Pamela Cross

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Pamela Cross is a feminist lawyer; a well-known and respected expert on violence against women and the law for her work as a researcher, writer, educator and trainer. She works with women’s equality and violence against women organizations across Ontario.
One of her key roles is as the Legal Director of Luke’s Place Support and Resource Centre in Durham Region, where she leads the organization’s provincial projects, including research, training and advocacy.
She has also been a member of the teaching faculty with the National Judicial Institute, and continues to plan and deliver educational programs on violence against women to Canadian judges. In 2012, she developed violence against women curriculum for law schools in a project with the Law Commission of Ontario.
Pamela works with the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, for whom she co-authored “Muslim and Canadian Family Laws: A Comparative Primer” and was the author of “Violence Against Women: Health and Justice for Canadian Women,” as well as delivering workshops on family law to CCMW members.
Pamela’s most recent paper is “When Shared Parenting and the Safety of Women and Children Collide,” published in 2016. With funding from the federal Department of Justice, she led a team that conducted research into the use of family violence screening tools for family law practitioners. The final report, entitled “What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The importance of family violence screening tools for family law practitioners”, includes a draft screening tool.
In her role as Luke’s Place Legal Director, Pamela is the lead trainer for Ontario’s Family Court Support Workers, providing both in-person and online training and support for approximately 100 frontline workers who assist abused women in family court. She recently completed the delivery of domestic violence awareness training to approximately 2,500 Legal Aid Ontario staff, community clinics and lawyers across the province. She was also Co-Chair of the Violence Against Women Roundtable, which provided guidance to the provincial government on this issue.
Pamela is the 2020 recipient of the Corry Award from Queen’s Law, the 2019 recipient of the Laura Legge Award from the Law Society of Ontario and a 2015 recipient of the Attorney General’s Victim Services Award of Distinction for her work on the issue of violence against women. In 2006, she was awarded the YWCA Toronto Women of Distinction award for her work in the area of law reform.
She is a frequent speaker at provincial, national and international conferences. She is also a regular commentator on violence against women and the law for print media, radio and television across Canada.