FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2 April 2003
TORONTO - On the eve of a University of Toronto (U of T) meeting to consider law school tuition fee increases, the Coalition for Access to Law Schools (CALS) said the university Provost’s study backing the hike doesn’t tell the whole story. CALS says the Governing Council must give sober second thought to mitigate the impact of increased financial barriers to a legal education.
“We believe that every qualified student should have access to an education in the legal profession if they so choose,” says the Equality Advisor to the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Charles C. Smith, the spokesperson for CALS. “The legal profession ought to reflect the diversity of the Canadian population it serves. Any barriers to racial or gender diversity in the legal profession cannot be tolerated.”
The U of T is proposing to incrementally increase tuition at its Faculty of Law to $22,000 annually, based on the recommendations of its Provost’s Study of Accessibility and Career Choice in the Faculty of Law. The study concludes that there will be no adverse effects on enrollment. “Our coalition is releasing the Response to the Provost Study today, a paper prepared by the Canadian Bar Association. It provides an analysis of data on accessibility and career data for U of T law graduates and outlines the barriers to a law-school education faced by the men and women of subordinate racialized groups.”
“Our coalition firmly believes that Canada’s legal profession needs to be more representative and inclusive,” says Mr. Smith.
The CBA debated law school tuition fee increases at its Annual Meeting in August. At that time law deans explained the pressures caused by increasing costs of education. The Association adopted a policy that calls on law schools, governments, law societies and members of the profession to mitigate barriers to access to law school and the profession.
CALS includes the Canadian Bar Association, the African Canadian Legal Clinic, the Black Law Students’ Association Canada, the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers, the Metro Toronto Chinese and South-East Asian Legal Clinic, the Law Alumni Coalition, and the Muslim Lawyers Association.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, 500 - 865 Carling Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5S8 Tel: (613) 237-2925, ext. 146; E-mail:
Hannahb@cba.org
