Sophie Gagnon

Sophie Gagnon is a lawyer and the Executive Director of Juripop, a non-profit legal clinic that provides access to low-cost legal services and creates unique projects to make justice more accessible. Founded in 2009, Juripop has been positively impacting communities in Quebec for 13 years, helping those that earn too much to qualify for government legal aid, but not enough to pay standard legal fees. Juripop often takes on cases of public interest and leverages their legal expertise to advocate for those whose rights are fringed upon like caregivers, students, and the elderly.

Another vulnerable community are victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse, and in 2020, under Sophie’s leadership, Juripop oversaw a 15-month pilot project that offered legal services to those affected. On the heels of the success of the pilot, the government of Quebec announced in September 2021 that they would be supporting a permanent program with Juripop, and charging the organization with creating a province-wide network of lawyers specialized in gendered violence. Alongside representing 125 victims each year, Juripop will be collecting information around the judicial and administrative challenges victims face in order to make real, structural changes to the justice system in Quebec in the realms of sexual assault, domestic violence, and family law.