OPINION
10 Obiter Dicta
Thank Osgoode for Social Justice
Why OSAII Became Possible
knia singh › contributor
T
hank you Osgoode for making social justice relevant and possible in today’s climate
of corporate success, political correctness,
and the social stratification. Thank you to the
Osgoode staff, faculty, and the students for making
the fight for what is right possible, supportive, and
enjoyable.
When I decided to apply for law school, it was
after decades of being exposed to powerful institutions that uphold power over the uninformed,
poor, and disconnected. I applied with a purpose in
mind, which was to use the legal knowledge to assist
in defending those who do not have the luxuries of
financial security, academic exposure, and political
awareness. It is the oppressed members of society
that have difficulty navigating the laws and politics that hold our North American social structure
together.
I would like to thank Osgoode for giving someone
like me a chance to be part of a professional class that
is able to shift social policy; create protections for
people; and if their heart is in the right place, make
the world better. I say someone like me because I fall
within the less than one percent of Osgoode Law
Students that actually get admitted. I was admitted at thirty-seven years old, with no undergraduate degree, an average Law School Admission Test
score, and no financial backing; yet, I had tremendous amounts of community development experience fighting for the alienated, oppressed, and
sometimes helpless. Countless volunteer hours in the
community, on non-profit boards, running for political office, and other social activities was enough for
Osgoode to say we want to accept someone like this
into our program.
ê Photo credit: The Torontoist
I say thank you to Osgoode because I applied to
all seven law schools in Ontario and only Osgoode
gave me an offer of admission. Osgoode recognized
the value in selecting applicants with a wide range
of experiences and backgrounds that would make up
the new class of law students instead of going the traditional way of limiting law school to the upper class,
wealthy, and social elite. Since Osgoode is open and
forward thinking, Osgoode has allowed me to be a
part of its institution and contribute to the fight for
social justice.
Within the first four weeks of my law school experience, the Toronto Star series Known to Police by
Jim Rankin and Patty Winsa graced the front page of
the newspaper. I was one of the primary subjects of
the piece that exposed the controversial police practice of “carding.” From that point forward, I was
immersed in media interviews, spreading the message to community groups, and strategizing with
law school colleagues on how to make change for the
better.
Within a few days of the media story dropping,
I was fortunate enough to have the support of Dean
Sossin who said he would do his best to make sure
anything that was needed in the form of support
from the school would be provided. That gave this
new first-year law student the confidence and support needed to push the social justice agenda forward without any worry or fear. I say thank you to
Osgoode because the students who had never heard
of the practice of “carding” before wanted to know
more and provided tremendous support. This, after
all, was a matter of fundamental justice, civil rights,
and what we were learning as law students—Charter
Rights.
Knowing the support of the Dean and faculty was
there, five 1L students came together to establish
an important legal advocacy group, The Osgoode
Society Against Institutional Injustice (OSAII).
Melissa Roque, Marco Ciarlariello, Giselle Shareei,
Alexei Kovalev, and I became the founding members
of this active social justice club. The fact that law students who I only knew for four weeks were willing
to throw their support and energy behind a cause
that mattered was something that I think is unique
to Osgoode Hall law School.
I would expect a law school to be filled with students who think that arbitrarily stopping members of
the African-Canadian community was not a problem
and probably actually for the better since most crime
seems to be taking place in those poor areas amongst
those people. Fortunately, Osgoode is graced with
students that show support for the activities that I’ve
involved myself in and that OSAII advocates for. I
can’t imagine what my law school experience would
have been like if the majority of students were not so
supportive, interested, and inspired by the social justice act ivities that were taking place.
There is so much more to the story about key
staff, faculty, and students that make Osgoode Hall
Law School the perfect environment to do important and game changing work. But what I want to
leave you with is that the fact you are a law student
doesn’t limit the work you can do until you become a
lawyer. It actually does the opposite. Being a law student gives you the chance to use your enthusiasm and
quest for what is right, to be married with the fundamentals of law and getting to know how it works,
and the legal reasoning and administrative procedures that you have to go through to make certain
things happen.
Thank you Osgoode for providing your students
with the right environment to fight for social justice
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