2022 Chief Justice Thane A. Campbell Lectureship in Law to take place on November 17
Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, executive director and general counsel of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), will present the 2022 Chief Justice Thane A. Campbell Lectureship in Law on Thursday, November 17, at 12 noon, at the Delta Prince Edward Hotel in Charlottetown.
Mendelsohn Aviv’s lecture is titled “The Icing on the Cake: on tensions between freedom of religion and equality.”
“Clashes between religious freedom and equality have arisen in numerous cases: from refusals to accept 2SLGBTQI+ marriages or people, to bans on religious symbols, for example in courts or in the classroom,” she says. “To resolve these issues, one must consider the meaning and theory underpinning the rights to equality and religious freedom, how they interact, where stereotypes have impacted decision-making, whether there could be a hierarchy of rights, and which of the seeming conflicts are in fact reconcilable.”
Mendelsohn Aviv joined the CCLA in 2002 and has directed both the organization’s equality and freedom of expression programs, writing, appearing, and advocating on such issues as refugee protection, 2SLGBTQI+ rights, racial profiling, reproductive justice, freedom of expression, religion, and the intersection of rights. She has stewarded litigation for the organization, including CCLA’s Bill 21, abortion access, and solitary confinement challenges, and dozens of interventions in courts across the country. She has appeared before parliamentary and provincial legislative committees and other public bodies. She has also initiated creative advocacy projects to support, engage and empower marginalized communities, and provided guest lectures and workshops through the Canadian Civil Liberties Education Trust’s public education project. She frequently engages the public through opinion pieces, blogs, and commentary in the media.
Mendelsohn Aviv obtained her LLB and LLM (cum laude) from the Hebrew University in Israel, and her BA (with distinction) from York University. She completed her legal articles at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and was called to the Israeli Bar in 1998. She has also practiced litigation, labour, and commercial law in Jerusalem, and served as acting administrative director of Hebrew University Law Faculty Center for Human Rights.
Co-sponsored by the University of Prince Edward Island and the Law Foundation of Prince Edward Island, the Chief Justice Thane A. Campbell Lectureship in Law honours Thane A. Campbell, Rhodes Scholar, former premier of Prince Edward Island, and first chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island.
All are welcome to attend. For more information, please email artsadmin@upei.ca.
