Summary of Meetings: Social Justice
Number of Meetings Held: 3
November 13, 2025
Registration Count: 30
Guest Speakers: Dr. Carol Liao and Eugene Kung
Meeting Title/Topic: Legal Frameworks for Equitable Climate Justice
Synopsis: Climate justice is reshaping the laws that guide environmental regulation, corporate governance and community planning to account for distribution of climate risks and benefits across income levels, generations, and diverse communities. Dr. Carol Liao and Eugene Kung examine legal duties of private and public actors to anticipate and respond to climate change, and to do so fairly. The discussion explores how to make equity explicit so climate policies don’t overburden those least able to adapt, emphasizing protections for elders, support for marginalized communities, respect for Indigenous jurisdiction and consent-based, and climate-aligned development.
June 2, 2026
Registration Count: 35
Guest Speakers: Kevin Love and Patrick Williams
Meeting Title/Topic: Charter Rights and Coerced Care: A Social Justice Perspective on BC’s Mental Health Act Challenge
Synopsis: British Columbia is the only jurisdiction in Canada that deems people with involuntary status under mental health legislation to have consented to psychiatric treatment, denying them the right to refuse treatment or appoint a substitute decision maker, even when they may have capacity.
This session examines a constitutional challenge to the Mental Health Act argued in BC Supreme Court last fall, which asks whether the Act’s “deemed consent” regime violates section 7 of the Charter by authorizing involuntary psychiatric treatment without adequate procedural safeguards, and section 15 by subjecting people detained under the Act to a distinct and more intrusive consent regime than all other patients.
Through a social justice lens focused on access to justice, disability rights, and systemic inequality, Kevin Love and Patrick Williams, both of whom appeared before the court in relation to the challenge, discuss the competing legal arguments and the broader implications for mental health law and the exercise of state power over marginalized communities.
June 11, 2026
Registration Count: 21
Meeting Title/Topic: Community in Action: Social Justice Lawyers Networking Night
Synopsis: An end-of-term gathering celebrating the people and partnerships that sustain social justice work. Designed to foster collegiality and collaboration, this event creates space to meet peers, exchange insights, and strengthen the professional community working toward equity and human rights. Whether you are a long-time advocate or early in your career, join us to build meaningful connections and reaffirm our shared commitment to justice.