In the fall of 1991, the Ontario Provincial Attorney General's Office held a meeting with African Canadian students regarding employment options within the government's various legal services branches. During this meeting, delegates from various law schools were able to converse about the experiences they had endured as Black law students in Canada.
Later that year, Queen's University hosted a meeting under the direction of a Black law student group. At that meeting, it was agreed that a national conference for Black law students would be hosted. The date was set for February of 1992 and Toronto was the chosen location. The key catalysts in planning the conference were Courtney Kazembee, Jacqueline Lawrence, Rudolph Clarke, and Margaret Parsons. Instrumental in obtaining funding and support for the conference were Joanne St-Lewis, who at the time was the Director of the Education Equity Program at the University of Ottawa, and Davies Bagambiire, who at the time was the Director of the Indigenous Black and Mi'kmaq Program at Dalhousie University.
The conference was entitled "Access to Justice" and was attended by delegates from Dalhousie University, the University of Manitoba and the Ontario law schools. The focus of this first conference was to honour Black judges. This was the first time in legal history that all Canadian Black judges were recognized for their achievements at one national event. The Canadian Bar Association, the Department of Multiculturalism and Citizenship, and the surrounding law schools supported this first conference. In order to ensure some form of permanency the "Black Law Students' Association of Canada" was developed by those in attendance.
That year the entire BLSAC executive was able to attend the NBLSA (National Black Law Students' Association) conference in New York City. It was hoped that attending this conference would generate organizational principles for the Black Law Students' Association of Canada. It was determined that BLSAC had to have a strong community focus, which included supporting issues important to the community. Organizations such as the Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto Race Relations; and the Policy Branch of the Attorney General of Ontario assisted in the funding of studies conducted by BLSAC. Research projects were undertaken by Felix Weekes, Sophia Ruddick, and Andrea Timoll to address such topics as a review of Canadian law school admissions policies; a survey of the experiences of Canadian Black law students, and issues involving women and the law.
The second annual BLSAC conference, entitled "Access II – A Call to Commitment", was held in February of 1993 at Dalhousie University in Halifax. The conference offered increased national representation than the previous year. At this conference, the structure of BLSAC was determined, by-laws were created and the debate surrounding the Constitution began. A steering committee was created consisting of Margaret Parsons, Jacqueline Lawrence, Rudolph Clarke, Cheryl Byard, Rose Adams, Tanya Brothers, Carlos Charles and Gerry McNeilly as the Chair.
The tradition of the annual National Conference has continued, albeit with a changing focus and theme, but the fundamental nature has remained the same.
- 1992 Access to Justice (Toronto, February 21-23)
- 1993 Access II – A Call to Commitment (Halifax, February 25-28)
- 1994 Access III – Strategies for Action (Ottawa, February 17-20)
- 1995 Shaping the Legal Paradigms for the 21st Century (Montreal, February 16-19)
- 1996 Through Crisis to Justice: Lessons from the Past … Challenges for the Future (Windsor, February 22-25)
- 1997 Connecting Communities – Emerging Legal Issues for the New Millennium (Vancouver, February 20-23)
- 1998 Expanding Our Goals: Lessons from the Past – Objectives for the Future (Toronto, February 18-22)
- 1999 Assessing Our Impact – Setting an Agenda for the New Millennium (Halifax, February 18-21)
- 2000 Balancing the Scales – Redefining Access to Justice in the New Millennium (Windsor, February 17-20)
- 2001 Giving Back and Reaching Forward – A Decade of Pursuit, Progress and Perseverance (Ottawa, February 15-18)
- 2002 Balancing our Future: Building Partnerships, Maintaining Ties (Toronto, February 21-24)
- 2003 Progress Without Boundaries (Montreal, February 20-23)
- 2004 Black Legal Presence: In sight... In mind (Halifax, October 22-24)
- 2006 The Ripple Effect of One Voice (Windsor, February 24-26)
BLSAC began with a motivation on the part of many dedicated individuals to better the situation of Black law students in Canada, and this dedication has continued the original mandate of BLSAC.