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How does the law deal with emojis, emoticons, and other digital pictograms that are intended to clarify or nuance a written text devoid of communicative tools like tone, facial expressions or gestures? Drawing on the fields of linguistics, semiology, communication theory and cultural studies, this article undertakes an empirical study of Canadian cases in order to shed light on the various ways in which emojis are conceived (notably from the point of view of international computing norms) and perceived. The article then analyzes the consequences of these findings for the law, particularly in the areas of procedural law, evidence, and legal research methodology.

This article tells the story of the Groupe Action-Alimentation, a workshop created by the Carrefour d’éducation populaire of Pointe-Saint-Charles in the 1970s. It describes how, in a neoliberal context, the participants and their main facilitator advocate for the right to food. They expose the experience of hunger, they affirm the skills of low-income women in matters of dietetics, cooking, and consumption, they use the language of law, they denounce the use of charity, and they criticize the state and private companies. This research illustrates how the participants in this workshop perceive, qualify, and interpret their reality, how they manifest their class consciousness and their convictions about their right to health, dignity, and well-being. We observe that this local resistance to social and economic marginalization had an impact on the positions taken by nutrition professionals and, ultimately, on certain Quebec policies aimed at achieving food security, adopted in the early 2000s. This contribution to the history of economic, social, and cultural rights analyzes the words of women who refused to individualize the problem of food among the most deprived and who instead denounced the commodification of essential goods.

Keywords: Groupe Action-Alimentation, Groupe Action-Alimentation, Pointe-Saint-Charles, Pointe-Saint-Charles Montreal, food, Montréal, nutrition, alimentation, nutrition, fight against poverty, right to food, lutte à la pauvreté, droit à l’alimentation

In several contemporary constitutional democracies, including Canada, proportionality is becoming the main principle of judicial control. Nevertheless, this principle is rarely included in constitutional texts, either expressly or by necessary implication. What is the foundation of the proportionality principle? The answer to this question is not easy. Contemporary constitutional law and discourse indicate at least two conceptions of the proportionality principle, following two models of constitutionalism which the author names, respectively, the “model of priority of rights” and the “model of optimisation of values in conflict.” The former is correlated with, while the latter moves away from, liberal constitutionalism. As the “model of optimisation of values in conflict” appears to prevail in the process of justifying limitations to guaranteed constitutional rights, the author seeks to understand the interest in this model at this point in juridical and political history. He argues that the model of optimisation of values in conflict is appealing because, considering the pluralism and multiculturalism that characterize contemporary democratic societies, this model is more respectful of the moral equality of individuals than the liberal model. Noting that the liberal model of priority of rights is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, the author examines two consequences of the optimization model: constitutional subjectivism and constitutional pluralism. If the author's thesis is correct, the increased tendency to resort to the proportionality principle may indicate a major conceptual shift in democratic constitutionalism. It appears that democratic societies are moving away from liberal constitutionalism, and toward a “pluralist” or “multiculturalist” brand of egalitarian constitutionalism.

Given the large production of video games in Quebec, the province has been able to develop an exceptional context of research partnerships between video game companies and university laboratories, each of which has developed an expertise specific to their field. In this article, the following question will first be asked: what kind of research is carried out in companies? The objective is not to make a systematic survey of the various forms of research carried out within all companies located in Quebec, but rather to identify the main realities experienced in gaming companies in order to answer a second question: what kind of research is not carried out those companies? The answer will be used to illustrate possible partnerships with researchers interested in gaming practices and in gaming communities, a research theme that is not often addressed by companies. Among the university gaming laboratories in Montreal, the example of the laboratory of the Université du Québec à Montréal will be briefly presented in order to situate researches that explicitly aims to understand identification, communication and social dynamics of gaming communities. The article concludes with an exposition of some of the future perspectives of research in this field, mainly related to the development of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Keywords: Laboratoire de recherche, industrie vidéoludique, partenariats, test utilisateur, analytique du jeu, Research laboratory, videogame industry, partnerships, user testing, game analytics, game practices

Food sovereignty scholars are increasingly re-conceptualizing sovereignty by accounting for its diverse expressions across space according to specific histories, identities, and local socio-ecological realities and dynamics. In grappling with the multiple bases of sovereignty, attention has been directed toward Indigenous food sovereignty in North America. Specifically, food scholars are examining how the regeneration of Indigenous food harvesting and sharing practices shapes movements for decolonization and self-determination. While this is a crucial and much-welcomed intervention, much more is needed to understand the diverse Indigenous political and legal orders and authorities that shape how multiple Indigenous food sovereignties are lived every day across diverse landscapes. In this contribution, I examine how Anishinaabe people in and beyond the Treaty 3 territory in Ontario, Canada, protect and renew their food harvesting grounds, waters and foodways through everyday acts of resurgence that are rooted in their law of mino bimaadiziwin.

Keywords: souveraineté alimentaire des Autochtones, autodétermination des Autochtones, décolonisation, résurgence, capitalisme colonial, nation anishinaabe, Indigenous food sovereignty, Indigenous self-determination, decolonization, resurgence, colonial capitalism, Anishinaabe nation