Outreach and Engagement
Listen & Learn
The Listen & Learn project is an opportunity for the LCC to engage directly with the people of Canada and to learn about their work, priorities, and concerns through roundtables, multilateral discussions, individual meetings, and larger conferences. Indeed, “listening and learning” is a mode which will continue to characterize the LCC’s initiatives and activities going forward.
The primary goal of these engagements is to identify issues related to law and justice which participants consider pressing or likely to emerge on the horizon, and with which the LCC may engage in the course of its work. The engagements also serve as a site for interesting and mutually beneficial exchange, allowing participants to learn about the work and perspectives of others, and to form connections across their endeavours.
The LCC will produce What We Heard reports on a regular basis, setting out what members of the LCC learned in the course of their engagements within a given period. The reports will highlight the challenges, complexities, considerations, and creative possibilities that exist with respect to the ongoing and dynamic evolution of law in Canada.
Read What We Heard from June to December 2023 here.
Read What We Heard from January to May 2024 here.
Read What We Heard from June to December 2024 here.
Obiter - Podcast
Obiter – A Law Commission of Canada Podcast
Obiter is an LCC podcast that features discussions with people across Canada who are living law, pursuing justice and renewing hope in creative, challenging, colourful, and complex ways.
The word "obiter", or phrase "obiter dicta", refers to words not understood to be crucial to what a case in law stands for. It turns out that passages labelled "obiter" and thus overlooked sometimes become the most important or enduring. Inspired by the notion for which it is named, the Obiter podcast shines light on what might otherwise be missed or invisible in the evolution of law.
In introducing listeners to a rich intersection of individuals, ideas, and issues, Obiter invites us into the many spaces in which law operates, evolves and generates hope. Through conversations with guests who bring a wide range of experience and interests connected to law and justice, Obiter presents law reform as a collective endeavour that takes on many shapes, functions and directions. The podcast promises to serve as a site for thoughtful reflection and active inquiry, the challenging of assumptions and the broadening of perspectives, the forging of connections and enriched understanding of the shared pursuit of justice across Canadian society.
Episodes
Trailer
Ep. 1 – Building Justice and Shaping the Evolution of Law with Frank Iacobucci
Ep. 2 – Revitalizing Law: Indigenous Legal Traditions with Dr. Val Napoleon
Ep. 3 – Tisser les liens entre le droit et la littérature, avec l’écrivaine Kim Thúy
Conference Support
LCC Conference Support
The Law Commission of Canada (LCC) is committed to fostering partnerships with and supporting cooperative efforts among the academic community, the legal profession, and other organizations interested in law and justice.
In accordance with section 4(c) of the LCC Act, the Commission regularly invites proposals for financial support for conferences, seminars and other meetings that fall within its mission of engaging the people of Canada in the ongoing and dynamic evolution of law.
To read the Call for Conference Support Proposals for Fall 2025, please click here.
Note that the deadline for proposals is 20 June 2025 for events taking place between September 1 and December 31.
Photo Collection
Views on Justice in Action: Photos by Law Students
A Law Commission of Canada Photo Collection
The Law Commission of Canada invites law students across the country to submit a photo before April 1, 2025, to be included in a compelling collection of images illustrating justice in action.
As you know from your studies, law evolves hand in hand with society, constantly changing in ways big and small, fast and slow, broad and narrow. Where do you, as law students, see law in everyday life? Where do you see justice in action? How does what you see relate to why you are studying law and the contributions you hope to make with your law degree in hand? Please share an image as you begin to imagine your path beyond law school.
Collected by the Law Commission, your photos will serve as an inspiring portrait of the curiosity and commitment of today’s law students and tomorrow’s lawyers. Viewers will learn about law in our everyday lives, issues in need of attention, and ways in which individuals and communities work for justice.
Accepted photo submissions accompanied by captions will be compiled and posted on the LCC website, as well as shared on its social media channels in spring 2025.
The Commission also plans to create a small exhibit of selected photos to be shared with the public. All participants will be entered into a draw to win one of five $100 gift cards.
How to participate:
- To participate, students must be enrolled in a JD, LLB, LLL, BCL or LLM program at a Canadian university at the time of submission of their photos.
- Send your high-resolution photos to comms@lcc-cdc.gc.ca between 11 October 2024 and 1 April 2025.
- Photos can be submitted in black and white or in colour, with landscape or portrait orientation.
- Photos must be accompanied by a caption of up to 150 words, in either English or French, explaining how the image illustrates a space or way in which students hope to contribute to law and society. Students are invited to include versions of their text in any additional languages in which they are able to write.
- Submissions can be made individually or as part of a team of up to 3 students. If the submission is made on behalf of a team, please indicate the names of all members.
- It is the responsibility of participants to ensure that any individuals featured in their photos have consented to their publication.
- The LCC reserves the right to refrain from publishing photos at its discretion.
Journalism Fellowship
LCC-CBA Journalism Fellowship
In collaboration with the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), the LCC has established the LCC-CBA Journalism Fellowship designed to support in-depth journalistic exploration of critical and emerging law and justice issues in Canada.
The one-year fellowship, supports the creation of comprehensive print or online reporting projects that focus on the ways law affects and shapes the lives of people across Canada. This initiative recognizes the importance of telling human stories in the evolution of law, as well as the deep and important links between investigative journalism and the pursuit of truth, justice, and hope.
The LCC and CBA share a deep commitment to public legal education, law reform, and advancing thought leadership on emerging law and justice issues. By fostering greater public understanding of Canada’s institutions of law, justice, and democratic governance, the LCC and the CBA expect that the fellowship will contribute to an informed, engaged, and empowered society.
2025 LCC-CBA Journalism Fellow – Linda Besner
The inaugural LCC-CBA Journalism Fellow is Linda Besner.
Besner is an award-winning freelance writer based in Montreal who has collaborated with The Globe and Mail, The Guardian and The Atlantic, among other publications. She is an alumna of the Banff Literary Journalism residency and a former fellow of the MacDowell Colony.
As a Fellow, Besner will produce a series of original in-depth articles exploring how critical issues in law and justice in the lives of people across Canada, including: lessons from the depopulation of jails during the pandemic; the codification of Indigenous family and child welfare legal traditions; the public's role in shaping the adoption of AI tools within the justice system; and the impact of the demise of regional news on the open court principle.
Watch this space for Linda Besner’s articles!
LCC Bulletin CDC
LCC Bulletin CDC
The LCC Bulletin CDC is a platform from the Law Commission of Canada to showcase the many ways in which individuals and organizations are shaping and contributing to the evolution of law across the country.
By providing regular updates on the work of the LCC and spotlighting interesting initiatives, projects, and successes from different actors involved in law and justice in Canada, the LCC Bulletin CDC will provide a space in which readers can learn about the diverse forms and modes in which people are living law, pursuing justice, and renewing hope.
In each edition, readers will find spaces dedicated to LCC news, information from the LCC’s partners, Indigenous law reform initiatives, and upcoming events. Bulletins will therefore also serve as a law reform reference and serve to build an inventory of publications, resources, and activities broadly related to law reform.
LCC Bulletin CDC will be produced on a quarterly basis and circulated throughout the LCC’s network of contacts, posted on the it’s website, and shared on its social media channels.
The LCC will circulate calls for items to be included in upcoming editions of the Bulletin roughly four to six weeks prior to each publication. However, items to be considered for inclusion in a future edition may be submitted to comms@lcc-cdc.gc.ca at any point. Items might consist of recent publications, articles, projects, conferences, workshops, events or other public engagements.
To propose an item to be featured in a future LCC Bulletin CDC, please include a brief description of the item in 175 words or less, any links to pages containing additional information about the item (web and/or social media), and a photo (if relevant).
The LCC
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