The Continuing Legal Education Society of British Columbia
CLEBC Update
The Association for Continuing Legal Education (ACLEA) is the primary organization for improving the performance of CLE professionals through educational opportunities and professional development. Each year, ACLEA recognizes outstanding achievements in marketing, programs, publications, public interest and technology, and ACLEA are pleased to announce CLEBC as the winner of the 2008 Award of Professional Excellence in the Programs Category for the Children’s Participation in Family Justice Processes: Hear the Child course. The course was developed to support the judiciary in spearheading the child interviewing pilot program as part of a court-approved process to ensure that the voices of children are heard in proceedings that affect their quality of life, as required by the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of the Child.

September is just around the corner, and CLEBC has approximately 30 programs lined up for the fall term. Among those programs are two conferences in which CLEBC is very proud to have two Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada as presenters. The Right Honourable Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin will be speaking at its Human Rights Conference 2008 on Thursday, November 27, 2008, and the Honourable Mr. Justice Marshall Rothstein will be speaking as part of its Administrative Law Conference 2008 on Friday, November 28, 2008. For more information on these and other CLEBC programs and publications, please visit CLEBC online at www.cle.bc.ca.


The Law Foundation of British Columbia
Grants Approved
Chair Warren Wilson, QC is pleased to announce that funding totalling $10,563,177 was approved for 18 continuing programs and 59 projects.

Funding totalling $3,229,300 was approved for the following 24 new initiatives:

$1,000,000,UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
Diana Priestly Law Library Mezzanine Expansion

$300,000,UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
Honourable Beverley McLachlin Legal Access Endowment

LAW COURTS EDUCATION SOCIETY
$300,000 Parenting After Separation Program for Children Project
$115,000 Small Claims Court Filing Assistant Support Project
$75,000 Community Courts Specialized Educational Resources Project

$150,000,SHARE FAMILY AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Poverty Law Advocacy Project

$150,000,MAPLE RIDGE/PITT MEADOWS COMMUNITY SERVICES
Poverty Law Advocacy Project

$80,000,SOCIAL HEALTH & ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY OF BELLA COOLA
Community Legal Resources Initiative to improve Community Capacity

$80,000,NORTHERN ROCKIES ABORIGINAL WOMEN SOCIETY
Urban Aboriginal Law Advocate

$75,000,YWCA OF VANCOUVER
Women Without Permanent Status in Canada Project

$75,000,WEST COAST ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ASSOCIATION
B.C. Independent Power Projects

$75,000,WATARI RESEARCH ASSOCIATION
Systems Negotiator Project

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY – CENTRE FOR APPLIED RESEARCH IN MENTAL HEALTH
$75,000 Homelessness, Mental Illness and the Criminal Justice System – Examining the ‘Revolving Door’ of Institutions Project
$75,000 Strategies to Improve the Effectiveness of Innovative Court Programs for Substance – Using Females Project

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
$75,000 B.C. Environmental Tribunals Project
$75,000 B.C. Environmental Assessment Project

ECOJUSTICE CANADA SOCIETY
$75,000 The Right to a Healthy Environment Project
$60,000 Legislated Protection for B.C.’s Species at Risk Project

$75,000,DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE WOMEN’S CENTRE
Power of Women to Women (Legal Education For Homeless Women & Women at Risk of Homelessness) Project

$75,000,BRITISH COLUMBIA TEACHERS’ FEDERATION
Educational Curriculum Materials Project

$62,500,KAMLOOPS BAR ASSOCIATION
Legal Support Staff Scholarship Education Project

$50,000,UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF THE FRASER VALLEY
Making and Distribution of DVD – Meaning of Life Project

$50,000,CANADIAN CENTRE FOR COURT TECHNOLOGY
Sustainable Business Model for Canadian Centre for Court Technology Project

$6,800,WEST COAST PRISON JUSTICE SOCIETY
Legal Information for Prisoners Project

Funding totalling $1,371,552 was app-roved for the following 22 projects:

$130,000,CANADIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY LOWER MAINLAND REGION
First Contact Project

B.C. LAW INSTITUTE
$75,000 Elder and Guardianship Mediation Project
$75,000 Law Reform Material Online Project

$75,000,CANADIAN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTER
Advancing the Rights of Poor Women in B.C. Project

$75,000,CANADIAN MENTAL HEALTH ASSOCIATION – B.C. DIVISION
Phase 2: Diversion Framework and Guide Project

$75,000,NIDUS PERSONAL PLANNING RESOURCE CENTRE ASSOCIATION
Public Legal Education Outreach Project on Personal Planning Project

$75,000,UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
Summer Indigenous Legal Studies Program Pilot Project: Developing an LL.B/Bachelor of Indigenous Laws Joint Degree Program at UVic Law

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
$75,000 Public Interest Coordinator Project
$40,000 Social Justice Community Scholar Project

$75,000,WESTERN CANADA SOCIETY TO ACCESS JUSTICE
Pro Bono Transition and Integration Project

$74,000,LAW COURTS EDUCATION SOCIETY
Administrative Law Website Project

$73,875, CANADIAN BAR ASSOCIATION, B.C. BRANCH
Professional Development for the Legal Profession Project

$70,000,PRO BONO LAW OF B.C. SOCIETY
First National Pro Bono Week & Second National Pro Bono Conference

$70,000,B.C. CIVIL LIBERTIES ASSOCIATION
Death-In-Law Custody Law Reform Project

$66,677,OKANAGAN ADVOCACY AND RESOURCE SOCIETY
Okanagan Tenant Advocate Project

$66,000,B.C. ASSOCIATION FOR COMMUNITY LIVING
The Right to Health Care Manual: Update Project

$50,000,UNION OF B.C. INDIAN CHIEFS
Online Specific Claims Research Course Project

$40,000,SAGE FOUNDATION
Legal and Regulatory Framework for a New Charitable Model Project

$36,000,TENANT RESOURCE AND ADVISORY CENTRE SOCIETY
Chinese and Spanish Tenant Survival Guides

$25,000,LAW SOCIETY OF B.C.
125th Anniversary Project

$20,000,CENTRE FOR GLOBAL STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
Constitute! A Film Project

$10,000,CANADIAN INSTITUTE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE, UNIVERSITY OF MONTREAL
Public Institutions and Reasonable Accommodations Project

For full details of the programs and projects that received funding, please visit The Law Foundation of British Columbia’s website at www.lawfoundationbc.org.

These articles were published in the August 2008 issue of BarTalk. © 2008 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.