THUNDER BAY – A new group is looking to open up conversations about racism and representation in Canada’s legal system. The Black Law Students Association (BLSA), recently formed by a group of students at Lakehead University’s Bora Laskin Faculty of Law, is hosting its first public event this Wednesday.
The Black History Symposium will feature keynote speaker Joanne St. Lewis, a University of Ottawa law professor. St. Lewis will present on racism in the Canadian legal profession, the experience of racialized lawyers, and access to justice. Spoken word artist Shadiya Aidid will also perform.
Organizers hope the event will attract not just law students and legal professionals, but members of the general public as well. BLSA Vice-President Patrick Palmer says St. Lewis’s talk in particular will be of interest to everyone.
“The law impacts us every day, whether or not we are people who practice the law,” Palmer says. “And the experiences of people of colour in all professions are similar – there are issues that affect you whether you work at a fast food restaurant or you work as a lawyer.”
Palmer says black Canadians are underrepresented in the legal profession, something his group hopes it can contribute to changing.
“The legal profession as a whole has unequal representation between the population of Canada and the actual number of black lawyers,” he explains. “On a base level, we would like to get more black students in law schools to remedy that disparity.”
Palmer says one of the group’s goals is to encourage higher recruitment of students of colour at the Lakehead law school. He says that kind of representation is key for the legal profession and justice system.
“As people of colour, we have different perspectives,” he says. “Being able to use those experiences to inform how we practice law or how we write curriculum – it’s very important."
The BLSA’s Black History Symposium takes place at 6 p.m. at the Bora Laskin’s PACI building. The event is free to attend and will offer light refreshments.
