The Court of Queen’s Bench and The Provincial Court of Manitoba issued Practice Directives regarding forms of address for parties and counsel which took effect on September 13, 2021.  The Practice Directives reflect the ongoing and evolving efforts of the Courts to treat all participants with equal dignity and respect.

For those unfamiliar with civil procedure at this stage, the various levels of Court occasionally issue Practice Directives to provide greater direction and clarity on certain issues relating to court practice and procedure. Lawyers and parties to an action are expected to comply with these directives. 

The Practice Directives regarding forms of address set out how parties may introduce themselves and advise the Court, fellow lawyers, and other parties of their preferred form of address and pronouns.  At the start of proceedings, counsel introducing themselves, their client or a witness to the Court by stating each person’s name, title (e.g. “Mr./Ms./Mx./Counsel Jones”) and the correct pronouns to be used for each individual.

An example of a counsel introduction would be: “I am Jane Doe and my last name is spelled D-O-E.  I use the pronouns she/her and can be addressed as Ms. Doe.  I represent the Defendant, Mx. Aaron Smith, last name spelled S-M-I-T-H who uses the pronouns they/them”.

When calling a witness to the stand, an example of that introduction would be: “I call to the stand the Defendant’s next witness, David Jones.  David Jones uses the title Mr. and he/him pronouns”.

In a webinar on September 16, 2021, Chief Justice Joyal of the Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench and Chief Judge Margaret Wiebe of the Provincial Court of Manitoba, along with representatives from the Manitoba Bar Association, Law Society of Manitoba and practicing bar answered questions and provided additional information regarding the Practice Directives.  The over-riding message was that the simple act of sharing pronouns was an important step towards a more inclusive profession and a safer space for all participants in the legal process, be it lawyers, parties to an action, or witnesses to court proceedings. 

Chief Justice Joyal and Chief Judge Wiebe stressed that, as this is a new practice, the parties involved will make occasional mistakes and that counsel should not worry that simple mistakes would lead to a rebuke from a Judge or a complaint to the Law Society.  With time, this practice of setting out forms of address and preferred pronouns will become second nature.

The Law Society discussed how they are taking steps within their organization to let others know their pronoun preferences, such as updating website bios and adding preferred pronouns to their email signatures and Zoom display names.  They also suggested that parties be mindful when addressing groups of people and that phrases such as “Welcome everyone” or “Hello Colleagues” be encouraged rather than “Hello Ladies and Gentlemen” which would exclude non-binary members of the crowd.

Practicing member of the bar Eli Milner (Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP) said they hoped this practice direction would have a “trickle down” effect on the profession and make people more cognizant of not misgendering individuals.  Eli also suggested that people consider not writing “Dear Sir” in a letter if you do not know someone’s preferred pronoun and, when in doubt, instead write “Dear Counsel” or “Dear John Doe”.

For both up-and-coming members of the legal profession as well as current practicing members of the Bar, it is encouraging to see the Manitoba Courts taking steps to make the courtroom experience more welcoming and safer for all participants in an what can sometimes be an intimidating environment.

“At the time, I was the president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and realized that I had an opportunity to use my voice and platform to advocate for equity, diversity, and inclusion in medicine,” said Osler.

Osler went on to lead the CMA’s involvement in several initiatives, including the development of CMA’s first ever policy on equity and diversity in medicine.

Osler, an assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology-head and neck surgery at the University of Manitoba, is being recognized for her efforts, becoming the recipient of the 2021 May Cohen Equity, Diversity and Gender Award from the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC).

“Dr. May Cohen was a pioneer of positive change in women’s health and a trailblazer for women in medicine,” said Osler, “I was delighted to be nominated and absolutely honoured to win the award.”

The May Cohen Equity, Diversity and Gender Award was first awarded in 2003 by the AFMC and Osler is the third recipient from the University of Manitoba, following Dr. Bruce Martin in 2017, and Dr. Catherine Cook in 2011.

Osler points out that not only those who work in the field of medicine benefit from equity and diversity, but those receiving treatment are also positively impacted by these initiatives.

“There is a growing body of research examining diversity in the physician workforce and the impact on health outcomes; the research suggests that better diversity could improve health outcomes,” said Osler. “For example, when Black newborn babies are cared for by Black physicians, their mortality, as compared to white newborn babies, is reduced by 50%.”

UM today spoke with Osler about the progress that has been made on equity and diversity in medicine, and what she hopes to see in the future.

How has gender-equity in health sciences and medicine changed over the past 10 years from your perspective?

Honestly, 10 years ago we weren’t having open and robust discussions on gender-equity in health sciences and medicine. Now the discussions have progressed to embrace intersectionality and understand the overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage. To truly achieve inclusion will require an intersectional approach.

What past initiatives do you think have made a big difference towards improving gender-equity and diversity in medicine and health sciences?

The Rady Faculty of Health Sciences’ 2020 policy on Disruption of All Forms of Racism was a landmark achievement and the first anti-racism policy to be passed by any post-secondary institution in Canada. I am immensely proud of the progressive leadership shown by vice-dean Dr. Marcia Anderson, director of EDI Jackie Gruber, and anti-racism practice lead Dr. Delia Douglas, to develop the policy. The University of Manitoba is a leader and positive disruptor in Canadian academic medicine.

What important steps do you hope to see made in the future?

There is still much work to be done. In the corporate world, there is an ongoing push for diversity from a business and moral imperative because diverse workforces produce better results than homogeneous ones. In health care, the results we should strive for are improved health outcomes for patients. For physicians, there is emerging research to suggest that better diversity in our workforce could improve health outcomes for patients and populations.

Canada’s physician workforce is increasingly diverse, but that diversity has yet to reach the upper echelons of academic medicine and health leadership in Canada. And leaders are instrumental in driving change. In the words of Marian Wright Edelman, “you can’t be what you can’t see.” My hope is for a future with more diverse and representative medical leadership in Canada to disrupt, drive change, and improve the health of Canadians.

“These are professional knowledge-based questions, and learning how to ask them and think with them is very important.”

Now an assistant professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies in Education at Queen’s University, Dr. Lee Airton has worked for 10 years with hundreds of teacher candidates to increase a sense of belonging and to encourage participation of students of all genders and sexualities.  Airton’s roles include researcher, blogger, advocate and a speaker. And by the way, as a non-binary transgender person, Airton prefers the singular pronoun they, founding They Is My Pronoun blog where the audience reads responses to questions posed about gender-neutral pronoun usage. In recognition of the No Big Deal Campaign, a social-media initiative supporting transgender peoples’ pronoun-usage rights, Airton received a 2017 Youth Role Model of the Year Award from the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity. 
At the Faculty of Education, after leading two workshops for some 460 teacher candidates, and talking about ways teachers can prepare teachers to encounter and welcome gender diversity in the classroom, Airton spoke to a standing-room only crowd of about 180 on the evening of Jan. 8.
Airton spoke with a disarming ease, drawing on a self-deprecating humour as they navigated the potentially difficult topic of gender discrimination and harassment.
“I don’t self-identify. I walk into a classroom and we proceed,” Airton said, laughs erupting from the crowd.
After walking the audience through the differences between harassment and discrimination and comparing the policy differences on gender in Ontario and Manitoba’s human rights codes, Airton talked about skills that teacher candidates should develop during their preparation for the classroom, including:

• Teachers need to know how to find trusted resources in their school and in their community where they teach, including names and phone numbers of people who they can call when they don’t know what to do.
• They need places they can send students where they know they are safe, and they need a list of online resources.
• Teacher candidates need to know they will be called upon to use a gender-neutral pronoun for student or for a family member or for a colleague.
• Teacher educators should “hedge” when referring to gender. For example, “Some boys do X, and many boys do Y. Some female learners do X, and some female learners do Y.”
• Teacher candidates need to be able to gauge the gender climate of their school. Airton said that after practicum, students should be able to return from their school able to share with professors how rigid the gender-boundary system is in their school and what it looks like. How swift are the punishments for not doing gender in the usual way? And what is that way? What is being a boy in that school?

“These are professional knowledge-based questions, and learning how to ask them and think with them is very important,” Airton said.
And lastly, Airton said teacher education should prepare candidates by cultivating a disposition where teachers are comfortable with uncertainty.
“So, if they’re caught off guard by someone’s name, appearance or behaviour or pronoun or question about pronoun, they don’t show it,” Airton said. “That’s a wonderful gift to have your surprise to deal with it, and just to proceed as if this is just totally cool. That is a wonderful gift to give someone like me.”