Reflections on Justice as Trauma

Between April 7 and 9, 2026, I had the opportunity to attend the Justice as Trauma conference in Vancouver. The conference was hosted by Myrna McCallum, a Métis lawyer known for her podcast, The Trauma-Informed Lawyer.

While much of the conference focused on law and recentering humanity within the legal system, it also had broader relevance for anyone interested in the impact of trauma.

It is impossible to summarize all the insights from this 3-day conference in a single blog post. Here, I highlight three of the most meaningful takeaways for me.

One of the most interesting talks for lawyers in the room was Justice Jasmine Akbarali’s keynote titled “Compassion from the Bench: Re-imagining Courtroom Practices in an Era of Collective Harm.” Justice Akbarali spoke about her experience presiding over the trial arising from Ukraine International Airlines’ flight PS752. Shortly after take-off, the flight was hit by two surface-to-air missiles launched by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. All passengers and crew aboard the plane were killed.

Justice Akbarali described how she asked the trial lawyers to consider what could be done to minimize the trial's traumatic impact on participants and observers. They developed a set of principles for a trauma-informed trial, which are appended to her decision.

When explaining why she asked counsel to develop trauma-informed guidelines, she described a previous experience in trial when a Crown prosecutor read into the record a description of some very disturbing evidence. One court staff member started crying, and the court recessed. After the recess, the Crown prosecutor decided to rely solely on the written record, rather than reading in the evidence.

Justice Akbarali’s story resonated with me. I vividly remember working on my first murder appeal while clerking at the Court of Appeal for Ontario. We received the usual factums and Books of Authorities. But in this case, we also received a thick Exhibit Book filled with photographs. The Exhibit Book sat on my shelf, and I was apprehensive about opening it. When I had to work on that case, one of my colleagues recognized my discomfort and offered to look at the book for me. He told me whether there was anything relevant in it for the purpose of the appeal and, if so, where it was.

Just as my colleague offered to review the Exhibit Book for me, many of the techniques adopted by Justice Akbarali in the Ukraine International Airlines trial were relatively simple. Even though they are simple, these techniques are unfortunately still uncommon in trials. Justice Akbarali provided an excellent example of how we can improve legal processes for everyone by bringing some humanity to the system.

My second takeaway came from Dr. Kemia Sarraf’s talk titled "What Neuroscience Teaches Us About Trauma, Hope & Humanity." Dr. Sarraf, a physician and public health expert who focuses on the impact of traumatic stress exposure, discussed our brain anatomy and functions that are involved in stress and traumatic stress. One of the main points she emphasized was that when people are dysregulated, it takes at least 20 minutes for our executive functioning to come back online.

My colleague, Yola Ventresca, and I have previously spoken about adopting a trauma-informed approach to workplace investigations. Dr. Sarraf’s keynote underscored the importance of doing so from a neuroscience perspective. When we are experiencing significant stress and dysregulation, we lose access to our higher-level cognitive functions. Clearly, this can have an impact on how witnesses present and give evidence.

My final lesson was from Dr. Samah Jabr. Dr. Jabr is a psychiatrist in Jerusalem who provides care to Palestinians. She spoke about her current work assisting children and adults living in Palestine with the trauma and upheaval they have experienced over the past years.

When Dr. Jabr initially started speaking, I was overwhelmed by the trauma and harm she described. In her parting words, Dr. Jabr reflected on ways that we can all bring more humanity to our work, and her message was simple: Never underestimate the importance of kindness, compassion, and empathy in the work that we do.

The areas of law that I practice (professional regulation, labour and employment, workplace investigations) are deeply human. I often work with people experiencing some of the most difficult moments of their professional and personal lives. In the face of this, Dr. Jabr’s words offer guidance for how we, as lawyers, should interact with our clients. A little kindness and understanding go a long way.