The Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers held its second annual conference and banquet on Saturday, November 8, 2008. Over 100 legal professionals and law students gathered to discuss and learn about issues facing the South Asian, Southeast Asian and East Asian communities.

Attendees had the opportunity to hear Professor Frank Wu, former Dean of Wayne State Law School, speak vividly of the Asian experience in the United States and the iconic case of Vincent Chin; Derry Millar, Treasurer of the Law Society of Canada, speak about diversity and the changing face of the legal profession; and, Vern Krishna, Q.C., speak of the accreditation process for foreign legally trained professionals and the struggles these professionals face.

The conference also featured the following distinguished panelists:

• The Honourable Jean Augustine, P.C.;
• Olivia Chow, M.P.;
• The Honourable Mavin Wong, Ontario Court of Justice;
• Dr. Lillian Ma, Chair of the Ontario Landlord and Tenant Board;
• Avvy Go, Director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic;
• Deepa Mattoo, South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario; and
• Barbara Jackman.

At the banquet, FACL awarded its inaugural Lawyer of Distinction honour to Rafael Fabregas for his courageous work in helping Juana Tejada gain permanent residency in Canada. His work helped to pressure the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration to right the injustice that Ms. Tejada faced and helped to expose inadequacies in the federal live-in caregiver program.

FACL would like to thank the following organizations for generously sponsoring this year’s event:

• The Law Foundation of Ontario (Title Sponsor)
• Borden Ladner Gervais LLP (Gold Sponsor)
• Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP (Silver Sponsor)
• Cavalluzzo Hayes Shilton McIntyre & Cornish LLP (Silver Sponsor)
• Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP (Bronze Sponsor)
• Stikeman Elliott LLP (Bronze Sponsor)

For a summary of this year’s Conference and Banquet, please see: Asian Canadian Lawyers in Action.

FACL’s third annual conference and banquet will take place on Saturday, November 7, 2009 where our next guest speaker will be former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, The Honourable Frank Iacobucci, C.C., Q.C., LL.D.