Evidence of meeting #53 for Justice and Human Rights in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was conditions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:40 p.m.
Liberal
6:40 p.m.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, As an Individual
That's no problem.
Race talk is difficult. It's just one of those things. All of us stand to have that or sit back and get that talking-to. It's not just Crowns, but defence lawyers and all of the people who work in ensuring that the administration of justice is fair.
6:45 p.m.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Certainly.
I was thinking, when I asked the question.... I used to work in the faculty of medicine at McGill, and one of the academics I worked with—I was a staff person—was a lady of advanced years. She said that she was oftentimes thought of...that people would mistake her for a nurse, or sometimes even the caretaker or janitor of the hospital, whereas she was a physician.
I know that people of different racialized backgrounds in these professions—law, medicine, etc.—have different interactions from those who aren't racialized.
6:45 p.m.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, As an Individual
That's been my experience. I've walked into courthouses, and despite the fact that I think I look the part, I'm stopped and so on. It's quite endemic, and it's not something that's peculiar to me. It happens to a lot of other racialized lawyers.
6:45 p.m.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
I would say, despite the training that lawyers and prosecutors and others in the court justice system have, there's still more work that needs to be done, and Gladue is pushing things in the right direction.
6:45 p.m.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, As an Individual
That's right. As the member said, we are seeing the courts signalling to lawyers in cases like Morris and Le—
6:45 p.m.
Liberal
Sameer Zuberi Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
With somebody like you—a Ph.D. candidate who's going to be a doctor pretty soon, I'm sure—for assumptions to be put around your credentials, your research, your background and your expertise, I find it really interesting. It's flabbergasting, to be honest, but it shows that we have a lot of work to do.
6:45 p.m.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, As an Individual
You know—
6:45 p.m.
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor, As an Individual
I was just going to say I have a pretty thick skin. I know that talking about race is difficult—
6:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
Thank you, Mr. Zuberi.
I want to thank all the witnesses for attending and for giving your very valuable testimony today.
Before I conclude, I think the clerk wanted to mention an event that we've all been invited to. I believe it's on Friday. I will not be able to attend, but Mr. Clerk, do you want to read it out quickly to members?
March 8th, 2023 / 6:45 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Jean-François Lafleur
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was not aware that I would have to do that now.
We will circulate an invitation about an event about Ukraine on Friday night. It will be circulated tomorrow morning. It's from the Parliamentary Centre.
6:45 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
All right. That concludes the meeting.
We'll adjourn, and we'll see you all after the break week.