As the end of the 2021-22 term approaches, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for an amazing year. We have started several initiatives this year, that we plan to continue. For that reason, we, as Chair and incoming Chair, wanted to present some highlights.
The most important initiative that we completed was to articulate a new mission for the Section! The intention is for our mission to underpin all our activities and serve as the purpose for why we exist. Based on that mission, here is what we have been doing.
Advocacy Committee
This year we established a new committee devoted to the Section’s advocacy initiatives. This committee oversees the Section’s submissions, including responses to consultations on international treaties negotiated by Global Affairs Canada and organizes meetings with the Department of Justice. The committee is also responsible for responding to CBA intervention consultations. We are assembling a roster of expert lawyers we can call for rapid input on government requests.
The committee is currently involved in commenting on negotiations for the Canada-UK Free Trade Agreement, Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, and the Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. It is also readying a roster to comment on a proposed new treaty on pandemic response from the World Health Organization. In addition, the committee is exploring an application for the CBA to obtain consultative status with the United Nations, allowing greater participation in UN activities.
Communication Committee
The Section relies on the Communications Committee for outreach and member engagement. This is all thanks to the great work of Sean Stephenson, our Communications Officer and the committee volunteers. The committee has continued to publish member articles and Trade Clippings (snippets from key international trade articles and publications). We are also proud to announce that the committee’s continued efforts have established over 1000 followers on LinkedIn.
Tightening Ties with the International Law Community
We have been in continuous contact with other international law associations. We hope to continue and formalise some of these partnerships. We plan to extend our Memorandum of Cooperation with the American Bar Association, and renew our past Memoranda with other foreign bar associations.
Law Students and New Lawyers Committee
We are proud of the continuous engagement of our Law Students and New Lawyer Committee, under the leadership of its Co-Chairs Anna Jeffery and Navdeep Kaur. Once again, we had the pleasure to support the Queen’s Human Rights Law Club nation-wide conference, focused this year on “Colonialism in Modern Times”. Members of our Section also collaborated on the Speed Networking and the Careers Panel event. Read more about the conference!
Brown Bag/Webinar Committee
We would like to thank Reis Pagtakhan, the chair of our Brown Bag/Webinar Committee, for his fantastic work this year. Among many initiatives, our Section contributed to the CBA Business and Human Rights Guide. This is an essential tool for Canadian lawyers and businesses, covering various topics related to emerging principles of practice, mitigating business risk and meeting corporate responsibility obligations. To complement the work on the Guide, the Committee will be organizing a series of brown bags on the topic of human rights and business.
Canadian International Lawyer – New edition coming this fall!
Thanks to the efforts of Andrew M. Lanouette and the editorial board, the Canadian International Lawyer Journal will put out a new edition this fall. The new edition will cover issues ranging from a discussion of the Charter and International Human Rights to the Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. Our goal for next year, is to publish another edition of practical, interesting articles relevant to Canadian international law practitioners.
Thanks to all volunteers!
We would like to express special thanks to Susana May Yon Lee, the Section’s secretary, for her tireless efforts at keeping minutes and keeping us on track during our executive meetings. We would also like to thank Tina Parbhakar, the Section’s immediate Past Chair, who has been assisting both of us through the Advocacy Committee and through other initiatives.
Finally, we would like to express our gratitude to the Executive and all Section volunteers, for your time and hard work! Working with the Canadian international law community has been a pleasure and we are proud to have you all with us.
We are excited for what the 2022-23 term has in store for members of our Section. Stay tuned for more details.
We wish you all a happy summer!
Warren D. Ragoonanan, Chair 2021-2022 and Ewa Gosal, Vice-Chair/in-coming Chair 2022-2023
CBA International Law Section