On October 29th, OJEN and Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) hosted a day-long conference for community workers as part of the Law Society of Ontario’s 5th annual Access to Justice Week. “Law and Community in 2020: Updates and Action for Community Workers” offered community workers access to front-line lawyers and community organizers who provided updates […]
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The OBA-OJEN Competitive Mock Trial (OOCMT) program has undergone some changes this year to adapt to the Covid-19 pandemic. After consulting with teachers throughout the province, OJEN has created a plan to allow as many students as possible to participate in the program. To accommodate both the quadmester system used by many school boards, and […]
On November 17th, OJEN staff, directors and guests met by Zoom for our 18th Annual General Meeting (AGM). Approximately 60 people attended the virtual event to celebrate a successful year of justice education activities and to honour three OJEN award recipients. Board Co-Chair, Justice Katrina Mulligan of the Ontario Court of Justice, opened the AGM […]
Students from schools across Ontario participated in OJEN’s first province-wide Twitter Moot. The online debate focused on the question – should we allow peremptory challenges in criminal jury trials? Before the event, participants prepared for the moot with the aid of an OJEN resource package including background information and a suggested reading list. Based on […]
Are you looking for an engaging activity that works for both virtual or physical classrooms? The Charter Challenge is Ontario’s only mock appeal competition for secondary schools, and it adapts well as both a remote and in-person activity for students anywhere in the province. OJEN will release a mock judicial decision in which complex Charter […]
Over the past several months, OJEN staff have worked hard to adapt many of our existing public legal education programs for remote delivery… Unfortunately, not all of our programs work well on Zoom or Google Meet, and in some cases, we have had to put programs on hold. The multi-session Youth-Police Dialogues (YPD) program, which […]
Each year, OJEN offers Justice Education Fellowships to six law students attending Ontario universities. Chosen for their commitment to social justice and interest in working with youth, Fellows put their passion into practice supporting justice education activities for youth in their communities. We are pleased to welcome this years’ cohort of students: Nehmat Bedar from […]
Miscia Sullivan is the recipient of the 2020 Tate Herbert Memorial Post-Secondary Award. Miscia is entering her third year at Osgoode Hall Law School. She was selected as an Ontario Justice Education Network (OJEN) Fellow for the 2019-2020 academic school year. OJEN Fellows are selected for their demonstrated commitment to improving access to justice. Miscia […]
The OBA/OJEN Criminal Law Challenge (OOCLC) – which replaced the canceled OBA/OJEN Competitive Mock Trial (OOCMT) tournaments – was based on the facts of the OOCMT case, R v Kaye. The new format allowed students, who were already familiar with the scenario, to engage with the law around the case. For this challenge, students submitted […]
Rita Gravina, a teacher at the Bishop Strachan School, is the 10th recipient of OJEN’s annual Hux-Kiteley Exemplary Justice Educator Award. The Hux-Kiteley Exemplary Justice Educator Award recognizes an educator in the province of Ontario who has demonstrated exceptional leadership in the area of justice education. It is named after two of OJEN’s founding board […]
The Charter Challenge is probably OJEN’s most challenging program for secondary students. In normal times it is difficult to complete. In the current environment of remote teaching and learning, it seemed impossible. And yet it happened! Students, teachers and justice sectors volunteers had constructive discussions on our online forums and, although most teams couldn’t complete […]
