The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/50821
L E GAL E THICS BY PHILIP SLAYTON One lawyer can make a difference Every little bit counts in the fight for access to justice. sue — lack of access to justice — if you care enough. Recently, I've come across two interesting examples. A friend gave me a book by Vancouver S lawyer Dugald Christie, self-published in 2000, called A Journey into Justice. Most of the book is taken up with Christie's account of his 1998 bicycle trip from Vancouver to Ottawa (he was 57 at the time). He took the trip so he could burn his lawyer's robes on the steps of the Su- preme Court of Canada. He wanted in this way to protest against poor people's lack of access to justice. Christie's quix- otic journey attracted a fair bit of atten- tion, which, of course, was the whole point. He took similar bicycle trips later, and with the same purpose. Christie was killed in a traffic accident 28 JULY 2008 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com ometimes an individual lawyer shows what can be done about the legal profession's biggest ethical is- on July 31, 2006. His bicycle was hit by a minivan on the Trans-Canada Highway, in the hamlet of Iron Bridge, near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. This time he was head- ing to Newfoundland, where he planned to attend the Canadian Bar Associa- tion's annual meeting. Christie wanted the CBA to pass a resolution calling on governments to improve access to the justice system. In an official statement, the president of the CBA said members were saddened by Christie's tragic death. "Dugald was a dedicated fighter for the rights of Canadians who could not ac- cess the justice system," said the presi- dent. The CBA did not pass the resolu- tion Christie wanted. I never met Christie. He was obviously an unusual man, a bit odd perhaps. Is there another onetime top-flight corpo- rate lawyer who has bicycled across Can- ada in support of the poor? "Not every- one's cup of tea," said the B.C. Supreme Court chief justice when he heard about Christie's death (the judge went on to express great respect for Christie). A Journey Into Justice is strangely mov- ing. Christie's passion burns bright. As he cycled to Ottawa, struggling to climb steep hills and put up his tent at night, he ruminated on basic issues. "The ques- tions that would never go away were: 'Am I crazy?' 'Is the law really so inac- cessible?' 'What, if anything, can be done about it?'" As he flew home after burn- ing his robes, Christie concluded, "The key to law reform is not just to get the ILLUSTRATION: NICK CRAINE