Weldon Award
Celebrating a long tradition of service in the public good
Since 1983, the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service has recognized law school alumni that have made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession.
The award is named for Richard Chapman Weldon, the founding dean of Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law. He was known for his committment to unselfish public service, referred to as the Weldon Tradition.
2024 Nomination Deadline: April 30, 2024
Recipients of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service
2023 – Don Oliver (LLB ’64, LLD ’03)
2023 Recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service
Don Oliver (LLB ’64, LLD ’03)
Don Oliver (Photo by Margarita Brighton)
Honourable public service is at the core of Don Oliver’s (LLB ’64, LLD ’03) family DNA. “I got the need and the desire to give back from my parents and my grandparents,” he says. “They taught me that no matter how poor you were, you always gave back to the church or to somebody else in need.”
Following his family’s example, the trailblazing lawyer, businessman, and senator has devoted his life to helping others less fortunate than himself by confronting racial injustice and breaking down systemic barriers to make Canada a more tolerant place. Raised on a farm in Nova Scotia’s fertile Annapolis Valley, as part of the only Black family in the town of Wolfville, Oliver learned that with a higher education he could better serve his community.
He graduated from Acadia University in 1960 with an honours degree in history, and then attended law school at Dalhousie University where he received several awards including the Sir James Dunn Scholarship in Law. At Dalhousie, Oliver - the grandson of families enslaved on plantations in Virginia and Maryland – got to work using his new knowledge to advocate for the province’s Black community.
“He has always adhered to the unselfish model of ‘lifting as you climb,’” says Michelle Williams, Schulich School of Law Associate Professor and Dalhousie African Nova Scotian Strategy Lead.
The 2023 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service honours Oliver’s inspiring legacy. Named for Richard Chapman Weldon, the law school’s founding dean, this award recognizes law school alumni who have made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession. His commitment to altruistic public service is known as the Weldon Tradition.
Oliver used the Weldon Tradition as another guidepost in his life. While at law school, he started his life-long commitment to pro bono work. As chair of the Halifax Neighbourhood Centre Project, he educated and empowered the Black community in the city’s North End to speak up for their rights, and even provided cooking classes to help foster pride in the home.
As a student, Oliver also helped to shape the law in Nova Scotia. One afternoon in 1962, while taking a break from his legal studies, he went to a Halifax pool hall with a friend. He wasn’t there long before he was confronted by a man and told to leave. He was told there was a no Blacks allowed policy.
Oliver left and later called the province’s Department of Justice to complain that his human rights had been violated on racial grounds. He was told that legislation was being drafted to address the racism he experienced. A copy of the draft bill was sent to him to review. Applying the writing and editing skills he gained while working one summer as a cub reporter at The Chronicle Herald newspaper and the knowledge he had gathered in law school, he made several changes to the draft bill and sent it back. The bill became the Fair Accommodation Practices Act and made it the law in the province that no one could be kept out of a place “to which the public was customarily admitted” based on skin colour.
“I hope that students don’t go to law school just to make a lot of money. Making money, legal fees, charging and billing should really be secondary to the Weldon Tradition,” says Oliver. “Pro bono work in the community and doing other things to help improve your communities is the paramount thing that should be taught and what students should be doing.”
Oliver’s advice is to start giving back early. “It will soon become part of your life and something you will always want to do.”
After law school, Oliver built a successful civil litigation practice at Stewart McKelvey in Halifax, taught law, ran a variety of businesses from real estate to farming Christmas trees, and became active in the Progressive Conservative Party; he served on the party executive both provincially and nationally.
In 1990, at age 52, he received a life-changing phone call from Brian Mulroney. The prime minister wanted to make him the first Black man to serve in the upper house. As a senator, he committed himself to championing diversity and inclusion. “When I first walked onto Parliament Hill in Ottawa, I saw little or no Black presence of significance,” he wrote in his 2021 autobiography A Matter of Equality: The Life’s Work of Senator Don Oliver.
His 2004 seminal work on systemic barriers to the advancement of minorities in Canada’s public and private sectors helped to change that. After raising $500,000 to privately fund a research project he designed with the Conference Board of Canada, the project’s final report helped to build the business case for diversity in the workplace globally. “It was a study that influenced the world,” he says.
Throughout his career, Oliver has offered his expertise to more than 30 charitable organizations and boards and donated or helped to raise money for several Canadian universities to fund bursaries, scholarships, and prizes. Most recently, he established the Oliver-Craig Black Writers’ Retreat through the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia and the Senator Don Oliver Young Black Voices Book Prize for emerging Black Nova Scotian writers.
“I’ve had an incredible life. I’ve been blessed,” Oliver says. “I want to give back and make it possible for others to have similar opportunities.”
In 2013, at age 75, Oliver retired from the Senate. Having earned a reputation as one of the hardest-working senators, he had served as deputy speaker, chaired six standing committees, and received several honourary degrees and awards, including the Order of Canada.
“To truly comprehend the depth and breadth of Dr. Oliver’s unselfish public service is an exercise in humility,” says Quenta Adams, Dalhousie’s Assistant Vice-Provost for Student Engagement and Success. “To have contributed a fraction of what he has, would be a life well served.”
Shortly after his retirement from the Senate, Oliver received a rare, debilitating heart disease diagnosis. Given six months to live, he sought experimental treatment by participating in a clinical trial for a new drug at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. He later developed peripheral neuropathy in his feet, legs, and hands making mobility possible only with the aid of a cane or a walker. But neither his diagnosis nor his disability has prevented him from continuing to give back to the community. He hasn’t stopped, knowing there is still more work to do.
“To be recognized by the law school with this award is really enormous in my life,” says Oliver. “I wish my mother and father were alive to see me win such a special award.”
2022 – Alex Neve (LLB '87)
2022 Recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service
Alex Neve (LLB '87)
Alex Neve (Photo Provided)
International human rights lawyer Alex Neve (LLB ’87) has seen his fair share of triumphs and atrocities over the years. But even in the darkest moments, and there have been many of late, he has never lost his abiding optimism that progress is not only possible, it is inevitable.
“Maybe it’s because I have been involved in the struggle for a few decades, but I have a firm belief that the people will prevail,” he says. “When we come together, there is incredible potential for change. If we can hold on to the many times a bad government has fallen, a human rights treaty has been adopted, or a wrongfully imprisoned individual has been freed, we can find the energy and determination to take on the very real struggles we have ahead of us.”
Neve’s efforts to advance human rights at home and around the world have been recognized with several prestigious honours, including the Order of Canada, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and now the Schulich School of Law’s 2022 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service. Named for Richard Chapman Weldon, the founding dean of the law school, the award is bestowed upon alumni who uphold its namesake’s legacy of unselfish public service through their contributions to the community and the legal profession.
“Alex’s career is, in my view, the definition of unselfish public service,” says Darrell Dexter (LLB ’87), who served as premier of Nova Scotia from 2009 until 2013. “He has worked unceasingly throughout his career on behalf of refugees and others who suffered from forms of oppression and violations of human rights in this country and internationally.”
That desire to address oppression first manifested at law school, where Neve joined campus protests involving apartheid, nuclear disarmament, and US military activity in Central America. He drew on it as a young lawyer, at first in the service of union-side labour law in Halifax before transitioning to his own refugee law practice in Ontario. But Neve found a significant outlet following his first Amnesty International chapter meeting at Dalhousie in his first year of law school. That meeting not only galvanized his approach to activism and advocacy but also laid the foundation for a volunteer relationship that culminated in Neve becoming secretary general of Amnesty International Canada (AIC) in 2000.
Over the next 20 years, Neve served as AIC’s chief organizational representative, senior advocate and spokesperson with regard to Canadian and international human rights issues. During that time, he led or participated in over 40 human rights research and advocacy delegations and trial observations in 20 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. He directed the organization’s legal program, intervening in and launching more than 50 cases with pro bono legal teams at the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of the United States, federal court, provincial courts, tribunals, public inquiries and UN bodies. And Neve played a key role in securing the repatriation of several Canadian citizens who had been imprisoned and tortured in the wake of 9/11, including Omar Khadr, who had been held at Guantánamo Bay, and Maher Arar, who had been held in Syria.
“To have been involved in those campaigns and to stand alongside those men, their families, and other activists to make that happen was one of the most humbling, eye-opening, and exhilarating moments I’ve had in human rights work,” says Neve, who also supported negotiations for an apology and compensation for these men from the Canadian government.
In addition to those cases, Neve participated in Amnesty International’s effort to convince governments to establish the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute cases involving human rights abuse. He worked to secure an agreement from the United Nations Security Council to send a peacekeeping force to East Chad to protect thousands of local civilians, as well as Darfur refugees who were being attacked and raped after escaping human rights violations in Sudan. And he worked alongside Indigenous women lawyers who produced Amnesty International’s groundbreaking report, Stolen Sisters: A Human Rights Response to Discrimination and Violence against Indigenous Women in Canada. It is that mix of systematic changes and individual cases that keeps Neve engaged in his work.
“Human rights work is strongest when we tackle both sides,” he says. “We need to stand up in instances when injustices are happening to individuals. But a world in which injustices happen is surely not the world we want. What we want to be doing is creating a better world where unjust imprisonment, torture, cruel deportations and the death penalty aren't happening in the first place.”
Neve’s efforts are, in large part, inspired by his parents. His father, a Calgary-based lawyer who passed when Neve was eight, approached his work with integrity and empathy for his clients. His mother, a dietician, motivated him through her own efforts to advocate for accessible daycare in Alberta in the 1970s. “I remember her coming home after long days of working in a hospital kitchen, totally exhausted, but gathering her pamphlets and heading out to rallies or organizing meetings,” he says. “I understood from her that if you feel something’s wrong, do something about it. Don’t stay silent or inactive.”
Law became a way for Neve to do something and law school became the means to gain the necessary skills and knowledge to have an impact, both through his studies and the politically and socially engaged community he encountered at the university.
“I had wonderful professors who were willing to help me find ways to pursue my passion through my courses,” Neve says. “I did papers on international human rights law for courses on poverty and the law and women and the law. I did an independent research paper with Wayne MacKay on torture and international human rights law. That is where it all began, and I never looked back.”
Audrey Macklin has witnessed Neve’s journey first-hand. A professor of law at the University of Toronto, she met him when he was employed at the Centre for Refugees at York University in the 1990s and then worked with him on Khadr’s case. “One of the many admirable features of Alex’s professional trajectory is that he has moved effortlessly between the domestic and the international, from policy to front-line work at a shelter, and from legal representation to legal education, adjudication and advocacy,” Macklin says. “His work in each sphere has been linked by a common thread of deep commitment to the advancement of human rights, dignity, and justice.”
Being recognized with the Weldon Award has considerable emotional resonance for Neve. “Given that the word unselfish is in the title, it is quite special,” he explains. “As lawyers we have an important role to play in advancing human rights protection and in addressing violations of those rights. It must be at the heart of what we do, and this is a validation of how crucial the human rights struggle is to any legal career.”
Although Neve stepped down from his duties at AIC in 2020, he continues to make progress in creating a better world. He is imparting the skills and knowledge necessary to take on the fight to a new generation of international human rights lawyers through a course he developed and is delivering at the Schulich School of Law. He also created a website through which he continues to advance human rights. And he is exploring ways—research projects, advocacy, writing—to compel Canada to consistently meet the human rights standards it espouses on the international stage.
“My ultimate goal is to live in a country, but also in a world, where human rights are actually at the centre of everything,” he says. “Those rights must be our starting point for setting laws, determining priorities, guiding our commercial dealings; everything. In other words, I want to see human rights embraced as the foundation for building sustainable, just societies.”
2021 – Gail Rudderham Chernin, QC (LLB '86)
2021 Recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service
Gail Rudderham Chernin, QC (LLB '86)
Gail Rudderham Chernin (Photo Provided)
Gail Rudderham Chernin, Q.C. ('86) cannot remember a time when she did not feel compelled to give back. “I believe that we all have an obligation to contribute to our community and to society in general,” she explains. “And I have always believed that the more fortunate you are, the greater the obligation.”
Inspired by that belief, and the example set by her family, the Cape Breton-born Schulich Law grad has devoted considerable time and energy to making the world a better place, not just as a lawyer but also through her community involvements. Starting with the Rotary Club as a teenager, Gail’s involvements have encompassed a wide range of organizations and passions over the years, often as a board member or chair. They include the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF), Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), Cape Breton Family YMCA, United Way, Enterprise Cape Breton Corporation, and Make-a-Wish Atlantic Provinces. She has also applied her knowledge and skills in advancing the legal profession through her work with the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (NSBS)—an involvement so extensive that she has served on almost every committee as chair or member in addition to serving as president of the society from 2003 to 2004.
It is this legacy that is being honoured with the 2021 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service. Since 1983, this award has recognized law school alumni that have made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession. The award is named for Richard Chapman Weldon, the founding dean of Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law. He was known for his commitment to unselfish public service, referred to as the Weldon Tradition.
“Gail carried the Weldon spirit even before and certainly after she entered law school,” says Elizabeth Cusack, Q.C., one of many colleagues who nominated Gail for the award. “She has, with good humour and grace, unselfishly, with no expectation of personal gain, made major contributions to leadership in the legal profession, public education, and service to her community, the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, and numerous organizations. At the same time, she has practiced law with strong professional ethics, skill, compassion, and the best possible outcomes for clients that could be expected under the circumstances of their cases.”
Gail’s work, in particular her involvement with NSBS, suggests she was destined to enter the field of law. But that’s not quite the case. She had originally been interested in sciences, but she decided to pursue a business degree at Dalhousie based on part-time work experiences during high school. After graduating, she joined Xerox, which was introducing fax machines to the world. “We decided to start with law firms,” she recalls. “After meeting with lawyers and working in that area, I thought I needed to gain more education.”
There were several options she considered, including an MBA and dentistry, but Gail opted for law based on practical considerations such as career opportunities. “I never had a grand plan,” she explains. “I wanted to work hard, and I wanted to be recognized as a good lawyer. I never strived to be the best. I just feel that we should all try to do our best.”
In many ways, she has. As a lawyer, Gail demonstrated the Weldon Tradition through her devotion to plaintiff insurance law and workers compensation cases, which she describes as David-versus-Goliath experiences. “Many of these clients are very stressed because they are down and out,” she says. “I remember one client calling me to say their house was going to be foreclosed upon that same day, and that was not a rare occasion. Being able to help them is very satisfying and that is how that desire to make a difference manifested professionally.”
On the community side, the desire to make a difference was frequently rooted in personal connections, such as her involvement with CBCF. It was her mother, Dot, a breast cancer survivor, who encouraged Gail to join. “She told me they were looking for people and at first I said, ‘I can’t. I’m involved in too many other things,’” Gail recalls. “My mother told me, ‘You can find the time. They need people like you, and you can add a lot to the organization.’”
Gail’s mom was right. As she progressed from board member to chair, Gail helped guide the foundation through a major restructuring and consolidation effort, resulting in a national organization with more stable financing. That experience opened the door to an unprecedented undertaking as she helped merge the CBCF with the CCS. The result was a bottom-line improvement of $33 million for CCS and, more important, the continuation of critical cancer research and support programs across Canada.
“If my mother had developed breast cancer 20 years prior to her diagnosis, she might have died, but she was able to live for another 20 years because of research,” Gail says. “Helping the foundation secure more money for cancer research was an incredible effort to be part of.”
Lynn Hudson was CEO of the CBCF when she first met Gail, and she was immediately impressed by her colleague’s efforts to strengthen the foundation. “I have worked with hundreds of volunteers and Gail is a standout for her truly selfless commitment to the causes she works with,” says Hudson, who is now CEO of Make-a-Wish Canada. “She gives generously of her time, talent and passion and directs her energies to activities that will bring the most value to charitable organizations, people, and communities. Her commitment is an example to all and is so well deserving of the Weldon Award.”
Gail has transitioned to a new way of helping others and upholding the Weldon Tradition. Recently retired, she is offering her extensive legal expertise as a mediator so that her clients can avoid the stress, risk, and time commitment involved in litigation. On the community side, she has stepped back a bit to focus on family, but she is a board member of Make-a-Wish Atlantic Provinces and is open to adding other involvements if the right opportunity presents itself.
“I want to encourage others to think of how they can help, particularly lawyers, because we are in a unique position where we can offer assistance with a lot of difficult scenarios not just in the work that we do but also in the ways that we can help foster a better community,” she says. “We have knowledge that is sought after for committees and boards, and it is important we use that to make a difference. If everyone did that, even a little bit, the world would be a better place.”
2020 – The Honourable Judge Corrine Sparks (LLB '79, LLM '01)
2020 Recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service
The Honourable Judge Corrine Sparks (LLB '79, LLM '01)
Judge Corrine Sparks (Jive Photographic Productions)
The Schulich School of Law and the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association are proud to announce that the Honourable Corrine Sparks (LLB ’79, LLM ’01) is the 2020 recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service. Sparks was appointed to the Nova Scotia Family Court in 1987, becoming the first African Nova Scotian to be appointed to the bench, and the first Black woman to serve on the judiciary in Canada.
Since 1983, the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University has presented the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service annually to an alumnus or alumna who has made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession on either a worldwide, national, provincial, or local setting.
“Judge Sparks truly demonstrates the importance of commitment to the community,” says Acting Dean Richard Devlin. “The Schulich School of Law is proud that has she has been so gracious and generous as an alumna of the law school.”
Sparks says she is deeply honoured and humbled to be the recipient of the prestigious Weldon Award. She credits law school for helping her build stamina and character. “I’ve had many experiences in my life which have been transformational, but one of the key transformative experiences was my time at the Schulich School of Law,” says Sparks. “It opened my eyes. It was a portal to discovering, exploring, and equipping myself with the instruments to have a purposeful life.”
A life of service
The Weldon Tradition of unselfish public service has been an integral part of Sparks personal and professional life. “We’re really taught at the Schulich School of Law to be able to advocate strongly, effectively, and with a lot of compassion for those who are voiceless in society.”
During her time on the bench of the Nova Scotia Provincial Court, Judge Sparks presided in Family Court in Dartmouth, Truro, Shubenacadie, Windsor and Kentville where she has been devoted, almost exclusively, to adjudicating family court matters relating to issues of custody, child and spousal support, access, and infant protection.
“Judge Sparks is a real life super hero in the hearts and minds of Black lawyers who came behind her, regardless of our areas of practice,” wrote Candace Thomas (LLB ’95) in her nomination letter. “Judge Sparks approached the weighty responsibility of being the lone Black judge in this province with fairness and compassion for the individuals who appeared before her.”
She has also actively fostered and facilitated judicial education, developing educational programs and lecturing on gender and racial discrimination and the courts. Over the years Sparks has been involved in numerous judicial education programs from the International Association of Women Judges-Canadian Chapter to the Commonwealth Judicial Education Center; and her work has earned her numerous awards and recognition.
Breaking barriers
Sparks grew up in the historical and racially segregated community of Lake Loon outside of Halifax. The daughter of humble, religious and devoted parents, Helen and Spencer Sparks, and the descendent of Black Loyalists and Black Refugees, she is the eldest of nine children. Sparks attended Mount Saint Vincent University, from which she earned a degree in economics in 1974. She then went on to pursue a Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University where she was one of only three African Nova Scotians in her incoming class of 120 and the only Black woman. She graduated in 1979. In 2001, she was awarded a Master of Laws degree from Dalhousie’s Law School. Her thesis focused on reparations for the residents of Africville – an African-Canadian community in north end Halifax that was demolished by the city in 1969.
In 2007, the Dalhousie Black Law Students’ Association created the Judge Corrine Sparks Award to recognize students who are committed to using their legal education as a tool for change in their community.
“My friend has truly been a ‘trailblazer’ in many facets of her life and career,” wrote classmate Randall C. Fleming (LLB ’79) in his nomination letter. “Through her personal drive, moral strength, scholastic achievement, professional career, and public service on many levels, she has made a major contribution to the advancement of women generally, and particularly women of colour. And, as the Judge Corrine Sparks Award testifies, she is seen as a role model for all who are committed to using a legal education as a tool for transformation in the service of the public good.”
Commitment to community
Sparks’ attachment to her roots and commitment to her community runs deep.
“When I reflect on the struggles and sacrifices of my ancestors, and even my parents, I have to pay homage to them because I stand on their shoulders in so many ways,” says Sparks. “I know that they provided me with the foundation for me to be where I am today.”
Through a multi-layered life in the law, and her rich and varied community involvements, Judge Sparks’ life has been premised on a genuine belief that to those to whom much is given, much is expected. Sparks is mindful of her place in Nova Scotia black and legal history.
“Whenever you’re the first in any profession, you’re going to face obstacles,” says Sparks. “It doesn’t mean you accept the criticism and barriers, but it makes you more determined than ever to eliminate those barriers for the next generation. I hope those in the legal community and beyond will see me as a hardworking individual who was given a rare opportunity to serve the public and serve humanity.”
In her own words
A conversation with Judge Sparks about The Weldon Tradition and the power of education.
2019 – Fred Fountain, CM, LLD, LLB '74
Fred Fountain
The 2019 recipient of the Schulich School of Law’s Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service is Fred Fountain, CM, LLD (LLB ’74), a lawyer, businessman, and philanthropist and a former chancellor of Dalhousie University.
Since 1983, the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University has presented the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service annually to an alumnus or alumna who has made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession on either a worldwide, national, provincial or local setting. This year, the award will be presented at the annual law alumni dinner on September 20.
“We congratulate Fred, whose leadership, philanthropic spirit, and unwavering commitment to the public good make him an ideal candidate for this prestigious award,” says Schulich School of Law Dean Camille Cameron. “The impact he has had is extensive, from health care and education to social services and the arts.”
Fountain was a founding partner of Halifax law firm Franklin, Mitton, Fountain & Thompson and later counsel to the law firm Burke, Thompson. Since 1985, he has been chairman, president, and CEO of The Great Eastern Corporation, an investment company founded by his grandfather Fred C. Manning in 1941.
At Dalhousie, Fountain served for many years on the board of governors, chaired the Faculty of Management Advisory Board, and served on the Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation Board. With his wife, Elizabeth, he co-chairs the Dalhousie Arts Centre Campaign, and they provided a lead gift of $2 million. For his philanthropy, especially in the field of the arts, in 2008 he was invested as a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2013 he and Elizabeth donated $10 million to Dalhousie to establish the Fountain School of Performing Arts.
Fountain has been quoted publicly saying that giving is a creative act that takes time, thought, energy, and empathy, and that he considers his most significant gift to be his time. He chooses projects where he thinks he can be most helpful and does his best to achieve the desired impact. For this and so much more, he is an exemplary Weldon Award recipient.
In addition to his career achievements, Fountain is an engaged community volunteer. Currently he is an honorary trustee of the QEII Foundation and a former trustee of the National Gallery of Canada. Previously, among many other roles, he was a chairman of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and on the boards of the Scotia Festival of Music and World Wildlife Fund Canada. He has led many fundraising campaigns and made major contributions to many others.
Fountain has received honorary doctorate degrees from Dalhousie and Acadia. He is proud to be among the many noted graduates of Dalhousie Law School’s Class of 1974.
2018 – Mark Knox, QC, LLB '85
Mark Knox
The Schulich School of Law and the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association are proud to announce that Mark Knox, QC (LLB ’85) is the 2018 recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service. Mark has a criminal, family, and civil litigation practice with offices in Halifax and Granville Ferry, N.S.
Since 1983, the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University has presented the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service annually to an alumnus or alumna who has made outstanding contributions to the community and the legal profession on either a worldwide, national, provincial, or local setting.
“We have many deserving alumni for an award like this—alumni who are committed to serving their communities in myriad ways,” says Schulich School of Law Dean Camille Cameron. “That makes this a very competitive process. Mark’s commitments at the local and national levels to the legal profession, and in particular to the 7th Step Society, make him a worthy candidate for the Weldon Award. The letters of support reveal a compassionate, energetic, and inspirational volunteer, leader, and ally who has made a real difference in people’s lives.”
Mark came to Dalhousie Law School in 1982 from Southern California, attracted by the reputation, character, and faculty of Weldon. During his studies, he made many lasting relationships, two in particular: his life partner and “inspirational beacon,” Karen Hudson, QC (LLB '85) (Deputy Minister, Nova Scotia Department of Justice), and his best friend, Schulich School of Law Professor Archie Kaiser.
Mark’s commitments at the local and national levels to the legal profession, and in particular to the 7th Step Society, make him a worthy candidate for the Weldon Award. The letters of support reveal a compassionate, energetic, and inspirational volunteer, leader, and ally who has made a real difference in people’s lives. — Dean Camille Cameron
In 1985, Mark articled in Halifax in a small litigation-oriented firm before opening a solo office in 2008. His introduction to long-term volunteering began in 1988, when he became involved with 7th Step Society, an organization that helps repeat offenders change their behaviour and attitudes using a basic self-help philosophy. Today, Mark is the president and a director of 7th Step Canada and active with 7th Step Nova Scotia, where he is involved with prison projects, community groups, and presentations.
An ex-offender and 7th Step Society member wrote this in his letter nominating Mark for the Weldon Award: “Mark has put countless hours into drumming up new members, organizing different committees, meetings, and events, and reaching out to members. He has given me countless rides, taken me out for meals, and has come to special events in my life outside 7th Step. He taught and continues to teach us that we are all just people and that the most important thing in this life is to try and help one another. Mark has been an inspiration to myself and to many others.”
Among many other volunteer roles over the years, Mark is a member, past secretary, and currently the president of the Canadian Prison Law Association (CPLA), a national organization of practitioners, jurists, and academics dedicated to ensuring the rights of inmates and those under supervision.
“Mark’s selflessness toward his clients, the legal profession, and recidivist offenders comes naturally for him,” wrote Kaiser in his nomination letter. “There is not a scintilla of self-importance or entitlement, but there is extraordinary energy, purposefulness, groundedness, and caring.”
2017 – Trinda Ernst, QC, LLB '83
Trinda Ernst
The 2017 award recipient is Trinda Ernst, QC (’83), a senior lawyer at Waterbury Newton Law Firm, which has offices in Kentville and Berwick, N.S.
“We congratulate Trinda, whose strong commitment to volunteerism, and her contributions to her community and the legal profession over many years, make her an ideal candidate for this prestigious award,” says Schulich School of Law Dean Camille Cameron.
Ernst has worked at Waterbury Newton since 1985. Her field of expertise includes wills and estates, elder law, corporate/commercial law and real estate law. In her early legal career, she practised extensively in family law and, to a lesser extent, criminal law. Previous roles included staff lawyer with Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission and articled clerk at the Atlantic Regional Office of the Department of Justice (Canada) in Halifax.
In addition to her legal practice, Ernst is an active community volunteer with many organizations, including Girl Guides, Valley Voices a cappella choir, CentreStage Theatre Society, Rotary International, Sing Canada Harmony Scholarship Fund and Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission. She has been involved in many initiatives, including with Valley Women’s Business Network, Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce, Wolfville L’Arche Homefires Society and Valley Regional Hospital Foundation.
Among Ernst’s myriad awards and appointments are The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards), CBA-NS Branch’s Distinguished Service Award and Community Service Award, the Girl Guides of Canada’s Gold Merit Award and Honourary Member as a past National President of The Canadian Bar Association. However, she is perhaps most well known for taking young lawyers and law students under her wing at events and introducing them to her broad network of peers.
2016 – The Hon. Stewart McInnes, LLB '61
The 2016 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service Announced
The 2016 recipient of the Schulich School of Law’s Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service is The Honourable Stewart McInnes (LLB ’61), who died of heart failure on Oct. 4, 2015, in Halifax at age 78.
Legacy in law and politics
McInnes practiced at McInnes Cooper in Halifax for more than 38 years. He was the president of the Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Bar Association, a member of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society Bar Council, and a director of the Law Foundation of Nova Scotia. He also served as a Member of Parliament for Halifax and as a Member of the Federal Cabinet from 1984 to 1988.
McInnes was devoted to Dalhousie University, from which he received an Honorary Law Degree and the A.J. “Sandy” Young Award for Great Contribution to Sport in Nova Scotia. He was a member of the Bertha Wilson Honour Society and the Dalhousie Sports Hall of Fame, as well as a Dalhousie Alumnus of the Year. While he was a Dalhousie student, he was captain of the football team and a member of the hockey team.
Generous philanthropist
In addition to his legal and political careers, McInnes’s work in his community was extraordinary and a true testament of his alma mater’s Weldon Tradition of public service. He was involved many philanthropic initiatives, including his role as chair of the Halifax United Way, the Dalplex Campaign (and many other Dalhousie initiatives), and the Canadian Mental Health Campaign Nova Scotia.
McInnes held terms as president of the School for the Blind, the Hearing and Speech Clinic, the Halifax Club, and the North British Society, and he sat on the board of governors and board of directors at Dalhousie University, Grace Maternity Hospital, Halifax Foundation, Canada Summer Games, CNIB, and World Wildlife Fund Canada.
For his selfless voluntarism in the very best of the Weldon Tradition, we are proud to recognize Stewart McInnes as the 2016 recipient of the Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
Recipients prior to 2016
2015 – Heather McNeill, QC, LLB '94
The Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University will presented its 32nd Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service on the occasion of the Law School’s Annual Reunion Dinner on October 16, 2015.
The 2015 award recipient is Heather McNeill, Q.C. (’94), who has embraced the Weldon tradition of unselfish public service in all aspects of her life for more than two decades.
Ms. McNeill is a practising lawyer with the Dalhousie Legal Aid Service, where she also supervises law students. As a passionate advocate for her Mi’kmaq people, she blends the traditional Aboriginal concepts of respect and sharing with her legal talents to advance the interest of marginalized individuals and communities in Nova Scotia. Through her work at Legal Aid and her volunteerism and leadership in the Mi’kmaq First Nation and in general, she continually demonstrates a strong commitment to putting others first.
Over the years, Ms. McNeill’s community service has included serving as a member of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi’kmaq Initiative Advisory Council and the IB&M Standing Committee at the Schulich School of Law. She has also provided pro bono services to individuals through Immigrant Settlement & Integration Services and has served as the President and Board of Director at the Mi’kmaq Native Friendship Center. In addition, she’s serves as a Board of Director or committee member with Tawaak Housing Association, the Nova Scotia Health Promotion Clearinghouse, the Minister’s Advisory Committee on Child Welfare, the Racial Equity Committee and the Fitness to Practice Committee of the Nova Scotia Barrister’s Society.
A former Commissioner with the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission, Ms. McNeill has never forgotten her humble yet strong roots. “I’m a member of the Millbrook First Nation, which supported me 100 per cent in my efforts to obtain a law degree,” she says. “My entire upbringing was about service to others and giving back. My band funded my legal education, which allowed me, as a single parent, to raise my daughter and concentrate on my studies without worrying about finances. I’m blessed to have a law degree, a job I enjoy, and the freedom to use my skills to help those in need.”
2014 – John S. Fitzpatrick, QC, LLB '84
The 2014 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service presented to John S. Fitzpatrick, QC, LL.B '84
The Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University presented its 31st Weldon Award for Unselfish on Friday, October 17th, 2014.
This year the award was presented to veteran Halifax lawyer John S. Fitzpatrick, QC of BoyneClarke.
Fitzpatrick has been a committed volunteer for a myriad of community and professional organizations. He has been an enthusiastic fundraiser for Alzheimer’s Society of Nova Scotia, Apple Tree Landing Children’s Centre (Canning), Autism Nova Scotia and the Canadian Museum of Human Rights. He has also served for many years on the Board of Directors of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Kings County. He is currently a board member of the World Wildlife Fund, Canada, Atlantic Council.
His alma mater, Saint Mary’s University, has always been close to his heart. He is the longest serving board member having volunteered for over 18 years. He is the chair of the Board of Governors, the Executive Committee, the Advisory Committee to the President on Labour Relations, the Presidential Search Committee and has served as the chair of the university’s finance, human resource and government corporate affairs community.
Fitzpatrick has been active in politics for more than 20 years. He was the area chair for federal and provincial leadership campaigns and has served as past president and executive member of provincial and federal riding associations.
Fitzpatrick has also been an advocate for literacy causes: “I have a strong belief in the need to address the devastating impact of inadequate literacy skills on individuals, communities and our economy,” he says. He has made a significant contribution to the Peter Gzowski Invitational Tournaments for Literacy. While he was chair, these tournaments were hugely successful, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars to help literacy programs. For ten years, he served on the Board of Directors and the Executive of ABC Literacy Foundation (now ABC Life Literacy) in Toronto – a national charity that supports the development of a fully literate Canadian population.
“Volunteering over the past number of years has given me a great sense of accomplishment,” says Fitzpatrick. “I believe lawyers and the skills they offer are welcomed by many different organizations and charities. There are countless lawyers in Nova Scotia who are dedicated volunteers and who contribute greatly to the community.”
2013 – Bill Fenrick, LLB '73
Bill Fenrick ('73) recognized for work in international humanitarian law
The Dalhousie Law Alumni Association is proud to announce that Bill Fenrick, BA, MA, LLB, LLM has
been selected to receive the 2013 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service in recognition of his lifetime
of work in international humanitarian law (the body of law which attempts to regulate conduct in armed conflict)
and excellence in the legal profession. He has a distinguished career of over 40 years and is widely recognized as a leading Canadian expert in international humanitarian law.
Mr. Fenrick was born in Toronto and attended Dalhousie Law School after a short period as a naval officer, graduating in 1973. He was a legal officer in the Office of the Judge Advocate General from 1974 to 1994 where he specialized in international law and was, at various points in time, Director of International Law, Director of Legal Training, and Director of Operational Law. Throughout his time in JAG, he tended to carry responsibility for international humanitarian law around with him from job to job. By the time he left JAG, that office placed considerably more stress on international humanitarian law and that body of law is now one of the major focuses of concern in the JAG.
In 1992, while still serving in JAG, Mr. Fenrick was appointed to a Commission of Experts by the Secretary General of the United Nations tasked with investigating allegations of war crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. While on the Commission, Mr Fenrick acted as the Rapporteur for Legal Issues and the Rapporteur for On Site Investigations. He spent extended periods on the ground in the territory of the former Yugoslavia from 1992 to 1994 and, among other things: he directed mass grave excavations in Croatia, an unusual role for a lawyer; he conducted legal analyses of battlefield activity in Sarajevo while the fighting was underway; and he was involved in studies concerning the use of rape as a tool of war. On one memorable occasion, to him, he was briefly detained by Croatian Serb authorities because of unauthorized investigation of a mass grave site.
Mr Fenrick retired from the Office of the JAG in 1994 when the Commission of Experts completed its mission and went to work for the United Nations from 1994 to 2004 in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In the Prosecutor's Office he was the Senior Legal Adviser responsible for the Legal Advisory Section and as such he was the senior adviser to the Prosecutor on international law issues, including international humanitarian law. While in the Prosecutor's Office, he was involved, among other tasks, in advising and arguing on issues such as jurisdiction, command responsibility, and combat offences such as unlawful sniping and unlawful shelling. One particular task was preparation of a report to the Prosecutor on NATO bombing activities over Yugoslavia in 1999 as a result of the Kosovo problem.
In 2004, Mr. Fenrick retired from the United Nations and returned to Halifax. He taught a course in International Humanitarian Law and co-taught a course in International Criminal Law with Professor Rob Currie at the Schulich School of Law for several years until retiring yet again in 2011. At the present time he is teaching a course on War, Law, and History to interested seniors at the Seniors College Association of Nova Scotia (SCANS).
Over the course of his career, Mr. Fenrick has also published over forty articles and reviews.
Mr. Fenrick's long and extraordinarily accomplished career has demonstrated the utmost dedication to public service. He has served the international community very well- he is a credit to his country and his alma mater.
2012 – David Wallace, QC, LLB '71
Quietly leading his community
Mr Wallace is the personification of the "Weldon Tradition" at the Schulich School of Law, which is one of concern, of change, and of humanity in public service. Since graduating from the Law School and returning to his hometown of New Glasgow to practice law with the firm MacIntosh, MacDonnell & MacDonald, Mr Wallace has quietly provided over four decades of leadership to his community.
Mr Wallace's community service runs long and deep. As a young man fresh out of law school, he began a lifetime of service to his community, donating his time, significant talents and energies to organizations such as the Kinsmen Club of New Glasgow, the Pictou County Chamber of Commerce, the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, the United Way, and New Glasgow Kinsmen Minor Baseball.
Mr Wallace is likely best known for his community service with Summer Street Industries. Formerly called the Canadian Association for the Mentally Retarded (CAMR), Summer Street works to create enriching opportunities for people with intellectual disability and to create community awareness of the skills, talents and gifts that people with intellectual disability have to offer. In 1972, Mr Wallace accepted the position of president of Summer Street Industries that operated the Parkdale Activity Centre. At the time, the centre provided services to 20 young adults with intellectual disability. Under Mr Wallace's leadership, the facility underwent several expansions and today, this facility serves 158 clients with 25 staff and 50 business partnerships in the community. Mr Wallace is founder and chair of the Summer Street Golf Scramble, a foundation that raises funds for Summer Street Industries. He has coordinated this event for the past 17 years and this initiative has raised as much as $188,000 per year and over $1.5-million in total for the mentally challenged of Pictou County.
Mr Wallace is also a founding director and past president of Highland Community Residential Services (HCRS), a non-profit society which provides community living opportunities in Pictou County for those with a mental disability.
2011 – Edward Dunsworth, LLB ’75
Believing in the worth of education
On behalf of the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association, Dean Kim Brooks, and the faculty and staff of the Schulich School of Law, we are very pleased to announce Edward Dunsworth (’75) as the recipient of the 2011 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
Ed Dunsworth (BComm, LLB, MBA) is a lawyer, teacher and the current Director of Operations for Hand in Hand Ministries based in Managua, Nicaragua.
In the early part of his career, Dunsworth enjoyed a successful law practice in Halifax and was an instructor at Saint Mary’s University. Inspired by a colleague’s experience in Guatemala, Dunsworth began working with Habitat for Humanity International (HHI). In 1997, he volunteered to help build houses in a small village in northern Nicaragua – and he’s never looked back.
Joined by his family and wife, Barbara, Ed left his secure life in Halifax and moved to Belize to work as a New Country Developer for HHI. His work with the organization extended to Argentina and Chile and included administration, recruitment, training and fundraising instrumental to Habitat’s growth in those countries. He also served with Habitat’s Disaster Relief Program on the island of Grenada in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan.
In 2005, Dunsworth began working in Managua, Nicaragua with Hand in Hand Ministries (HHM), a non-governmental charitable organization. Operating in Belize, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Appalachia, HHM is making a difference by providing food, shelter, clothing, medicine and education to the poorest of the poor.
One program especially close to Ed and Barbara’s hearts is El Camino al Cambio (Pathway to Change). Four years ago, the Dunsworths started a pilot project to address the education problems they saw among poor families in Nicaragua. The program began with three children and there are currently 52 children now enrolled.
As expressed on the Pathways website, at the heart of the program is the desire to provide a path to education that can “break the cycle of poverty by building confident, contributing citizens who can build better communities over time” by supporting children from the neediest families with access to quality education. These children go on to “successfully compete with more privileged peers at private schools through tuition and a variety of support for the children and their families beyond the school.”
Despite all of his work, Dunsworth admits that the challenges are great: “There is still much to do…the future of these young girls and boys would be uncertain at best were it not for the help of this program. Education is the most powerful weapon against poverty. Our goal is to enable many more Nicaraguan children to take advantage of this opportunity.”
Dunsworth is a model of the Weldon Tradition and in recognition of his commitment to the disadvantaged, the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association will proudly present Ed Dunsworth with the 2011 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service upon his return to Canada later this year.
Ed invites any friends or interested alumni to contact him at ed@hhministries.com. To learn more, visit Pathway to Progress.
The Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service, sponsored by the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association, was established in 1983 to serve as a tribute to the ideals of the law school’s first Dean, Richard Chapman Weldon.
2010 – Brian Flemming, CM, QC, DCL, LLB '62
Brian Flemming, CM, QC, DCL, an international lawyer, writer and policy advisor, has been selected to be the recipient of the Dalhousie Law School Alumni Association’s 27th Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
Throughout his multifaceted career, Flemming has given generously of his time and energy to many causes and organizations. In the 1960s and 1970s, while practising at Stewart MacKeen & Covert (now Stewart McKelvey), he taught the first advanced course in public international law at Dalhousie Law`School, wrote many legal articles, advised the Canadian government at the Third United Nations Law of the Sea Conference and lectured in international law at many universities, colleges and conferences in North America and Europe. He gave prestigious “name” lectures at the University of Virginia, Louisiana State University and the Technical University of Nova Scotia. He also taught commercial law for 12 years at Saint Mary’s University. In 2004, he was made an honorary fellow of the Marine and Environmental Instititute at the law school.
While a member of the Bar Council of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society in the 1970s, Flemming founded the Nova Scotia Law News which is still published regularly by the Barristers’ Society. He was also active in the Canadian Bar Association and chaired the Maritime Law Section at one point. He was the founding president of the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association and, since 1985, has been the honorary national chairman of the association. He has been a Governor of Dalhousie, the first lay chairman of the Board of Canada’s oldest university, University of King’s College and a Trustee of Pearson College of the Pacific. He was national chairman of the successful Bicentennial Campaign for King’s that built and endowed the university library. King’s awarded Flemming an honorary doctorate in 1991. He and his friends endowed an annual lecture at King’s when he left the chair.
Brian Flemming (‘62) recognized for dedication to community and profession From 1976 to 1979, Flemming, at considerable personal sacrifice, interrupted his law practice and became Assistant Principal Secretary and Policy Advisor to Rt Hon Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa. He worked closely with Trudeau on patriation of the Canadian constitution and advised Trudeau to appoint the Macdonald Royal Commission. That commission’s report led to the negotiation of the free trade agreement with the United States.
He was an unsuccessful candidate for Parliament in Halifax in the 1974 and 1979 general elections. In 2000-1, he was made chairman of the Canada Transportation Act Review Panel, the statutorily-mandated decennial review of Canada’s transport policies. His report was widely hailed by the transport community and earned Flemming the 2003 annual National Transportation Week’s “Award of Achievement”. After the tragedy of 9/11, the Government of Canada appointed him founding CEO and Chairman the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA), Canada’s principal governmental response to that event. At his request, when he left CATSA, the organization endowed annual scholarship in his name. In 2005, he was appointed a founding director of the federal Advisory Council on National Security. He has been on the boards of many national not-for-profit organizations and has served on many public company boards.
Locally, Flemming has been a passionate supporter of the arts. He was the founding president of Symphony Nova Scotia and chairman of the committee that established the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra. He was a founding director of the Scotia Festival of Music, a director of Neptune Theatre Foundation and chair of the Maritime Conservatory for the perfoming Arts. In the early to mid 1970s, he was, first, a member, then vice chairman and acting chairman of the Canada Council, now the Canada Council for the Arts and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. He has also been chairman of several social welfare agencies in Halifax. His current passion is Halifax Humanities 101 which brings learning to low income and disadvantaged people in his community. He regularly attends lectures and events with the students of that program.
As a writer, he has written hundreds of columns and articles for local, regional and national newspapers and magazines. He has spoken at dozens of local, national and international conferences and meetings.
In 1989, Flemming was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 1991, he was awarded the Canada 125 medal and, in 2002, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal. The Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service, sponsored by the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association, was established in 1983 to serve as a tribute to the ideals of Richard Weldon, the law school’s first dean. The award will be presented to Flemming by the dean of law at the 2010 Schulich School of Law annual alumni dinner on October 22nd.
2009 – John Baigent, LLB '69
“Partners in the Horn of Africa” founder wins Dalhousie Award for Public Service
John Baigent, founder and Executive Director of Partners in the Horn of Africa, a Canadian charity working in Ethiopia, has been selected to receive the Dalhousie Law School Alumni Association‘s 26th Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service. Throughout his life Baigent has sought to improve the quality of life of the disadvantaged in all the communities in which he has lived and worked. The veteran British Columbia lawyer will be honoured particularly for his volunteer work in Africa and his commitment to the plight of the people of Ethiopia.
The African chapter of Baigent’s community service began in 1963 when he served as a volunteer and teacher in Ghana, West Africa, for Canadian University Students Overseas (CUSO). He also served as the Organization’s first resident program coordinator for that country. Upon his return to Canada he worked as CUSO’s first director of West Africa programs. Baigent received a Sir James Dunn Scholarship to study law at Dalhousie in 1965. While at law school he ran CUSO training programs during the summer months. Following graduation in 1969 Baigent was awarded a Viscount Bennett Scholarship and earned a Master of Laws at Harvard University. He pursued a distinguished legal career in British Columbia where he specialized in labour and constitutional law. However, Baigent never let go of his concern for Africa. He says, “the country is hard to get out of your blood and I persuaded my law partners to inaugurate a sabbatical program so I could get back there.” In 1988, he took time away from his practice to work in Ethiopia for the World University Service of Canada. During this period Baigent fell in love with the country and its people. In 2001 he founded and became Executive Director for Partners in the Horn of Africa. “Partners” has an annual budget of approximately $1,000,000 and focuses on the areas of greatest need - building schools and health clinics, administering micro-finance programs, providing care for HIV orphans, digging wells and building bridges. A unique feature of Partners is that 100 per cent of its donations are used for projects in Ethiopia. The directors work on a volunteer basis and all administrative costs are paid by the directors and a few key supporters. With all projects there is an Ethiopian partner that is required to cover 15 to 20 per cent of project costs usually through the supply of labour or local materials. In return, the partner shares in all decision making. Baigent believes this partnering will make a profound difference for the people of Ethiopia: “Real and lasting changes in the third world have to involve local residents, empowering them to take charge of their own future.” Baigent now works full-time for Partners spending about half of his year in Ethiopia.
The Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service, sponsored by the Dalhousie Law School Alumni Association, was established in 1983 to serve as a tribute to the ideals of the Law School’s first dean, Richard Chapman Weldon. The award will be presented by Dean Phillip Saunders at Dalhousie Law School at a date to be announced.
2008 – David G. Newman, QC, LLB '68
The many causes David G Newman, QC has championed show an understanding of the complex societal issues with which Canada struggles; and reveal a deep and profound compassion for the welfare of others, whoever and wherever they may be.
As a young law student here at Dalhousie, Class of 1968, David was already displaying the natural leadership that makes his commitment to endeavours so successful. At that time, he and two of his classmates came up with the idea of bringing together three students from every law school in Canada to participate in a meaningful conference in honour of Canada’s 1967 centennial. David served as the executive director of this historic gathering, raising funds and arranging the myriad details required for the conference to be an unqualified success. It was David’s first response to the Weldon tradition of public service.
David went on to build a reputation as a lawyer of renown, much sought after as a litigator, mediator and educator in the areas of victims of abuse of power, labour and employment, aboriginal and environmental law. He went on as well to grow in stature as a “servant leader”, using his considerable skills and knowledge to lead other volunteers in service to the community including the Chambers of Commerce and Rotary grass roots movements and professional, church, environmental, sport and fitness and healthy-living organizations. In elected office, as a provincial Cabinet Minister, his thoughtful and thorough approach to addressing issues lifted him above the partisan adversarial nature of the Legislature, earning him the respect of all political parties in the Assembly.
His accomplishments and initiatives as Manitoba’s Minister of Northern and Native Affairs, Energy and Mines, Manitoba Hydro and Community Economic Development Fund were notably farsighted, pro-active and effective. But it is his zeal as an advocate for those who are left abandoned in the shadows that is David’s prime motivating force.
Whatever endeavour he undertakes, there is a consistent thread woven through the fabric of David’s work. He strives always to achieve justice for the powerless; and to help those who hold power become more sensitive to its impact upon others. “We are all God’s children,” he says, “and we are all interdependent.” His uppermost desire is to bring people together in understanding, but where this is not possible he stands as a fierce and formidable advocate for justice.
He has devoted himself to achieving change in the alarming, sometimes horrifying, statistics that reflect the current reality of Canada’s Aboriginal people. In his role as counsel and true friend to individuals and groups from Aboriginal communities, David has been fearless in his support of democracy and human rights on reserves, standing consistently — and often literally — with the disadvantaged. Concerned that Canada’s current Indian Act is apartheid in nature, David seeks diligently for positive change that would give hope to the innocent, the vulnerable, and the powerless. He seeks to provide inspiration for those aboriginals who know they are trapped in a system that isn’t working, but don’t know how to extricate themselves from their circumstances.
David is quick in all things to give credit to others, and expresses great admiration for the courage and heroism shown by so many of his disadvantaged clients. “They” he has said, “are wounded and afraid, operating outside of their familiar zones, but they hang in there and courageously and sacrificially seek justice, dignity and respect. Their positive precedents benefit countless other individuals. They are heroic.” David builds partnerships and trust, working with others to create a better world in which individuals are treated with dignity, respect and, in the purest sense of the word, love. It is his belief that his professional integrity carries with it a responsibility to nurture and serve in this way.
For his unwavering compassion for those disadvantaged and for his ability to inspire in others the courage to help themselves, the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association is proud to present to David G Newman the 2008 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
2005 – M. Lee Cohen, QC, LLB '80
Lee Cohen is one of Canada’s foremost immigration lawyers. He has been described as humble, provocative, passionate, a maverick, a crusader, and a fiercely outspoken activist for human rights. Above all he is an alumnus with an unparalleled record of service towards the plight of refugees and others seeking to make Canada their home.
Marven Lee Cohen was born, and received his early education, in Saint John, New Brunswick. He graduated from the University of New Brunswick in 1977 with a Bachelor of Education degree, and, in 1980, received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Dalhousie University.
While at the Law School Lee showed early leadership qualities. He was elected President of the Dalhousie Law Students’ Society. At the same time, Lee frequently questioned whether he was cut from the right cloth to pursue a legal career. He did not take easily to traditional law school training. “I learn best by experience as opposed to explanation,” he says. However, in his third year, Lee opted to take the Dalhousie Legal Aid Clinic. The clinic gave him a broad perspective into the problems of the disadvantaged. It also provided him with the opportunity to fight for causes that seemed to fit his own ambitions.
Lee was admitted to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1981. He joined a large firm and worked his way to a partnership. He practiced mainly family and criminal law. He started his own law firm in 1986. However, Lee did not fit comfortably into a traditional legal practice. In particular, he did not feel temperamentally suited to the business side of law.
However, in 1987 Lee stumbled into an unforeseeable set of circumstances that was to change his life. In that year, 174 Sikh refugee claimants arrived unannounced on the shores of Nova Scotia. The World Sikh Organization needed local representation from a member of the Nova Scotia bar. Lee offered his services and was soon catapulted full time into the area of immigration and refugee law. Lee represented all 174 claimants. He knew immediately that this was the area where he wished to direct his energies. He hasn’t looked back since.
As a result of the Sikh experience Lee has gained an introduction into the history of immigration law. Personally, he has found it to be filled with a litany of heartless decisions and policies, and silly rules, which destroy lives, separate families and shatter dreams. He is passionate when he speaks of a bureaucracy that is enormous, unwieldy and often administratively out of control. He is moved by the realization that so many immigrants and refugees are powerless, and their lives seem to be lacking in social value.
To Lee it was essential that those seeking admission to Canada be given the best quality of representation possible. In June 2000 he founded the Halifax Refugee Clinic, a non-profit organization providing pro bono representation for eligible refugees. The clinic has filled a much needed void, far exceeding its founder’s expectations. When the Immigration and Refugee Board comes to Halifax the Clinic represents approximately 85 per cent of the refugee claimants appearing before it.
Lee has enabled the clinic to be a vehicle to train law students interested in immigration work. Law students, working under Lee’s supervision, handle about one-half the cases which are heard by the board. Lee spends about 40 per cent of his time on clinic matters, with other immigration and human rights matters occupying the bulk of his private practice. While it is far less lucrative than other areas of concentration he is emphatic in stressing the satisfaction he finds in his work. He says, “My clients have no idea how much I am indebted to them. There is a mutuality of learning that has been continually rewarding over the years.”
Lee Cohen is very much a public servant in the broadest sense. He is a frequent guest speaker at universities, schools and community organizations.He has served as a president, chair or member on numerous boards, associations and committees.He is a frequent commentator in the local, national and international media.
Lee received a Queen’s Counsel appointment in 2002. In 2003 he received the Nova Scotia Human Rights Award, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal. In 2004 Life and Times, CBC TV’s premiere biography series, profiled “Cohen’s War: The Life and Times of Lee Cohen” in a one-hour documentary.
For his passionate and outspoken dedication to the area of human rights and immigration and refugee matters, and his generous contributions to the community in the broadest sense, the Dalhousie Law Alumni Association is proud to honour Lee Cohen with the 2005 Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
2004 – John Cuthbertson, LLB '79
John H Cuthbertson is by nature a modest and reserved man. Beneath this veneer, however, is a dynamic, well-respected, senior lawyer who has generously volunteered his time, energy and personal resources to make enormous contributions to his community and to the legal profession.
Mr Cuthbertson was born in Lethbridge, Alberta. A ‘prairie boy’, he lived in Red Deer until enrolling at the University of Alberta where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1973 and a Bachelor of Commerce degree with Distinction in 1975. In 1976, he was accepted at Dalhousie and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Laws and a Masters of Business Administration in International Business. He was admitted to the Alberta Bar in 1980 and to the Nova Scotia Bar in 1983. He has been a partner in the law firm of Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP since 1987 where his areas of practice are energy law and corporate/commercial law.
He is a member of the Canadian Bar Association, the Alberta Law Society, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, the Canadian Petroleum Law Foundation and the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation. He is the Director of the Educational Trust Fund, the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists and has volunteered since 1979 as the Director, Member of Executive Committee, and Past Chair for Calgary Legal Guidance. In 2000, Mr Cuthbertson received the Distinguished Service Award from the Law Society of Alberta and Canadian Bar Association for his outstanding contribution of time, talent and energy to his community.
Mr Cuthbertson’s championing of causes is exemplified by his work with Calgary Legal Guidance (CLG), a poverty law organization in the city of Calgary, which services the poorest of the poor. CLG helps over 5,000 individuals a year. Since 1979, Mr Cuthbertson has devoted hundreds of hours to CLG. As a corporate and commercial lawyer, Mr Cuthbertson has purposefully stepped outside his area of practice in order to work as a clinical volunteer, assisting hundreds of clients with family, criminal and poverty law problems.
In 1991 he joined the CLG Board of Directors and initiated, oversaw and supported many programs promoting justice and fairness in the legal system, and in 1995 he was elected to serve as Chairperson. As Chairperson, Mr Cuthbertson set high standards. He demanded of his fellow board members what he demanded of himself, that is, both rigour and commitment to the organization. Notwithstanding a busy practice, Mr Cuthbertson devoted countless hours of time, energy and commitment to CLG. Despite his lack of previous experience in fundraising, he was successful in leading a campaign that attracted a broader range of support for CLG, diversifying its funding base to cover the shortfall resulting from the decrease of the Law Foundation funding. He was also able to increase the revenues of the organization to allow CLG to offer a greater range of services and to reach a larger group of needy clients. Under his leadership, CLG almost tripled its service capacity. He continues to serve as past Chair.
In addition to his work with CLG, Mr Cuthbertson is dedicated to meeting the challenges of continuing Legal Education. He has been a great mentor of articling students and junior lawyers. Mr Cuthbertson has been an instructor for the Legal Education Society of Alberta and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Landman Continuing Education Program and a Director of the Educational Trust Fund of the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists.
John Cuthbertson has unlimited energy and enthusiasm for life. He is an avid runner, and serves as a member and is Past President of the Calgary Roadrunners Club. He is an active member of St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. He has been a great friend and a loyal supporter of Dalhousie Law School, assisting with and contributing to fundraising efforts of the School. Naturally, all of John Cuthbertson’s accomplishments are shared with his supportive family — wife Rhonda Wishart (LLB ’81) and their three girls, Zoe, Amy and Megan.
John Cuthbertson is to be applauded for his accomplishments in law and business, but more importantly he is to be honoured for the principled conduct of his life demonstrated through his honesty, integrity and his commitment to the less fortunate. The Dalhousie Law Alumni Association is proud to present John H Cuthbertson with this year’s Weldon Award for Unselfish Public Service.
