In memory of Dugald Christie
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Renowned Vancouver lawyer Dugald Christie was struck and killed by a vehicle while cycling east of Sault Ste-Marie on July 31. An avid cyclist and staunch advocate for a money-blind justice system, Mr. Christie was on his third cross-Canada bike trip in an effort to ensure that all Canadians, regardless of economic status, have access to legal assistance. His achievements included founding the Western Canada Society to Access Justice, which operates 60 free legal advice clinics with over 400 volunteer lawyers, having BC’s sales tax on legal services declared unconstitutional, and most recently, being named the Outstanding Lawyer for 2006 by the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, and winning the 2006 CBA-BC Harry Rankin Pro Bono Award.
For Bruce Fraser, qc, the chairman of the Western Canada Society to Access Justice, Christie was, and is, an inspiration. “If he felt there was a wrong being done, he couldn’t be quiet. Not only did he speak out, he acted as well.”
Those acts began in earnest nearly two decades ago, when Mr. Christie forsook economic success as a lawyer in favour of service to the public. Armed with his trusty bike and fuelled by a strong faith, Christie put his Christian beliefs into practice, tirelessly working with the Salvation Army to provide legal advice clinics, encouraging other lawyers to assist with pro bono work, and bearing witness to the inequities of the legal system through unswerving advocacy. He also undertook cross-Canada bike rides, such as the one in 1998 that saw Christie burn his legal robes on the steps of the Ottawa Supreme Court in protest.
The bike trips were not acts of a fair-weather cyclist. “He was wedded to his bike,” says Fraser. “Cycling was the way he travelled, and he used it effectively to advance his big vision in life – access to justice. The bike played an important role in his life. He rode it constantly, attending meetings all over town.”
Mr. Christie’s untimely passing, however, won’t mean the end of his influence. The Western Canada Society to Access Justice will continue to offer the programs he initiated, and the Supreme Court will issue a decision in March 2007 regarding the provincial government’s appeal of the decision (upheld at the BC Court of Appeals) which declared sales tax on legal services unconstitutional. For those who can’t afford legal services – and for those who would make justice a matter of right versus wrong, rather than rich over poor, it can only be hoped that the Supreme Court will choose to follow the path that Mr. Christie rode.
The driver of the van that struck and killed Mr. Christie, Garfield Garner, has been charged with failure to pull to the left to avoid a bicycle under the Ontario Highway Traffic Act. His next court appearance is November 27.
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