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Children, Law, and Justice: A View from the Bench

• addresses the ways in which lawyers’ professional obligations to commit to “equal justice for all” under the Code of Professional Conduct link with both children’s lived reality and their legal rights under domestic and international law
• discusses how the Charter, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and other international instruments that apply to children provide the legal standard by which to measure whether just processes are used and just results are achieved for children
• raises awareness about practical ways in which lawyers can, in their day-to-day work, champion access to justice for children generally, and vulnerable, high risk, and marginalized children, including Indigenous children, in particular

The Honourable Judge Marion R. Buller — Provincial Court of BC, Port Coquitlam

Lunch with Keynote Speaker: "Access to Justice for Children: An International Human Right"

The Honourable Raynell Andreychuk, Senator for Saskatchewan — The Senate of Canada, Ottawa

Are the Legal Fundamentals Serving Children in Practice?

• identifies possible barriers to children achieving justice through laws and within various legal contexts, such as civil, criminal, administrative, and alternative dispute resolution processes
• explores how the complexities of children's lives, the law, and administrative/legal systems can contribute to barriers that children may encounter
• considers how competing rights may create tensions
• proposes ways in which legal professionals might approach balancing those rights to better ensure children's equal access to justice

The Honourable Judge Rose Raven — Provincial Court of BC, Surrey
Dr. Nancy Bell — Researcher/Consultant, Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria, Victoria
Samantha Truong — Vancouver

Overcoming Barriers: Case Examples

Analyzes ways in which lawyers, working with children and others, can address access to justice barriers for children by using three compelling examples of ways to access justice for them

• Indigenous children in care
• trans children
• young children whose mothers are incarcerated

Harriette Cunningham — Comox
barbara findlay, QC — barbara findlay, QC Law Office, Vancouver
Sarah J. Rauch — Rauch Darby & Company, Vancouver
Ardith (Walpetko We'dalx) Walkem — Cedar and Sage Law Corporation, Chilliwack

Networking Break

Services to Support Children’s Access to Justice

Provides information and ideas for lawyers and other professionals whose work impacts upon children about legal and other services which exist to help achieve equal access to justice for children in

• formal and informal administrative processes
• alternative dispute resolution processes
• court processes

Jay Chalke, QC — Assistant Deputy Minister, Ministry of Justice, Victoria
Rick Craig — Executive Director, Justice Education Society of BC, Vancouver
Jocelyn Helland — Manager of Vancouver Youth Services, Pacific Community Services, Vancouver
Heidi Mason — Director, Legal Advice and Representation, Legal Services Society, Vancouver
James Wale — Acting Director, Child Welfare Policy, Ministry of Child and Family Development, Victoria

Closing Remarks

Reception: 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
"Lawyers as Champions for Children"
co-hosted by the CBA National Children's Law Committee 

Day 2: Friday, May 15, 2015

Welcome and Introduction to Day 2

The Honourable Donna J. Martinson, QC — Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of BC, Vancouver
Suzanne S. Williams — Brown Henderson Melbye, Victoria; Consultant, International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD), Victoria

Indigenous Justice for Children

Analyzes principles of and application of Indigenous law and justice

• jurisdictional space to hear Indigenous laws and legal orders for children
• articulating indigenous law and legal orders
• practice hurdles to caring for Indigenous children and families within Canadian courts and legislation
• access to justice for Indigenous children and families, legal aid, rural challenges, decision making
• international law principles, identity, collective rights for Indigenous children

Provides the basis for considering the ways in which principles of Indigenous law and justice apply to and can help inform the development of

• all legal principles, and
• all legal processes including administrative, ADR, and court processes

Networking Break

Child Development Essentials for Legal Professionals

Considers concepts of and stages of child development to assist legal and other professionals, when making decisions generally, and in court, administrative, or ADR processes to

• learn how to effectively implement children’s broad rights to participate in all decisions affecting them
• to understand the significant and negative consequences to normal child development, that stress and other trauma can have on children, including
  • stress and trauma caused by ineffective decisions
  • by costly, delayed, and ineffective court, administrative, or ADR processes.

Dr. Mary Korpach — Registered Psychologist, Surrey

Children in Context: Supporting Vulnerability

Explores children in context, and in particular how special vulnerabilities inform practices supportive of children’s well-being and access to justice such as

• challenges for particularly vulnerable children, including immigrant, refugee, and unaccompanied children
• issues of child consent and privacy
• systemic issues and ethical considerations relating to children’s mental health
• initiatives aimed at addressing barriers to the implementation of children’s broad right to health 

Lunch with Keynote Speaker

Dr. Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond — BC's Representative for Children and Youth, Victoria

The Child’s Participation Rights and Access Points in Justice Processes

Explains

• the nature of and broad reach of children’s participatory rights in all areas of family, civil, and criminal legal practice, including court, administrative, ADR, and other non-formal justice processes
• the inextricable link between children’s best interests and their participatory rights

Discusses the practical methods lawyers can be use in court, administrative and ADR processes to ensure that children’s rights, with a focus on their participatory rights, are considered at every stage of the applicable legal decision making process.

The Honourable Madam Justice Margot Fleming — Supreme Court of BC, Vancouver
The Honourable Donna J. Martinson, QC — Retired Justice of the Supreme Court of BC, Vancouver
Arlene H. Henry, QC — Arlene H. Henry Law Corporation, Vancouver
Tina Parbhakar — Civil Litigation Group, Ministry of Justice, Victoria
Derek H. Wiebe — Barrister & Solicitor, Vancouver

Networking break

Children’s Access to Justice: Next Steps in BC and Beyond

Concludes the program by considering future ways in which lawyers, both individually and working together, in BC and across Canada, can help to enhance equal access to justice for children generally, and in all administrative, ADR, and court processes, by, among other things

• considering the work of the CBA National Children’s Law Committee and its United Convention on the Rights of the Child sub-committee
• looking at the role of provincial CBA children’s law committees
• role of children's lawyer and Child and Youth Advocate's offices: Ontario and New Brunswick perspectives
• describing the work of UNICEF Canada, generally, and in the creation of a national children’s observatory
• looking at ways in which the legal profession can take steps to ensure that the questions of children’s access to justice will be part of the ongoing provincial and national access to justice discussions

Lucy McSweeney — Chair, Ontario Bar Association's Child and Youth Law section; Children's Lawyer for Ontario, Office of the Children’s Lawyer, Toronto
Jerry McHale, QC — Visiting Professor, Lam Chair in Law and Public Policy, University of Victoria, Victoria
Christian Whalen — Chair, CBA Children's Law Committee; Deputy Advocate, New Brunswick Office of the Child and Youth Advocate, Fredericton
Lisa Wolff — Director of Policy and Education at UNICEF Canada, Toronto 

Closing