March

The CBA John Tait Award of Excellence was established in 1998 to honour, recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of public sector lawyers in Canada. The award is named in memory of the late John Tait, in recognition of his outstanding commitment to the CBA.

The Law for the Future Fund (LFFF) grants awarded this year will to go to support and protect some of the most vulnerable persons in Canada. The eight recipients of grants will assist these less fortunate individuals – a range that includes new migrants to Canada, incarcerated persons and individuals with low literacy skills — through research, education, technology, and tools.

The leadership of the CBA Board of Directors renewed on September 1 when Vivene Salmon began her one-year tenure as CBA President and Brad Regehr assumed the role of Vice-President.

Vivene Salmon is the first person of color and only the second in-house attorney ever elected to lead the more than 36,000-member Canadian Bar Association, founded in 1896, which represents lawyers, judges, notaries, law professors and law students.

OTTAWA – With today’s official start of the October federal election campaign, politicians of all stripes are on the campaign trail touting the message that a vote for their parties will improve the lives of Canadians. The Canadian Bar Association believes that this is an excellent opportunity for the parties to show how they would take leadership on the issue of legal aid.

Vivene Salmon has made legal history as the first Black person, racialized lawyer and female in-house counsel to head the Canadian Bar Association (CBA). The 123-year-old Association who made the announcement via a press release on its website said Salmon began her year-long tenure on Sept. 1, 2019.

Salmon is one of only two presidents to serve from the in-house counsel community in 123 years – and the first president of colour.

I met Vivene Salmon in the summer of 2011; she was a young lawyer of Jamaican heritage who was interested in supporting Food For The Poor, a charity that focuses on building and impacting communities in the Caribbean and Latin America. She joined our advisory board to support governance and compliance.

New CBA Head committed to giving back

The new CBA president discusses her priorities for the year ahead, the importance of promoting health and wellness for lawyers, and what she hopes to hear from party leaders during this fall's federal election.