President's Message: New Public Education Initiative to Engage Allies in a Critical Mission to Defend the Rule of Law
As those with an essential understanding and abiding appreciation of the Rule of Law, lawyers across the globe and political spectrum make its defence a daily concern. But it’s a concern that has taken on a new and unexpected urgency in light of attacks on the rule of law, overt and insidious, from many quarters. Protection from bold strikes and incremental erosion requires champions from beyond the legal profession; it’s a fight that can be won only with broad public engagement.
As those with an essential understanding and abiding appreciation of the Rule of Law – the trust and confidence, the peace and security, the industry and stability it generates – lawyers across the globe and political spectrum make its defence a daily concern. But it’s a concern that has taken on a new and unexpected urgency in light of attacks on the rule of law, overt and insidious, from many quarters. Protection from bold strikes and incremental erosion requires champions from beyond sworn defenders in the legal profession; it’s a fight that can be won only with broad public engagement.
In inspiring and empowering impassioned and informed defenders, we play a critical role – a role that the Honourable Geoffrey Morawetz, Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, underscored at OBA’s February Council Meeting when he noted that lawyers are not only ardent advocates for their clients but for the justice system itself.
The OBA has risen to this challenge – a challenge to enlist the public in protecting the rule of law – by developing a presentation that points directly to the concrete ways it comes into play for Ontarians at home, at work, in community and broader society, and makes possible so much of what we value and enjoy in our daily lives.
OBA members are stepping up to deliver this presentation on the Importance of the Rule of Law in every region of the province in partnership with key community organizations, including libraries, Rotary Clubs and Legions. The sessions are curated to arm influential, local leaders with the information and motivation to recognize and appreciate the rule of law in action and to inspire others to do the same. By bringing it out of the abstract and into the actual, we make clear its true meaning and real-world impact, the threats it faces and the steps we can all take to protect it.
The OBA’s Law Day Committee, chaired by OBA 2nd Vice-President Brenda Hollingsworth and OBA and CBA Past-President Lynne Vicars, is the driving force behind this campaign that will unfold, appropriately, during April – “Law Month” – when educating the public on the law, legal institutions, and the ways our justice system upholds democracy and fundamental freedoms takes on intense focus.
We're delighted to have the Chief Justice of Ontario, the Honourable Michael Tulloch joining us to kick off the initiative on Law Day – April 17 – at the Rotary Club of Toronto.
This message – the promise of the Rule of Law itself – that we must all have equal protection and accountability under the law, fuels us in legal practice and public service. But it’s a message we must now proliferate – an alarm we must sound more loudly and widely – before the very foundation of a free, fair and democratic society is damaged beyond all repair.
We know lawyers are often called upon to remember the oaths they took to protect the rule of law – and this initiative is a well-coordinated opportunity to act on that. If you would like to take part in the OBA’s Rule of Law initiative by delivering a presentation during April, please email Tyler Jensen at tjensen@oba.org.
