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The success of the Indigenous Blacks & Mi'kmaq Initiative is best
illustrated by the accomplishments and contributions of the over 80 law
graduates who entered Dalhousie Law School Programme. Our alumni practice
in all areas of law including Aboriginal law, tax, corporate,
constitutional, criminal, environmental, family, human rights, labour and
employment. They are in private practice. They are legal counsel to First
Nations and advisors to Aboriginal organizations. They are practicing
within provincial and federal legal departments and legal aid offices.
Some have pursued academic careers or serve as policy advisors, combining
law with other disciplines. Others have pursued political careers or
branched out into the arts.
All of our alumni have their own unique histories and experiences,
which are linked to their communities. As such, they make the legal
profession more representative of the people it serves and the practice
of law more inclusive, and by extension, more just. They give back to
their communities and to the legal profession through serving on boards
and committees, developing community-based organizations and volunteering
in other ways. Many of our alumni have chosen to address issues of
concern to First Nations and African Canadians, including racism and
discrimination. They are all points of access to law for their
communities, serving as sources of legal information, role models and
mentors.
To the Alumni:
We salute you. We recognize your hard work and your commitment to your
communities and to your profession. We celebrate you, your victories, and
your vision, and we look forward to what is yet to come. Most of all, we
thank you.
The following profiles illustrate the diversity and success of the alumni
who entered Dalhousie Law School through the IB&M Initiative.
Alumni Profiles
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Jaime
Battiste (Class of '04) is currently the Director of the Canadian
Aboriginal Science and Technology Society Conference for 2005 and plans
to begin articling in the fall of 2005. During his time at Dalhousie
Law School he served as Vice-President of the Aboriginal Law Students
Society and the Dalhousie Native Students Association. In his final
semester he completed the Aboriginal Lands, Resource, and Government
Program at Osgoode Hall Law School. Mr. Battiste is the Eastern
Executive Youth Representative for the Assembly of First Nations, which
advises the National Chief on youth issues. In 2004, he was nominated
by the National Aboriginal Healing Organization as one of four First
Nations National Role Models for Aboriginal youth across Canada.
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Gordon
Blackmore (Class of '95) currently practices with the firm of Morris
Bureau in Halifax. Mr. Blackmore articled in Ontario where he operated
his own firm prior to returning to Halifax. He is the former Associate
Director of the IB&M Programme at Dalhousie Law School and he is a
member of the Beechville Residents Association.
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John
Bodurtha (Class of '95) is Counsel with the Department of Justice,
Canada (Atlantic Regional Office) in the Tax Law Services Section. In
1997, after working with Nova Scotia Legal Aid, Mr. Bodurtha joined the
Department of Justice, Canada. He has worked exclusively in the Tax Law
Services Section litigating a wide variety of tax cases in each of the
Atlantic Provinces before the Tax Court of Canada, the Federal Court
Trial Division and the Federal Court of Appeal. Mr. Bodurtha is Chair
of the IB&M Advisory Council.
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Perry
Borden (Class of '02) is a lawyer with McGinty McCleave in Halifax. Mr.
Borden articled with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice.
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Krista
Brookes (Class of '93) is a Senior Policy Analyst and Legal Advisor
with the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs. (The
organization's mandate is to research, analyze and develop alternatives
to federal policies that affect the First Nation communities. Ms.
Brookes articled with Nova Scotia Legal Aid (Sydney Office) and has
served on the Race Relations Committee of the Nova Scotia Barristers'
Society. She is currently member of the IB&M Advisory Council.
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Thomas
J. Burke (Class of '01) is a practicing lawyer, part-time instructor at
St. Thomas University and Member of the Legislative Assembly of New
Brunswick representing the constituency of Fredericton North. He is the
first Native person elected to serve in a provincial legislature in
Atlantic Canada. As a member of the official opposition, Mr. Burke is the
critic for interests relating to Aboriginal affairs and justice. He is
also a member of the Standing Committees on Private Bills and Law
Amendments and serves on the Select Committee on Public Automobile
Insurance.
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Cheryl
E. (Gibson) Byard (Class of '94) is a Senior Crown Attorney with the
Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service (Dartmouth Office). Ms. Byard
articled with Nova Scotia Legal Aid and has also served as a Special
Constable and Auxiliary Constable with the RCMP. While at Dalhousie Law
School she provided research assistance to Her Honour Judge Corrine
Sparks in the preparation of the Report on Women of Colour in the Legal
Profession for the Canadian Bar Association. Ms. Byard is also the past
co-chair of the East Preston Recreation Centre.
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Evangeline
Cain-Grant (Class of '93) articled with the Nova Scotia Department of
Justice and went on to become the first Black woman in Nova Scotia to
open a solo law practice. Ms. Cain-Grant has built community capacity
through creating organizations such as the Preston Area and Dartmouth
African Nova Scotia Women Entrepreneurs (PADANSWE), the Dartmouth East
Community Residents Association, the Community Safety Network, and the
Parent -Students Association. The latter organization was the catalyst
for institutionalizing measures to address African Canadian education
at the municipal and provincial level. As a result of these
initiatives, Ms. Cain-Grant has received numerous awards and honors.
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Charlena
T. Claxton (Class of '04) is currently completing her articles at Cox
Hanson O'Reilly Matheson in Halifax. Ms. Claxton is Past-President of
the Black Law Students Association of Canada, serving established in
1991, and has been an active participant in a number or national and
international government consultations and organizations.
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Professor
Patricia Doyle-Bedwell (Class of '93) is the Director of the Transition
Year Program at Dalhousie University and teaches in the School of
Resource and Environmental Studies on Aboriginal Peoples, law and
resource issues. She is also sits on Dalhousie University's Employment
Equity Council. Prof. Doyle-Bedwell is the past Director of the
IB&M Programme and the Past Chair of the Nova Scotia Advisory
Council on the Status of Women. She serves on the Steering Committee
for the National Association of Women and the Law, and is the Chair of
the Council on Mi'kmaq Education, an advisory board to the government
on educational issues.
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Derek
Edwards (Class of '97) has spent his law career with the Department of
Justice (Canada) first at the Atlantic Regional Office and currently
the Ontario Regional Office in Toronto. He has practised in such varied
areas as tax litigation, employment insurance appeals and general civil
litigation for the Regulatory portfolio of the Department of Justice.
The Department's clients include: Health Canada, Correctional Services
Canada, Human Resources Development Canada and the RCMP. He specializes
in judicial review, appearing regularly in the Federal Court of Appeal.
Mr. Edwards notes that "without the Indigenous Black & Mi'kmaq
Programme, none of his legal aspirations would have been
possible."
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Renn
A. Holness (Class of '94) is the founder of Holness Law Group in
Vancouver, a firm specializing in personal injury law. He articled with
Morre & Associates in Halifax and is a member of the Atlantic
Provinces Trial Lawyers Association, the British Columbia Trial Lawyers
and the Association of Trial Lawyers of America. Mr. Holness recently
opened a second office in Kamloops, B.C.
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Shawna
(Paris) Hoyte (Class of '94) is a Staff Lawyer at Dalhousie Legal Aid
Service. She articled with the law firm of Cox Downie in Halifax. She
is also a practicing Social Worker for Capital Health and supervises
students from the Maritime School of Social Work. Born in New Glasgow
and raised in Truro, Ms. Hoyte was a founding member of the Black
Community Advocates Association of Nova Scotia (BCAANS). She was
appointed to the Federal Government Task Force on Visible Minorities
and developed the equity Plan entitled- Embracing Change in the Federal
Public Service, and she has been an adjudicator for the Residential
Tenancies Board and a member of the Nova Scotia Assessment Appeal
Court. Ms. Hoyte is currently a member of the Board of Directors for
the Community Justice Society.
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Alexander
Ikejiani (Class of '97) is a lawyer with the Department of Justice
(Canada) in Ottawa and is a member of the Legal Services Division of
the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. He articled with the office of
the Attorney General in Nova Scotia where he was hired in 1998 as a
member of the litigation team. Mr. Ikejiani was then seconded to the
Federal Prosecution Unit in Halifax where he conducted regulatory
prosecutions. He is now an Environmental Prosecutor and advises senior
government officials on environmental law.
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Dr.
B.A. Rocky Jones (Class of '92) heads his own law firm devoted to human
rights cases, criminal, including prisoners' rights, and labour law. He
is particularly interested in human rights issues involving Black
people and people of colour and successfully argued the groundbreaking
case of R.D.S. before the Supreme Court of Canada. He has worked
closely with the Aboriginal community on land claims, justice and educational
issues and is a Canadian expert on environmental racism. Mr. Jones is a
founding member of many institutions, including the Black United Front
of N.S., the National Black Coalition of Canada, and Dalhousie
University's Transition Year Programme. He also co-wrote the original
proposal that initiated the IB&M Programme. Mr. Jones is the
recipient of many honors including an Honourary Doctor of Laws degree
from the University of Guelph.
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Darlene
Lamey (Class of '02) is Counsel with the Department of Justice (Canada)
in the Civil Litigation and Advisory section. While studying at
Dalhousie Law School she was President of the Dalhousie Black Law
Students Association and she later articled with the Federal Department
of Justice. Ms. Lamey is currently a member of the Advisory Committee
on Visible Minorities and the Advisory Committee on Aboriginal Peoples
(both of the Department of Justice) and she is the (elected) Regional
Representative for the Association of Justice Counsel.
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Joe
B. Marshall (Class of '93) is the Executive Director of the Union of
Nova Scotia Indians and was a founding member of the organization. He
is also an Associate Professor of Mi'kmaq Studies at the University
College of Cape Breton and a teacher for the Eskasoni Training and
Education Centre. Recently, he was selected by the Assembly of Nova Scotia
Mi'kmaq Chiefs to join the staff of the "Kwilmuk
Mawaklusuaqn", Negotiation Office as one of two Senior Mi'kmaq
Advisors on constitutional rights. Mr. Marshall is a member of the
IB&M Programme Advisory Council.
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Devin
Maxwell (Class of '01) is a lawyer with Burchell Hayman Parish in
Halifax where he completed his articles. While at Dalhousie Law School,
Mr. Maxwell was a member of the Law Students Society, the Black Law
Students Society, Domus Legis Society and was a member of Dalhousie's
entry at the 2001 Laskin Moot. Mr. Maxwell is the former Chair of the
Race Relations Committee of the N.S. Barristers' Society and the
current Chair of the Equity Committee of the Nova Scotia Branch of the
Canadian Bar Association.
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Heather
A. McNeill (Class of '94) is a Staff Lawyer at Dalhousie Legal Aid
Service. Ms. McNeill articled with Burchell, MacAdam & Hayman and
is a former Human Rights Commissioner. She previously held the position
of Director of Legal Services at the Native Council of Nova Scotia and
currently sits on the Boards of Directors for the Mi'kmaq Native
Friendship Centre and the National Aboriginal Health Organization.
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Royland
Moriah (Class of '04) is currently articling with the African Canadian
Legal Clinic in Toronto. While attending law school, he served a term
as the Dalhousie Black Law Student Association President and as the
Vice-President Atlantic and then Secretary for the Black Law Students
Association of Canada.. While at the African Canadian Legal Clinic, Mr.
Moriah has made submissions to the Toronto Police Services Board and
the Le Sage Review of the Police Complaints System. He also
participated in the Symposium on Critical Race Lawyering at Fordham
University Law School in New York, in the fall of 2004.
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Candy
J. Palmater (Class of '99) is currently on a two year secondment with
the Nova Scotia Public Service Commission as the Diversity Management
Advisor Ms. Palmater articled and practiced with Patterson Palmer Hunt
Murphy and later worked in the Policy Section of the Nova Scotia Office
of Aboriginal Affairs.
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Paul
(PJ) Prosper is the Coordinator of the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of Prince
Edward Island, coordinating negotiations for PEI Mi'kmaq on Aboriginal
and treaty issues. Mr. Prosper articled at the Nova Scotia Department
of Justice and was employed with The Confederacy of Mainland Mi'kmaq
(CMM) Nova Scotia, as both the Director of Research and as Legal
Counsel. In addition to participating on a number of boards and
committees, he was co-manager of the Nova Scotia Aboriginal Title
Project. He continues to help and offer advice to people in his
community.
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Katie
Scott (Class of '03) is a Staff Lawyer with the African Canadian Legal
Clinic in Toronto, where she articled. While attending Dalhousie Law
School she was a member of the International Linkages Committee and
played on the University's Fieldhockey Team. Ms. Scott's work at the
African Canadian Legal Clinic involves test case litigation. She is
currently working on a lawsuit against the Ontario Government
challenging the constitutionality of the Ontario Secondary School
Literacy Test, and a rarely-held police disciplinary hearing into the
strip search of a teenaged African Canadian girl. Ms. Scott recently
participated in the Civil Rights Training Conference of the NAACP Legal
Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. in the United States.
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Vanessa
Tynes (Class '02) established her own practice in Dartmouth, Nova
Scotia in December 2004. Ms. Tynes is from Truro Nova Scotia and
obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Mary's University in 1998.
Prior to opening her own practice, she was a lawyer with Arnold Pizzo
McKiggan.
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Alonzo
Wright (Class of '94) is a lawyer with the Nova Scotia Public
Prosecution Service where he has been employed since 1996. Mr. Wright
articled at Stewart McKelvey Stirling Scales in Halifax. He has been
involved with the Community YMCA Basketball Program since 2000 as a
coach for boys ages 9-12.
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