“For example, a wealthier socioeconomic student being suspended [means] their family may have the resources to challenge that suspension, whereas families with lower economic backgrounds may not have the privilege of accessing those advocates,” Battick told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview.
“Ultimately, the schools benefit from having families’ issues communicated well and... identify[ing] what the shortfalls of the student experience is,” he said. “Even though I knew I had nothing to do with it, I felt like I didn’t belong in the spaces I was in,” he said, adding that his mother needed that extra hand back then. “She works a 9-5 [job] and is just trying to provide for her family and she has other things to tend to.”Battick said the push for the initiative came from Canada’s next generation of lawyers. “Law students are an incredible asset to social justice. And we really haven’t tapped into them as a resource.
With them in parents’ corners they can, for example, cite past solutions to behavioural issues they’d want to see implemented or better argue why a school’s punishment went too far or was potentially mishandled. , a Toronto-based advocacy group that helps youth work through unresolved emotional issues through free psychotherapy., will be steering families in need towards CARE Student Advocacy should they need it.
Smith sees this initiative as a way to “demystify the process of seeking legal counsel” and help address tensions and inequities immigrant families and Black, Indigenous and other communities of colour feel towards school systems.
Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)