The Advocates' Society has established a
Modern Advocacy Task Force to make recommendations for the reform of the Canadian justice system. The Task Force’s recommendations will seek to combine the best measures by which Canadian courts have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic with other measures designed to ensure meaningful and substantive access to justice for the long term. The Task Force will deliver its final report in the Spring of 2021.
The Modern Advocacy Task Force is composed of a national group of members of The Advocates' Society's Board of Directors, 10+ Standing Committee, and Young Advocates' Standing Committee, with expertise in diverse areas of law. They will be guided by an advisory panel of some of the most respected jurists and counsel in our country, including former justices of the Supreme Court of Canada and current and former judges of provincial appellate courts.
For more information about the Task Force's mandate and composition, please see The Advocates' Society's press release about the Modern Advocacy Task Force in
English and
French.
In June 2020,
The Lawyer's Daily interviewed Guy Pratte, TAS President, Peter Osborne, chair of the Task Force, and Katherine Kay, vice-chair of the Task Force, about the Task Force’s aims.
Read the interview here.
The Right To Be Heard: The Future of Advocacy in Post-Pandemic Canada
On September 29, 2020, the Modern Advocacy Task Force held its inaugural event, a thought leadership symposium called The Right To Be Heard: The Future of Advocacy in Post-Pandemic Canada. The symposium brought together lawyers, judges, and academics in a variety of fields, to talk about the future of oral advocacy in Canadian courts.
Please see the symposium agenda here. A link to the recorded webcast will be available shortly, free of charge.
Get Involved
The Modern Advocacy Task Force will be consulting extensively with stakeholders in the justice system to inform its final recommendations. The Task Force will be holding virtual Town Halls in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and in the Atlantic provinces early in the new year. In addition, the Task Force will be collecting input via survey. Stay tuned for updates on how to make your voice heard!