Lots of exciting events happening around May 2019...
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Hello! With spring in full swing, members of the Law Union have sprung in to action. In this newsletter you'll find answers to questions such as:
- When can I get together with other supporters of the LUBC?
- What are the LUBC Working Groups currently working on, and how can I join?
- What other social justice events have been endorsed by the LUBC?
- Are there current openings for public interest law jobs?
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Come to the Lawyer-Activist Mixer!
Please join this inaugural celebration of the Law Union of BC and the social justice community.
Wednesday, June 12 starting at 6:30 PM at the British Ex-Servicemen's Association (1143 Kingsway, Vancouver).
We hope this event will build stronger connections between legal workers and community-based organizations. Prominent local activists who have experience at the intersections of law and their activism will be featured, with speakers to be announced soon!
Admission is Pay-What-You-Can (donations welcome) and there will be a cash bar and snacks. More info on the facebook event, or via the button below.
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Working Group Updates
The LUBC Working groups are meeting approx. once per month. Email steeringcommittee@bclawunion.org to sign up for updates, and list the working group(s) you are interested in being a part of. The active working groups are:
- Police Accountability
- Movement Legal Support
- Access to Justice
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Police Accountability
The Overdose Crisis and Police Accountability Working Group is working to build strategies to end the criminalization of drug users in Vancouver.
This working group is researching the creation of a “sanctuary city” for drug possession. We welcome participation from lawyers, activists, and community members in this effort. We are also interested in potentially hosting a hackathon to develop an app responding to a community need with regard to police accountability or drug use.
The next meeting is being scheduled for first week of June. |
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Movement Legal Support
The Movement Legal Support Working Group (MLS) is building legal support capacity for movements, including Indigenous land & water protection and housing activists.
A subcommittee of the MLS is developing a fact sheet for activists on the new anti-SLAPP legislation recently adopted by the BC legislature, which will be available soon. The MLS is also developing a process to better provide legal support to activists and movements who may require it. The long-term goal is to establish a consistent method by which activists can get in touch with lawyers or legal advocates when planning or executing actions. The MLS is also considering the possibility of establishing a legal observer program.
The most recent MLS meeting was on Tuesday, May 21, and join this working group to find out when the next meeting will be. |
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Access to Justice
The A2J Working group is researching how barriers to legal services are experienced by affected communities and service providers.
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Join the LUBC Conversation with Slack
Participate in LUBC Slack channel to keep up to date with the Working Groups, learn about LUBC actions, and communicate quickly with other members. You can sign up by clicking the hashtag or this link.
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Steering Committee News
A. Memberships & Renewal
The LUBC is a membership-driven organization. The steering committee is continuing to develop ways to make membership sign up and renewal more convenient, and allow for more cohesive information sharing between working groups and members alike.
For now, in addition to events and meetings, the main point of contact is the steeringcommittee@bclawunion.org email. A revised website is in development, and you can also communicate feedback through the contact form.
B. Victoria
Victoria-based LUBC members had a very good first meeting in the spring and will be meeting again in the fall. There may even be a meeting over the summer months if there’s enough interest. Please email Julian.
C. Law Union Reading Group
Steering Committee member Joey Doyle is looking to start a Law Union Reading Group. The focus of the reading group is to read texts that examine the relationships between law, capitalism, oppression, and other topics of importance. Some possible examples for the first group include Katharina Pistor’s The Code of Capital How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality or Quinn Slobodian’s Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism.
If you are interested in participating, please email Joey. |
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LUBC Endorsed Events and Actions
A. Water Protector Legal Collective
The Water Protector Legal Collective’s request to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a thematic hearing on the suppression of indigenous resistance to extractive industries in North America.
The hearing took place on May 9, 2019, in Kingston, Jamaica. Updates and more information are available on the WPLC website.
B. National Union of Peoples' Lawyers
A Statement of Support for the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers has been endorsed, in response to state-supported targeting of lawyers in the Philippines for challenging human rights and democratic abuses, and the extra-judicial killings of dozens of lawyers and thousands of ordinary people as part of President Duterte’s so-called war on drugs.
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