Women’s Court of Canada Visits the Faculty of Law

Four representatives of the Women’s Court of Canada visited the Faculty of Law on March 13 as part of a tour of western Canadian law schools. They were Jennifer Koshan, Associate Dean Research at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law, Gwen Brodsky, equality rights litigator and currently a Co-Director of the Vancouver Poverty and Human Rights Centre, Melina Buckley, litigator and legal policy consultant active in the fields of equality and access to justice and Sharon McIvor, a Merritt, B.C. lawyer who has appeared both as plaintiff and counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada on cases relating to the equality rights of aboriginal women. The Women's Court of Canada is a collection of academics and litigators who have come together to rewrite Canadian equality jurisprudence in an effort to invigorate the equality debate by introducing new voices and offering alternative analyses. An initial collection of judgments has been published in a special edition of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law. Students and faculty were given the opportunity to attend a panel discussion addressing the work of the Court and developments in equality jurisprudence generally, followed by break-out workshops in which they explored four important equality decisions. The event was organized by the Women’s Law Forum with the support of the Dean and Faculty.