THE ADVOCATE 411
VOL. 79 PART 3 MAY 2021
mar has been a frequent reference point in a course on Democratic Constitutionalism
being delivered this term at UVic Law.
We have also had a series of lectures, seminars and roundtables at UVic
that have addressed developments in Myanmar. These include a remarkable
lecture at UVic Law on February 2 of this year, the day following the
coup, by Professor Melissa Crouch of the University of New South Wales,
the leading expert on Myanmar’s constitutional development in the English
speaking world (her lecture was delivered remotely because of COVID-
19). Professor Crouch’s links to Myanmar are deep and extensive. She
speaks and reads Burmese, was a speaker in the Australian-organized workshops
in Myanmar, is the author of the leading English commentary on
Myanmar’s constitution, and has organized international conferences and
journal issues on Myanmar, in some of which UVic faculty have participated
(including a symposium just published in the International Journal of
Constitutional Law). In addition, CAPI director and UVic Law professor Victor
V. Ramraj organized, in cooperation with Kai Ostwald of UBC’s Centre
for Southeast Asia Research, an illuminating roundtable on the coup and its
aftermath on February 17. Among many others, that roundtable featured
UVic Dean of Law Susan Breau, Nikkei Asia’s editor-at-large Gwen Robinson
and, most strikingly, Myanmar graduate students from across North America.
These networks continue to operate in the wake of the coup. The group
that delivered the Australian workshops, including its UVic member, has published
an open letter protesting the coup: <newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/
business-law/academics-condemn-unconstitutional-attack-democracymyanmar>.
Canadians involved in rule of law projects in Myanmar—led by
Larry Taman (former Deputy Attorney General of Ontario) and including
Catherine Morris (Executive Director, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
(“LRWC”), a long and distinguished contributor to UVic Law’s programs),
Renée Mulligan and me—have issued another. Catherine Morris continues to
report on developments in Myanmar on behalf of LRWC. See the “News from
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada” column in this issue begiining at page 389 and
<www.lrwc.org/category/publications/campaigns/countries/myanmar/>.
We continue to look for ways we can assist in holding the military accountable
and supporting the restoration of democracy.
But what about Myanmar’s treatment of the Rohingya? For many people,
that treatment tempers their opposition to the coup, for there is no doubt
that Myanmar, including the NLD government, has been violating the
Rohingya’s most fundamental rights in a profound and sustained manner.
Indeed, that treatment was a principal focus of several of the UVic events
mentioned above (including Professor Crouch’s talk on February 2, planned
/