CrimSL's 26th Annual John Ll. J. Edwards Memorial Lecture, "Reconciliation requires us to decolonize, decriminalize and decarcerate," was delivered by the Honourable Kim Pate, Senator, at the Faculty Club, University of Toronto and livestreamed on November 18, 2024. About 100 attended in person and 272 watched the livestream.
CrimSL Director Professor Kamari Clarke opened the event with welcoming remarks. CrimSL PhD candidate Sara Ali then gave a Land Acknowledgment. Next, First Nation artist Bruno Henry, Six Nations of the Grand River, presented Senator Pate with gift of earrings he handmade. Pate thanked him with a hug and promptly put them on.
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Professor Clarke gave a brief history of the Edwards Memorial Lecture and a preview of new CrimSL alumni initiatives.
CrimSL Professor Kerry Taylor and three of her students—Annabelle Liu, 3rd-year undergraduate student, Esther Ogunsanya, 4th-year undergraduate student, and Stephanie Davis, CrimSL/UT alumna—each introduced Senator Pate.
Finally, CrimSL Professor Kelly Hannah-Moffat welcomed Senator Pate as an old friend.
Pate's talk ranged from the importance of land acknowledgements to how she became a senator to the need to re-channel funding and resources, currently allocated to incarceration, into community supports such as health care, economic supports, educational supports and social supports to help people get their lives back.
She spoke broadly about her report, Injustices and Miscarriages of Justice Experienced by 12 Indigenous Women.
At law school I learned that the law applies equally to everyone.
And then I'd go into the prisons.
- Senator Kim Pate
Following the lecture, Professor Beatrice Jauregui introduced the work of CrimSL's Research Cluster for the Study of Racism and Inequality and then moderated audience Q & A with the Senator.
Professor Kamari Clarke made special mention of several in the audience, including Mr. Justice Mark L. Edwards, son of CrimSL's founder.
She provided concluding remarks and thanks before inviting everyone to enjoy reception which capped the event.
Sponsors
This lecture was presented by the University of Toronto's Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies and co-sponsored by U of T's Woodsworth College and Faculty of Law.
Watch the lecture
A video recording of the lecture and Q & A, complete with captions, description, and timings, has been posted on CrimSL's YouTube channel .
Resources
Senator Pate's PPT slides for her November 18, 2024 lecture "Reconciliation requires us to decolonize, decriminalize and decarcerate"- Report: Injustices and Miscarriages of Justice Experienced by 12 Indigenous Women.
- Report: Senators go to jail: When, why and what did they find?
- Tona's Law - Fact Sheet
About Senator Kim Pate
Kim Pate was appointed to the Senate of Canada on November 10, 2016. First and foremost, the mother of Michael and Madison, she is also a nationally renowned advocate who has spent the last 45+ years working in and around the legal and penal systems of Canada, with and on behalf of some of the most marginalized, victimized, criminalized and institutionalized — particularly imprisoned youth, men and women.
Senator Pate graduated from Dalhousie Law School in 1984 with honours in the Clinical Law Programme. She was the Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) from January 1992 until her appointment to the Senate in November 2016. She has developed and taught Prison Law, Human Rights and Social Justice and Defending Battered Women on Trial courses at the Faculties of Law at the University of Ottawa, Dalhousie University and the University of Saskatchewan. She also occupied the Sallows Chair in Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2014 and 2015.
Kim Pate is widely credited as the driving force behind the Inquiry into Certain Events at the Prison for Women in Kingston, headed by Justice Louise Arbour. During the Inquiry, she supported women as they aired their experiences and was a critical resource and witness in the Inquiry itself.
Senator Pate is a member of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case, the Canadian Bar Association’s Bertha Wilson Touchstone Award, and six honourary doctorates (Law Society of Upper Canada, University of Ottawa, Carleton University, St. Thomas University, Wilfred Laurier University, and Nipissing University).
About the John Ll. J. Edwards Memorial Lecture
The annual Edwards Memorial Lecture is delivered in honour of Professor John Llewellyn Jones Edwards, who founded the U of T Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies in 1963. See past Edwards Lectures here.