FASD, access to justice on the agenda for CBA President Michele Hollins’ visit to Whitehorse

  • March 10, 2015

Ottawa – The President of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), Michele Hollins, Q.C. of Calgary, will visit CBA-Yukon (CBA-Y) in Whitehorse from March 10 to 12, where she will speak about the improving access to justice for individuals with FASD, the CBA’s major initiative on Reaching Equal Justice, and women and diversity in the legal profession.

“The CBA is fully committed to and welcomes legislative changes that would recognize and advance the needs of people who suffer from FASD,” says Michele Hollins. “In fact, the CBA’s Fia Jampolsky, of Whitehorse, is appearing before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights on March 11 to welcome the Criminal Code amendments in Bill C-583.”

On Equal Justice, the CBA is implementing the recommendations contained in the watershed report released in 2013. This includes increased public engagement in the justice system; distribution of a series of Legal Health Checks on subjects including issues facing youth who are on their own, couples who are breaking up, home buyers; and, working with the Association of Legal Aid Plans of Canada, drafting national benchmarks for legal aid services.

On women and diversity in the profession, Michele Hollins says: “We need to push for better empirical data and the setting of goals to achieve gender parity because it is certainly not just going to happen. I know that this is a complicated issue, but that is no reason to accept the lack of progress to this point and I intend to continue to pursue these issues through the balance of my term and beyond.”

Michele Hollins is available for media interviews in Whitehorse on March 11.  Please contact Laura Davidson, Executive Director, CBA-Y for scheduling.

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.