Martha Mackinnon, B.A., B.Ed., M.A., LL.B. – Executive Director

Martha taught English and Drama in secondary school for eight years before becoming a lawyer. She has concentrated her legal practice on children’s rights, from her beginning in private practice, then serving as Counsel to the York Region Board of Education for 8 years, before coming to Justice for Children and Youth in 1996. Martha is the Chair of the Main Continuing Legal Education Committee of the Ontario Bar Association and a member of Council.  She has been on the board of directors of the Canadian Association for the Practical Study of Law and Education (Capsle) for 9 years. Martha also serves as a board member of HALCO. With Cheryl Milne, she edits Lexis Nexis’ Consolidated Education Statutes and she is a co-author of An Educator’s Guide to Special Education Law.


Cheryl Milne, LL.B., M.S.W. – Staff Counsel

Cheryl has practised as a lawyer at the clinic since 1991. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1987 and completed her M.S.W. at the University of Toronto in 1991. In addition to her work representing the clinic’s individual clients in all areas of the clinic’s legal practice, she has represented the clinic itself at the inquests into the deaths of William Edgar and David Meffe and in various interventions and applications such as the section 43 constitutional challenge. She is an instructor at Ryerson University on Social Work and the Law, the chair of the Inter-ministerial Provincial Advisory Committee and is a member of the Children in Limbo Task Force of the Sparrow Lake Alliance. Cheryl also sits on the executive of the Ontario Bar Association’s Constitutional, Civil Liberties and Human Rights Section. She sits on the board the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children and was a member of the steering committee of the North American Regional Consultation of the United Nations Study on Violence Against Children.


Mary Birdsell, B.A., LL.B. – Community Development Lawyer

Mary graduated from Dalhousie University Law School having been active in the law school’s legal clinic. She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1996. As a community development lawyer and staff lawyer at Justice for Children and Youth Mary has been responsible for the clinic’s public legal education for young people in schools, institutions and custodial settings. She also provides training for staff and professionals in youth-serving agencies. In 1999 Mary increased the clinic’s direct contact with street-involved youth through a new SYLS project (Street Youth Legal Services). Recently, she represented several young people in a constitutional challenge to Ontario’s Safe Streets Act. Mary has been involved in many social justice groups such as the Youth Justice Education Partnership, the Committee for Better Policing, and the Conflict Resolution Educators Network.


Lee Ann Chapman, B.A. LL.B – Staff Counsel

Since graduating from the University of Toronto Law School, Lee Ann has concentrated her legal practice on children’s rights and social justice issues. For the past six years she has been a staff lawyer at Justice for Children and Youth.
At the clinic Lee Ann represents children and youth in human rights, education, mental health, social assistance, support, child welfare, and youth criminal justice matters. She also provides public legal education to youth and youth-serving agencies through the clinic, as well as through the Laws Program at the University of Toronto. Lee Ann is the staff liaison person on the Community Development Committee at JFCY, as well as the Toronto region representative on the Provincial Learning Advisory Committee of Legal Aid Ontario. She is a member of several community organizations concerned with the rights of children including the Sexual Exploitation Education & Awareness Committee of Toronto, the Equity Policy Advisory Committee at the Toronto District School Board, and the 81 Reasons Campaign. Lee Ann is also the parent of two teenaged children.


Emily Chan, Hons. B.A., LL.B. – Community Development Lawyer
 

Emily Chan is currently a Community Development Lawyer with JFCY and was formerly the Street Youth Legal Services Lawyer. In addition to casework, her position includes facilitating legal education workshops in schools and other settings for youth and front-line staff who work with youth and participates in a variety of community initiatives. Emily is involved with several community groups including the Community Crisis Response Program and the Ontario Project for Inter-Clinic Community Organizing (OPICCO). She also volunteers with the Harbourfront Canoe and Kayak School. 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. Prior to her work with the clinic, she worked at a small litigation law firm primarily practising in the areas of mental health law and civil litigation.

Gary Magee, Hons. B.Sc., LL.B. –Street Youth Legal Services Counsel

Gary Magee is the Street Youth Legal Services lawyer at Justice for Children and Youth. Originally from the small, eastern Ontario town of Morrisburg, he studied Kinesiology at the University of Western Ontario, and went on to study law at the University of British Columbia. Gary articled in Morrisburg and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 2004. Before coming to JFCY, Gary had a sole practice that focused mainly on criminal and family law. Outside of JFCY, Gary volunteers at Pathways to Education, an organization in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood that provides tutoring and mentoring to high-school aged youth from low-income families, and he is on the board of directors of a grassroots youth organization called the For Youth Initiative, which provides skills training, recreation, and community development services for at-risk youth.


Judy Williams

Judy started January 3, 2006 at Justice for Children and Youth as the Office Manager. She previously worked as the Office Manager at Silent Voice, an agency providing services to the deaf community. Judy worked hard organizing the accessibility of the SARS Concert in Toronto for audience members with disabilities.