CLA's Student Chapter Program: The End of Another Great Year
Another year has come to pass for CLA's Student Chapter Program, and we couldn't be more proud of our network of law students and their efforts to use law to improve lives. It's been an amazing year!
We were delighted to see the Chapters embrace this year's theme -Refugee Rights, by holding various thought-provoking and high-profile events throughout the academic year. Our Chapters also made significant efforts towards fundraising for CLA's Summer Internship Program, which will assist students in obtaining human rights advocacy experience overseas or with Aboriginal organizations in Canada.
Fundraising
The Chapters were actively involved in fundraising initiatives such as bake sales, trivia nights, documentary screenings, cocktails, pub quiz nights and raffles. The University of Saskatchewan Chapter and the University of Ottawa Chapter participated in the "Assassins" Game, which was great fun for the students involved and was a huge success in raising money for our student interns.
University of Ottawa Chapter
Events
Our newly established Chapter at the University of Western (UWO), organized its very first CLA event with a Refugee Rights Panel. This event included Peter Buza- UWO law grad who worked for the UNHCR in refugee resettlement and Lev Abramovich, a Refugee Law Practitioner with Levine and Associates.
Dalhousie University Pub Night
Students left with real insight into the problems refugees face in today’s world and were given information about the important role for lawyers working on refugee issues both domestically and internationally. The UWO Chapter left satisfied from the success of their first event and excited for the Chapter’s continued growth and involvement with the Western Law population.
Queens University Chapter Bake Sale
The University of Saskatchewan Chapter had a successful event with Dabid Matas, an internationally renowned refugee lawyer who worked with the UN and Haidah Amirzadeh, an immigration professor at the U of S who was also a refugee herself. The insights from the speakers had a profound impact on the students that attended.
The Queens University Chapter had great attendance for their Refugee Rights Panel featuring Sherry Aiken, the former president for the Canadian Council for Refugees, Micheal Bossin, experienced practitioner and community legal services lawyer, and Nicole Laviolette, LGBT Refugee Rights expert from the University of Ottawa.
The University of Manitoba Chapter provided a documentary pizza luncheon for the students. The documentary was called Last Chance and it told the story of five asylum seekers that have fled their home countries to escape homophobic violence. It captured the hurdles that they faced while integrating into Canada, their fear and anxiety of deportation all the while waiting for a decision that could change their lives. Many students were interested in the documentary and were fascinated by the process in Canada. This film was also screened by the University of Victoria Chapter and was successful as the event was very well attended.
UBC Chapter and Panelist
Our University of British Columbia Chapter organized a speakers panel with CARL (Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers) on the topic of Government Cuts to Refugee Health Care. The three speakers invited were Lobat Sadrehashemi, a staff lawyer with the BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC); Aris Daghighian, an immigration, refugee, and criminal lawyer with Edelmann & Company; and Professor Efrat Arbel from Peter A. Allard School of Law, who has an extensive background in refugee law. All three speakers discussed the ongoing Charter challenge in Doctors for Refugee Care v Canada.
They also organized a second panel on the topic of Human Trafficking in Canada. The panelists included: Victor Porter from the Office to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Theressa Etmanski, from the West Coast Domestic Workers’ Association. The speakers outlined some of the challenges victims face in obtaining temporary workers’ permits, especially with regard to gathering evidence of trafficking that occurs primarily in private and domestic spheres.
The turnout from the student body was impressive for our events, with a packed room full of attentive faces hanging on to the speakers’ every word. CLA thanks the panelists for taking their time to speak about this issue of refugee law and thanks all the participants who attended for all of our chapters!
Journal Entries
Throughout this year, the UdeM Chapter has been working with other CLA Chapters to publish CLA's National Student Journal on the topic of Refugee Rights. The journal contains thought-provoking articles on very interesting and topical issues that refugees are faced with today. Topics include, Christian Refugees impacted by the ISIS threat, Canada's response to the Syrian Refugee Crisis, and Child Soldiers seeking refuge in Canada.
Aeroplan Campaign
CLA would also like to thank all of the CLA Chapters for raising awareness about the campaign and donors for your generous support. We successfully hit our goal! We are also grateful to Aeroplan for matching 10% of our donations.
We wish all the best to our Student Chapter members and incoming Student Interns over the Summer. We hope you all have a great break and come back in Fall ready to hit the ground running for another great year with CLA!