Legal Research

Law Day 2009

By Connie Crosby

Throughout this week Law Day is being celebrated in Canada. From the Ontario Law Day 2009 website:

Law Day is a national event celebrating the signing of Canada?s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Originated by the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and first held in Canada in 1983, Law Day is aimed at educating and informing the public about the role and importance of the law. Since many people have a limited knowledge about the law and how the legal system works, Law Day empowers the public at large. It provides an excellent opportunity for the profession to educate the public about the vital role that lawyers and the judiciary serve in guaranteeing an open, independent and unbiased judicial system.

If this is a day meant to educate the public, I’m surprised it is not featured on the front of the CBA website actually. The CBA does have a page linking to the various jurisdictions across Canada that are celebrating, so visit their pages to find events in your area. For example, Alberta has a lively Law Day website. B.C. is calling it Law Week and has a Facebook page to promote it. Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan are running poster contests for elementary school students. Quebec is holding a legal essay writing contest for law students and a number of symposia this week. Yukon will be holding a fun run next week; Saskatchewan’s was already held on April 4th.

Related Slaw post: A note about the history of Law Day in the U.S.by Simon Chester (May 2, 2007).

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on April 16, 2009 (boomark / email).