For Immediate Release
February 12, 2007
OTTAWA – A resolution calling on law societies to adopt and enforce guidelines for the conduct of lawyers who act for survivors of Aboriginal residential schools is on the table for debate at the Canadian Bar Association’s Mid-Winter Meeting of Council, Feb. 17-18, 2007 in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.
“Many survivors of residential schools are highly vulnerable and in need of healing,” says Chris Devlin, of Victoria, Chair of the CBA’s National Aboriginal Law Section. “Lawyers need to be sensitive to that vulnerability and to cultural, privacy and personal issues of their clients.”
The CBA adopted guidelines for lawyers acting for residential school survivors in 2000. If passed, the current resolution will take those guidelines to the next level by asking law societies to enforce them.
Also up for debate is a resolution on the rights of children in child welfare proceedings. If passed, the proposal would urge federal, provincial and territorial governments to work together to ensure that children have meaningful access to counsel in child welfare matters. “It is essential that the voice of the child be heard when the state considers the suspension or termination of the relationship between children and their parents,” says Elaine Keenan Bengts, of Yellowknife, Chair of the CBA’s National Family Law Section.
Federal Deputy Minister of Justice John Sims will address Council at 9:50 a.m. on Feb. 17. Later that morning, at 10:45 a.m., a panel on The Challenge of Unrepresented Litigants will look at the current situation. Panelists will bring different perspectives to the debate. Mr. Justice John Vertes, Supreme Court of Northwest Territories, will bring the criminal court’s perspective; Judge Irwin Lampert, Provincial Court of New Brunswick, will describe the civil court’s angle; William Goodridge, Q.C., President of the Federation of Law Societies, will bring the litigator’s perspective; and Daphne Dumont, Q.C., a CBA past president and past Chair of the Legal Aid Committee, will explain clients’ perspective when there is no opposing counsel. The panel will be moderated by Kevin Carroll, Q.C., who will also be acclaimed as Second Vice-President-elect of the CBA.
Council sessions are open to accredited media. Programs take place at the Fairmont Tremblant in Mali III and IV, on Saturday, Feb. 17 and Sunday, Feb. 18.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 37,000 lawyers, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org. Feb. 16-18: (819) 681-7655.
