A Letter from the OBA Municipal Law Section Executive Chair

  • September 16, 2022
  • Christie E. Gibson

Dear Municipal Law Section Members:Photo of Chair Christie Gibson

I am honoured and privileged to be serving as the chair of this section for the upcoming year. For those who don’t know me, I am a 2014 call, and a partner at Cassels in Toronto. Thank you to Joanna Wice (Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing) for her incredible leadership as chair last year. I have big shoes to fill!

I first joined the section executive in 2016. Since then, this executive has participated in significant legislative review, hosted events ranging from the widely popular Institute (now the Building Communities Conference) to the more interactive Think Tank and the intimate year-end award gala at which we recognize the indelible contributions of a member of our bar. The section also continues to offer the broadly attended “last ditch” professionalism event every December, and holds other one-off events throughout the year in response to the ever-changing tides of our field. The OBA has published hundreds of articles during the last eight years, keeping our section members up to speed on the latest developments (be sure to keep up to date on the OBA website and with the Section Insider which arrives periodically in your inbox!).

As we enter a new year, I will echo the sentiments of the two chairs before me in saying I hope and trust we will be in a position to hold our events in-person this year. This time, I think we may just have a shot at it. The first event of the year will be the in-person Barnet Kussner Award of Excellence reception, held in Ottawa on September 22, at which we will recognize the immense contributions of the 2022 recipient, Douglas Kelly, to our field. I hope to see you there.