CBA Procedure Reform

At the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) 2020 annual general meeting Lawyers for Climate Justice put forward a climate leadership resolution. Read more about the resolution here. The AGM suffered from a number of technical difficulties that impacted the voting process, and in our view, there were also several planning- and communications-related challenges that made participation unnecessarily difficult.

We sent a letter to the CBA on November 6, 2020 identifying these issues and requesting three specific remedies to improve the voting process for all resolutions:

1. Keep voting open for some period of time after the conclusion of the meeting (we suggest 24 hours).

2. Include a summary of the resolution and a link to the resolution on the voting page. This would allow those who wish to vote to do so without attending the full meeting.

3. As our ability to make recommendations is limited by the CBA’s bylaws, complete a general review of the bylaws to facilitate broader, online engagement.

Read the full letter here.