Canadian Hispanic
Bar Association

We are happy to report that we have held our elections and the positions for the 2023-2024 CHBA Board will be as follows:

‍Wanessa Oliveira - President

‍Mario Torres - Director-at-Large (Past President)

‍Fabian Suarez Amaya - Secretary

‍Victoria Romero - Policy & Programs Director

‍Alanis Ortiz - Communications Director

‍Luis A. Hernandez - Membership Director

‍Mildred Bolanos-Lopez - Co-Events Director

‍Lilia K - Co-Events Director

‍Ed Béchard Torres - Mentorship Director

‍Jorge Caicedo - Treasurer

We are pleased to have expanded the board and are ready to get to work. If you would like to be more involved in any of our projects, please reach out!

Thank you to the three-hundred+ attendees of our annual Hispanic Heritage Month event (in collaboration with the Law Society of Ontario)!

This event took place on October 13, 2022, and it was moderated by CHBA Events Director, Mildred Bolanos-Lopez. Atrisha Lewis provided us with welcoming remarks on behalf of the LSO and CHBA President, Mario Torres, also gave a warm welcome and shared some of the CHBA's goals.

Our incredible Panelists Natalia Back Gosende, Paolo Solano, and Erika Serrano, highlighted the ongoing efforts by members of the Latin American and Hispanic legal community to protect the environment using legal systems in Canada and in Latin America!

Thank you all for making this event such a success!

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This year, the CHBA helped to partially fund a Latin American/Hispanic student to attend one module of the Youth Summer Program at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law.
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Thank you to our member, Rita Villanueva, for all your help with this project, and also to our valued Members who donated to support this cause!
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Sophie G. was selected to participate in the program, as she has an interest in exploring the legal profession and the legal field in the areas of criminal law, law and politics, trial advocacy, corporate law and international law. She spoke to us about her experience:
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“Hello! Thank you so much for this opportunity to participate in this program. I truly enjoyed every second of it and would recommend it to all of my friends interested in law!!

Being in this program confirmed my wish to pursue law, as it was so interesting hearing from a sitting justice and learning about different types of international law. I will never forget the memories or the people I met at this program.

I highly anticipate that I will be applying for more than one of these programs next year, because I can only imagine how cool the rest of the programs will be!!

Once again, thank you so much for this opportunity! I look forward to applying next year, and am grateful to the CHBA for paying part of my tuition.

All the Best.”
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You can read more about this program, here: https://defygravitycampaign.utoronto.ca/news-and-stories/black-and-hispanic-legal-associations-create-scholarships-for-u-of-ts-youth-summer-program/

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