This week’s guest blogger is Mark Persaud, J.D., LL.M., LL.D. Honoris Causa. Mark’s blog includes an adapted version of his remarks to the Law Society of Upper Canada Convocation delivered June 17th, 2016, in London, Ontario.
I was born in British Guyana (now Guyana after independence), in South America and grew up privileged as the second in a family of five children. My siblings and I enjoyed a good life and attended the best schools. However, politics eventually intervened and altered my normal, carefree, teenage life, as I began to challenge the undemocratic and repressive government of the day. My family lived in fear of reprisals for my activities, and my father was concerned that I would get my family killed. I replied, “it is better to die with dignity than live the life of a coward under this repressive government.”
Once it was decided my family would flee the country, my parents sent me to Canada for safety, the plan at the time being that I would subsequently join them in the United States once their US Visas were approved. I left Guyana with $200 in local currency ($80.59 CAD) and one suitcase with some personal belongings. Once I arrived in Canada, I was unable to work or receive government assistance, so I ended up on the streets of downtown Toronto. Refusing to use shelters or panhandle, I remained proud, and desperately tried to preserve my dignity.
On a cold winter’s day, when I was visibly freezing, I was told by a kind gentleman to go to the Scott Mission – a Christian charity that assisted the poor and vulnerable. This is where I met Eileen Brown, a staffer who took an immediate interest in assisting me. She rescued me, finding me a place to live and food to eat.
Due to not being able to work legally in Canada, I began using most of my time to volunteer in various organizations. This included volunteering at Amnesty International, telephone counselling at a distress centre, and volunteering to assist refugees. I eventually volunteered full time at the Refugee Desk of the National Office of the United Church of Canada, where I went on to create an organisation to help others like myself: the Toronto United Church Emergency Refugee Relief organisation. Through working with refugees and attending university, I realized that I was destined to be an advocate and lawyer.
During my time as a lawyer with the Department of Justice, I experienced an environment in which supervisors and managers condoned racism and discrimination. I was appointed to the Deputy Minister’s Advisory Committee on Visible Minorities, where I spoke out against discriminatory practises in promotions and advancement. I paid a heavy price both personally and professionally. I then realized that my experiences as a homeless youth, coupled with the discrimination I faced as a lawyer at the Department of Justice and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, made me more resilient, determined, and committed to doing my part in ensuring that everyone is treated with respect, fairness, and dignity, regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
I’d like to leave you with my hopes for the future, reflected in an abridged and modified version of my address to the Law Society of Upper Canada Convocation from 2016, which I feel is still just as relevant today.
As members of the legal profession, in a diverse society, we have a very special obligation to expose and address all forms of discrimination. As a profession, we are uniquely trained and suited for advancing fairness and equality.
On the point of gender: growing up with sisters, I have always been inspired by strong women, and have seen a troubling trend that must be arrested. We need to immediately address the serious issue of women leaving the legal profession in large numbers. The motherhood penalty still exists for women in many quarters. Regrettably, it also exists in the legal profession.
It must be acknowledged that we have made progress on equality on a number of fronts, such as gender, race, sexual orientation, and disability. I, myself have experienced overt racism in Canada, such as being called racist names on the bus, or being spat at, simply because of the colour of my skin while walking in public. Although these are largely things of the past, we are still faced with complex and insidious forms of discrimination that cannot be denied. No one should be humiliated, dehumanised, or discriminated against because of their race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation or disability, especially in the legal profession.
As lawyers we should never be afraid to speak out against unfairness and injustice. We should never be reluctant to be constructively critical.
We all have an important obligation to contribute to the eradication of unfairness and discrimination, especially in our profession. If we cannot get it right as lawyers, then how can we expect or demand it of others?
Use your skills to advance causes that are important, or that you are passionate about, including in politics or social causes. It is our duty to speak out on important issues in a fair, objective, and non-partisan manner, and to put public interest ahead of political partisanship.
Write and publish articles of importance to the profession and public. Share your skills and talents. Continuing legal education is very important. As lawyers we become perpetual students of the law.
Vigourously defend the administration of justice, the judiciary, the profession, and your colleagues against attacks on our independence, political neutrality, and integrity. In the face of inappropriate political pressures, we have a crucial role as lawyers, individually and collectively, to defend the independence of our judiciary. Support your law associations in engaging in advocacy roles on behalf of vulnerable members of our community. We all deserve to be listened to. Work on addressing the shortcomings in our legal system that deter complainants from coming forward, and ensure fair treatment and outcomes for those without representation.
You all have the ability and capacity to make invaluable and significant contributions to the profession, to the administration of justice, and beyond. By virtue of your education, work ethic, intelligence, and training, you are well suited to assume leadership roles in our society with the attention, seriousness, and responsibility that such roles demand.
And with that, my best wishes to all of you as you embark on your professional journeys. Continue to build on the legacies and important contributions from members of our profession, past and present, that have helped make our profession and country great.
(Summary prepared by Sophia Gojamanis, LL.B. & LL.M. candidate)
Full text of speech available on the Law Society of Ontario Gazette at
http://www.lawsocietygazette.ca/news/honorary-doctor-of-laws-for-mark-m-persaud/
Often the racial discrimination claimants are self-represented, understandably, because of the poverty associated with racialization, and their rich opponents are represented by lawyers. In most cases, these lawyers behave and argue as if they have not received any training on human rights and dimish the equal rights of the racialized self-represented litigants. The decision makers rely and depend on the lawyers to make their decisions rather than doing the hard work of studying the case and doing the necessary research. They adopt the reasons provided by the lawyers with some modifications and write their decisions. This is what usually happens when racialized people bring discrimination claims to the Human Rights Tribunal or courts.
Well said Kovarthanan. The facts are exactly as you state them. There is an understanding that judges will find the law inconvenient if it favours the SRL’s case. I have concluded
I stopped reading Mr Pursuad’s blog right at exhorting lawyers to “defend the judiciary”. I literally wretched. The judiciary needs no defender and in its current state no one, not a soul, can or should defend the judiciary. I know of members of the judiciary whose name I will praise but the judiciary as a whole absolutely not for it is as good as its worst member. It is no secret the judiciary is very tainted.