Canada Day 2021

We are sharing this Canadian Mosaic as a celebration of all of our fellow Canadians. At DM+H we our proud of our firm’s diversity and inclusivity, which mirrors the diversity of our great nation. We pledge to continue to be proactive individually and as a firm to foster and promote fairness and equality for all Canadians.  

Tim came to DM+H as a summer student in 2019, between his 2nd and 3rd year at law school. By summer's end, we knew that Tim was a "keeper"! And that we would be lucky to have him as an articling student, following his completion of his 3rd year.

Tim's Under-grad degree from the U of A is a Bachelor of Arts - with a double major in: get this: English Language and German Literature! From this under-grad degree, he graduated with distinction, and holds the "Golden Key" from the

International Honor Society.

With regard to law school, a first rate advocate is born!

The "not-academic Tim" is what really stands out for us. His diversity, inclusiveness & activism: between years at law school he worked as a proposal writer for Tribal Chiefs Ventures Inc. - pleading for reformation of inefficient student funding - soliciting support from schools, governments, and Indigenous stakeholders - overhauling employee policies - and balancing the needs of the staff against labour legislation.

Then & now, Tim is on the Board of Directors for The Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers, an Inter-Provincial organization that advocates for diversity in the legal profession.

We look forward to many years of practice with Tim, and learning from him, as much as mentoring him.

The team at DM+H is honoured to be doing a spotlight on Joshua Sealy-Harrington.

He is an incoming Assistant Professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Ryerson University, a doctoral candidate at Columbia Law School, and a lawyer at Power Law.

His research interrogates the complex relationship between law and power through the lens of critical race theory, while his practice explores the intersection of this relationship with public, constitutional, and criminal law.

In practice, Joshua has appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. Before joining Power Law, Joshua completed three judicial clerkships—two at the Supreme Court of Canada (for Justice Clément Gascon) and one at the Federal Court (for Justice Donald J. Rennie, now of the Federal Court of Appeal).

His writing has been published in various law journals, The Globe and Mail, Newsweek, and The Walrus. And his legal scholarship has been cited by several tribunals, including the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a frequent media commentator, whose analysis has been featured on CBC News and CTV News.

He often presents to government, academic, and private institutions on critical race theory and racial justice, including the Department of Justice, the National Judicial Institute, the Ministry of the Attorney General, the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, and The Advocates’ Society.

He is most passionate, though, about speaking with equity-seeking groups, including the Black Law Students Association of Canada, the Indigenous Bar Association, and the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers. Joshua can be followed on twitter @joshuasealy, where his online advocacy earned a “Best Twitter Account” award at the Canadian Law Blog Awards.

We're grateful to Joshua for allowing us to share his piece: The Racial Storytelling Essay, originally written for The Walrus.

One comparative quote that showcases why we chose this piece:

“Stories of race across North America are so engrained in our histories we must squint to catch a glimpse of them as stories. America tells a story of freedom. Canada tells a story of multiculturalism. Both mask a reality of racism, colonialism, and imperialism”.

In a time that is eye opening for persons outside of the Indigenous community and re-traumatizing for members of the community, we want to extend our deepest condolences.

We wanted to share this article from Kelsie Kilawna, that serves to acknowledge the deep grief being felt right now. This article speaks to the pain of this trauma, and the power of healing.

We also wanted to share this visual piece by CeeJay Johnson, the the Dakota and Tlingit artist behind Kooteen Creations, who created a call out to Indigenous creators and beadwork artists in 2020.

We're sharing this piece from CBC, as a reminder of the power of community, and community healing. This piece came to be during the pandemic, using the healing power of beading, and connecting community in a time of increased disconnect.

Kyla Dupuis is a mentor with Outlink: Calgary's Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, a hub that promotes support and community connectedness for all gender and sexually diverse people.

Heather McKay, Q.C. is on the mentorship team with Level, a Canadian charitable organization that levels barriers to justice by disrupting prejudice, building empathy and advancing human rights.

Collin Smith is sitting on the Legal Advisory Committee for Egale Canada, a national LGBTQ2S+ legal advocacy group which focuses on interventions on cases which affect those communities as well as education of the bar and bench on these issues.