Ottawa, February 7, 2022 - Each year at its Annual General Meeting the Canadian Bar Association honours members of the legal profession whose contributions to the Association, the legal profession and the justice system mark them out as deserving of special recognition.
Here are this year’s honorees:
The Honourable ClĂ©ment Gascon, former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, is this year’s recipient of the President’s award, presented by CBA President Stephen Rotstein. The Honourable ClĂ©ment Gascon has had a career of more than seventeen years in the Canadian judiciary. Since 2019, he has devoted further time as speaker in conferences aimed at encouraging a better dialogue on mental health issues and wellness within the Canadian legal community.
Caitlin Urquhart is a lawyer and activist focused on decolonization and anti-oppression. She previously chaired the Newfoundland and Labrador Branch of the CBA Women Lawyers Forum and was Secretary to the CBA-NL Executive. She is the first Ecojustice staff lawyer in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Basile Chiasson is a lawyer, professor, scholar and widely-published academic. His book “Rules of Court of New Brunswick Annotated” is being used by litigation lawyers and members of the Bench. He is also the author of a book recently published by the Association des juristes d'expression française du Nouveau-Brunswick titled "Summary Judgment: The Shifting Culture".
The CBA’s highest award recognizes a lifetime of outstanding service. This year’s honoree is barbara findlay, who has litigated many queer and trans rights cases in her 45-year career, including the right for co-mothers to be parents on a birth certificate. She was the co-founder of SOGIC, the CBA’s national and regional sections focused on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Lisa Nevens is a civil litigator for the Department of Justice Canada in Vancouver. They are an elected Director on the Board of the Canadian Bar Association, BC Branch, have co-chaired its Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Community section for many years, and are chair of BC’s Legal Equity and Diversity Roundtable. Lisa has led, organised and facilitated countless education and advocacy projects, with a particular emphasis on trans issues.
About the Canadian Bar Association
The CBA is dedicated to support for the rule of law and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries in Quebec, law teachers and law students from across Canada are members.
For more information, contact:
Vanessa Racine
Manager, Media Relations and Public Affairs
613-237-2925 x153
vanessar@cba.org