President’s Message

Our annual meeting is set for June 18, 2022, and it will still be held virtually in the ever-expanding digital world because of the COVID-19 restrictions. Our profession and Council have been thrust into this space, bravely going where we have not gone before.

I do recall asking why I can join committee meetings via the digital link but being told that Council meetings had to be held in person. I remember thinking we should go entirely virtually and would that be a cool thing to do. After several years of this, I realized that the human interaction, of establishing and maintaining relationships with each other is very much part of the human experience. This virtual world made it easy and, at the same time made it very hard to maintain relationships with each other.

The key to our Council and to our profession is our relationships with each other. We’ve been told during our education, our articling and within our profession that we need to be cordial, civil and really be kind to each other. However, these principles, these core ethics of our profession sometimes slip away, especially when we don’t engage in that personal touch, that basic human experience of coming together in person.  

The pressures of being a lawyer are immense, from the pressures of managing an office (whether it is extremely busy or treading water to try and stay afloat), meeting deadlines, responding, and pivoting to changes in the law, changes in the profession, changes in technology, and changes to our lives.

This is where our regulatory body, the Society, has jumped in and helped our colleagues and the public adjust to this new world, the new way of practice.

Really, it may not be new at all. After all, our history of self-regulation of our profession goes back to the mid 1700’s. The Society has helped members and protected the public for a long time, and it will be around for a long time still.

There have been changes on Council. Some folks, like myself will no longer be around and others will continue the work. Such is the normal course of Council compositions, and I am very proud of the work that the Society staff and Council members have accomplished. At times, it seemed the yoke was quite the burden but at times, it was light because of how we all worked together to accomplish what was set out in the strategic plan.

One of the most wonderful memories I will take away is the fact that everyone on Council contributed to the work that was done, that all voices, including dissenting ones were heard and these words were appreciated.

This year marks a year without an Executive Director in place, but I do not expect this to last. The search for a new Chief Executive Officer is well underway and should be completed in due time.  Many of the initial bumps in the road have now been smoothed out and I am very confident that the Society will have a new CEO very soon. At this time, I would like to personally thank the Acting Executive Director, Jacqueline Mullenger, and the rest of the Society staff for stepping up to keep the ship sailing while Council is looking for a new CEO. Jackie has done an excellent job and I commend her for all of her hard work and dedication to the Society.

Our strategic plan has ended but Council has decided to extend it for another year. Over the next while, Council will embark on establishing a new strategic plan to guide the work and this will then take us into the middle of the current decade. The faces at the table will change but the core work of the Society will continue as it has always done for over 250 years.

Many of the approaches to our work have changed.  From embarking on the Triple P approach to regulation, to making a statement on systemic discrimination, to fully examining where our warts and scabs are, and to making a commitment to change, these are all new changes to how we approach what we do. Some of the work had to be prioritized and some work had to be delayed because of circumstances that could not be avoided but none of it was lost or diminished.

But make no mistake, what we do, is to regulate the profession and to protect the public. The Society has never strayed from that purpose. What has changed is how we accomplish our purpose.

As with all change, it can be a bit rocky at times. This year was no different. 

Council commissioned an independent review into systemic discrimination (“Ruck Report”). This review is not completed, but it will be provided to Council in due time. I look forward to reading the report and I feel very relieved that we are doing this. In fact, I believe that this work will establish a renewal of our relationships with each other, with the public and with the African Nova Scotian, L’nu, and other equity deserving communities. I hope that this will go a long way in re-establishing and celebrating meaningful relationships with each other, as lawyers, as the regulator, as the public and with our communities.

I know that the work on systemic discrimination has captured our attention, but I will point out that the Society’s other work has continued and has not stopped. The work of MSLEP (Management System for Ethical Legal Practice), Triple P (principled, proactive, and proportionate), financial management, access to justice, governance, and multidisciplinary practices (MDP’s) has continued.

I am very proud of the three-year budgeting cycle that has worked to keep our fees stable over the years and produced a strong fiscal foundation to the Society.  I would like to say “Keluk Kis Tela’tika’tioq” to the Finance Committee and to Council for their work on this.

The Society staff pivoted quickly in the way we work during this pandemic. I have watched them work quietly in the background, helping Council do the work it needed to do. I lift my hands up to them and say Welali’oq (Thank You all) for your help.

I also want to say Wela’lioq to the Executive who stood by me and helped me with the work. I believe a good leader needs a good Executive, and I am proud that I had one of the best that a President can have.

This annual meeting is the final one for me while for others it continues. My time on Council has been a wonderful experience and I walk away with a deep and lasting appreciation of the wonderful work that we all do, as the regulatory body for our profession. 

I want to say, to all our members, Welali’oq for the opportunity to serve as your President.

Na Tliaj

Tuma T.W. Young QC
2021-2022 NSBS President