Engaging Albertans in Justice
By Karen Machura
Celebration of Alberta’s centennial helps us recognize how much our society has changed during the past 100 years. From horses and buggies to automobiles, typewriters to computers, hand-written letters to e-mails, and party-line telephones to camera phones. The list is endless.
Thanks to technological advancements, Albertans are now able to communicate faster and more effectively than ever before. Yet, through the invaluable contributions of Alberta-born leaders such as Marshall McLuhan, born in Edmonton in 1911, we know that technology is not a panacea for communication.
Recognizing the educational value and significance of personal contact and the spoken word in an increasingly technology dependant society, Alberta Justice and the Canadian Bar Association-Alberta Branch have partnered up to develop the Justice Education Speakers Centre.
The Centre is set up to provide schools and communities with easy access to invite professionals who work in the justice system such as lawyers, Crown prosecutors, and judges to speak with Alberta students and community groups about the work they do in Alberta’s justice system.
“Guest speakers are important to boosting students’ interest and encouraging learning about the law. The speakers centre is one more way that we are working with partners to help increase Albertans’ awareness and understanding of the justice system.”
-- Justice Minister Ron Stevens
The Justice Education Speakers Centre provides easy one-step access to teachers and community organizations through an online form available through the Alberta Justice website and that of justice partners. It is also designed in-line with current educational activities to complement the Alberta Education Social Studies Curriculum.
Support from the judiciary and Law Society of Alberta for the Speakers Centre increases the diversity and numbers of justice professionals that are available to speak in classrooms and in communities across the province.
Justice Minister Stevens and justice partners will launch the Justice Education Speakers Centre this fall.
