2023-24 SOGIC SECTION CHANGES
CBA Alberta SOGIC is changing its name to CBA Alberta SAGDA
Following the CBA National SOGIC’s lead, effective September 1, 2023, CBA Alberta SOGIC is changing its Section name to CBA Alberta Sexual and Gender Diversity Alliance, or SAGDA (Alliance de la diversité sexuelle et des genres (ADSG) in French). The reason for the name change is to more accurately reflect the diversity within the 2SLGBTQI+ legal community. SOGIC did not recognize gender expression or sex characteristics previously in its name and the executive of the Section wanted the name and acronym to better reflect these and other diverse identity markers.
CBA Alberta SAGDA pay model changes
The Section executive heard from many of its subscribers, other CBA members, and interested non-CBA members that the pay-per-Section enrollment fee associated with joining the SOGIC Section in the past was a significant obstacle to participation. As SAGDA is primarily an identity-based Section rather than a substantive subject matter-based Section, the Section executive felt that eliminating this pay-per-Section subscription fee was necessary to increase access to the Sections core activities, such as social networking and advocacy for the 2SLGBTQI+ legal community. The CBA Alberta Board of Directors has approved a shift from the former payment model to a pay-per-usage model for each event that SAGDA will develop over the coming year. We hope that this payment model change will incent interested CBA members who were previously not subscribers of SOGIC to join SAGDA and take advantage of the expanded access to the Section’s core social and advocacy activities.
Call for interested CBA AB members to join the new SAGDA Section
In addition to the recent name and model changes, adopted with the aim of increasing the Section’s diversity and inclusiveness overall, the SAGDA Section executive would also like to make an expanded call to current and former SOGIC subscribers and other CBA Alberta members who are members of the 2SLGBTQI+ community or allies to join the new SAGDA, either as subscribers or Section executive members. The Section executive is particularly focused on recruiting 2SLGBTQI+ community members to the Section executive who also have lived experience with other marginalized identities. These include those who identify as lesbian, trans, non-binary, or two-spirit, as Black, Indigenous, or Persons of Color (BIPOC), or with practice experience in a rural setting. The Section executive is also looking for student representatives from both the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta Faculties of Law to serve as liaisons to the executive.
If you are interested in joining next year’s SAGDA executive, or have any questions about enrolling in the SAGDA Section or the upcoming PD and events planned for the coming year, please reach out to CBA Alberta Chief Section Registrar Sandra Meyer.
If you have not already done so, you can enroll in 2023-24 Sections, including CBA Alberta SAGDA, here.