Alumni Association

Justice Rosalie Abella receives �山ǿ�� alumni award for 'unwavering commitment to human rights and equality'

noreen.rasbach — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 20:00:00 +0000

Justice Rosalie Abella receives �山ǿ�� alumni award for 'unwavering commitment to human rights and equality'

noreen.rasbach Fri, 10/04/2019 - 16:00

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Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella on stage at the Jackman Law Building: �山ǿ��, she said, “allowed me as a young woman to luxuriate in the prospect that anything was possible” (all photos by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Richard Blackwell

Alumni Association

Rose Patten

Alumni

Faculty of Law

Meric Gertler

University College

Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella, a champion of human rights and social justice, was presented with the Rose Wolfe Distinguished Alumni Award for 2019 at a heartfelt ceremony witnessed by about 200 of her friends, colleagues and family.

Abella, a University of Toronto alumna who has served for 15 years on Canada’s highest court, is an expert on equality and discrimination who has been instrumental in extending legal protection to women, refugees and same-sex couples.

The presentation of the award was made in a venue that was named in honour of the judge herself – the Rosalie Silberman Abella Moot Court Room and Atrium in the Jackman Law Building. Before the ceremony, Abella visited with about two dozen law students at an informal reception, answering their questions and chatting about legal issues and principles.

At the formal presentation, �山ǿ�� President Meric Gertler noted that the award – named after Rose Wolfe, the late chancellor who served from 1991 to 1997 – is presented to “the �山ǿ�� graduate who stands out for their professional achievements, dedication to charitable and social causes, and service to the university.”

President Gertler said that Wolfe “will always be remembered for her generosity and compassion, as well as her deep commitment to education, the arts and social justice,” and “there are few people who embody these values more fully than Justice Rosalie Abella.”

Abella “is a passionate champion of human rights for all, including those who may be marginalized by public opinion or majority rule,” President Gertler said. Her public service “has made an impact across the country and indeed on jurisprudence around the world. Her life and work are an inspiration to all of us.”

Justice Abella (right) is formally presented with the Rose Wolfe Distinguished Alumni Award for 2019 by (from left) Scott MacKendrick, immediate past president of the �山ǿ�� Alumni Association, Chancellor Rose Patten and President Meric Gertler

Abella was born in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany in 1946, and came to Canada as a refugee in 1950. She graduated from University College in 1967 and received her law degree from �山ǿ�� in 1970. She then practised civil and criminal law and was appointed a Family Court judge at the age of 29. She was named to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1992, and was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2004.

Tye Farrow, president of the �山ǿ�� Alumni Association, noted that Abella has held many key positions over her long career, including chair of the Ontario Law Reform Commission and chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board. He pointed out that she was also the first sitting judge to be elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has received 39 honorary degrees and is a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in classical piano.

Overall, Farrow said, “her impact on the Canadian legal system, and her unwavering commitment to human rights and equality, is extraordinary, as is her profound humanity.”

He told her the Alumni Association “is very honoured for this opportunity to recognize your outstanding contributions to the University of Toronto, Canada, and in fact, the world.”

In accepting the award, Abella praised �山ǿ�� as “home,” saying the university “allowed me as a young woman to luxuriate in the prospect that anything was possible.” She and her fellow students, she said, “all believed in the perfectibility of the human condition...absolutely nothing felt beyond remedial attention. Over all, “we genuinely believed that the joint application of talent and hard work would open any door.

“We graduated positive, hopeful, feisty and somewhat ingenuous.”

When she started practising law in the early 1970s, she said, she didn’t know what a feminist was, “let alone how to be one.” Indeed, she said, she didn’t question whether there were objective barriers for women and never wondered why there were only five women in her law school class of 150 students.

Since then, Abella said, she has seen remarkable change, including the implementation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a revolution in expectations between men and women, and demands by minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, and those with different linguistic and sexual identities “for a revised social contract and consciousness.”

There has also been a discouraging backlash to some of these changes, she noted, but she remains confident that “change will continue in the right direction.”

Justice Abella speaks on stage with former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci, who once served as dean of �山ǿ��'s Faculty of Law, vice-president and provost of �山ǿ��, and interim president of the university

After the presentation, Abella sat on stage with Frank Iacobucci, former dean of �山ǿ��’s Faculty of Law, former interim president of �山ǿ�� and former justice of the Supreme Court, for an informal chat about her personal background, and her views of the law.

Abella talked about her parents, and their harrowing experience being separated during the Second World War. Her father, who had trained as a lawyer in Poland, was not able to practise when he arrived in Canada because he was not yet a citizen. Abella said that when he told her this – she was four years old – she blurted out: “Then I’m going to be a lawyer.”

Abella also talked about meeting her future husband, historian Irving Abella, while at �山ǿ�� and pursuing him for three years before they married. He was “smart and delicious,” she said, and shared responsibility for looking after their two sons. At the age of 29 she was the first pregnant woman to be appointed to the bench in Canada.

Abella said one of the most controversial projects she took on during her career was chairing the Royal Commission on Equality in Employment in the early 1980s. Instead of adopting the U.S. approach to equality – that everyone be treated the same – she recommended acknowledging and accommodating differences so people could be treated as equal. Employment equity legislation later adopted this approach so that women, Indigenous Peoples, people with disabilities and members of visible minorities would get fairness in the workplace.

Overall, Abella said, she takes the Canadian “living tree” approach to the law, where the constitution is interpreted in a way that takes into account changing social realities.

The rigid “originalist” view – held by conservative U.S. jurists – that legal principles are set by those who write a constitution and are therefore immutable, is a problematic approach, Abella argued. “To me that is an anemic and sclerotic approach to something that should be a living, breathing document that grows with the times.”

In summing up the event, �山ǿ�� Chancellor Rose Patten said it was fitting that Abella receive an award named for Rose Wolfe, who was beloved at the university and beyond for her commitment to social justice and education. The award is one of �山ǿ��’s highest honours, she said, and it was deservedly presented to someone who has “made Canada and the world more equitable and more just.”

Edward Iacobucci, dean of the Faculty of Law, speaks with Justice Abella

'Talent, creativity and commitment': �山ǿ�� students, faculty and staff receive Awards of Excellence

noreen.rasbach — Mon, 29 Apr 2019 04:00:00 +0000

'Talent, creativity and commitment': �山ǿ�� students, faculty and staff receive Awards of Excellence

noreen.rasbach Mon, 04/29/2019 - 00:00

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The winners of the 2019 Awards of Excellence gather for a photo at Thursday's ceremony, where President Meric Gertler praised them for their contributions to �山ǿ�� (photo by Gustavo Toledo Photography)

Topic

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Faculty of Arts & Science

Faculty of Kinesiology & Physical Education

Faculty of Medicine

Graduate Students

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Staff

Trinity College

Undergraduate Students

University of Toronto students, faculty and staff were honoured with 2019 Awards of Excellence at a ceremony last week, with �山ǿ�� President Meric Gertler praising the winners for the “incredible depth and breadth” of their contributions to the university.

“The fact that we consistently rank among the world’s top universities is really a testament to the brilliant research and teaching happening every day on our three campuses,” said President Gertler.

“And it’s entirely due to the talent, creativity and commitment of our individual faculty members, staff and students.”

Supported by the University of Toronto Alumni Association (UTAA), the Awards of Excellence program comprises nine separate, prestigious awards for faculty, staff and students. The oldest award, the John H. Moss Scholarship for undergraduate students, was created in 1921, and the most recent addition, the Jill Matus Award for Excellence in Student Services, was established in 2016.

This year, the awards were presented on stage by President Gertler, Chancellor Rose Patten and Scott MacKendrick, president of the UTAA, with David Palmer, �山ǿ��'s vice-president of advancement, serving as master of ceremonies.

President Gertler said this year’s faculty winners have raised awareness of unconscious bias, advanced human rights and improved Ontario’s health-care system, among their long list of accomplishments. Staff winners, he added, have promoted student wellness, reimagined alumni relations and worked to bridge racial divides in sports.

As for student honourees, President Gertler said they “combined exceptional academic performance with co-curricular leadership, on campus and well beyond.

Read about all of this year's winners here

�山ǿ�� News spoke with five award recipients about their work and contributions to the university.

Jillian Sprenger

John H. Moss Scholarship winner

Jillian Sprenger (second from left) with President Meric Gertler, Chancellor Rose Patten and Scott MacKendrick (photo by Gustavo Toledo Photography)

A fourth-year Trinity College student majoring in global health, Jillian Sprenger has already conducted original research, produced a documentary film on climate refugees, undertaken five independent projects and secured funding to travel to Myanmar, Taiwan, Ecuador, Ethiopia and Sri Lanka.

A triathlete and former member of the Varsity cross-country and track and field teams, she also mentors high school students through �山ǿ��’s Global Ideas Institute. Her professors praise her ambition and willingness to step out of her comfort zone.

The John H. Moss Scholarship will help support her in graduate school, where she plans to study medical biophysics at �山ǿ�� in the fall.

“If there is something that you love, I think you make time for it, and I’ve always been someone who has a lot of things on the go at once,” said Sprenger.

“It doesn’t feel like work, it’s fun.”

Mama Adobea Nii Owoo

Adel S. Sedra Distinguished Graduate Award winner

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Mama Adobea Nii Owoo, a PhD candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, speaks five languages and is working to strengthen Indigenous languages in her native Ghana.

Nii Owoo says the former British colony promoted English as the official language at the expense of the country’s Indigenous languages, which has created barriers to education and hampered the growth of literacy.

Drawing on lessons learned from Canadian Indigenous language initiatives, Nii Owoo’s thesis includes a documentary film on the education of teachers in Ghana, and she founded the non-profit Afroliteracies Foundation to create free print and video lessons in English and Gã for teachers in Ghana. She is also working on two children’s books.

“Teachers are the closest actors to education and a lot of us take the language of instruction for granted,” she said.

“But at the end of the day, when education is carried out in a language that people do not understand, it brings many more challenges.”

Ike Okafor

Jill Matus Award For Excellence In Student Services

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

A senior officer in service learning and diversity outreach at the Faculty of Medicine, Ike Okafor is responsible for many groundbreaking initiatives – including the Community of Support and the Black Student Application Program, which have helped more than 100 students facing systemic barriers get into top-ranked medical schools, from �山ǿ�� to Yale, in just the last four years.

Colleagues say Okafor’s visionary idea of supporting students years before they apply to medical school has created real change and new opportunities. As a role model and dedicated leader, students laud him as fair, moral and hard-working.

“I think it’s a question of the society we want to live in,” Okafor said. “I feel if we are able to reduce barriers, it’s going to benefit everyone and enhance the quality of life in general.”

Barbara Dick

Chancellor’s Award (Influential Leader)

Barbara Dick (second from left) with President Gertler, Chancellor Patten and Scott MacKendrick (photo by Gustavo Toledo Photography)

As assistant vice-president of alumni relations, Barbara Dick has overseen an exponential increase in alumni engagement since her appointment in 2011, with a ten-fold increase in alumni volunteer engagement and a tripling of registrations for �山ǿ��’s Alumni Reunion.

A �山ǿ�� graduate herself, Dick is known for using innovative programming to cultivate relationships with alumni, particularly more recent graduates.

“Your interest in engaging with the university three years after graduation is motivated by different needs than when you’re in your 30s and have a young family, versus when you’re a retiree and have more time on your hands,” Dick told �山ǿ�� News. “We try to take a segmented approach that speaks to where our alumni are in their lives.”

Dick has also been credited with effectively leveraging the university’s global network of alumni in efforts to recruit the best international student talent.

“We provide our alumni with a long-distance opportunity to make a real difference and support our mission in a meaningful way,” she said.

Janelle Joseph

Chancellor’s Award (Emerging Leader)

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

The lead author of three books about race and sport in Canada, Janelle Joseph is focused on how gender, race, and ethnicity relate to power. She has advocated for faculty and staff training on unconscious racial bias and created an undergraduate elective course on race and indigeneity.

Joseph is director of academic success in the Division of Student Life and assistant director of the transitional year program. She leads the Learning Strategist Community of Practice and chairs the board of stewards for Hart House. Colleagues attest to Joseph’s exceptional rapport with her students and staff, and praise her for compassionate and positive leadership that encourages others to strive for more.

“All of us have to become a little bit uncomfortable, because complacency allows the status quo to continue,” said Joseph. “We all have to challenge our assumptions and try to think differently.”

Andrea Sass-Kortsak

Vivek Goel Faculty Citizenship Award

(photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Andrea Sass-Kortsak, an associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, was a leader in establishing occupational hygiene as a formal profession. She spearheaded the founding of a regulatory body, the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists, which sets national standards for professionals who prevent workplace hazards.

Sass-Kortsak was also a significant force in the development of Dalla Lana, where she led curriculum renewal, developed an enrolment tracking system and shared best practices across divisions. Among her many other achievements, she developed a PhD funding policy and was a leader in the Safety Abroad initiative to provide risk-management support for students who travel.

“As an educator, my primary passion has always been teaching and the development of our profession,” she told �山ǿ�� News.