Amanda Carling

About Amanda Carling

Amanda Carling (she/her) is Métis from Red River, Treaty One, and a proud Citizen of the Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF). She is a grateful guest on the unceded Homelands of the syilx Okanagan peoples. 

Amanda attended law school at the University of Toronto (JD, 2012) and articled with Innocence Canada. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 2013. Amanda served as President of the board for Aboriginal Legal Services in Toronto from 2014 until 2020. In 2014, Amanda launched Innocence Canada’s National Legal Education Program to forward the organization’s mandate to prevent wrongful convictions. The same year Amanda was appointed by the Attorney General for Ontario to the Debwewin Jury Implementation Committee the mandate of which was to increase First Nations representation on juries in Ontario and improve the relationship between Indigenous communities and the criminal justice system. In 2016 she returned to the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law as Manager of the Indigenous Initiatives Office, and Adjunct Faculty, where she bolstered the institution’s efforts related to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) Calls to Action and taught courses on wrongful convictions. Amanda’s work in legal education was recognized by Precedent Magazine in 2020 with the Precedent Setter Award. Amanda has served on the Canada Committee of Human Rights Watch since 2016.

In 2022, Amanda was called to the British Columbia Bar and joined the BC First Nations Justice Council as a Senior Policy Lawyer. Amanda became the organization's inaugural Chief Executive Officer within a few months and oversaw their exponential growth over the next three years. Among BCFNJC's achievements under Amanda's leadership, BCFNJC released the Indigenous Women’s Justice Plan, opened 13 new Indigenous Justice Centres (for a total of 16 across the province), stood up a Police Accountability Unit, and opened the first Indigenous Diversion Centre in Prince George. 

In February 2023, Amanda, with Professor Kent Roach and a small group of dedicated pro bono lawyers, launched the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions. This free and independent database currently contains 90 state-remedied wrongful convictions and serves as a valuable resource for academics and the public, and a call to action for law and policy makers. Amanda will oversee the expansion of the Registry in 2026.