2021 Bencher Candidate Statements on Diversity and Equity
November 8, 2021
An election is being held for Benchers of the Law Society of British Columbia in all districts for a two-year term beginning January 1, 2022 and ending December 31, 2023. Voting instructions and voter credentials were sent to eligible voters on November 1, 2021. Candidate biographies and election statements can be viewed here and are also posted on the online voting site.
Given that part of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (British Columbia) Society’s mandate is to promote equity and opportunity, we wrote to the Bencher candidates requesting that they provide us with a statement that answers the following questions:
1) Why is equity and diversity important to you?
2) If elected, what steps will you take to improve equity and diversity within the BC Bar?
3) What accountability measures (e.g. monitoring and reporting) will you use to ensure progress on your commitments?
Please find the statements we received here.
The views expressed are those of the candidates and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FACL BC.
Update (November 9, 2021):
On November 8, FACL BC distributed statements on diversity and equity from candidates in the ongoing Bencher election. Unfortunately, some candidates sent statements to us but we did not receive them due to a technical issue with our mail server. In particular, Cheryl D'Sa; Brook Greenberg, Q.C.; and Kevin Westell submitted statements to us but we did not receive them due to a technical error. We sincerely apologize for any issues caused by this error. We have now updated the document to include all statements that we are aware of.
We are currently in the process of reaching out to the other candidates to determine whether they sent us such a statement and will update the document tomorrow with all of the statements we received.
Update (November 10, 2021):
On November 8, FACL BC distributed statements on diversity and equity from candidates in the ongoing Bencher election. Unfortunately, some candidates sent statements to us but we did not receive them due to a technical issue with our mail server. In particular, Kim Carter; Tanya Chamberlain; Cheryl D’Sa; Brian Dybwad; Brook Greenberg, Q.C.; Doug Lester, Q.C.; Steven McKoen, Q.C.; Julian Porritt; and Kevin Westell submitted statements to us but we did not receive them due to a technical error. We sincerely apologize for any issues caused by this error. In addition, Lynett Jung did not receive our initial email because it went to her spam folder.
We have now updated the document on our website to include all statements that we are aware of.
