Aboriginal Legal Services – Justin Basinger 1983 – 2020

Press Release

The Board of Directors and staff of Aboriginal Legal Services are very saddened that Justin Basinger, the Vice President of the Board, passed away from natural causes on May 27, 2020. Justin was only 33 years old.

Justin was a Toronto-based lawyer practising labour, employment, and human rights law in the public sector. The son of parents that served in the Canadian Armed Forces, he was born in Germany and raised in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. He traces his heritage back to the Red River Métis community as well as the Cree and Blackfoot nations of the Plains. Justin graduated from Simon Fraser University with a B.A. in Political Science in Dialogue. He received his J.D. from the University of Toronto where he was co-editor-in-chief of the Indigenous Law journal and served on the Executive of Downtown Legal Services. He quickly fell in love with Toronto and enjoyed all the culture, ideas, food, and sights the city has to offer.

Justin joined the Board at Aboriginal Legal Services in 2016. He brought energy, intelligence, insight and joy to his work on the Board. He loved deepening his involvement with the Indigenous community in Toronto and made a great contribution in the time he was on the Board. He will be terribly missed by everyone who was lucky enough to meet him.

To honour Justin’s memory, the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law has established the Justin Basinger Memorial Award to recognize the best essay concerning Indigenous legal issues. Donations to the award can be made now through GoFundMe – https://www.gofundme.com/f/justin-basinger-memorial-award/donate – or the University of Toronto’s donation portal.

A fuller obituary for Justin can be found here – https://www.cardinalfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/mr-justin-basinger

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