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Benjamin Ralston

@benjamin-ralston

Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan College of Law. Interested in rights, law, and the environment, among other things. https://law.usask.ca/people/faculty/benjamin-ralston.php

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Latest posts by Benjamin Ralston @benjamin-ralston

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The legal somatics of body bequests before the Anatomy Act 1832 Without the authority of legislation in the United Kingdom, some bequeathed their bodies to physicians, surgeons and apothecaries to dissect and create anatomical specimens in the eighteenth and ea...

My latest article, “The Legal Somatics of Body Bequests Before the Anatomy Act 1832”, is published in Mortality, an interdisciplinary journal on death and dying. In the article, I analyze the medico-legal history of 18th- and 19th-century body bequests in England and Ireland. doi.org/10.1080/1357...

25.11.2025 00:18 👍 39 🔁 13 💬 2 📌 0
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Law: Tenure track position Faculty Member, Law: Tenure Track The College of Law at the University of Saskatchewan seeks to hire one tenure-track position. The Search Committee ...

We are hiring a tenure-track assistant professor at the College of Law, @usask.ca. We are especially interested in applicants with expertise in: (1) law and technology, (2) business (especially corporate law), and (3) Indigenous law and Indigenous legal theory.

usask.csod.com/ux/ats/caree....

04.11.2025 15:16 👍 9 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 0
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We are excited to announce the Second International Conference of Critical Legal Geography at the University of Concepción, Chile, 17-20 March 2026. The call is now live @ www.clg.place on our conference page. Deadline for submissions 10 November 2025.

18.09.2025 09:40 👍 10 🔁 7 💬 0 📌 2
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🔥⚖️🌐final countdown to a historic moment for #ClimateJustice: in a few minutes, InterAmerican Court of Human Rights will deliver landmark authoritative judicial opinion on States' climate obligations
#AOLetsGo #OpiniónConsultiva
🧵key elements of context & analysis in thread👇

03.07.2025 16:10 👍 42 🔁 35 💬 2 📌 6

Supreme Court Canada dismissed leave to appeal in youth Charter Rights challenge to Ontario greenhouse gas law. Per ONCA an new hearing will be held for 're-determination.' #climatechange #environment #onlaw

01.05.2025 16:35 👍 0 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 1
Prairie crocuses overlooking the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon

Prairie crocuses overlooking the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon

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There's no surer sign of spring than this around here.

24.04.2025 02:01 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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If you have a pile of grading to do, why not do it in the mountains, especially if you can leverage grandparents for childcare in the process?

09.04.2025 18:24 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Friends of the Earth Canada v. Canada (Attorney General) - Federal Court

Good to see Safe Food Matters et al continuing to demand accountability from PMRA in relation to the licensing of glyphosate-based pesticides in Canada.
And I expect this decision by Justice Zinn to become a leading authority on review of decisions w/out supporting reasons.
#canpoli

21.02.2025 16:06 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 1
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Among other impacts on Canadian law with respect to Indigenous consultation, this will mean grappling more meaningfully with the Indigenous nation's laws & customs, as well as deeper thinking over the proper representatives of the rights holders. Here are some key paragraphs.

20.02.2025 19:26 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The Commission erred in deciding it lacked jurisdiction to consider how UNDRIP impacts the Crown's duty to consult & accommodate the First Nation over a proposed Near Surface Disposal for nuclear waste near Chalk River, Ontario. Now it will have to go back & reassess the adequacy of consultation.

20.02.2025 19:26 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Kebaowek First Nation v. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories - Federal Court

Justice Blackhawk of Canada's Federal Court has issued a very detailed & thoughtful decision on the relevance of UNDRIP to decision making by the federal Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in Kebaowek First Nation v Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, 2025 FC 319 decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisi...

20.02.2025 19:26 👍 2 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

For anyone on this platform with an interest in the ways in which law and space are entangled with one another (i.e. critical legal geographies), please check out this starter pack: go.bsky.app/4cqybPr

Consider it a living document. If you would like to be included or removed, just let us know.

16.02.2025 17:34 👍 10 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 1

Could be worth creating a CLG starter pack for a community building boost

28.01.2025 15:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

The Critical Legal Geographies Network is now on Bluesky.

21.01.2025 16:52 👍 1 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
Sunset on the Meewasin in Saskatoon

Sunset on the Meewasin in Saskatoon

A bison-watching toddler

A bison-watching toddler

A well maintained trail

A well maintained trail

Prairie winters don't get the love they deserve #yxe

22.12.2024 14:55 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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A new Indigenous protected area in Yukon | The Narwhal The proposed protected area could cover eight per cent of Yukon, and be co-managed by the Ross River Dena Council and the territorial and federal governments

Yukon could get a new Indigenous-led protected area as big as Vancouver Island. The Ross River Dena Council, Yukon and Canada are studying protections for caribou habitat in an area where both the landscape and the Kaska people have been disturbed by colonization. thenarwhal.ca/ross-river-d...

11.12.2024 14:52 👍 123 🔁 33 💬 1 📌 2
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Canada strangely argues at the ICJ that the right to life is not informed by the environment and the 'content' of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is 'undefined'. Also argues that the principle of prevention does not exist in the field of climate change.

03.12.2024 14:34 👍 2 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 1
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More winter photos from Saskatoon, because why not? #yxe

30.11.2024 21:35 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Black and white photo of Neil Stonechild.

Black and white photo of Neil Stonechild.

Saskatoon temps were around −28°C this week, just like 34 years ago.

Why −28°C?
Why 34 years ago?

Neil Stonechild was arrested by two #Saskatoon police officers & left in a field northwest of the city on Nov 25, 1990.

Neil was found by construction workers 34 years ago today, frozen to death.

30.11.2024 05:05 👍 111 🔁 53 💬 10 📌 9

First Full Text Draft of the Plastics Treaty - many options still open but this could be a milestone in the process. The institutional provisions are very much inspired by the #ParisAgreement
wedocs.unep.org/bitstream/ha...

29.11.2024 14:30 👍 7 🔁 8 💬 0 📌 0
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Another prairie winter appreciation post. #yxe

30.11.2024 02:55 👍 8 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

A gentle reminder to this new community that if you want to grow connectivity and vitality in this space you need to re-post (and not just like) those posts that resonate with you and that you think deserve a broader audience. #bluesky won't do it for you. It's not like the other place.

28.11.2024 06:47 👍 47 🔁 31 💬 2 📌 3

Kudos to my USask Law colleague, Felix Hoehn (not yet on Bluesky), for the citation to his paper on the duty to negotiate.

27.11.2024 18:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Among other things, the majority judgment has an interesting synthesis of principles elaborated in relation to the Crown's duty to consult and treaty infringement in past cases, including with respect to identifying credible but unproven rights claims and damages. Lots to unpack.

27.11.2024 18:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Expanding on lower court cases about other unique contractual arrangements like Treaty Land Entitlement agreements, the majority says the Honour of the Crown applies when Crowns contract with Indigenous peoples as collectives to address Indigenous difference and credibly claimed Indigenous rights.

27.11.2024 18:21 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

The Supreme Court of Canada just released a fascinating new decision on the Honour of the Crown. Building on a recent case on legislative reconciliation in the child and family services context, it has outlined a complementary framework for contractual reconciliation: www.scc-csc.ca/case-dossier...

27.11.2024 18:21 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0
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How do carbon taxes affect food prices? In our latest paper, @dr_jen_winter and I analyze both direct and indirect impacts across the entire food supply chain: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5024885

It's the most detailed exploration of CTaxes and food yet! 🤓 #cdnecon #cdnpoli

25.11.2024 23:25 👍 430 🔁 214 💬 34 📌 48
The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with fresh snow

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with fresh snow

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with fresh snow

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with fresh snow

It's a peacefully quiet day on the USask campus for the few of us who have to be here today.

25.11.2024 15:30 👍 4 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Can Big Oil be made to pay like Big Tobacco? Those who want fossil fuel companies to pony up encouraged by proposal requiring tobacco giants to provide provinces, territories and smokers billions in compensation

“Climate change threatens to make almost everyone poorer. So, naturally, some governments and individuals are looking to the courts to make fossil fuel companies pony up. And they just got billions of dollars worth of encouragement.” #cdnpoli

www.nationalmagazine.ca/en-ca/articl...

22.11.2024 14:47 👍 15 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with snow, including a statue of Farley Mowat and his dog.

The University of Saskatchewan campus covered with snow, including a statue of Farley Mowat and his dog.

A 3-year-old "helping" shovel his front porch.

A 3-year-old "helping" shovel his front porch.

Our first real snow came late this season. But Mother Nature seems to be making up for lost time.

20.11.2024 00:02 👍 5 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0