Dozens of lawyers and other Canadian citizens have co-signed a letter demanding that the Law Society of Alberta (LSA) stop the “politicization” of the organization and asking the province’s premier and justice minister to intervene.
The letter, dated July 17 and initiated by Calgary lawyer Roger Song, has received signatures from 30 Alberta lawyers along with 16 lawyers in other provinces plus 26 citizens at the time of this writing, and has been posted as a petition on change.org.
It describes Mr. Song as “a former citizen of a totalitarian regime, China.”
“Mr. Song experienced state mandated political re-education of legal professionals. He immigrated to Canada to live and practice in freedom,” the letter said.
“Mr. Song sees striking similarities between his experiences in China and the ‘continuing professional development’ requirements now being implemented by the LSA. What the LSA now calls ‘cultural competence’ looks very much like the cultural indoctrination to which Roger was subjected by the Chinese Communist Party.”
The letter is addressed to LSA president Bill Hendsbee and executive director Elizabeth Osler, and copies Alberta Justice Minister Mickey Amery and Premier Danielle Smith. It begins by saying that the Law Society “has assumed a political objective which is a threat to the rule of law.”
“In gross violation of our constitutional order, the LSA, as the regulator of Alberta lawyers with the power to sanction and suspend, has itself adopted a political ideology of its own choosing: social justice,” the letter said.
“As an immediate and inevitable consequence of adopting this political ideology, the LSA is now using its regulatory power to compel all lawyers to salute and pursue the same political ideology.”
The letter also suggests that the LSA is using educational resources premised in “Critical Race Theory” and that the society’s “political objectives are not trivial” and are not in line with generally accepted Canadian values.
“According to the LSA’s materials, Canadian law, policy, and legal structures are deeply corrupt,” the letter said.
“The LSA’s ’regulatory objectives’ implicitly include facilitating the voluntary racial segregation of lawyers and clients and promoting the racial segregation of Canada’s indigenous population within independent systems of indigenous law and indigenous legal systems. Regardless of arguments for or against such goals, this is not the business of the LSA. The place to change these laws is the legislature,” states the letter.
‘Cultural Education’
At a recent special meeting of LSA members, 864 Alberta lawyers supported a resolution to repeal a new rule that would purportedly give the society the power to mandate specific “continuing professional development” including cultural “education,” the letter said.
“As lawyers who have or had the privilege to practice law and serve the ends of truth and justice in the province of Alberta, we believe that it is our responsibility to write this letter to defend the rule of law in Canada and what it preserves: democracy, freedom, peace, health, and wealth.”
The letter went on to say: “A silent constitutional crisis is upon us. Fundamental cornerstones of our Western legal system, developed over centuries, are collapsing. We say this crisis is ’silent' because it seems that few people are aware, fewer are speaking-out, and fewer still comprehend the existential danger this poses to our Canadian way of life.”
The letter suggests that “knowingly or unknowingly, the LSA has been captured by a political movement.”
Stating that the law society “is violating the rule of law,” the letter said: “When the LSA’s authority was created by the Legislature, it was not given unlimited power to do whatever it would like. It was granted limited power to pursue only the purpose for which that power was granted, namely, professional competence and ethics.”
The LSA did not immediately reply to an inquiry from The Epoch Times. However according to the letter, at an LSA board meeting on Feb. 24, 2022, the legal restrictions on the society’s powers were discussed.
“The board raised the LSA’s desire to advance its agenda regardless of perceived limitations in the Legal Profession Act. The LSA’s CEO and Director: ‘… outlined the challenges associated with getting the government to prioritize legislative amendments to the Act. In the meantime, the Law Society continues to utilize the Rules to advance its work where the legislation is outdated,’” said the group of lawyers in the letter.
They maintain that the LSA has no “inherent jurisdiction” and that its work is “to pursue the purposes assigned to it, with only the powers given to it, by the Legislature.”
The group calls on Ms. Smith and Mr. Amery to “rein in the LSA’s foray into inherently dangerous politicization.”
The lawyers specifically ask the Alberta government to resist any request from the LSA to insert a “broad ‘public interest’ mandate” into the Legal Profession Act, which has to do with regulating lawyers’ competence and ethics.
They said the LSA is seeking to use regulatory powers to pursue a broad mandate that would impose professional development and other obligations on lawyers that have to do with political, or ideological objectives.
“The LSA’s current political adventure [threatens] the independence of individual lawyers to provide advice and assistance to clients. The legislature must intervene to restore this vital independence,” said the letter.
