Government & Public Interest Panel
Carissa Wong
With compassion, integrity and deep listening, Carissa provides legal services, peace and closure for those engaged in conflicts over natural resources. She has represented community groups, engaged with First Nations and talked with concerned citizens. Her focus is on reducing polarization in natural resources management and building stronger, wider communities of ecological stewardship. She draws on over fifteen years of international, interdisciplinary, and cross-cultural experience in the environmental field. In addition to her law degree from the University of Ottawa, Carissa holds a Masters in Environmental Management from Duke University and an Honours Bachelor of Science from the University of Toronto. She is the founder of the Toronto Chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology, and a current Director at the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers (FACL) where she spearheads the new Women’s Committee. An advocate of mental health and wellness in the legal profession, she makes time for meditation, nature walks, and ultimate Frisbee.
Emily Chan
Community Development Lawyer | Justice for Children and Youth
Emily Chan is currently the Community Development Lawyer at Justice for Children and Youth. In her litigation work, Emily has appeared at all levels of tribunals and courts; she was counsel as Intervenors before the Supreme Court in Prime Minister of Canada v. Khadr in 2010 and in Kanthasamy v Minister of Citizenship and Immigration in 2015; and counsel in JFCY’s joint application to challenge the 2012 refugee health care cuts. In addition to casework, Emily participates in a variety of law reform and community initiatives, facilitates legal education workshops in schools and other settings for youth and front-line staff who work with youth; organizes and presents at numerous conferences and served as a board member of the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children (CCRC). Emily graduated from Queen’s Law School, articled at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice as the dedicated Divisional Court law clerk and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 2002; she joined JFCY in 2003 where she has also held the positions of Acting Executive Director and Street Youth Legal Services Lawyer.
Kelley Bryan
Perez Bryan Procope LLP
Kelley Bryan is a partner at Perez Bryan Procope LLP, where she practises in the areas of estates, health and disability law, and social justice. She is an experienced litigator who has appeared at all levels of Ontario courts and before numerous administrative tribunals. Kelley is an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she co-instructs (with Mercedes Perez) a course on Law and Psychiatry. She is a regular speaker on various health law and administrative law topics at conferences, and provides education seminars to various organizations. Kelley holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of British Columbia, as well as a Bachelor of Science and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Calgary. She served as a judicial law clerk in the British Columbia Supreme Court before articling at a national law firm. Since moving to Ontario in 2005, Kelley worked at two litigation firms where she nurtured her dedication to social justice lawyering, before founding her current firm.
Shalini Konanur
SALCO
Shalini Konanur is the Executive Director and a lawyer at the South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario (SALCO). She has worked in Ontario’s legal aid clinic for the past 17 years and is actively involved in several areas of poverty law reform. Her advocacy has focused on the impact of systemic racism on racialized people in Ontario, and its intersection with poverty, gender, disability, etc… Shalini also sits on the province’s Roundtable on Violence Against Women and has been actively advocating for supports for racialized people facing gender-based violence. Most recently, Shalini spoke at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (to address domestic issues of systemic racism), and consulted with Legal Aid Ontario’s Racialized Communities Strategy (on the collection of race based data). Shalini also spearheads SALCO`s test case work, challenging issues of racial, gender, and religious discrimination at the Supreme Court of Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and the Federal Court. SALCO is a founding and steering committee member of the Colour of Poverty Campaign, which advocates for the collection of disaggregated data and the inclusion of race equity consideration in legislation, policy, and decision-making at all levels.