U of A has one of the lowest percentages of Black law school students in the country, report shows
CBC
Peace Penzi expected she would be among a minority of Black students at the University of Alberta's law school, but she was surprised to learn in 2019 that she was the only one.
"I remember calling my mom the first week of school, saying, 'I don't know why I'm here,'" recalled Penzi, who is now an articling student in Toronto.
Since then, the percentage of Black students at the Edmonton law school has remained disproportionately small.
According to a new report from the Black Law Students' Association of Canada, just four of the 547 students in the U of A's entry-level law degree program identify as Black. Per Statistics Canada, Black people comprise 4.26 per cent of Alberta's population and 5.76 per cent of Edmonton's.
"I do wish that number was higher," said second-year law student Rebecca Alexander, who is the vice president of communications of the U of A's BLSA chapter. Penzi said she formed the chapter so other Black students would feel less isolated.
The underrepresentation at the U of A's law school reflects a national trend: According to the report, Black students are underrepresented at a majority of Canada's 24 law schools.
The report's authors started gathering enrolment data and survey results from law faculties last fall and analyzed the numbers with local BLSA chapter members. Some schools didn't respond or wouldn't hand over the information, but most provided figures for the current school year.
The report shows Toronto Metropolitan University's law school has the highest percentage of Black students enrolled in an entry-level program — nearly 13 per cent — while the U of A is among schools with the lowest percentages.
Mirabelle Harris-Eze is one of the report's authors, the president of BLSA Canada, and a law student at the University of Calgary. She said law schools are gatekeepers influencing who ultimately becomes lawyers, judges and politicians.
"When those people do not reflect the diversity of Canada, our justice system, our legal system, and what our sense of justice and fairness and equity is in our country, [it's] going to be skewed and we're going to have blind spots," she said.
The report authors have made eight recommendations for law schools, including creating Black-conscious admissions processes, offering targeted scholarships and hiring more Black law professors.
Ubaka Ogbogu, who has been a professor at U of A's law school since 2011, told CBC News he could not recall a year when there were more than five Black students.
He said the "dismal" statistics reflect the law school's failure to face the issue, even as other law schools have done so.
He said some might assume Black students want to attend U of A's law school but face barriers to getting in. That might be true, but it's not the whole picture, he said.
