Back To Law Matters | Fall 2015

President's Report

It was with great pride that I began my term as President of the CBA Alberta Branch at the conclusion of the recent 2015 CBA Legal Conference in Calgary.  Our 2015-16 Executive Committee will also consist of Vice President Jeremiah Kowlachuk, Treasurer Jenny McMordie, Secretary Frank Friesacher, Past President Steve Mandziuk, QC, and Executive Director Maureen Armitage. 

The conclusion of the 2014-15 year also brought about the end of Marian De Souza’s five-year term on the Executive Committee.  Marian was, and will continue to be, a bright spot in the CBA Alberta family, and I look forward to continuing to work with her in her new capacity as Chair of the Agenda for Justice and Advocacy Standing Committee.  You can also continue to read about her work as the Executive Director of the Alberta Lawyers’ Assistance Society in the pages of Law Matters.

Now that the fall season is upon us, members are reminded to renew their national and branch section memberships.  Multiple payment options are available to members for their national memberships, including pre-authorized monthly payments.  For more information this and on alternative payment options, call the CBA national office at 1-800-267-8860. 

For those CBA members who participate in multiple sections, the Portfolio and Portfolio Plus packages offer significant cost savings.  Packages include complimentary materials-level membership to as many as three sections, education credits that can be used for section registration, conference attendance, or other CBA products and services and a complimentary CBA Alberta Legal Directory.  These packages can be purchased with your membership renewal online at www.cbamembership.org.

As we move into the fall, the CBA has many initiatives on the go.  One of these is the CBA Wellness initiative, which most recently unveiled a new online wellness course at National Council in Calgary in August. Please check it out at www.cba.org/wellness.  As part of overall wellness initiatives, here in the Branch, we are also looking to encourage law firms to consider the placement of Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs) in their workplaces.  AEDs can save lives during cardiac emergencies by reducing the critical time before treatment.  Having AEDs appropriately located in workplaces can improve survivability, a desired outcome for all.  CBA Alberta is looking to partner with AED vendor(s) willing to participate in a campaign to build awareness of AED products and their effectiveness in saving lives, and provide persuasive pricing strategies to encourage firms to purchase AEDs.  Look for more information on this initiative in the months to come.

New this fall to the Alberta Branch is the Agenda for Justice and Advocacy Standing Committee.  This committee will continue work on the Agenda for Justice, which was released by the Branch in advance of the provincial election earlier this year.  It will also work on other advocacy initiatives as the need arises.  We recognize that advocating on behalf of the profession and the legal community is important to our members, and we look forward to sharing the ongoing work of this committee.

One of the most pressing crises we recognize is the critical lack of Q.B. Justices and the enormous delays to justice being created as a result. Our Executive Committee continues to look for any way possible to help alleviate this crisis. We continue to advocate on this matter and are trying to find creative ways of ameliorating the effects, but are always looking for support and ideas from our members in this regard.

This summer, the CBA Alberta Executive Committee had the opportunity to meet with our new Minister of Justice and Solicitor General, Kathleen Ganley.  In addition to meeting with the executive, the Minister also made herself available to join our fall meeting of Council in September.  Minister Ganley has welcomed the CBA as a contributing stakeholder on matters involving the legal community in Alberta, and we look forward to reaching out to our membership for consultation on matters that the Minister brings to us. 

One of the priorities of my presidency is to find ways in which to improve member engagement, based on discussions that took place at the spring 2015 meeting of Council.  We have created a Member Engagement Task Force to make recommendations with respect to ways to overcome barriers to volunteering, vehicles for engagement and types of recognition.  I look forward to sharing the results of our task force with members in the coming months.

The 2016 Alberta Law Conference is taking place at the Westin Hotel in Calgary on January 28 & 29, 2016.  After receiving feedback from attendees on previous conferences, the ALC organizing committee, led by co-chairs Loretta Bouwmeester and Johanna Price, has developed a new format for the Alberta Law Conference.  This new format includes a focus on keynote speakers, and this year we are excited to welcome CBC Dragon and co-founder of Minhas Brewery, Manjit Minhas, and local comedian and former CityTV anchor Jebb Fink, among many other distinguished speakers.  Please see the insert included with this issue of Law Matters for more details on the conference.  

Registration is now open!


Wayne is the 2015-16 President of the Canadian Bar Association, Alberta Branch. He has practiced law for more than 20 years, having been in-house counsel for Canadian Airlines Internatoinal before switching to the practice of family law. As a partner with the firm of Wise Schieble Barkauskas in Calgary, Wayne has become one of the most experienced family law lawyers in the province, and is now also a mediator, a parenting coordinator, and arbitrator.