modified their modelbilateral investment treaties (BITs). If NAFTA Chapter 11 cases haveprovided the new lens through which investment issues are considered, thesolutions to problems experienced in this context have come from differentsources. This article explores three influences on the model BITs: the NAFTAFree Trade Commission's interpretation and statements, World TradeOrganization law and cases, and US domestic law and principles. A range ofinterpretation issues is raised, from the effects of changes in wording insuccessive treaties, to the “transferability” of law across systems(international and domestic), to the use of arbitral awards as precedent.Issues of a systemic nature are also raised, including attempts at limitingthe discretion of arbitral tribunals through state interpretations, thepossibility of creating an appellate mechanism, and a push for expeditedpreliminary procedures. The article illustrates the fast-paced evolution ofinternational investment law and highlights the influence of the UnitedStates on this evolution.

This article argues that states should have a limited obligation — and notonly a privilege — to extend diplomatic protection to their nationals whenthey are facing violations of their most basic human rights abroad. Theauthor addresses the current state of international law regarding diplomaticprotection, with a focus on the International Law Commission's failedattempt to impose a duty on states to exercise protection in cases of juscogens violations. A review of domestic case law, particularly in the UnitedKingdom, Canada, Germany, and South Africa, shows that while some courtsrecognize legitimate expectations to receive diplomatic protection, all arereluctant to exercise judicial review of a denial of diplomatic protection.The author nevertheless examines whether adherence to international humanrights treaties could entail a positive obligation for states to exercisediplomatic protection in order to protect the human rights of theirnationals that are ill-treated abroad.

A nuanced analysis of relevant decisions suggests that some investmentdispute settlement tribunals have gone beyond the World Trade Organizations(WTO) largely procedural approach to non-governmental organization (NGO)participation in their proceedings and have adopted a relatively moresubstantive approach. This article suggests that this difference of approachstems from three characteristic differences between international trade andforeign investment — the political economy of the international trade andforeign investment orders, the substantive effects of trade and investmentactivities, and their dispute settlement mechanisms. However, these generaldifferences are by themselves insufficient to justify excluding asubstantive public interest approach to NGO participation at the WTO,especially in view of the fact that WTO tribunals have conceded limitedparticipatory privileges to these non-state actors.

En 1997, la Commission du droit international (CDI) entreprenait l’étude desactes unilatéraux étatiques. Phénomène paradoxal, les actes unilatéraux desÉtats traduisent cette ambivalence entre souveraineté et justice qui marqueles fondements du droit international public et plus globalement, la sociétéinternationale contemporaine. Les travaux du rapporteur spécial VíctorRodríguez Cedeño n’ont pas échappé à la nature équivoque du droitinternational. Celle-ci se reflète dans la série de trois critèresdéveloppés par le rapporteur spécial qui permettent d’identifier un acteunilatéral étatique: l’imputabilité, l’intention et la notoriété. En effet,ces critères, a priori clairs et précis, se révèlent, à la lumière de lapratique internationale contemporaine, insuffisants pour guider le jugeinternational devant lequel est portée une affaire relative àl’interprétation d’un acte unilatéral étatique. Cela crée une situationmarquée par l’incertitude et l’imprévisibilité dans les rapports juridiquesentre États.

“Peaceful Coexistence,” a basic premise for minimum world public orderduring the Cold War, has re-emerged as a possible paradigm-model for worldorder in the present era of clashing or colliding civilizations. When theidea of codifying the general principles of peaceful coexistence was firstadvanced in the still-continuing Cold War, it was rejected by specialistlegal bodies like the United Nations' International Law Commission and alsothe Institut de droit international as too “political” and thus incapable ofbeing reduced to a scientific-legal foundation. The resultingintellectual-legal gap was promptly filled, however, by the non-governmentalInternational Law Association (ILA), which established its own expertcommittee. Long-range fruits of this ILA initiative — apart from theall-important opening of a direct East-West legal dialogue — were thecelebrated UN General Assembly Resolution 2625 of October 1970 and theacceptance of the pragmatic, empirical, problem-solving, step-by-stepapproach to resolving East-West conflicts in concrete cases — the ultimateroad to détente on a deliberately nonideological case-by-case basis. TheCanadian Branch of the ILA, with the support of the Canadian Department ofForeign Affairs' Legal Division, was a leader in the ILA's decision to takeup that project and participated fully until its successful completion.

This comment takes a critical look at the method used by the InternationalCommittee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in its study of customary humanitarianlaw. It argues that the ICRC study reduces the concept of internationalcustom to its definition under Article 38 of the Statute of theInternational Court of Justice. It also argues that the study overlooks someof the problems raised by the application of Article 38. It contends thatthe positions taken by the ICRC to identify customary rules of humanitarianlaw are somewhat ambiguous and even slanted. Finally, this comment suggeststhat, beyond questioning the ICRC study, it is the role of custom as asource of international law that is in question.

This comment revisits the debate on the reasons for compliance, or lackthereof, with the regulations and administrative rules that govern thecurrent international trade regime. The research on which it is based is thefirst part of the five-year project on Cross-Cultural Dispute Resolutionfunded by the Major Collaborative Research Initiative program of the SocialSciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. It focuses on thecultural components of non-compliance based on analysis of the legislativeinternalization of World Trade Organization norms and case law in China,Canada, and Japan on the one hand and on individual perceptions of theinternational trade environment on the other. The main hypotheses are thatthe sharing of international practice rules does not necessarily indicateconsensus on the normative order underlying those rules and that thebehaviour of those who are involved in the interpretation and application ofinternational rules is informed by (1) their perception of the purpose,content, and effect of nonlocal rules and their underlying norms; (2) thoserules' and norms' complementarity with local rules and norms; and (3) thedegree of legitimacy accorded by local communities to the processes ofinterpretation and application.

Ronald St. John Macdonald, one of the founders of this Yearbook and of theCanadian Council on International Law, teacher, scholar, judge, and atireless promoter of international law around the world, died on 7 September2006. His contribution is immeasurable and his mark on the Canadianinternational legal landscape is indelible. As a tribute, the Yearbookpublishes this testament by Christian Wiktor, a long-time colleague, toMacdonald's contribution to international legal scholarship.

En 2005, l’Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC) fêtait son dixièmeanniversaire. Mais cet anniversaire n’était pas porteur que de bonnesnouvelles pour le Canada à l’OMC. L’abrogation de l’Accord sur les textileset les vêtements, le premier jour du 121e mois après la prised’effet de l’Accord sur l’OMC, a heurté de plein fouet une industrie textilecanadienne visiblement incapable de trouver son créneau face à laconcurrence asiatique et a rapidement entraîné, au début de 2005, desmilliers de pertes d’emplois au Canada.

Le blanchiment d’argent et la gouvernance en matière financière ontconstitué sans surprise des préoccupations essentielles de la communautéinternationale en 2005. Néanmoins, la communauté internationale s’est aussipenchée sur la question du développement durable et la réforme desinstitutions de Bretton Woods. Les travaux de la communauté internationaleont été menés de concert par: (1) le Groupe des vingt; (2) les institutionsfinancières internationales; (3) les organismes de contrôle desétablissements financiers; (4) le Groupe d’action financière; (5) le JointForum; (6) le Forum sur la stabilité financière. Le Canada y a joué un rôlede premier plan.

Une date importante pour le droit international de l’investissement a marquél’année 2005, avec le 40e anniversaire de la signature de laConvention pour le règlement des différends relatifs aux investissementsentre États et ressortissants d’autres États (Convention CIRDI).Paradoxalement, le Canada n’a toujours pas adhéré à ce traité majeur, luiqui est pourtant à l’avant-plan du développement de ce droit, avec entreautres le chapitre 11 de l’Accord de libre-échange nord-américain (ALÉNA) ouencore son nouveau traité-type sur l’investissement.

Aucun nouveau traité sur l’investissement n’a été conclu par le Canada aucours de l’année. Si les négociations multilatérales sur l’investissementsont maintenant totalement arrêtées, les efforts les plus porteurs du Canadaà cet égard se sont déployés sur le plan bilatéral. Le Centre internationalpour le règlement des différends liés aux investissements (CIRDI) à quant àlui intensifié ses travaux de réflexion sur l’amélioration de ses règles deprocédures en publiant un document de travail sur des propositions demodifications.