6 minute read
Helping to Give People a Voice
For John Trueman ’96, his interest in the law was piqued at a young age.
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After he graduated from Pickering College, Trueman completed his undergraduate degree in Canadian Studies from Simon Fraser University. With his sights set on a career in law, in 2003, he decided to first take on what was meant to be a two-year position with a new alternative dispute resolution project.
That project quickly morphed to become the place where survivors of Canada’s residential school system could seek and receive compensation for the abuse they faced as Indigenous children at the hands of these institutions. “It became very apparent to everyone that the scope of what we were doing was not sufficient to address the broader legacy of residential schools.” In 2005, the Government of Canada appointed Frank Iacobucci as its representative to negotiate and reach a final settlement agreement by mid-2006 to try to make amends for the legacy of residential schools. Trueman continued with the project, relocating to Ottawa as part of the implementation team.
“There were several aspects to the settlement agreement—one of them was reshaping the alternative dispute resolution process into the Independent Assessment Process (IAP), which was a confidential adjudicative process for residential school survivors who had claims of sexual abuse or serious physical abuse,” explains Trueman. “The best known, of course, is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The way I would describe it is TRC was the public part of the settlement, and the IAP was the private part of the settlement. It was the survivor’s option whether to do one or the other, or both. In the IAP, where people were seeking compensation, we had specially-trained adjudicators who would ask questions in a confidential process in order to draw out the story and determine whether they were eligible for compensation.”
Trueman managed policy and litigation for the Chief Adjudicator of the Residential School Settlement. The process had been designed to manage claims for about 12,500 people with the intention to settle them within a five-year period. By the application deadline in 2012, they had received 38,000 claims—about three times as many as had been expected.
“When I started, almost none of my friends or relatives had any idea that residential schools had even existed, and over that time we saw the Prime Minister’s apology and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission national events leading up to their final report, which has greatly increased public awareness,” says Trueman. “It really reminded me how much more still needs to be done, because there was an entire volume of the TRC’s report on missing children and unmarked burials, but that didn’t have nearly as much impact as the Kamloops confirmation in the spring of 2021. That singular announcement was so concrete, it made it real for people in a way a lengthy report could not.”
While still working at the Independent Assessment Process, Trueman began law school at the University of British Columbia, graduating with his Juris Doctor in 2018. From there, he landed one of the most sought-after clerk positions, working at the Supreme Court of Canada.
The experience, he says, was tremendous, working alongside three other law clerks supporting Justice Sheilah Martin, who was the newest judge at that time. It was his job to help Justice Martin prepare for appeals, assisting her with writing decisions, and researching and writing papers and speeches. “You get to see and assist with how the law evolves because the Supreme Court of Canada has an important role in not only correcting errors, but in the advancement of developing the law,” he says.
Constitutional and administrative law are the two areas in which Trueman specializes, leading him to his current role as an Associate at Arvay Finlay LLP in Vancouver, one of Canada’s leading constitutional law firms. The firm that has argued some of the most important constitutional law cases in recent history, including some “blockbusters” such as establishing that sexual orientation constitutes a prohibited basis of discrimination under the Canadian Charter and the right to medical assistance in dying.
“One of the most important things that lawyers do is they help give people a voice,” says Trueman. “I have another appeal coming up that involves a 79-yearold woman who is fighting to protect her own right to make her own decisions about managing her property, against people who are saying she’s too old and too incapable to do that. Last fall, we intervened in a Supreme Court of Canada case on behalf of a small First Nation in Manitoba whose land was taken away and flooded for a major hydroelectric power plant. And, like many First Nations, their story was ignored and forgotten, and so that is an important role that lawyers play, which is to help people exercise their rights to speak up against things that are unjust."
Ensuring everyone has access to fair representation is one of the reasons he believes pro bono work for lawyers is essential. He is the first to admit that legal services are “outrageously expensive” and the people who most need legal help are often the least able to afford it. In his experience, some of the most meaningful and satisfying work comes in on a pro bono basis and helps level the playing field.
“Without the availability of pro bono lawyers, we really run the risk that the law becomes a tool that is wielded by the already powerful to consolidate and protect their power to the detriment of others,” he says. “During the pandemic, we have really seen some gross abuses by governments, employers and others— everyone is trying to use the law to their advantage in a crisis, to reapportion the risk in their favour. People are not usually aware of their rights and don’t really have the knowledge and skills to be able to assert their rights in court or elsewhere.”
Trueman says as a concept, the rule of law is inseparable from democracy. He finds that is often oversimplified as meaning “majority rules” or the ability to vote. However, he says a major function of the law is to temper the whims of the majority—constitutional law involves protecting fundamental values against majoritarian sentiment, which history shows us is critically important.
“When I was at Pickering, we didn’t learn about residential schools but we did learn about the Japanese internment. In the midst of a crisis, during a war, existing anti-Asian sentiment built up, especially on the west coast, which led to the forced relocation and dispossession of Canadian citizens,” he says. These actions were carried out by the federal government of the day, under the authority of the War Measures Act.
“Today of course, with the Charter of Rights, those kinds of actions and decisions are subject to review. Rights under the Charter are not absolute, but the Charter itself contains a method by which governments have to justify infringements of rights. That is one area where law and democracy are inseparable.”
