On April 17th, 1982, the Canadian Constitution was repatriated and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was enacted. Every April since, the Canadian Bar Association and its Provincial and Territorial branches have celebrated "Law Day".
Several jurisdictions have expanded Law Day into Law Week and each year is held as close as possible to the actual anniversary of the signing of the Charter, April 17th.
We are blessed to have many significant firsts in Nova Scotia including the first sitting of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia on October 22nd, 1754 (the first Supreme Court in North America) and a mere four years later the first sitting of representative government on October 2nd, 1758. As such, this year marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of representative government in Canada (and some may say in the British Empire). In recognition of this historic occasion, the Legislature through a special Act incorporated an entity known as Democracy 250 ("D250"), which is actively promoting events and activities in celebration of 250 years of Democracy.
When we became aware of the D250 initiative we saw this as a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the law which we consider a corner stone of Democracy. Therefore, we are pleased to present "Law and Democracy Week" in celebration of our legal institutions, our judiciary, our system of Justice, all of which are fundamental to and are possible because of our democratic institutions. What better way to recognize the signing of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms then to celebrate our democratic roots.
One of the strengths of the Canadian Bar Association is our commitment to improve access to justice for all Nova Scotians including providing public legal information in conjunction with our stake holders and working partners. These include the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia ("LISNS"), L’ Association Des Juristes D’Expression Francaise De La Nouvelle-Écosse ("AJEFNE"). This year we were pleased to work in conjunction with Democracy 250 and their Co-Chairs, former Premiers, Dr. John Hamm M.D. and Russell MacLellan, Q.C.
