Each year, the Nova Scotia Branch recognizes our members, and community organizations, for their service to the legal profession and the promotion of equity and access to justice. During our 2021 Annual Conference, we were pleased to present three awards to very deserving recipients.
The 2021 Constance R. Glube Spirit Award recipient was The Honourable Justice Gail Gatchalian. A Past President of the CBA’s Nova Scotia Branch and former Chair of both the CBA-NS Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Community (SOGIC) and the National CBA Labour & Employment Section, Justice Gatchalian has spoken many times to legal and non-legal audiences about human rights and trauma informed workplace investigations. She served as the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission Board of Inquiry Chair and mentored many young women-identifying lawyers during her time in private practice. She was also instrumental in developing and facilitating the CBA-NS Bystander Intervention Training, which educates participants on the importance of standing up to workplace sexual harassment.
This year’s J. Michael MacDonald Access to Justice Award was presented to The African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition. Their mission is to build strength and health across African Nova Scotian communities, and to forge a renewed working relationships with governments that create conditions for all African-descended people in Nova Scotia to thrive.
Whether as an intervener in the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal case R v. Anderson, their work to address issues of policing and policy development, or their ongoing advocacy, including securing funding for the African Nova Scotian Justice Institute, The African Nova Scotian Decade for People of African Descent Coalition has worked tirelessly to improve access to justice and combat systemic anti-Black racism. Congratulations!
Finally, the 2021 Zoe Odei Young Lawyer Award was presented to Emma MacIntosh. A CBA member from her first moment in law school, Emma served as Vice Chair and then Chair of the Nova Scotia Law Student Section. She also served on the Executive of the National Law Student Section and is currently Vice Chair of our Nova Scotia Young Lawyer’s Section. While in law school, Emma was awarded Schulich Academic Excellence Funding to complete an internship with the Hate and Hostility Research Group in Ireland. As part of this internship, she contributed to a project funded by the European Union, co-published a journal article on the monitoring of hate crime, and presented at the International Network of Hate Studies Biennial Conference. Upon graduation, she was awarded the Muriel Duckworth Award in recognition of her consciousness of women’s issues and feminism in the legal community.
Emma has also been an active member of the CBA-NS Bystander Intervention Working Group and facilitated several training sessions on this topic.