THUNDER BAY - Growing up in Vancouver, Kevin Chen spent a lot of time volunteering at soup kitchens on East Hastings Street where he witnessed many vulnerable Indigenous people in need of help. Now, he is hoping his introduction to the legal profession will inspire him to continue to help at-risk people in his hometown.
“I think this will be an eye opening experience and will soak in and I will be inspired by these justices and attorney’s fighting for the rights of Aboriginal people,” he said.
Chen was one of 66 first-year law students who participated in the Welcome to the Legal Profession Ceremony at the Thunder Bay Courthouse on Thursday.
The ceremony was presided over by Justice Joyce Pelletier for the Ontario Court of Justice and Regional Senior Justice Bonnie Warkentin for the Superior Court of Justice, and included members of the Thunder Bay Law Association, judges, and attorneys.
Anya Scheibmayr, student services advisor at the Bora Laskin faculty of law, said the ceremony is an important part of orientation for the new class.
“This is a chance to let them know that these are the people you may be working with in the future and you have crossed over now,” she said. “You are part of the legal profession and it is a noble profession.”
With many of the students having just finished their undergraduate degree, Scheibmayr said it can be difficult for them to break free from the feeling of still being a student.
“I think it’s important for them to realize they are getting a professional level degree and there is a body of people they will be working with in the future and need to build relationships with,” she said. “It’s important for them to see the bigger picture.”
The ceremony has been part of orientation since the first class in 2013 and Scheibmayr said they continue to hold it because they received such positive feedback from the students.
“They feel like they are part of this bigger picture that they don’t realize when they are in the school setting,” she said. “They really feel welcomed by that community.”
For Anne-Marie McKitrick, a first year law student from Thunder Bay, the welcoming ceremony helps make students feel like they are part of the profession.
“A lot of us probably don’t have much history with the legal profession, so it is kind of nerve wracking to come into it when it is a pretty professional and intimidating field,” she said.
But McKitrick does have some exposure to the legal profession, with her father and grandfather both working as lawyers.
“I’ve always had an interest in law,” she said. “I don’t want to follow in their footsteps necessarily, but I definitely had an influence because of them.”
“I used to play in my dad’s law office and he would give us cases and my sisters and I would argue every day,” McKitrick continued. “That had an impact.”
For Chen, the education and experience he will gain at Lakehead will help him help organizations in Vancouver working on East Hastings Street to protect the most vulnerable.
“I want to figure out and learn more about contracts, non-profit laws to figure out if I can go back and use my legal knowledge to help these groups work together as one and really accomplish the same goal,” he said.
“I think in the Bora Laskin School of Law teaches the top two things I care about, which is environmental law and Indigenous law.”
