Defending crime: Right to counsel as a natural human right

Douglas College and the New Westminster Museum collaborated to host the Tick-Talk: Crime and Consequences Student Conference, which featured criminology students' presentations on a variety of crime, justice, and social issues. Adopting a fast-paced presentation format, students raised key issues and challenges, described personal experiences, and disseminated unique ideas in a public forum. Presentation topics included the right to legal representation, the over representation of Indigenous peoples in Canada’s criminal justice system, youth justice policy, and connections between mental health and criminal justice. The conference also included several discussion sessions that generated valuable dialogue among students, academics, practitioners, and members of the public. --- Bogdan Maksimcev presented on the right to defence counsel within the Canadian legal system. Maksimcev outlined the legal rights of Canadians and discussed the role of defence counsel in people's lives, arguing that every person should have fair access to justice.