Dugald Christie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dugald Christie (1941 - July 31, 2006) was a Canadian lawyer and political activist. He was based out of the city of Vancouver.

Christie began his political activities in 1997 when he began to offer free legal service to low-income people in Vancouver. As the head of the Western Canada Society to Access Justice he was instrumental in setting up numerous pro-bono clinics across western Canada.

Christie is most noteworthy for a 2005 court challenge of a British Columbia law that extended provincial sales tax to legal services. Christie argued that the law unjustly infringed on the constitutionally-protected rights of low income people to access the justice system. He met with partial success at the Court of Appeal and a further appeal will now see it in front of the Supreme Court of Canada.^[1]

In 2006 Christie began an effort to bicycle across Canada in order to raise awareness of the shortcomings of legal assistance programs in Canada. On July 31, 2006 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Christie was killed when he was hit by a van during his trip.^[2][3]

[edit] References

1. ^ Supreme Court of Canada - Appeals Ready for Hearing. URL: http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/information/reports/index_e.asp. Accessed on: March 20, 2007.
2. ^ CBC News. B.C. legal crusader killed in cycling accident. August 1, 2006. URL: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/08/01/bc-lawyer.html. Accessed on: March 20, 2007.
3. ^ Canadian Bar Association. Dugald Christie. URL: http://www.cba.org/BC/Home/2006/dugald_christie.aspx. Accessed: March 20, 2007.

[edit] External links

• CBC story writen after Christie's death
• Text of British Columbia Court of Appeal decision: Christie v. British Columbia