Transnational Law & Justice Network Presents: Barriers to Justice: Four Perspectives
Valarie Waboose (University of Windsor Faculty of Law Ianni Scholar in Residence) graduated from University of Windsor Faculty of Law in 1993 and completed her LLM in 1999. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph. D. from Trent University. The title of her dissertation is "Re-living the Residential School Experience: an Anishinabe Kwe's Examination of the Compensation Processes for Residential School Survivors". Valarie will discuss the missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada as a barrier to justice.
N. Nicole Nussbaum works as a Staff Lawyer with Legal Aid Ontario acting as a family advice lawyer and family duty counsel at the London, Ontario courthouse. Her winter 2014 course, Gender Identity and the Law in the Department of Women's Studies and Feminist research at the University of Western Ontario, was the first course in Canada to focus specifically on this topic. Nicole is the project lead on the Trans Legal Needs Assessment Ontario, a project administered by the HIV/AIDS Legal Clinic Ontario with funding from Legal Aid Ontario and the Ontario HIV Treatment Network. Nicole’s presentation will focus on how the law intersects with the lives of Trans people (those whose gender identity or gender expression is not reflected by the sex/gender assigned to them at birth) and what does access to justice mean for them?
Ryan Fritsch (B.A., LL.B., LL.M.) is leading the development of a province-wide Mental Health Strategy for Legal Aid Ontario. Ryan previously served as legal counsel to the Psychiatric Patient Advocate Office, which provides rights advice and advocacy services to over 30,000 psychiatric in-patients across Ontario each year. He is a sessional lecturer at the University of Windsor’s Faculty of Law, member of the Provincial Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee, former co-chair of the Toronto Police Service Board Mental Health Emergency Diversion Committee, and former co-chair of the Ontario Police Record Check Coalition. The title of his presentation is LAO's Mental Health Strategy: Expanding Access to Justice for Clients with Mental Health & Addictions Issues.
Adam Vasey received a B.A., LL.B., and M.S.W. from the University of Windsor, and an LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. He has been the director of Pathway to Potential, the local anti-poverty strategy, since 2009. In 2013 he was appointed to the provincial Minimum Wage Advisory Panel, and also received the “Distinguished Social Worker of the Year” award through the Ontario Association of Social Workers – Southwestern Branch. Adam was recently awarded the Law Foundation of Ontario’s Community Leader in Justice Fellowship, which he is completing at University of Windsor Faculty of Law in the fall and winter semesters of 2014-2015. Adam’s talk will focus on how law can be used to both challenge and perpetuate oppression for those who experience poverty. Drawing on his experiences working within the local anti-poverty movement, he will explore how social work theory and practice might deepen our understanding of law's potential to meaningfully address poverty.