REGINA, Sask. — After many years in Saskatchewan’s legal community, Regina's Loreley Chekay is stepping into a national role as president of the Canadian Bar Association, becoming only the fourth person from the province to hold the position.
Originally from Australia, Chekay has lived in Saskatchewan for the past 25 years.
"Not too many people get to take this role," she said. "For example, the Canadian Bar Association has been in existence for 130 years. There have only been 98 presidents. I'm only the fourth from Saskatchewan. So it's a significant privilege to be elected into a position like this. It's an honour. I have an opportunity to speak to many people across the country to hear their perspectives, to see how we can support them individually as either legal practitioners in the legal system, speaking with governments to see how we can work together to achieve some successes. So I'm very honoured to take on this role, but it's a significant privilege as well."
Chekay completed her law degree with an exchange year at the University of Saskatchewan after studying biomechanics in Australia.
For most of the next two decades, she was a senior Crown prosecutor in Saskatchewan before spending several years as general counsel and executive vice-president with Saskatchewan Government Insurance. She has also been a long-standing volunteer with many sports and community organizations and received a Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her volunteer work in 2023.
In nearly 25 years as a CBA member, Chekay has chaired the Saskatchewan Branch’s Young Lawyers Section and Criminal South Section and was branch president in 2019-20. At the national level, she has been active in the Young Lawyers and Criminal Justice sections and has served on the National Sections Executive Committee.
She said the Canadian Bar Association has an important role in serving the Canadian people.
"At the end of the day, what's really important is that this organization is here to ensure that we advocate for the interests of the Canadian people, which is adequate resources for our judiciary, adequate resources for our legal system, and so that people, when they do have to engage with the legal system, have the ability to do so," Chekay said. "And so it's a very important role, but it's also one that has to be done with open dialogue and respect, and really listening to each other and working together to come to a solution."
