For over 14 years, ESG United Church has offered a compelling speaker series exploring a variety of topics concerning our justice system and broader social justice issues in Canada.
Compassionate Justice Speakers have included the individuals below. Click the links to listen or watch to the archival recordings.
cornerstone of our justice system has been challenged and attacked by the media, social media and politicians. Brian Greenspan has dedicated his professional life as a criminal defence lawyer to the protection and preservation of the presumption of innocence. Having served as counsel in many significant cases, he has profoundly affected the development of our criminal law and practice.
A BLUNT INSTRUMENT:
Long-term detention of individuals found not criminally responsible
Erin Dann has participated in over 100 cases at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Supreme Court of Canada.
She is regularly appointed amicus curiae in criminal cases involving mental health issues. Being found not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder is not a “get out of jail free” card. Erin will share stories of individuals found NCR of offences that might never have resulted in a jail sentence, who have spent years, detained in forensic hospitals.
Justice Starts With Knowing
A Criminal Justice Revolution:
From ‘tough on crime’ to a new transformative justice vision
How can we move beyond “tough on crime” policies to compassionate, evidence-based approaches? Benjamin Perrin will recount his own personal revolution in thinking and share with us his new transformative justice vision that is set out in his latest book, Indictment: The Criminal Justice System on Trial. Benjamin is a national best-selling author and law professor at the University of British Columbia. He served in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Office as in-house legalcounsel and lead policy advisor on criminal justice and public safety (2012-3).
Lisa Kerr is a law professor who teaches criminal law, sentencing and prison law. She serves as the Director of the Criminal Law Group at Queen’s Law and works with the Queen’s Prison Law Clinic on strategic litigation. Sentencing judges decide only the length of a prison sentence, which means that the experience and severity of punishment is beyond the control of criminal law.
Trudell was a founding member and is now the current Chair of the Canadian Council of Criminal Defence Lawyers .He is also a frequent lecturer and media commentator on Criminal Justice issues in Canada. Much of the public misunderstands the Criminal Justice System yet it is a cornerstone of our Democracy and the presumption of innocence is the essential mortar that supports it.”
This event features a panel of three ex-prisoners who will discuss the challenges and setbacks they have faced in their return from incarceration to a life in society. They will discuss the deep fear and uncertainty that fills them in the early days. The problems and roadblocks they encounter. The kinds of help they need. The help they receive. The discussion will be moderated by Harry Nigh, a former prison chaplain who has spent over 40 years working with former inmates.
This happens. Our justice system depends on the intervention of humans and at times it fails. When this happens, a life is tragically altered. James Lockyer has been a Canadian pioneer in helping those who have been wrongfully convicted. He is a founding director of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted and was awarded the Order of Canada in 2019 in recognition of his work. Lockyer speaks to how we can right big wrongs.
Based on his own story “Hard Time In Canada One Man’s Journey Inside and Out” Lee describes the reality of existence in prison and need for change if we want to improve rehabilitation for those who have crossed the line. Lee has created a consultancy that helps those who found themselves convicted and entering the prison system for the first time. Lee substituted for Rob Clark at the last minute (literally half an hour prior to start time) with an informal , yet, compelling conversation.
How is it that Canada is once again sentencing people to death? What other reforms has no one told you about? With over 40 years experience, lawyer Mary Campbell has been a senior policy and legislative advisor through the good, the bad, and the ugly. She will highlight some of the key recent sentencing and corrections reforms in Canada.
David was scheduled to lead a panel discussion with representatives of the three major provincial parties – Mike Colle, Liberal. Robin Martin, Conservative and Jessica Bell, NDP – on their party’s views on expressing social justice principles in their respective party’s policy platforms. David unfortunately was not able to make the session due to a rapid onset of the flu and Robin his daughter very ably stepped in and delivered David’s introductory presentation. The first session below covers her presentation and responses from all three panelists. The second session below is the Q & A with the audience
Peter’s presentation, drawn from his latest book Canada’s Odyssey, will serve as a clear response to the general confusion about the place of Indigenous peoples within Canada’s constitutional structure. He will revisit the assumptions Canadians hold regarding Indigenous peoples and the history and structure of the Canadian state.
Serving as the Correctional Investigator of Canada between 2004 and 2016, Howard and his staff worked to ensure safe, lawful and humane corrections through independent oversight of the Correctional Service of Canada. Effective January 1, 2017, Howard will take on a new role as the Special Advisor on Corrections Reform to the Government of Ontario. In his presentation, he will reflect on developments in the CSC over the last two years and provide insights on his new responsibilities.
and negotiator. He served as Ontario’s 21st Premier from 1990 to 1995 and Interim Federal Leader of the Liberal Party in 2011-2013. He was named Queen’s Counsel in 1984, appointed to the Privy Council of Canada in 1998, named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000, received the Order of Ontario in 2004 and Companion of the Order of Canada in 2015. In addition to his legal practice, Bob teaches at the University of Toronto as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the School of Public Policy and Governance (SPPG). He has also written five books, most recently “What’s Happened to Politics”.
Kaylie Tiessen has been recognized as one of the top 20 under-35 young professionals changing the world. She is at the helm of Ontario’s emerging living wage movement. Her report on Toronto’s living wage is being used by the City of Toronto and other communities across Ontario. Recent and growing attention to income inequality in the media and from our politicians has led Kaylie Tiessen, economist with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Ontario Office, to believe that the time is right to start talking about solutions. Join Kaylie as she explores how we got here and discuss the policy solutions to move us forward.
From 2009 to its conclusion, Justice Murray Sinclair served as the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, listening to those who had been affected by the Indian Residential School System. The Commission published a summary of its final report in June, 2015. Justice Sinclair was Manitoba‘s first Aboriginal Judge and the second Aboriginal Judge in Canada. He is an adjunct professor of Law and an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Manitoba.
Now hear a survivor speak to you. Paul Voudrach is his name. He was part of the TRC and only spoke about himself at the last minute. It moved many to tears.
Edward has been practising law throughout Canada since 1970. He is one of Canada’s best known defence lawyers, with a strong commitment to public education in the law, as well as an activist advocate in areas that pertain to developments in criminal law. He is the author of Greenspan: The Case for the Defence. In 1986, he took a sabbatical to travel across the country and debate successfully against the return of the death penalty.
Graham Stewart served as Executive Director of the John Howard Society of Canada, providing leadership in pursuit of prisoner human rights and a criminal justice system that is consistent with the social values that have marked Canadian society. Graham will speak to the values and practices that have prevailed in the longer term, and will assess the changes that are currently taking place. Is the federal government using a reliable compass? Or a flawed compass?
Jean-Luc Pepin Research Chair, University of Ottawa; Former Parliamentary Budget Officer of Canada; Introduced by The Hon Bob Rae
As Canada’s first ever Parliamentary Budget Officer, Kevin Page got involved in a number of high profile public finance issues, including the costing of some of the Tough-on-Crime legislation. Is it possible to be tough on crime – to keep more people in prisons with longer sentences – without a significant impact on taxpayers? What is the cost of Canada’s criminal justice system?
Psychologist and mother of Zachary Antidormi
Lori is a psychologist who works with family members of homicide victims. She is also the mother of 2 1/2 year old murder victim, Zachary Antidormi. Recent attention to victim’s rights, in the face of Bill C-54, lead Dr. Triano-Antidormi to question how the government actually assists victims and, more importantly, to consider what victims actually need to be assisted in their recovery.
Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, QuebecFormer Minister of Justice & Attorney General of Canada;Emeritus Professor of Law (McGill University)
With four decades in the trenches of human rights and justice advocacy in Canada and around the world, former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has a unique scholarly and practical appreciation of the governmental and parliamentary justice agenda. Irwin will explore constitutional, policy and evidentiary perspectives of the government’s crime and punishment agenda.
Chaplain, Queen’s University / Imam advisor, part time at Queen’s University
An Assault on the Honourable Tradition of Chaplaincy in Correctional Services
Kate Johnson & Yasin Dwyer both worked for many years in our federal