A personal reflection on the 32nd annual BLSA National Conference
On February 16, Black law students from across the country descended on Halifax for the 32nd annual Black Law Students’ Association (BLSA) of Canada National Conference. Greeted by a surprisingly warm day, over 500 attendees began a three-day conference filled with social events, panels, and speeches. After the conference was held entirely online in my 1L year and a spike in COVID-19 cases during my 2L year caused me to miss the in-person portion of the conference in Vancouver, I was excited to attend my first conference in person.
As part of a delegation from the University of Toronto—consisting of 12 current law students, a handful of recent grads, and Professor Abdi Aidid—I was appreciative of how much work has been done to try to increase Black law student representation at the Faculty.
At the first significant event in Halifax, I was blown away to see the room full of 500 Black law students, articling students, and legal professionals representing BLSA chapters from coast to coast. Having previously been in a career with minimal Black representation, this was encouraging to see. When the conference began 32 years ago, there were only around 40 students. To know that there could have been even more this year if there were no capacity limits shows just how far Black representation has come in the legal profession.
As we celebrate Black History Month, it is essential to remember where we have come from, but also we need to think about where we can go and what still needs to be done. The theme for the conference was “Forward & Upward—Bending the Arc towards Justice.” The theme comes from the famous Martin Luther King Jr. quote, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Multiple keynote speakers— including recently appointed Chief Justice of Ontario, Michael Tulloch—made clear the context of the quote. Originally, it was spoken by Unitarian minister Theodore Parker, an abolitionist, who knew that “bending the arc” would require some pulling. Robert Wright, Executive Director at the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute, delivered a rousing speech about this ongoing struggle and the work that still needs to be done to achieve it.
Throughout the weekend, there was a career fair as well as panels on a variety of different topics that included starting your own firm, becoming a firm partner, artificial intelligence, community advocacy, abolition, and mental health. The panel that I most enjoyed, and the one that I was glad to finally be able to take part in, was the Brother to Brother panel. It, and the concurrent Sister to Sister panel, provided a space for very real and frank discussions about the different challenges that arise from presenting as Black in the legal space as your identified gender.
As part of the conference, there were opportunities to tour the Africville Museum and the North Preston community. The story of Africville is unfortunately not one that is well known, even within the Black Canadian community. Africville was a primarily Black community located on the outskirts of Halifax. Due to discrimination, the City of Halifax did not provide sewers, garbage disposal, or clean water access to the residents of Africville. Instead of providing the community with these services, the Halifax City Council decided instead to relocate the residents and destroyed Africville in 1980 (for more on Africville, I recommend watching the short documentary Remember Africville, which is available for free by the National Film Board of Canada).
North Preston is the largest black community by concentration in the country. Those who went on the tour spoke highly of how friendly and engaging the members of the community were. Currently, North Preston residents are fighting to gain ownership of the land that they’ve been living on for generations after their ancestors were not given clear legal title upon settling in the area hundreds of years ago.
These historical injustices are currently trying to be made right, but unfortunately, we know that discrimination is still present, a fact sadly noticed during this conference. During an off-site social at a bar that the conference had rented out, attendees of the conference were faced with an experience that is unfortunately all too familiar when they were asked to provide two pieces of ID to enter, something that is typically not required in the city, and claims of the space reaching capacity well before they actually did, which left a long line of attendees waiting in the cold. While things were eventually sorted out, it was an unfortunate blemish on what was otherwise a wonderful weekend.
The conference was capped off with a gala event that celebrated the accomplishments of the various BLSA chapters and recognized BLSA scholarship winners. As I looked at the room of sharply dressed individuals, I was proud of what I saw. There is always going to be more work to be done in improving Black representation in the profession, but with continual efforts such as the Black Future Lawyers program at the Faculty, it is a future that I am optimistic about.
