Racism and long-term care were a big focus in 2020, but these committed advocates have not moved on
2020 was a year of reckoning for many long-standing inequities. The crisis in our long-term care homes and the Black Lives Matter movement became headline news, and the voices of marginalized communities that had often been ignored were suddenly heard more widely.
However, 2020 has come and gone, and the headlines have changed. While the pandemic is still with us, whether Canadians are still committed to fixing structural issues around racism or long-term care is a matter of debate.
However, what is still evident is that many of those who were thrust into the spotlight in 2020 to speak about these issues continue the fight.
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Melissa Miller, for example, grew up in a remote area in Ontario and didn’t have many friends her age. She would do chores for seniors who lived nearby and loved to sit around and chat with them afterwards. So, when she eventually became a personal injury lawyer, she fought especially hard for elderly clients mistreated by the justice system.
Naturally, when Miller made partner in January 2020, she knew she wanted to fight for older people. Then COVID struck, and her career went into overdrive. She realized that fighting for national standards in long-term care, which would take years, was an issue that could address many of the problems that individual cases could not.
Likewise, the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers has long advocated for better representation for Black lawyers in the justice system. When anti-Black racism was in the headlines in 2020, and initiatives like the BlackNorth pledge emerged in Canada, CABL saw much more interest from Canadian law firms in the work they were doing as well. CABL president Raphael Tachie says he has since seen long-term law firm commitments from some law firms to address this gap in the profession.
“Those are firms that are not only talking the talk but actually doing more to highlight their commitment,” says Tachie.
While 2020 gave these issues much-needed attention, neither CABL nor Miller have moved on. Fighting anti-Black racism and fixing long-term care will be needed for many more years ahead. But both causes will have committed advocates like Miler and CABL to ensure that the fight continues.
