2008 Law Union AGM

Annual General Meeting

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

6:30pm

Friends’ Meeting House

60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto

(Closest subway: St. George)

Social Gathering to Follow

Non-members Welcome!

Law Union Annual Conference 2008

Friday, March 28 and Saturday, March 29

Read more for full schedule…

FRIDAY EVENING KEYNOTE

Alex Neve, Secretary General for Amnesty International Canada (English Speaking):

“The insecurity of human rights: Canadian law and practice in the ‘War on Terror’”

7:00pm

Bloor Street United Church

300 Bloor Street West at Huron (2 blocks east of Spadina subway)

$10 (students $5, unwaged PWYC)

After: socialize at the Fox & Fiddle Pub, 280 Bloor Street West

SATURDAY PANELS

***Please Note New Location!***

Hart House, University of Toronto

7 Hart House Circle (Museum subway), Second Floor

Wheelchair accessible – Childcare available

9:00 – 10:30

Right to Housing: Making it Legally Binding

Peter Rosenthal: Lawyer, Roach Schwartz & Associates
John Fraser: Program Director, Centre for Equality Rights in Accommodation
Tracy Heffernan: Staff Lawyer, Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

Chair – Jennifer Ramsay, Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario

Canadian Mining: Resisting Exploitation at Home and Abroad

Eric Gillespie: Lawyer, Cunningham & Gillespie
Charis Kamphuis: Law student, Osgoode Indigenous Intensive Program
Mining Watch Canada

Chair – Ryan White, Law Student

10:45 – 12:15

Police Chases: Any Justification? A Debate

Bob Kellermann: Criminal defence lawyer
Howard Morton: Criminal defence lawyer and former Chair, Special Investigations Unit
Pam McConnell, City councillor & member, Police Services Board
George Cowley Director of Legal Services, Toronto Police Service
Mike Abbott: Director of Uniform Administrative Services, Toronto Police Association
John Sewell, Toronto Police Accountability Coalition

Chair – Paul Copeland: Lawyer, Copeland Duncan

Walking Our Talk: Legal Practice that Reflects our Politics and Values

Juan Carranza: Civil lawyer and founder, Carranza Barristers and Solicitors,
Gitanjali Lena: Criminal defence lawyer and sole practitioner
Amy Wah: sole practitioner, administrative law

Chair – Mac Scott: Immigration consultant, Carranza Barristers and Solicitors

International Solidarity: The Role of Lawyers in Grassroots Struggles

Amina Sherazee, Barrister and Solicitor
Amparo Torres: Colombian labour activist and refugee
Moira Gracey: Lawyer, Carranza Barristers & Solicitors

Chair – Mike Leitold: Lawyer, Roach Schwartz & Associates

1:45 – 3:15

Environmental Refugees: The New Exodus

Laura Westra: Professor Emerita (Philosophy) University of Windsor; Post Doctoral Fellow, University of Ottawa Law School
Amina Sherazee, Barrister and Solicitor
Sima Sahar Zerehi: Status Now Campaign

Chair – Mac Scott: Member, No One Is Illegal; Immigration consultant, Carranza Barristers and Solicitors

Feminist Criminal Law: Theory and Practice

Marlys Edwardh: Criminal defence lawyer, Ruby & Edwardh
Justice Rebecca Shamai, Ontario Court of Justice
Diane Oleskiw: Criminal defence lawyer, Scott & Oleskiw

Gitanjali Lena, Sole Practitioner

Chair – Adriel Weaver: Criminal defence lawyer, Ruby & Edwardh

3:30 – 5:00

Plenary Session – Choice, Access and Women’s Activism:

Abortion Rights Twenty Years after Morgentaler

Judy Rebick: Sam Gindin Chair in Social Justice and Democracy at Ryerson University; author of Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution
Kathleen Howes: Staff Lawyer, CAW Legal Services Plan; Past President, Catholics for a Free Choice, Canada
Irina Ceric: Steering Committee Member, Law Union of Ontario; Board Member, Choice in Health Clinic

Chair: Tanya Gwen Thompson, student-at-law, Ruby & Edwardh

Fees: $35 for all panels ($10 students, unwaged PWYC) or $10 per session ($5 students, unwaged PWYC)

Registration begins at 8:30am; Law Union memberships available at the door.

Party Saturday night – location TBA at conference

For more information: 416-964-8126; lawunionconference @ gmail.com