We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

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The Use of Novel fMRI Technology to Detect Covert Awareness: A Case Study

Margaret Martin, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario

Published April 19, 2018 by Technologies of Justice.

Margaret Martin presented a case study on the use of novel fMRI technology to detect covert awareness during the Technologies of Justice Conference session Technology on Trial? Exploring the Use and Misuse of Evidence. The session took place on January 26, 2018, at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Martin spoke about discovering consciousness in patients who would not previously or traditionally be determined as conscious using technologies before fMRI research. She introduced her audience to medical research that intersects with law, especially in cases of removing life support and the way expert evidence is used in research cases.

She showed how the potential for further research is often underestimated, and how ethical questions about the removal of life support can sometimes get in the way of ground-breaking advancements. In cases of certain death versus a risk of death, sometimes the ethics can be called into reason, regardless of the chance for advancements and an increase of time of life. She showed that this can be a legal test for the admission of expert evidence.