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The life sentence represents the most serious sanction that Canadian courts impose. Reaching the fifty-year mark after their introduction as a mandatory sentence offers the opportunity to not only recall that they are not an inevitable feature of Canadian law but also to consider their continued significance, particularly for those subject to them. Drawing together a number of important voices, the 2026 Proulx Roundtable will therefore focus on past experiences, the current state, and the future of life sentences in Canada.

The event, hosted by ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ’s Faculty of Law, will take place on Thursday, April 9, 2026, from 5:30pm to 7:15pm in the Maxwell Cohen Moot Court Room at 3644 Peel Street.

Our Speakers

Nyki Kish works as the Co Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and sits as VP of the National Associations Active in Criminal Justice. She is a Vanier Scholar PhD Candidate at the University of Victoria. Her sociological scholarship focuses on criminal and prison law, legislative change processes, and the Canadian life sentence.

John W. Conroy was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1996 and practices primarily in criminal law as well as in constitutional and administrative law issues arising out of prison sentences. In addition to being active in Constitutional challenges reviving the ‘faint hope clause’, he has been involved in prominent Charter challenges related to the Vancouver Supervised Injection Site and the prohibition against cannabis.

Freeman is a community activist and person of learned experience. He is a lifer who has lived more than 30 years of incarceration.

Nora Demnati is a prison lawyer based in Montreal. She advocates for the rights of federally incarcerated people in Quebec, and in other provinces. She represents an ever-increasing number of racialized and Indigenous people and has developed a keen interest in representing those serving long or life sentences. She is the current president of the Canadian Prison Law Association.

Debra Parkes is a Professor and Chair in Feminist Legal Studies at Allard School of Law, UBC, where she teaches constitutional law, prison law, and feminist legal studies. Her scholarly work critically examines criminal and carceral systems and she has published on issues related to gender and racial (in)equality in those systems, life sentences, prisoners’ rights claims, and abolitionist lawyering.

Michel Proulx Memorial Roundtable Fund

The Roundtable is named after the Honourable Michel Proulx (1939-2007), who devoted his life to the improvement of the criminal justice system and to the advancement of human rights in Canada. Called to the Quebec Bar in 1963, he quickly became known as one of the finest criminal lawyers nationwide. In 1989, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Quebec. In 2006, he was awarded the Prix de la Justice du Québec in light of his devotion to the improvement of justice in Quebec. Michel Proulx taught both Criminal Procedure and Evidence in Criminal Matters for over twenty years as an adjunct professor at ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ’s Faculty of Law, in addition to supporting its international human rights programs, and providing counsel and encouragement to students, teachers, and deans. The Faculty of Law hosts the Michel Proulx Roundtable Conferences in Criminal Law to honour his memory. The ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ community is grateful to the Proulx family for making this event possible.