June 2024 Newsletter: News from the BCLI!
June 21, 2024
BY British Columbia Law Institute
Advancing Social Justice: Recent Legislative Acts Passed in B.C.
The B.C. Legislative Assembly recently passed 27 bills, including 17 amendments to existing acts and 10 new acts. We are pleased to summarize (some of) these changes, with an emphasis on those that address social justice issues with the goal of improving life for B.C. residents.
We Are Hiring For An Articling Student
BCLI is hiring an articling student for 2025. We are looking for a full-time articling student for the 2025-2026 year, starting next spring or summer. This is a great opportunity to engage in meaningful law reform and make a positive impact on the community.
New Faces, Fond Farewells: A Record Year of New Faces
We’re excited to introduce our new team members and bid farewell to a departing board member. This year, we welcomed a record number of students joining us across the country. Joining our team are Marie Ong, Calum McCracken, Celeste Ann Borja, Ignacia Mendez, Julia Allen, Maria Michouris, and Oluwaseun Fadairo, along with new Board member Emilie LeDuc. We also extend our gratitude to Julia Lawn for her service in the Board. Learn a bit about them here.
Stories in Economic Abuse: Tools of Harm
Our project on economic abuse and family litigation is well underway. Currently, our research is delving into case law to uncover how family business can be used as tools of economic abuse. The analysis reveals fascinating and important patterns in the behavior of perpetrators and the legal responses to them. In our latest post, you can learn about a case where the perpetrator threatened to revoke immigration sponsorship and withheld financial support to pressure the victim/survivor. Additionally, we highlight three common features in case law involving economic abuse and family businesses.
Earlier this month we held a Project Committee Appreciation Reception to recognize our volunteers who generously share their time and expertise across various BCLI projects. It was a pleasure to gather with the people who put in the time to help us generate our law reform recommendations reports – our work would not be possible without their invaluable contributions. A special thanks to our Board Chair Ed Wilson and his team at Lawson Lundell for graciously hosting this even
Celeste Ann Borja, one of our summer law students, was busy this month, actively engaging the community by presenting on our Dementia + Decision Making Project and other elder law tools and resources at events around the lower mainland. She spoke in Deltassist’s elder abuse awareness event, visited Century House in New Westminster and Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, and also attended the West Coast Conference on Aging.
Our Executive Director, Karen Campbell, spoke on a panel at the Federation of Law Reform Agencies of Canada annual conference in Montreal in May. Karen was joined by our staff lawyer, Megan Vis-Dunbar, at this gathering where law reform agencies from across Canada come together in person to share. It was a great opportunity to connect, collaborate, and discuss opportunities for law reform and how to strengthen the role of independent law reform agencies across Canada.
