Law Society of Alberta (LSA) members failed to pass a motion to prevent it from requiring lawyers to take courses and suspend those which do not comply. .“As president, I am humbled by the response of the profession to the notice of special meeting as well as the large number of attendees at this meeting,” said LSA President Ken Warren at the Monday meeting. .The motion was brought to try to eliminate a mandatory indigenous cultural competency training for Alberta lawyers. Fifty-one Alberta lawyers brought the petition to call the special meeting. .The motion failed to pass after a vote of 864 in favour (25%) to 2,609 opposed (75%). .The motion said Rule 67.4 of the Rules of the LSA authorizes the benchers to prescribe and mandate professional development courses, including on cultural, political, or ideological education. It said Rule 67.4 diminishes and hinders professional autonomy, which is a detriment to the profession and people. .The Legal Professions Act authorizes benchers to establish and prescribe the bar course and does not authorize benchers to mandate any for professional development. Rule 67.3 states each lawyer has the freedom and responsibility to determine whether a learning activity meets the criteria of Rule 67.1. .The motion called on Rule 67.4 to be repealed. .A group of 400 people submitted a letter showing support for the course on Thursday. .READ MORE: Hundreds of Alberta lawyers support indigenous training course.Another 124 people, including non-active members, legal academics, articling students, law students, and legal organizations, signed onto the letter to express support..A source in the LSA said lawyers supporting the motion are challenging woke indoctrination. .Song and Howard Law Office managing lawyer Roger Song, who initiated the petition, said this rule “follows the dark path of indoctrination and insulting our Charter freedoms.” .“I received mandatory communist indoctrination when I started my work in China for 22 years,” said Song. .Song said the education he received in China required people to respect the Chinese Communist Party’s decisions. He asked if this sounded familiar. .Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms lawyer Glenn Blackett said the ongoing socioeconomic disparities between indigenous Canadians and other groups is shameful. .“If we truly care about that problem, which I very much do, we have to openly and objectively explore facts and solutions, popular and especially unpopular ones,” said Blackett. .“The solutions to these problems are the ones which we already know work: The science, the free market, private property, the rule of law, especially treating race as an incidental and not an essential feature of who we are.” .He said it might be uncomfortable for him to agree with what is popular. If what is popular is wrong, he said indigenous Canadians will pay for his comfort in his prolonged pain and suffering. .Blackett chastised the LSA on January 16 for suspending 30 lawyers for not doing indigenous cultural competency training in November..READ MORE: Justice Centre lawyer condemns litigators being suspended for not doing indigenous training.“The Path represents politicized regulatory overreach and, while ostensibly intended to promote reconciliation, is likely to do far more harm than good,” he said. .The LSA passed Rule 67.4 in 2020, giving itself this power. However, the Legal Professions Act does not appear to give it this power..Alexander First Nation in-house legal counsel Brooks Arcand-Paul said indigenous people’s humanity have not stopped being stripped from them. .“This happens today in 2023,” said Arcand-Paul. .When he was younger, Arcand-Paul said his grandparents did not talk about their residential school experiences. He said this changed when his maternal grandmother heard about the unmarked graves at residential schools, which made her open up. .Akram Attia Law Group lawyer Katelynn Cave said people who supported the petition “have made many of your indigenous colleagues feel unsafe to practice here.” .“It is reminiscent of the direct violence we have and continue to face as indigenous people, fighting for a voice in society,” said Cave. .“Bearing in mind we have not been allowed or have the privilege of practicing in Canada as long as our non-indigenous colleagues.” .Cave went on to say to argue this motion is rooted in autonomy, self-regulation, and authority is false. She said it is rooted in racism, which continues to plague the justice system.
