am happy to report that CABL has continued providing high quality professional development, networking and social events.
Some of our events have been in partnership with other equity seeking organizations, such as our close friends SABA and FACL. On January 11th, we held our Joint New Year’s Kick Off at the Spoke Club, and on March 29th we held our 2nd Annual Joint Judicial Panel. We also continued our collaboration with the Law Society of Upper Canada on February 28th during Black History Month.
In addition to collaborating with other organizations, CABL held other events exclusively for the benefit of our membership. On May 15th, we held our 4th Annual Speed Mentoring Event. Those in attendance received mentoring from members of the bench—the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Honourable Justice Strathy and the Honourable Justice Irving André, Superior Court of Justice—career advice from the recruiters from Branion Williams, career coaching from Paulette Pommels and invaluable advice from others, including your Secretary Esi Codjoe. And on June 27th, we held our Annual Patio Event in Toronto.
In July, the National Bar Association (NBA), the United States’ oldest and largest national association of predominantly black lawyers, judges, educators and law students will hold its 92nd Annual Convention & Exhibits in Toronto from July 29th to August 4th, and CABL is one of its proud sponsors. This will be the first time that the NBA will hold its convention outside of the US. The NBA has 84 affiliate chapters throughout the US and affiliations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Africa (Morocco) and the Caribbean. I encourage all of you to register for the convention, to visit the CABL suite and to sign up for the golf tournament in Toronto on Wednesday, Aug 2 2017, at the Lionhead Golf Club.
CABL has also continued to advocate for our members and for the community generally. In May, CABL partnered with African Nova Scotian organizations in a survey sent to all candidates running in the provincial elections in Nova Scotia for their views on issues important to African Nova Scotian communities. This remarkable initiative is a model for black communities to strongly consider adopting across the country during future provincial and federal elections.
In May CABL submitted its review to the Family Legal Services Review with respect to the expanded scope of paralegals into family law. I encourage you to review CABL’s submissions on our website. In June CABL wrote to the Hon. Yasir Naqvi, Attorney General of Ontario in support of the spirit and substance of the letter from the Ontario Human Commission (OHRC) dated April 19, 2017, about the need for criminal justice reform. Also in June CABL wrote to the Treasurer of the Law Society of Upper Canada and the chairs of the Equity and Indigenous Affairs Committee about the implementation of the 13 recommendations of the Challenges Faced by Racialized Licensees Working Group. In a letter dated June 28, 2017, Treasurer Schabas advised CABL that the Law Society’s implementation of the 13 recommendations is on track.
CABL continues to meet our strategic goals. On July 1, 2017, CABL revealed its new website and logo. We are excited about the new website, which features not just an updated appearance but improved function. When you visit our website and social media, you will notice a significant change to our logo. It’s a significant change in style and colour—out with brown and in with blue. Two folding maple leafs are replaced by a single maple leaf in black above our name. Three squares symbolize our first three chapters—British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Ontario.
The new website was designed to address the difficulties experienced by our members and to integrate our website with our social media profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. Over the next several weeks, we will be unrolling new features.
Shortly our website will be available in both English and French. As a national organization, this development is designed to ensure that our content is accessible to all our members, in their preferred language. This bilingual site is a long held goal of CABL in recognition of our desire to reach out to black francophone lawyers. We will all benefit from the important, distinct perspectives of black francophone lawyers and will ensure that their views are well represented on the site.
PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
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