Stop “Stop SOP”
Upon reading about the Stop SOP movement in Ontario, the anger and frustration was inflamed within me (turns out it doesn’t take a whole lot to do this!). This is admittedly an Ontario-based issue, but it’s important for all Canadians. Roughly 38% of the Canadian population lives in the province of Ontario.
Without further ado, here’s a run-down on what Stop SOP is and why I’m mad about it.
What is SOP?
SOP stands for Statement of Principles. The Law Society of Ontario (LSO)’s SOP includes a set of 4 principles (these can be found on the lso.ca website). The principles generally acknowledge an obligation to promote equality, diversity and inclusion generally in lawyers’ behaviour towards colleagues, employees, clients, and the public. This is essentially taking the duty not to discriminate on prohibited grounds one step further to encourage lawyers to promote equality, diversity and inclusion.
Doesn’t sound so bad, does it? Well, seemingly not everyone is on board with promoting equality!
Who is protesting it?
Stop SOP is created by and for licensed lawyers, paralegals, and law students in the province of Ontario. In fact, their website (stopsop.ca) requests that such individuals (and such individuals only) click a “Stop SOP” button on their main page to demonstrate disapproval.
Why are they protesting it?
They claim that the SOP compromises their independence, compels lawyers to adopt and promote a set of personal values prescribed by the LSO in disregard of the Charter freedoms (ie freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, etc.), and requires an acceptance and agreement that there is systemic racism in the legal profession in Ontario. They actually likened the SOP to lawyers in China being forced to sign a pledge of allegiance to the Communist Party in order to practice law. One of the main concerns with the SOP seems to be signing onto something that forces them to sacrifice their freedom of thought/conscience in promoting something as a personal value. But as a law student I’ve been told countless times to alter my own stream of consciousness to “think like a lawyer”. Is this not an analogous sacrifice of my freedom of thought/conscience? Should I start protesting that? And importantly, is there something innately wrong with being encouraged to value the promotion of diversity and equality? If you answered yes, I am skeptical of you.
Why should you care?
There are some problems with this movement. Worrying about being compelled to embrace equality? Why is that a concern that lawyers, paralegals and law students have? Studies on law firms in the UK have demonstrated that firms that promote diversity and equality say they are better able to identify barriers that prevent the development of all available talent, win business, prevent costly discrimination claims, and strengthen their reputation. Studies done on judges in the US show that expressing sensitivity to these issues make a difference to how they act. We know that promoting equality, diversity and inclusion has had a positive impact on our justice system and most workplaces and public spaces generally, so it seems absurd that people are worried that they are compromising their freedom simply to promote a happier world in which there is less discrimination.
As humans, we get accustomed to what we are exposed to or those we associate with. Being in the legal profession means that those we associate with are often in positions of power and privilege, higher up on the economic and social hierarchy. This lends itself often to unconscious bias, impacting lawyers’ clients (and disproportionately so, depending on the clientele you serve and the type of law you practice), colleagues, and the general public. Tina Lie, a Toronto lawyer, stated that the promotion of equality goes to the core of the administration of justice, and she urges us to consider that the justice system and judiciary don’t actually reflect the communities they are supposed to serve.
The group who created this SOP are a law society working group called Challenges Faced by Racialized Licensees. They spent 4 years looking into equality, diversity and inclusion challenges and made these equality, and diversity and inclusion SOP recommendations. It’s clear, based on the group’s engagement and results, that discrimination is a daily reality for many racialized licensees and is something that should be addressed.
Bottom line, it’s pretty sad if lawyers can’t even acknowledge that they have a duty to treat colleagues, employees, clients, and the public as equals.
Note: the featured image is credited to the stopsop.ca website.
