The Canadian Bar Association
Legal Aid a Priority For New CBA President Daphne Dumont, Q.C.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 23, 2000
OTTAWA - The new President of the Canadian Bar Association plans to keep up the pressure on government to improve the delivery of legal aid to those Canadians who need it.
"Our progress on legal aid to date has been encouraging," says Daphne Dumont, Q.C., of Charlottetown. "Earlier this week, we launched the Legal Aid Watch (LAW) - an e-mail network of legal aid lawyers who are reporting outrageous examples about the effect of the current limited legal aid coverage on real people. We have also published the Legal Aid Advocacy Resource Kit to help our spokespersons deliver effective messages about legal aid."
"We must continue to meet with government officials and politicians. Our message is clear: It is time for all levels of government to begin working together to find solutions to the legal crisis in Canada."
Coming from Canada's smallest province and a firm of three lawyers, Daphne Dumont also would like to orient more CBA programs towards lawyers practising in smaller firms. "The majority of our members practise in firms of five or fewer lawyers," says Daphne Dumont. "Practitioners from smaller firms have specific needs, and I would like to see the CBA help try to meet the needs of this important group of members."
Daphne Dumont discusses her priorities for the year at the Young Lawyers' Luncheon on Wednesday, Aug. 23 in the Nova Scotia Ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel, where she will receive the chain of office from outgoing President Eugene Meehan, Q.C., of Ottawa.
Born in Charlottetown, Daphne Dumont was called to the Bar in 1978. Since 1982, she has been a partner at Macnutt & Dumont, where she has a general practice - mainly estates, real estate and family law. She received her Honours B.A. in 1974, followed by a Law Degree in 1976 at Oxford University, where she was the first woman admitted to study law at Wadham College. She completed her Canadian legal training at Queen's University in 1977. She was named Queen's Counsel in 1995.
Daphne Dumont's involvement with the CBA began in the early 1980s. She was President of the PEI Branch (1986-1987) and was a member of the National Task Force on Gender Equality in the Legal Profession (1991-1993), which produced the landmark report on Gender Equality in the Legal Profession. She was also a founding member of the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF).
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Aug. 19-23, CBA Media Centre, Mariner Suites 2 & 3, World Trade & Convention Centre, Halifax. Tel: (902) 491-4422.Copyright © The Canadian Bar Association