The Every Lawyer

“Legislative Reconciliation is Governments using legislative powers for good and not bad. The Indian Act, you might say, was the government using its powers for bad, for a very long time.” -Prof. Metallic Professor Naiomi Metallic, divides her time between practice and teaching at Dalhousie University’s Schulich School of Law where she holds the Chancellor’s Chair in Aboriginal Law and Policy. She...

For over 157 years, the Canadian federation has derived its legitimacy from a written constitution made up of 31 documents, the majority of which have no legal force in the French language, among them the foundational Constitution Act of 1867, formerly referred to as the British North America Act. While the Constitution Act of 1982 was written and adopted in both official languages, the remaining...

What is it like to fly in, perhaps even get briefly stranded, and then fly back out, all the while sharing some very close quarters with both the judge and opposing counsel?   Very collegial. Julia welcomes an ad hoc panel of pan northern practitioners and active CBA members to The Every Lawyer: Leeland Hawkings was born and raised in Whitehorse, where he now works as legal counsel with the Yukon...

Overarching themes: lawyers can benefit from multi-disciplinary approaches in various ways, clients seriously benefit from holistic approaches, and that combining these two approaches is really making headway on improving access to justice for vulnerable communities. Hosted  by Julia Tétrault-Provencher and featuring: Emily Murray Luke’s Place, legal office with social and health support workers o...

There are many reasons for lawyers and litigators to consider mediation as a career move. And there are born mediators who may not have a professional legal background at all. Our goal in this episode is twofold: to make the case for mediation as a viable alternative to our over-burdened court system and to explore the role mediation plays in peace-, community-, and capacity- building on both the...

Julia welcomes two of Canada’s top experts on EDI in the legal workplace: McCarthy-Tetrault’s current and former Chief Inclusion Officers, Charlene Theodore and Nikki Gershbain. Before moving to McCarthy-Tetrault, Charlene Thedore worked as in-house council in the education sector and, in 2020, she was the first black person to become President of the OBA. Charlene has also worked for the UN commi...

Trail-blazing penny droppers. Julia welcomes two iconic figures from within the CBA and the legal profession: barbara findlay KC and Douglas Elliott. Gay lawyers from when there were no gay lawyers. They co-founded SOGIC, now SAGDA, and are partly responsible for many of the rights the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has achieved over the last forty years. To quote barbara: "what was gained in a generation c...

Criminal defense attorneys Tony Paisana and Tyler Schnare from the CBA Criminal Justice Section geek out with Julia about the recently updated CBA Collateral Consequences Toolkit. For clients, it presents a comprehensive overview in fairly plain language about the fall-out of a criminal conviction. For lawyers, to quote Tony, "there are serious consequences to not advising of the consequences..."....

A discussion about what is actually behind the words, equity, diversity and inclusion.  Our final episode with original CBA Task Force on Gender Equality members, Justice Sophie Bourque, Patricia Blocksom, Daphne Dumont and principal author Melina Buckley and a diverse cross-section of women lawyers working in the profession today on how much progress has been made on gender equality since 1993. ...

How the Bertha Wilson Task Force took an intersectional approach to their work on gender equality at a time when the phrase intersectionality was still an obscure legal term that had only recently been coined. This Episode begins with a compilation of lived experiences of junior, senior, and anywhere in-between, women lawyers from all walks of life and from all across Canada. Interviews by Rebecca...

To quote Patricia Blocksom: “Equality is a robust concept but a fragile reality.” Fortunately lawyers are good at remaining constantly vigilant and feminism is nothing to be afraid of, quite the opposite: by the end of this our second episode on the Touchstones Report, you will be very grateful you have chosen to let these wonderful women, these wonderful feminists, into your life for a while. Tha...

On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the release of the CBA report, Touchstones for Change, Equality, Diversity and Accountability, we listen in on a kitchen table discussion between 3 of the original task force members, Daphne Dumont, Patricia Blocksom, and Sophie Bourque, and the lead author of the report, Melina Buckley. We get the historical context, where the original authors were, and...

Excerpts from our CBA Podcasts cross channel series on Mental Health in the Legal Profession. With Glen Hickerson from the CBA well-being subcommittee, former Chief Justice  of Ontario George Strathy, Sania Chaudhry, Yves Faguy, editor of the CBA National Magazine, Jason Ward, former CBA President, Stephen Rothstein, the Hon. Justice Mahmud Jamal, the Hon. Justice Michele Hollins of King's Bench A...

In anticipation of our forthcoming mini-series marking the 30th anniversary of the Touchstones Report, celebrating what has been achieved in the last three decades while remaining vigilant and tenacious in the pursuit of true equity, diversity, and inclusion in the legal profession, here is Julia's complete conversation with OBA President Kelly McDermott. Both as senior in-house counsel who leads...

Safeguarding the rule of law and the legal profession. Julia Tetrault-Provencher welcomes John Stefaniuk K.C. The CBA President speaks about growing up in Manitoba, the war in Ukraine, his long association with the CBA, and its role in safeguarding the rule of law both at home and abroad. Their discussion also touches on the role the CBA can, and does, play in promoting and improving inclusion in...

The Violence Link in Practice *Content warning: This episode discusses serious and potentially triggering subjects, including family violence and animal abuse, as well as the recounting of real-life events. A new Report prepared for Humane Canada with funding from the Department of Justice Canada, The Violence Link in Practice is an empirical analysis of the implications of the Violence Link for F...

SAGDA - The Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance, formerly known as SOGIC. We learn a bit about the history of SOGIC: (spoiler alert, it started out as a very well protected email list) and a bit about the everyday business of SAGDA: (spoiler alert: you will be encouraged to join!). From being a good ally to mentorship to opportunity, this episode also features a frank discussion on pride and the...

Legal coaching as a practical approach to Canada’s Access to Justice Crisis. Marcus Sixta is the founder of Crossroads Law, a well-established firm specializing in family law with offices in Calgary and Vancouver and a 2023 excellence awardee for Canadian family law firm of the year, and more recently, he founded Coach My Case, which offers legal coaching services to self-represented litigants – w...

In this episode of the Every Lawyer we discuss restricting the use of NDAs in Canada’s legal system.  Joining Julia for this timely discussion are: Jo-Anne Stark is a lawyer and Certified Legal Coach and operates Stark Solutions Legal Coaching and Consulting which offers virtual help to self-represented litigants and training to lawyers who want to offer legal coaching to their own clients; she is...

The CBA as a pathway to a career in politics? Absolutely. With applications to join a CBA national section executive closing at the end of this month, Julia welcomes two long-time CBA-ers, Jordan Brown and Tom Ullyett, who have pursued careers in politics. Tom served as Deputy Minister in the Yukon to six ministers from two political parties over the course of thirty years. Jordan held political o...

The Path - Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada. Module 6: Indigenous Peoples in the Criminal Legal System. Jennifer David is a senior consultant and leads an area of service called Truth and Reconciliation at NVision Insight Group, a majority Indigenous-owned company with First Nations, Inuit, Metis and non-Indigenous shareholders and staff.  From Omushkego, Jennifer is a member of Chapleau Cre...

Case law on the Every Lawyer. Julia welcomes Tory Hibbitt, past chair of the CBA's Health Law Section and Dr. Vanessa Cardy MD, to discuss Garde Préventive and recent changes to Alberta's Mental Health Act.  

Julia welcomes Sania Chaudhry, an employment and human rights lawyer and winner of Alberta’s Top 30 under 30 award for professional excellence in 2022, to discuss mental health in the legal profession.  Sania is active with the Alberta Branch of the CBA, as well the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, and the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association. Julia talks to her about bouncing back from burn-o...

The CBA Young Lawyers International Program, or YLIP, places upcoming young lawyers and law graduates from Canada at internships with overseas organizations working in the areas of law reform, human rights, and access to justice. The program has been funded by Global Affairs Canada as part of the Government of Canada’s Youth Employment Strategy. Julia speaks to Stephen Gerald Kent and Agizul Sumbe...

Julia welcomes recently retired Chief Justice of Ontario, George R. Strathy to discuss his motivation in publishing these two articles on mental health in the legal profession: The Litigator and Mental Health - Court of Appeal for Ontario (ontariocourts.ca) Reflections on Mental Health - Court of Appeal for Ontario (ontariocourts.ca)  and get his first impressions of the recently published groundb...