The Regina-based lawyer previously headed the CBA’s Saskatchewan branch
Loreley Chekay says her upcoming tenure as president of the Canadian Bar Association will largely focus on one key goal: uniting legal professionals across the country to secure adequate resources for the justice system.
According to the Regina-based lawyer, who is set to head Canada’s largest association for legal professionals starting Sept. 1, this priority is informed by her experiences as a lawyer, a member of the CBA’s board of directors, and her past year serving as the association’s vice president.
Canada’s justice system is at “significant risk of being overwhelmed,” Chekay told Canadian Lawyer on Monday.
“We’ve seen that in the last few years – there’s been delays, there’s been [an] increase in population, so therefore there’s increased demands on the justice system,” she adds. “So one of the main challenges is going back to ensuring our courts and other justice system institutions are adequately resourced.”
Chekay says that in the coming year, she also aims to steer the CBA towards continued dialogue about protecting the rule of law, as well as the independence of the bar and the bench.
“None of that is overly new,” she says. “But it is very important that we continue the dialogue with all stakeholders in this area, because that is what our role in society is about.”
Chekay will take over the CBA’s presidency from Bianca Kratt, who also identified justice system resources as a key area of focus last year. From 2019 to 2020, Chekay served as president of the CBA’s Saskatchewan branch.
Born and raised in Sydney, Australia, the lawyer spent her third year of law school at the University of Saskatchewan and has lived in the province since. She began her law career at Saskatchewan firm Balfour Moss, which merged with Miller Thomson in 2011, and went on to serve as a Crown prosecutor for the province for nearly 15 years.
She later joined Saskatchewan Government Insurance, where she most recently served as executive vice president, general counsel, and chief risk officer.
