Remembering Dugald

It was a sad day for Pete and I as we learned of the death of our friend Dugald Christie, founder and Director of Access Justice, a small but powerful non-profit organization committed to helping low-income people access the legal system.

Dugald was a lifelong advocate for justice and an avid cyclist - in the final weeks of his life, Dugald embarked on a cross-Canada bike journey to lobby for justice system reform. To raise awareness how the legal system fails poor people and the increasing length of court proceedings which disproportionately affect the poor.

Dugald was tragically killed on the Trans Canada highway in northern Ontario last night. Canada lost a hero for social justice; we lost one of the most inspiring friends we have known.

Dugald was different! He actually believed that most lawyers were good people. He proved this to us all as Access Justice set up over 60 pro bono clinics where he amazingly got 400+ lawyers to volunteer their time to meet with low-income clients for free to give legal advice. These clinics were set up in community centres, women's shelters, friendship centres, the BC Courthouse, schools, and he even tried to get a televideo clinic in a prison. Dugald always said the legal system needed to be affordable, brief and comprehensible - the new ABC's of law reform. To Dugald it was a travesty of justice when people didn't know their legal rights or couldn't properly represent themselves in court because they couldn't afford the cost of a lawyer.

Pete and I would often talk about Dugald - we both volunteered for a time with Access Justice before Rian was born (Pete was a Clinic Coordinator and I with fundraising) so we both could laugh at Dugald's quirks. Dugald doesn't drink alcohol or stimulants of any kind but before I knew this, I offered him a Mike's Hard Lemonade. He had just biked over to my office for a meeting and said, "Lemonade, how fantastic!" That meeting went on until after 10 pm because he was tipsy and talkative with a million new ideas of how to make the legal system serve the needs of everyone, not just the well-off! And that was the last time I accidentally offered him booze...

Dugald lived his beliefs. He worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week for no pay which enabled Access Justice to hire equally passionate staff to make his goals reality. And somehow he also found the time to write poetry. Surprising wonderful, funny, candid poetry! He won the World Poetry Lifetime Award in 2005.

It was indeed a sad sad day for us. Farewell Dugald! You will be missed by all who knew you and whose lives you helped. Your dream of justice for all will never die.