Victoria lawyer Joseph James Arvay passed away on Sunday, December 6 at the age of 71. Widely regarded as a leading constitutional litigator, he made extraordinary contributions to the law and the legal profession. He served as Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia from 2014 to 2015 and as member of the Access to Legal Services Advisory Committee, Ethics Committee and Credentials Committee.
Arvay was known for his work in a number of landmark cases advancing civil liberties and human rights, including helping to protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination, defending Vancouver’s supervised injection site, and advocating for the constitutional right to physician-assisted dying. He became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2017 and was awarded the Order of BC in 2018. He will be missed.