Originally posted at Anita Szigeti's site.
WiCCD’s CPD Program on Representing Inuit Clients in the Criminal Justice System with MP Lori Idlout, Nunavut counsel Eva Taché-Green and criminal defence lawyer Mallorie Malone September 6, 2022 is now OPEN FOR REGISTRATION! We have applied for 1.5 hours of EDI / Professionalism Accreditation – pending. The September 6th Program will be held from 6 pm to 7:30 pm ET, virtually by Zoom. To register, please complete this registration form. https://forms.gle/1SBTjjfRyXLvv4JX9 This program will have a capacity limit of 100 people. Register early to secure your spot! This program is FREE for all WiCCD and LAMDA Members. This session will prioritize members of WiCCD and LAMDA.
If you are not already a WiCCD member, you can apply to be a member through this link: https://forms.gle/ZWYHdWHdSgHcCFQn7 (membership is free!).
If you are not already a LAMDA member, you can apply to be a member through this link: https://goo.gl/forms/IzFe7Xf9AqwYchOs1
CLA’s Indigenous Committee members are welcome to register and encouraged to attend. Space permitting, the event may be open to members of the CLA’s Recent Call Committee, Mental Disorder Committee and Women’s Committee
All eligible registrants will receive the Zoom Link closer to the date of the session.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION Please join the WICCD/LAMDA for an event discussing representing Inuit clients in the criminal justice system on September 6, 2022 from 6-730 PM EST. The event will discuss unique circumstances facing Inuit clients as well as the unique challenges for practitioners in serving Inuit clients.
Short Biographies of Speakers:
Lori Idlout, MP (Inuktitut: ᓘᕆ ᐃᓪᓚᐅᖅ) is a Canadian politician who has served as member of parliament for the riding of Nunavut in the House of Commons of Canada since 2021. She is a member of the NDP. Before her election, Idlout practiced law in Iqaluit with her own firm, Qusugaq Law. She represented the group protesting against the Baffinland Iron Mine’s expansion, as well as serving as the technical adviser for the Ikajutit Hunters and Trappers Organization during a public hearing on the issue. Idlout’s nomination meeting vote was tied with Inuit educational YouTuber Aliqa Illauq. On August 10, 2021, Idlout secured the NDP nomination to run as their candidate for the riding of Nunavut by a coin toss, a first for the territory. She was elected to succeed outgoing MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq in the 2021 Canadian federal election, who had retired after one term in Parliament. She is a member of the following committees, among others: INAN: Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs; SINA: Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure of the Standing Committee on Indigenous and Northern Affairs.
Eva Tache-Green is an Appellate Lawyer with Nunavut Legal Aid. The Nunavut Law Foundation appointed Eva Tache-Green as Director in September 2020 due to her extensive background in non-profit work, particularly as it relates to strategic planning and fundraising. Eva has practiced criminal defence law for nearly 8 years, most recently as Defence Counsel and Appeals Coordinator for the Legal Services Board of Nunavut. Her interests include law reform and the administration of justice, as evidenced by her work with Innocence Canada on wrongful conviction cases and pro-bono activities with LifeLine Syria under the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program. Before obtaining her J.D. at U of T, Eva piloted a project to provide public legal education to refugees in Cairo, Egypt. Today, Eva is an avid mentor actively involved in supervising students interested in appellate law.
Mallorie Malone (she/her) is a criminal defence lawyer working with the Legal Aid Commission of the Northwest Territories, where she maintains an active trial practice as part of the NWT's comprehensive legal aid program. Part of Mallorie's duties in her current role is to travel to the six communities within the Inuvialuit Settlement Region. Prior to moving to the NWT, Mallorie worked with Falls Law Group for six years in Bracebridge, Ontario, focusing on criminal defence, child protection (parent-side defence) and family law. Mallorie graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. During her time in law school, Mallorie was a Donner Fellow working with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, as well as a Callwood Fellow, working with Falls Law Group to develop a specialized Indigenous legal clinic in the Parry Sound and Midland communities.
Short Biographies for Co-organizers:
Jay Herbert is a criminal defence lawyer and grew up in Toronto where he worked in the construction field until he graduated with Honours from York University with a specialist degree in history. He then earned a Juris Doctor degree at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law. Jay was honoured as Muskoka's Favourite Lawyer in the Bracebridge Examiner's 2015 Reader's Choice Awards.
Jay gained valuable experience while practicing on Manitoulin Island and working in M’Chigeeng First Nation.
Jay has practiced law in Muskoka for 11 years with a focus on First Nation communities and clientele. He also practices in civil and criminal law, including a number of appeals. His criminal defence practice has includes acting for defendants accused of homicide and other serious matters.
Jay is a member of Rama First Nation and an elected trustee of the Coldwater Narrows Land Trust. He is also an accredited member of the National Aboriginal Trust Officers Association.
Naomi Sayers is a lawyer and Indigenous feminist, called to the Ontario (2018) and Alberta (2020) bars with nearly a decade of consulting experience. She worked in-house at one of Canada’s largest electricity providers. She has appeared at all levels of court in Ontario; federal court – trial and appeals; Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench; and various tribunal throughout Ontario.
Naomi represented Work Safe Twerk Safe, the first and only federally incorporated non-profit advocacy group dedicated to strippers’ rights to work safely in Canada. Her advocacy on their behalf resulted in a precedent setting decision resulting in the Court recognizing the harms that sex workers experience in trying to access justice. That decision was also cited by the Supreme Court of Canada, affirming stigmatized groups’ right to privacy in litigation processes.
Naomi is a member of the Women in Canadian Criminal Defence; Criminal Lawyers’ Association and its Indigenous Committee; Canadian Bar Association and its Aboriginal Law section executive; the Law and Mental Disorder Association; the Ontario Bar Association’s Constitutional and Human Rights section executive, the Aboriginal Law section executive and the Women’s Lawyer Forum section executive.
Anita Szigeti has practised law in Ontario for almost 30 years. She was called to the Nunavut Bar in 2014 and represents unfit and NCR Inuit accused before the Nunavut Review Board.
She is one of a handful of recognized experts on the law of mental disorder, both in the civil and criminal justice streams. Anita is the founder and President of an umbrella advocacy association of lawyers, the Law and Mental Disorder Association (LAMDA) which brings together civil and criminal lawyers who practise mental health law. In January of 2022, Anita and her colleagues formed Women in Canadian Criminal Defence (WiCCD), a national organization for women and gender non-conforming criminal defence lawyers. She currently serves as Secretary on the founding Executive of WiCCD.