A Summer Dedicated to Research at CIAJ

In this blog post, Troy Glover shares his thoughts on his experience working at CIAJ during the summer of 2022.

As my summer with the Canadian Institute for the Administration of Justice (CIAJ) was coming to an end, I thought it prudent to take a moment and reflect on how much our team has accomplished in a short 8 weeks. Myself and two other law students were fortunate enough to work closely with CIAJ lawyers, other students, and so many of the dedicated staff who bring CIAJ’s programming to life. CIAJ is truly a research-driven organization where emerging priorities in the administration of justice are researched and programming then developed using this research. As a team, we were able to intimately support this process.

There are two major projects which stand out to me. The first is the 2022 Annual Conference on Dignity and the Law and the second the First Nations Justice Symposium. A better understanding of human dignity and how it is treated by Canadian law offers a promising approach to addressing the harsh inequities faced by marginalized populations. Our team conducted research to build a current picture of the law on dignity and suggest a number of panel topics which panellists could address at the annual conference. I found it exciting to follow our early research through to a finished program which is offered to all those who attend.

The other major project we were involved in this summer was preliminary research in support of the upcoming First Nations Justice Symposium. The over-representation of Indigenous people, especially Indigenous women, in the Canadian justice system is not news. In fact, it has only continued to worsen. Our research aims to better understand how and where Gladue Courts and services are operated and what other restorative justice systems are available to Indigenous people involved in the justice system. Again, I was amazed at how much information we were able to find, interpret, and prepare not only for the development of the upcoming symposium, but also more substantial future research and reports. To me, this really is research in action and I am grateful to have been a part.

So, to my colleagues at CIAJ and all who supported and worked patiently with us this summer, thank you for the incredible opportunity. I look forward to attending these events myself as a CIAJ member and seeing the outcome of what I know to be research well done.

Learn more about CIAJ’s activities for law students: https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/membership/student-section/

Are you interested in contributing to the work of CIAJ? Contact us! https://ciaj-icaj.ca/en/our-network/working-at-ciaj/

About the author