To answer your initial semi-rhetorical question, yes, it is. You must be a member and you must take this oath to practice in Ontario. You can have a law degree (JD, LLB, etc.) but you cannot represent a client in legal matters without LSO membership.
Fun fact, they used to be the Law Society of Upper Canada, but that wasn't woke enough. The name "implied superiority over Quebec," and alluded to a time of "First Nations oppression," so it was changed as little more than an opportunity for leftists to flex.
The Upper (Ontario)and Lower (Quebec) Canada nomenclature was also a quaint colonial relic in that Quebec is further north by latitude than Southern Ontario, making it confusing.
But the original Upper/Lower Canada distinction seems to arise that Toronto (York) and Kingston were further up river (actually on Lake Ontario) wrt the St. Lawrence, which would've been the main route of travel at the time.
To answer your initial semi-rhetorical question, yes, it is. You must be a member and you must take this oath to practice in Ontario. You can have a law degree (JD, LLB, etc.) but you cannot represent a client in legal matters without LSO membership.
Fun fact, they used to be the Law Society of Upper Canada, but that wasn't woke enough. The name "implied superiority over Quebec," and alluded to a time of "First Nations oppression," so it was changed as little more than an opportunity for leftists to flex.
The Upper (Ontario)and Lower (Quebec) Canada nomenclature was also a quaint colonial relic in that Quebec is further north by latitude than Southern Ontario, making it confusing.
But the original Upper/Lower Canada distinction seems to arise that Toronto (York) and Kingston were further up river (actually on Lake Ontario) wrt the St. Lawrence, which would've been the main route of travel at the time.