Law Alumna Charlene Theodore Leads Systemic Change as Ontario Bar Association President

Growing up in Brampton, Ont., Charlene Theodore was an avid reader with endless curiosity about the world. Her family always kept her bookshelves stocked and encouraged her to develop a deeper understanding about history and social issues, which sparked her initial interest in law.

“Through my own reading and learning about Black history, I identified pretty early on that the laws in place at different areas in our collective history had been used as a tool of oppression for Black Canadians, Black people across the diaspora and Black women specifically,” Theodore says.

“That same tool of oppression was also what we needed to fight that oppression and reverse those injustices,” Theodore shares, noting that reading stories about people who were wrongfully convicted fueled a desire to help right those wrongs.

Ultimately, she says change comes down to legal advocacy, explaining how “lawyers have been at the foundation of every major chapter of social progress that we’ve had in this country, from pay equity to LGBTQ2+ rights.”

Coming from a family of Ravens, she followed in their footsteps and enrolled in a double major in Law and Psychology at Carleton University.

Read full story in Carleton Newsroom…