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REGIONAL WRAP-UP montReal to welcome city baR gRoups fRom aRound the woRld their own systems, which is either com- mon law or civil law. That is the trend and why we think it is important to discuss how they are different but how they can come together." Delegates to the World City Bar Leaders Conference in Montreal will also get a taste of Quebec at a gala dinner for a new legal tradition that first began in Quebec five years ago — the awarding to a select group of lawyers of the Advocatus Emeritus title by the Barreau du Québec. Since 2007, a total of 224 lawyers — including 30 this year — have received the title, which allows lawyers to add the honorific Ad. E. after their names. The distinction, awarded with a pin in the shape of the Quebec Bar logo with a ruby inside, and a special parchment cer- tificate, was designed not only to recognize the contribution of individual members by peers, but also to promote the image of lawyers as giving achievers. To be selected, at least five bar-accredited lawyers must support the nomination of a candidate and that person has to meet at least two out of three criteria: career excellence, excep- tional contribution to the profession, or social involvement that shines light on the legal profession. The selection committee is made up of seven previous recipients of the honour from the main and regional bars, who sit for three-year terms, and bar officials and employees cannot support any candidacy. The winners' ceremony is now part of the legal establishment agenda and takes place each year around the time of the official opening of the court in September. — KATHRYN LEGER kathryn.leger@videotron.ca MANITOBA LAWYER REMAINS VIGILANT ABOUT SCHOOL PRAYERS Prayer. He was suspended several times for his actions. Tait and his family took the matter to the courts and, in 1992, he was vindicated when the Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench decreed that religious exercises should no longer be manda- tory in provincial schools. Religious exercises are only to be allowed when a sub- T stantial majority of the parents petition to have them and the petitions must be re-submitted every year on a school-by- school basis. These religious exercises are not to be held dur- ing regular instruction time and are to be held in a common area such as a gym. And no one — neither staff members nor students — can be compelled to participate if they are not willing. Today, Chris Tait is a legal aid lawyer in Dauphin, Man., and he is not entirely satisfied with the level of compliance with the court ruling among schools. "I have been keeping tabs for the past number of years on this issue," he says. "From time to time, I have filed Freedom of Information applica- tions. In some areas, things seem to be going sideways." Up to this point, Tait has been quietly lobbying the provin- cial Department of Education to take action where schools are violating the rules. Now he has decided to take more direct action to raise public awareness of the issue. In June, he approached the Winnipeg Free Press. He claims more than 20 Manitoba school divisions are violating the guidelines on religious exercises and further charges they are pushing a religious agenda. wenty-five years ago, rural Manitoba high school student Chris Tait, an avowed atheist, refused to stand in the classroom for the recitation of the Lord's THE PRAIRIES He has also begun contacting schools directly. "The Department of Education doesn't seem to be doing much about the matter," he says. "The court issued clear guidelines. The department should be following the law and setting a good example for kids and for society. The department is showing poor leadership." David Yeo, director of the education administration services branch, says the Department of Education has had guidelines for religious exercises in schools for a number of years. "If anyone is unhappy with the guidelines or believes that a school is in viola- tion of the guidelines, we are willing to talk about it," he says, "but there is not much else we can do other than remind the school. Individuals who have complaints can go to the courts or the human rights commission." Tait says in the past, he has asked the Department of Education to contact schools that were not conducting religious exercises within the guidelines. Now, he is contacting some of the offending school divisions directly with advice. While some didn't respond, he notes, the superintendent at Seven Oaks School Division in northwest Winnipeg did. Upon being alerted, the division superintendent for Seven Oaks, a Ukrainian bilingual school in north Winnipeg, took action following Tait's advice. The school will now hold its religious exercises in the school library in the mornings before school starts. "Part of the problem is that superintendents don't always know what is going on in individual schools," Tait observes. "I am prepared to help on a per-case basis. Change is a slow and gradual process. You do what you can." — MYRON LOVE www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com A U GUST 2011 11 C ontinued fr om pa g e 9