Dear members of the law school community,
In my initial communications as the new Dean of the Faculty of Law, I highlighted Inclusive Excellence as one of my core priorities for the coming years. The relationship between inclusion and excellence is central to our academic mission. Excellence flourishes in an environment that embraces the broadest range of people, that enables all members of our community to participate fully and to achieve their full potential, that facilitates the free expression of their diverse perspectives through respectful discourse, and in which high standards are maintained for faculty, students and staff alike.
In this message, I wanted to offer some further thoughts on the Faculty’s efforts to deepen its commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion. In so doing, I would like to use the opportunity to engage with an open letter that the Faculty’s equity-deserving student groups (the Asia Law Society; Black Law Students Association; Indigenous Law Students Association; Out in Law; and South Asian Law Students Association) released last summer.
I am grateful to the authors of the letter for the care and commitment that went into its preparation and for its thoughtful set of recommendations as to how the Faculty might enhance its efforts to contribute to the dismantling of systemic racism in the legal sphere and in the Faculty.
I want to begin by condemning anti-Black racism, anti-Indigenous racism, anti-Asian racism and racism in all its forms. We appreciate the hard work done by our student leaders. And we acknowledge the burden and pain that Black, Indigenous and racialized members of our community experience, and indeed are experiencing in our own Faculty of Law community, as students, faculty and staff.
We are acutely aware that law schools are sites where systemic racism exists, while at the same time they bear a special responsibility in helping to dismantle systemic racism in our legal institutions. We reiterate our agreement with the statement of the Canadian Council of Law Deans:
We know that law schools can play a critical role in dismantling systems of institutionalized racism in our society. As legal educators we can contribute productively to the ways in which these issues are addressed in the curriculum and in the legal system more generally. We want all our graduates to appreciate that racism has no place in a society governed by the rule of law, and that as members of the legal profession they must play a role in ameliorating the damage caused by racist practices in the Canadian legal system. This goal is vitally important because we know that law is not inherently neutral or progressive; we are regretfully aware that graduates of our faculties – many of whom have held positions of leadership in Canadian society – have played significant roles in the development and perpetuation of colonial and systemically racist policy and practices. This is a history we must work to correct.
We commit to continuing the efforts in each of our law schools to focus on issues of racism, particularly anti-Black racism, and the role of law in maintaining those systems, as we teach and learn with our students and as we examine and develop our curricular offerings. We also commit to finding more opportunities to consider the ways in which law can be a force for change in unsettling embedded racism. We will seek to advance the goal of removing racism from the operation of the legal system through the clinical and extra-curricular opportunities we provide to our students, in our student recruiting and faculty hiring, in our support for the research communities examining these issues and in our engagement with the broader legal community.
In short, we must do better. While we have a considerable distance to go, the Faculty has taken a series of concrete steps tobring about meaningful change, touching on several of the recommendations offered in the open letter. In highlighting these steps, I want to emphasize that we are resolute in our commitment to eradicating white supremacy and racism in all its forms. Accordingly, the measures highlighted below should be understood as important steps in a long-term, ongoing effort.
Accessibility - Expand financial aid and accessibility resources to address the unique needs that arise from remote learning.
This year, the law school’s need-based financial aid program distributed over $4.7 million to our students and graduates. In part due to COVID, we increased bursary support to 78% of unmet need (i.e. the gap between a student’s resources and the cost of attending law school), up from 60% last year. Going forward, we are on track to provide bursaries that will cover at least 60% of eligible students’ unmet need. The financial aid committee’s mandate for 2020-2021 included a question about how to treat equity-based scholarships in the financial aid process. The committee has begun to gather data to assess this issue and I will be asking it to continue this work in 2021-2022.
Mental Health Supports - Recognize the unique mental health needs of racialized students and further invest in mental health supports.
In July 2020, we welcomed Terry Gardiner, our new Student Mental Health & Wellness Program Manager, who has years of experience working at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work as their Manager, Diversity, Equity & Student Experience. In his role at the law school, Terry is responsible for leading our student mental health strategy and ensuring that our mental health supports and initiatives respond to the needs of our racialized and marginalized students.
Student Equity Training - Modify the 1L Orientation week and mandatory sessions to improve equity-focused training and better recognize the experiences of racialized students.
This year, we made significant changes to the 1L mandatory ethics training sessions to include a strong focus on anti-Black racism in particular. In addition, starting this year, we required all incoming 1L students before they arrived in August to read a text focusing on the impacts of colonialism on Indigenous peoples and to attend a follow up discussion circle with our Manager, Indigenous Initiatives, and our Elder in Residence, Elder Constance Simmonds. Going forward, we will want to think through the format, context (e.g. as a component of professionalism training or as a separate offering, or both), and timing of anti-racism training.
Transparency - Review and share disaggregated data on applicants and admits with stakeholders.
Since 2015-16, we have collected and publicly reported demographic data about our incoming class. For many years we have tracked the number of Indigenous applicants and, starting this year, we are tracking the number of Black applicants to the law school through our new Black Student Application Process. The law school is working with the other Ontario law schools and OLSAS on a proposed new initiative that will collect demographic data about all applicants. We are encouraged by recent trends in the demographic data of our students: this year 41% of 1L students identified as racialized, up from 35% last year.
Engagement with Equity-Facing Groups – Conduct quarterly meetings with equity groups to receive feedback on current equity initiatives.
We will continue to meet with student leaders of the law school’s equity-deserving groups, and are committed to continuing an ongoing dialogue about the law school’s efforts to address systemic racism. Going forward, the Assistant Dean J.D. Program and the Director, Student Programs will schedule meetings with the equity-deserving groups on a quarterly basis.
Hiring Racialized Faculty Members - Make the Faculty more inclusive and reflective of Canadian society and the communities that legal professionals serve.
As Dean, I have stated that hiring Indigenous, Black and racialized scholars will be among the priority considerations when the Faculty embarks on a new hiring process.
Pre-Law Supports - Offer greater resources (e.g., more LSAT courses, replicating Black Future Lawyers (BFL) efforts for other racialized communities) to pre-law students from marginalized and minority communities.
We have offered our free LSAT prep course for low-income students since 2012, and have been very happy to share the model with Osgoode, Western, and Calgary law schools, as well as the UofT Temerty Faculty of Medicine. Last year, we moved the entire program online, expanded the number of seats from 30 to 40, and prioritized Black and Indigenous students, regardess of their family income. This year, we are on track to expand to 60 spots with at least 30 spots prioritized for Black and Indigenous students.
Launched in January 2020, the Black Future Lawyers (BFL) program now has over 400 Black undergraduate student members, and three new chapters at York, McMaster and Western. With new funding from law firms, foundations and the Provost’s office, we are on track to expand to several additional chapters this year and hire a new full-time BFL Program Manager.
Performance Metrics - Develop an annual progress report to assess and report on the progress of equity and diversity at the law school.
One of my central goals as Dean is to deepen the law school’s commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. We are being intentional in creating inclusive working and learning environments. Currently, I am in the early stages of planning a process that will include all members of the law school community and focus specifically on embedding equity, diversity and inclusivity into our systems, practices and processes. The result will be a comprehensive set of recommendations that will touch on all facets of our operation, along with regular assessment of progress.
Curriculum Improvements - Modify the curriculum to reflect on the ongoing prevalence of colonial theory and include anti-oppression training.
Discussions are in progress around a mandatory course to augment the Faculty’s response to TRC Call for Action #28 (on Indigenous Peoples and the Law), as part of a wider conversation around key aspects of our curriculum, notably the first year curriculum. In addition, this year we offered a course on Critical Race Theory and other courses focusing on a critical analysis of the law. Going forward, we will continue to prioritize offering a broad curriculum that offers multiple viewpoints on the law and legal system.
I’ll close by reiterating that one of my core priorities as Dean is to deepen the law school’s focus on Inclusive Excellence. This focus will continue to be central to my leadership as Dean. We will be in ongoing dialogue with our equity-deserving groups and the broader student population as we work to integrate equity, diversity and inclusion across the board of Faculty operations. In that connection I would like to acknowledge again the burden that this work places on students in particular and express my gratitude for your continued commitment to engaging in this important dialogue.
Jutta Brunnée
Dean & James M. Tory Professor of Law
