For Immediate Release
Aug. 11, 2006
ST JOHN’S, NFLD. – Charlottetown lawyer Daphne E. Dumont, Q.C., has been chosen as the winner of the Canadian Bar Association’s (CBA) 2006 Touchstone Award honouring her accomplishments in promoting equity in the Canadian Legal Profession.
“Daphne’s dedication to the rights of all persons under the law and her commitment to improving legal aid speak to her vision of equality for all Canadians under our system of justice,” said CBA President Brian A. Tabor, Q.C. “This vision, and her unwavering devotion to the cause of one law for all, make her an ideal recipient of this award.”
Dumont's involvement with the CBA began in the early 1980s and culminated when she became CBA President in 2000-2001. She was President of the PEI Branch (1986-1987) and was a member of the National Task Force on Gender Equality in the Legal Profession (1991-1993), which produced a landmark report on gender equality in the profession. During her presidency, she took up the cause of funding for legal aid. Dumont has been actively involved in the CBA’s legal aid test case (see http://www.cba.org/CBA/Advocacy/legalaid).
A founding member of the national Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), Dumont has also been a member of the National Association of Women and the Law for many years. She is currently a member of the CBA team implementing a major Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) project aimed at expanding civil legal aid in China.
Born in Charlottetown, Dumont was called to the bar in 1978. Since 1982, she has been a partner at Macnutt & Dumont, where she has a general practice dealing mainly with estates, real estate and family law. She received her bachelor’s degree from Queen’s in 1974, followed by a law degree in 1976 at Oxford University, where she was the first woman admitted to study law at any of the Oxford men’s colleges. She completed her Canadian legal training at Queen's University in 1977. She was named Queen's Counsel in 1995.
The Touchstone Award celebrates the accomplishments of an individual who has excelled in promoting equality in the legal profession, the judiciary or the legal community in Canada. The award recognizes significant national initiatives to advance equality and/or contribution relating to race, disability, sexual orientation or other diversity issues in the community.
The Standing Committee on Equality will present the award at the Touchstone Reception, held as part of the Canadian Legal Conference in St. John’s, Nfld., on Tuesday, Aug. 15 at 4:30 p.m. in the Brownsdale room of the Delta St. John’s Hotel and Convention Centre. The event is open to accredited journalists who have registered with the CBA Media Centre.
The Canadian Bar Association is dedicated to improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.
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CONTACT: Hannah Bernstein, Canadian Bar Association, Aug. 11-15, Delta St. John’s Hotel and Convention Centre, St. Mary’s Room, (709) 726-7594; E-mail: hannahb@cba.org.
