Past Events

ACLA Community Legal Series: Understanding Ontario's Family Laws

ACLA held its first Community Legal Series in November 2007. The Community Legal Series aims to provide the Arab community with an understanding of various areas of law and how it affects them. The family law session was led by Fadwa Yehia, an Arabic-speaking family lawyer and member of ACLA. Please visit Legal Notes to listen to the family law session.

MCLA/ACLA Social Dinner

On February 22, 2007, the Muslim Canadian Lawyers Association invited ACLA and its members to join them at the Marché for their regular networking dinner. Candidates in the upcoming bencher elections who have been involved with the Arab and Muslim communities were invited to speak to members. Amina Sherazee, Rocco Galati, Avvy Go and Raj Anand were in attendance. Julian Falconer was unable to attend. It was a fun evening and we thank the MCLA for the invitation.

AGM 2006

On June 6, 2006, ACLA held its AGM at Friends House. The guest speaker for the evening was Barbara Hall, Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. She spoke about changes to the Commission and human rights concerns of the Arab and Muslim community in Ontario. Afterwards, the new executive committee was introduced and members had an opportunity to discuss ACLA current and future initiatives. Thank you to everyone who participated in this evening.

Inaugural event, June 2005

On June 1, 2005, the Arab Canadian Lawyers Association Executive Committee hosted an Inaugural Event at the historic Campbell House in Toronto. Approximately 50 people were in attendance for the successful launch of ACLA. Guests had an opportunity to meet and socialize with law and articling students, sole practioners, junior and senior lawyers, partners, and the honoured guests of the evening: Chief Justice Allan Lutfy and Justice Douglas Campbell of the Federal Court and Professor Reem Bahdi from the University of Windsor Law School.

Professor Reem Bahdi spoke about her work on the Palestinian Judicial Education Program. Justice Douglas Campbell, who is working with Prof. Bahdi on this initiative, spoke of his own experiences and his future plans with Program.

Chief Justice Allan Lutfy spoke of his work on the Federal Court. He strongly encouraged all those in attendance to make a contribution to the legal and Arab communities and to build upon the accomplishments of other distinguished Arab Canadian legal professionals.

Afterwards, guests socialized while listening to classical Arabic music performed by an oud player. Thanks to everyone who made ACLA's launch a great success.