At an April 2008 meeting of the Standing Committee on Equity with equity representatives from the branches, the discussion turned to the problems associated with gathering information about the representation of disadvantaged groups in the legal profession. Arleen Huggins, a representative of the Equal Opportunity Committee of the Ontario Bar Association, described efforts being made by that committee to bring about changes in the information gathered by the Law Society of Upper Canada. The LSUC currently asks members only to self-identify as to gender, and not about race, ethnicity or disability. Representatives of other branches also spoke of the paucity of data available to allow exploration of issues related to the representation and career progress of Aboriginal people, members of visible minorities and persons with disabilities.
In the CBA Strategic Plan, one of the stated objectives is to achieve more diverse membership and to serve the interests of lawyers who have not traditionally been considered when plans are being formulated and services offered. Yet the organization is coming to the realization that there is little information available about many characteristics of either the membership they currently serve or the profession as a whole.
Without the kind of information which would establish baseline representation, it is difficult to assess what progress is being made towards more proportional representation of social groups in the legal profession, to determine whether members of disadvantaged groups are leaving the profession in atypical numbers, and to ascertain whether members of disadvantaged groups enter particular kinds of legal careers.
Members of branch equity committees reported that law societies commonly decline to ask members to self-identify with respect to their race, ethnicity or disability in order to protect their privacy. Ironically, Arleen Huggins reported, organizations such as the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers and the South Asian Lawyers Association are among those most concerned to ensure the removal of the impediments to the collection of information which are created in their name. The Standing Committee on Equity and branch representatives agreed that there must be ways of respecting the privacy of Canadian lawyers while at the same time ensuring that data are collected which will constitute benchmarks against which success in meeting equity goals can be measured. The SCE determined to continue to explore possible strategies for achieving this objective.