BarTalk August 2003
Volume 15, Number 4

Community Service Awards 2003

Honoring exceptional contributions to communities
The CBABC proudly honors lawyers for their contribution to the community and to the legal profession. The Community Service Awards are the highest honor provided by the CBABC in recognition of community involvement and contribution outside of the practice of law. A call for nominations was issued in the October issue of BarTalk and after careful review, five lawyers were chosen to receive the 2003 CBABC Community Service Awards. For the first time, there are two award recipients in Vancouver County.

Michael B Ellis (Victoria County)
Mr. Ellis (Mike) is well known throughout the Greater Victoria community for the tremendous amount of volunteer effort that he expends. It seems many people can say “Oh yes, I know Mike Ellis. He volunteers at [fill in organization].” Margaret Sasges, a co-worker of Mike’s at Straith & Company, says “I know how hard he works in the office, and yet he still has an enormous amount of time and energy to give to a variety of organizations.” There are indeed a variety, including the B.C. Lung Association, the Kiwanis Club, the Kiwanis Village Society, the Royal Victoria Marathon, Cool Aid, the YM-YWCA, and the Team West Coast Running and Triathlon Society.

All of the members of these organizations can recount projects that had uphill battles, and how Mike made a difference – a critical difference – in those projects. When Cool Aid was looking for assistance from a service club to develop a youth shelter, “Mike convinced the Kiwanis club to support the shelter,” says Jane Dewing, who was the Executive Director of Cool Aid at the time. “He personally assisted in finding a location. It was very difficult getting the rezoning and Mike had to field some very disgruntled neighbors. But the project was successful and has sheltered more than 6,000 youth since opening in 1989.”

The B.C. Lung Association has benefited from Mike’s volunteerism since 1992. He has been a member of numerous committees, including their Executive Committee since 1993 and has served as Honourary Treasurer and Vice President and is currently their provincial President. Scott McDonald, the B.C. Lung Association’s Executive Director, says that Mike is a “go-to” volunteer who never turns down requests for assistance, whether it’s standing at a display table at a health fair or providing pro bono legal work on a difficult bequest issue.

Through his involvement with the Kiwanis Society, Mike became involved in the Kiwanis Village Society which operates Kiwanis Village in Victoria and Windward Village in Sidney. The Society provides affordable housing for low income seniors, operating 183 housing units with a population of more than 220 seniors. “Mike was the Society President during the last six months – the critical phase of construction of our new 50 unit apartment building,” says Jeff Sawchuk, Administrator, Kiwanis Village.

Gavin Hume, QC (Vancouver County)
Gavin Hume is presented a Community Service Award for his outstanding commitment to one organization in particular. His commitment has been immense and the organization is one that enriches each community it touches. Gavin has been a key leader at the YMCA and has dedicated tremendous effort to the Y for more than 30 years. He has been a member, Executive Member, and President, and is currently a Director of the YMCA Board of Governors. Throughout that long history he has directly and indirectly changed the lives of thousands of young people.

As the YMCA’s Honorary Solicitor, Gavin has provided extensive pro bono legal and client services to the organization. Mary Beck, who has served with Gavin on the Board of Directors at the YMCA, says “The amount of time Gavin has volunteered is difficult to quantify. I suspect that a day does not go by in which Gavin does not deal with a YMCA matter to some degree.”

Gavin has also been a Trustee and Chair of the YMCA Endowment Fund. As an Executive Member of the “Building Strong Communities Capital Campaign” Gavin played a very substantial role in mobilizing YMCA volunteers to successfully raise more than $6.2 million for the new Surrey Family YMCA, which opened in September 2002. This new YMCA will serve more than 30 thousand people each year for the next 35 years and “It would not have been possible,” says Bill Stewart, President and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Vancouver, “without the active support of Gavin and the many other community-minded people attracted to this cause.”

Mr. Stewart says further that “Gavin’s contribution to the YMCA and the community…are immeasurable and set a high standard for all. His special gifts for involving people, strategic thinking and dedication to ethical and principled action, are the cornerstones of Gavin the individual.”

Linda D Locke (Prince Rupert County)
Her community is Hazelton. Offers come calling, but Linda Locke stays in Hazelton because she loves her community. It needs her. The community has had several setbacks: the closure of the lumber industry; changes in fishing practices; and cutbacks in various government agencies. But when the provincial government set its sights on closing the local legal aid office, Linda “went into action.” Rev. Lorna Janzé recounts “When we heard that legal aid was being eliminated in Hazelton, it only spelled disaster. To refer people to local legal service resulted in good compliance, but to refer people to an office up to two hours drive away by car would result in almost total non-compliance. (The office) was necessary to the viability of the families and our community.” Through Linda’s work, including a month of pro bono, the Upper Skeena Counselling & Legal Assistance Society (USCLAS) office stayed open and today continues to provide services desperately needed in Hazelton.

Linda is also an advocate for the Aboriginal community, working tirelessly to increase community awareness about Aboriginal needs, values and interests, and to increase trust and respect between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people. Every year the USCLAS has been an active presence in the Gitxsan Cultural Days and Hazelton Pioneer Day, with a theme relating to a legal issue such as residential schools, child and family issues, or Aboriginal veterans. “Linda has also facilitated workshops and a booklet relating to wills planning on Reserves and has organized several workshops on human rights and sexual harassment in the workplace,” says USCLAS President, Charlotte Sullivan.

Linda’s seemingly endless compassion extends to animals in her community, too, and she works energetically to protect abused and unwanted animals. Linda is working to set up an animal shelter in Hazelton. “Linda is a person who will never turn a blind eye to problems related to animals,” says Tim Klaassen, a Smithers lawyer.

“Her community volunteerism is a powerful demonstration of public service in its best possible sense,” says Sandy Jakab-Hancock, a nominator of Linda for this award.

Michael A McVea (Nanaimo County)
The common thread running through the organizations in which Mike McVea has participated is that they exist to improve the local community for the betterment of its present and future citizens.

The organizations he has volunteered with include the Campbell River United Way, the Yucalta Lodge Society, the Rotary Club of Campbell River, the Community Futures Development Corporation of Strathcona, the B.C. Winter Games in Campbell River, and the Campbell River Community Foundation.

Upon arriving in Campbell River in 1978 Mike became a director of both the local United Way and the Yucalta Lodge Society, which operates a housing facility for seniors.

In 1988 Mike was appointed a director of the Community Futures Development Corporation of Strathcona, a federally funded organization created to assist small business by providing loans and educational support, training and assistance to prospective entrepreneurs including those who have lost their jobs due to economic changes. From 1989 to 1997 Mike chaired the Corporation’s Self Employment Committee, and he continues to be a member. Today there are many local small businesses, some very successful, which owe their start to this committee.

In 1995 Mike was elected Chair of the Corporation for a three-year term – at a time when the organization was in a state of upheaval. At the end of Mike’s term the Corporation was one of the three most successful and profitable of the 23 Community Futures Corporations within B.C. Today, as a result of income from its loan portfolio, the Corporation is almost entirely self-sufficient and it continues to assist small businesses.

In 2001 Mike was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Campbell River Community Foundation. He was immediately elected as the fundraising committee chair and developed a fundraising plan. The Foundation’s goal is to establish a permanent endowment fund to assist other local organizations in improving the community of Campbell River.

James (Jim) Stout (Vancouver County)
West Vancouver parents of Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and Venturers will likely recognize Jim Stout’s name. Since 1969 he has been involved in Scouting, leading more than 50 Scouting wilderness expeditions (lasting seven days or more) involving backpacking, ocean kayaking or canoeing.

Jim was a District Commissioner for the West Vancouver Scouts for four years and a Regional Commissioner for Vancouver-Coast for three years. He was also a Volunteer Project Manager for the construction of the Hollyburn Ridge Scout Cabin. The amount of time Jim gives to Scouts is part of what makes his contribution unique. “Jim is busy three nights a week leading each of his three groups, is away most weekends either camping with the Scouts or Venturers or working on the Group’s cabin at Hollyburn Ridge,” says John McCarter, of the 3rd West Vancouver Cub Pack, who has worked closely with Jim in recent years.

Parents of children who have been in Jim’s Cub or Scout groups speak well of Jim. Terry Halverson, a parent of a Scout, wrote “It is the wonderful example of Jim Stout’s character and values that enhance our community. He sets an extremely high standard of fairness, tolerance and honesty. It gives me a great deal of comfort to know that there are people of Jim’s quality involved in our legal system.”

John McCarter adds, “Jim is a person who believes there is good in every child and he makes it his responsibility to find a way for that goodness to bubble to the surface. There is now a second generation of children in West Vancouver who can thank Jim for giving them direction to be the best person they can be.”

Jim has also volunteered his time with the Lions Gate Hospice Society, which he was President of in the mid-1990s. During that time the Lions Gate Hospital undertook a fundraising initiative and under Jim’s leadership the Society contributed $150,000, the largest single donation, to the $1.8 million project.

Special Thanks
The CBABC thanks the selection committee of the Community Service Awards: H.A.D. Oliver, QC, B.C. Conflict of Interest Commissioner; Trude LaBossiere Huebner, Researcher/Writer; Doug Robinson, QC, a CBABC Past President; Mark Slay, CBABC member; Frances Statham, QC, Ministry of Attorney General; and Gillian Wallace, QC, former Deputy Minister, Ministry of Attorney General.

H A D Oliver, QC Earns Lifetime Achievement Award

The Honourable H.A.D. Oliver, QC is the first recipient of the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C.’s Lifetime Achievement Award. The occasion was celebrated on June 13 by more than 400 people in a prestigious ceremony at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.

During the event, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell declared Saturday, June 14, 2003 to be “H.A.D. Oliver Day.”

This article was published in the August 2003 issue of BarTalk and is subject to the copyright by the British Columbia Branch of the Canadian Bar Association, 2005, all rights reserved.