2015 CBA Touchstone Award Winner

  • February 20, 2015

Ottawa – University of Ottawa Law Professor Martha Jackman is the winner of the Canadian Bar Association’s (CBA) 2015 Touchstone Award.

“Martha Jackman’s contribution to the fields of socio-economic rights, equality and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is outstanding, and makes her truly deserving of this year’s award,” says Mark L. Berlin, chair of the CBA’s Equality Committee.

The Touchstone Award is presented annually to an individual who promotes equality in the legal profession, the judiciary, or the legal community in Canada.

“Professor Jackman is a leader not only within the university setting, but also through her work with the National Association of Women and the Law and the Charter Committee on Poverty Issues,” adds Mark Berlin.

After joining the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa in 1988, Professor Jackman has held various positions within the law school: Director of Graduate Studies in Law; co-editor of theCanadian Journal of Women and the Law; Vice-Dean of the French Common Law Program; and the Shirley E. Greenberg Chair for Women and the Legal Profession. She publishes primarily in the areas of socio-economic rights, equality and the Canadian Charter.

She appears regularly before law reform bodies, lawyers, judges and Parliamentary committees. She has acted as legal counsel in a number of important Charter cases, including before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Eldridge and Chaoulli cases. She is a member of the National Steering Committee of the National Association of Women and the Law and a former member of the Equality Rights Panel of the Court Challenges Program of Canada and of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.

She is the academic director of a five-year, million dollar research project, "Reconceiving Human Rights Practice", funded under the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's Community-University Research Alliance Program. In 2001, she was awarded the Augusta Stowe-Gullen Affirmative Action medal in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of women’s equality. In 2007, she received the Law Society of Upper Canada Medal for her contributions to the profession.

Professor Jackman will receive the award on Saturday, February 21, at the Fairmont Château Laurier, during the CBA Mid-Winter Meeting of Council.

The meeting is open to accredited media. Please contact Hannah Bernstein at hannahb@cba.org for accreditation.

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, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.