Call for Proposals 

Canadian Association of Law Teachers Conference

Western University

London, ON

1-3 June, 2020

We are pleased to release this Call for Proposals for the 2020 annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Teachers, which is being held as part of the 2020 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences and includes an overlap day with the conference of the Canadian Law and Society Association. The program for the overlap day will be co-ordinated to encourage integrated participation.

The Congress theme is “Bridging Divides: Confronting Colonialism & Anti-Black Racism”, which has been explained as follows:

Congress 2020 will encourage multidisciplinary engagement under the broad concept of bridging divides, while specifically emphasizing the dispossession of Indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Africans in the new world. Settler colonialism, as part of a broader imperial project, erases Indigenous peoples by appropriating land and delegitimizing traditional knowledge, and dehumanizes Black people, subjecting them to the tropes of everyday anti-Black racism. As we come together to confront white privilege and white supremacy, and examine experiences shared by Indigenous peoples and African Canadians, we also invite our community to reflect critically on social, ethnic, political and epistemological divisions more broadly, forming a future vision that bridges divides between divergent ways of knowing and navigating our world.

More information on the origins and objectives of the theme is available here.

We invite proposals that offer a perspective on the theme of ‘Bridging Divides’ in the context of legal education and the teaching and learning of law.  We encourage proposals addressing colonialism and/or anti-Black racism, but also welcome proposals engaging with other divides implicating ‘divergent ways of knowing and navigating our world.’  As well, the CALT conference organizers anticipate a role in arranging ‘CALT-sponsored’ theme-related sessions and so invite suggestions for sessions or speakers and expressions of interest in co-arranging specific sessions.

In addition, we are happy to consider proposals that address non-theme topics and issues of current interest in legal education and law, but preference may be given to theme-related proposals and proposals that address teaching and learning.

Proposals can be either of two types: session or individual.

• Session proposals should include at least 3 contributors and address a unifying topic, with a total duration of either 60 or 90 minutes, including activities and/or discussion. Sessions are usually in either of three formats: topic panels (multiple successive individual presentations); topic workshops (multiple contributors utilizing non-panel active learning approaches); or, topic roundtables (multiple contributors facilitating an interactive discussion and exchange).  Other session formats may be proposed. Session proposals should be contained in a standalone Word document (i.e. not in the body of en email) that is no longer than 2 pages and must provide the following information:
  • Session title and proposed duration;
  • Session format (panel, workshop or roundtable or other);
  • Brief description of session topic;
  • Identification of session chair (who need not be a session presenter);
  • Titles of individual contributions (for panel format);
  • Brief description of individual presentations (for panel format);
  • Brief description of session content and roles (for workshop or roundtable);
  • Brief biographical information for each contributor (including institutional affiliation and position title or program status).

• Individual proposals should identify a topic to be addressed by a presentation of no more than 15-20 minutes. Individual proposals should be no longer than 1 page and must provide the following information:
  • Presentation title;
  • Brief description of presentation content;
  • Brief biographical information (including institutional affiliation and position title or program status).

Please send all proposals, in Word format, as well as any suggestions or expressions of interest, to <calt.conference.acpd@gmail.com> no later than Monday 25 November.  The Program Committee will review all proposals and make selections based on relationship to the conference theme, anticipated interests of attendees (substance and formats), potential for interactive exchange and learning impact, and scholarly quality. The Program Committee may request additional information and modifications.  Individual presenters will usually be combined into panel-format sessions, with unifying topics where possible.  Please note that all proposers and contributors who are eligible for CALT membership must be members at the time of the conference (the annual CALT membership period now commences with the start of the annual conference).  According to Congress rules, all presenters and contributors must register for both Congress and the CALT conference.  Conference fee information will be available on the Congress website from early January 2020. Please also note that all participants must meet their own expenses.

The Canadian Association of Law Teachers is delighted to announce that the 2020 annual conference will be held at Western University, London, Ontario from 1-3 June. The conference is being held as part of the 2020 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences and includes an overlap day with the conference of the Canadian Law and Society Association. Please mark the date on your calendars!  Our Call for Proposals will be issued soon.

CALT Statement in Support of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) and Against Racial Profiling and All Forms of Anti-Black Racism

We, the Canadian Association of Law Teachers (CALT), express our full support for the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA) statement, issued on June 4, denouncing an incident of racial profiling and anti-Black racism against a Black graduate student member of BCSA during Congress 2019 at UBC.

As an association with many members engaged in equality and anti-discrimination research, education and advocacy on a daily basis, we condemn all forms of racial profiling, anti-Black racism and discrimination. We are deeply concerned about the apparent failure of Congress/Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSSH) to appropriately respond to this incident. We should note that we are aware of numerous other incidents in which Black people and other racialized people are assumed not to belong in academic spaces, and are accused of theft. Despite the unfortunate regularity of such occurrences, this is an issue of extreme importance that calls for urgent action. We support the demands set out in the BCSA statement, which we reproduce below. We urge the FSSH to immediately address the BCSA demands and to give the highest priority to implementing measures to support and promote racial equality and inclusion at Congress that engages academic attendees, Congress staff and local partners, vendors and service providers.

1. The Federation immediately issue a public response acknowledging this incident, asserting zero tolerance for racial profiling and all forms of anti-Black racism, and a commitment to work with the BCSA to ensure that Congress is a welcoming space and experience for our members;
2. Ensure delivery to the two accusers involved, a letter that will be prepared by the BCSA in response to this incident;
3. The mention of anti-Black racism be added to the theme of Congress 2020: Bridging Divides (for example, Bridging Divides and Confronting Anti-Black Racism);
4. If the BCSA remains a member association of the Federation, the waiving of the association’s fees for Congress 2020.

We are pleased to release the Call for Proposals for the 2019 CALT conference, to be held as part of the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities at UBC, 5-7 June, 2019.  DON'T WAIT ... Deadline for proposals is Tuesday 20 November