Women’s rights trailblazer receives Canadian Bar Association President’s Award

  • August 10, 2016

OTTAWA - The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) 2016 President’s Award is being presented to Daphne Dumont Q.C., a lawyer from Prince Edward Island who has been active in the CBA, women’s issues and her community. The presentation takes place during the President’s Dinner at the Canadian Legal Conference in Ottawa on August 10.

Quick facts:

  • Daphne Dumont, a partner in the Charlottetown law firm Macnutt & Dumont, earned her law degree at Oxford University in 1976, having been the first woman admitted to study law at any of the Oxford men’s colleges.
  • She has long been active in women’s issues, and in addition to serving on the CBA’s national Task Force on Gender Equality in the Legal Profession with former Supreme Court Justice Bertha Wilson; she was a founder of LEAF, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund.
  • Daphne Dumont has worked closely with, on a volunteer basis, various community groups, including the Community Legal Information Association and the Canadian Federation of University Women.
  • She was the third woman president of the CBA and its first-ever president from Prince Edward Island.
  • “This year’s recipient has been a dedicated, passionate member of the CBA for nearly 40 years. We are fortunate that women’s rights fall within this trailblazer’s ‘wide array of interests’,” said CBA President Janet Fuhrer in presenting the award.
  • The CBA President’s Award recognizes the significant contribution of a Canadian jurist to the legal profession, the CBA or public life in Canada.
  • The CBA is dedicated to support for the rule of law, and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries in Quebec, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.

Associated links

Canadian Bar Association

CBA 2016 Legal Conference

Daphne Dumont biography

LEAF (Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund)

Brief biography of Daphne Dumont

Education

·         Queen’s University, Honours B.A., History and Philosophy, 1974

·         Oxford University, Honours B.A., Jurisprudence 1976, M.A. 1983

·         Queen’s University, 1976-77, special concentration in Canadian Law

Selected memberships:

·         CBA (since 1978)

·         Prince Edward Island Law Society (since 1978)

·         P.E.I. Community Legal Information Association (1987-2000)

·         Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (2005-08)

Selected awards & recognition

·         Queen’s Counsel (1995)

  • Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002)
  • Governor Generals’ Award in commemoration of the Persons Case. (2009)
  • Order of Canada (2011)

About the CBA

The CBA, the voice of the legal profession in Canada, is dedicated to support for the rule of law, and improvement in the law and the administration of justice. Some 36,000 lawyers, notaries in Quebec, law teachers, and law students from across Canada are members.