EDITORIAL
2 Obiter Dicta
Let’s Talk About Lifting the Cloak of Secrecy
-
heather pringle
This past Wednesday marked the sixth annual
Bell Let’s Talk Day, a public awareness cam paign designed to break the silence around
mental illness across Canada. This leads me to
speak of several recent student submissions to
the Obiter. We received power ful and deeply
personal s tories abou t mental illness whose
authors requested that their names not be published. As a result, a number of complications
revealed themselves from a nexus be t we en
responsible journalistic standards and an individual’s right to privac y. From the Associated
Press to the New York Times, journalistic standards have traditionally condemned the use of
anonymous bylines citing the readers’ right to
transparenc y of information and the authors
ought responsibility to be accountable for the
words published. Our editorial board was compelled to seriously consider whether exceptions
to this long-standing policy ought be permitted
under special circumstances that include mental
health issues. In taking a broad perspec tive, the
issue here is much larger than whether or not
publishing ar ticles under anonymous bylines
is an acceptable prac tice. For me, this question points to a much larger problem that pervades the attitudes constituting our profession.
There is somewhat of a cognitive dissonance
in law school where mental health issues such as
addic tion, obsessive -compulsive disorder, and
perfec tionism are viewed to be strengths while
others are deemed to be signs of weakness. We
are surrounded by a culture where alcoholism,
drug abuse, and questionable — or an entire lack
of— ethics are more readily embraced than anxiety, depression, or more serious mental health
issues. Despite the likelihood tha t an overwhelming majority of students have experienced
these afflic tions at some point during their legal
studies, a cloak of secrecy continues to impede
the possibility of engaging in an hones t discourse about the per vasiveness of this prob lem. This shroud leaves many students with the
impression that to speak openly about suffering
from a mental health issue is akin to ending your
legal career before it even begins. This fear of
being viewed as damaged goods to the partners
on Bay street leaves students choosing to suffer
in silence, fearing the consequences that their
words might bring them. And many of those that
choose to speak out only do so under the protec tion of anonymity.
a. Osgoode Hall Law School, 0014g
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, on m3j 1p3
e. [email protected]
w. obiter-dicta.ca
t. @obiterdictaoz
“The jury consists of twelve persons chose to
decide who has the best lawyer.”
- Robert Frost
ê Image credit: The International Federation on Ageing ifa-fiv.org
While it’s true that this a profession that
is known to be arduous and demanding on its
members, I don’t believe that gives a justification for perpetuating the “tough-as-nails” stereotype of what a lawyer is expec ted to be. The
mere fac t that some students might experience
panic attacks as a result of the overwhelming
stress that law school brings doesn’t make them
weak—it makes them human. For those students
struggling with the challenges associated with
mental illness, the battle alone can leave them
feeling like vic tims. Furthering the stigma