Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré

Juanita Westmoreland-Traore, Template:Post-nominals (born March 10, 1942)<ref name=on/> is the first black judge in the history of Quebec.<ref name=cic/> She is also the first black dean of a law school (the University of Windsor Faculty of Law) in Canada's history.<ref name=cic/>

Early life and education

Westmoreland-Traoré was born in Verdun, now part of Montreal, Quebec, in 1942, the daughter of immigrants from Guyana.<ref name="cic">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="gaz" /> She studied at Marianopolis College, and subsequently obtained a law degree from the Université de Montréal (1966) and a doctorate from the University of Paris.<ref name="on" /><ref name="cic" />

Career

She was called to the Quebec Bar in 1969,<ref name="gaz" /> and began practising law in 1970 with the law firm of Mergler, Melançon.<ref name="on" /><ref name="cic" /> She has also been a member of the Ontario Bar since 1997.<ref name="gaz" /> During the 1970s, Westmoreland-Traoré taught at the Université de Montréal from 1972 to 1976,<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> and from 1976 to 1991 at the Université du Québec à Montréal.<ref name="gaz" /> In 1990, Westmoreland-Traoré was an arbitrator to the Human Rights Tribunal of Quebec.<ref name=":0" /> Westmoreland-Traoré was also a member of the Office de protection des consommateurs du Québec from 1979 to 1983.<ref name="on" /> From 1983 to 1985, she was a Commissioner for the Canadian Human Rights Commission. In 1985, she became the first chair of Quebec's Council on Cultural Communities and Immigration.<ref name="cic" /><ref name=":0" />

From 1991 to 1995, she was Employment Equity Commissioner of Ontario.<ref name="gaz" /> In this role, she set up support to monitor the introduction of employment equity planning to seventeen thousand Ontario businesses.<ref name=":0" /> From 1996 to 1999 she was the dean of the University of Windsor's law faculty.<ref name="cic" /> She was appointed a Judge of the Court of Quebec for the District of Montreal in 1999.<ref name="gaz" />

Honours and awards

In 1991, she was made an Officer of the National Order of Quebec.<ref name=on>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Westmoreland-Traoré has received other awards, including from Canadian Jewish Congress, the Montreal Association of Black Business Persons and Professionals, and the Canadian Bar Association.<ref name=gaz/> In 2008, she was awarded the Quebec Human Rights Commission's Rights and Liberties Prize for her career-long fight against discrimination. <ref name=gaz>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2021, she received the Medal of the Barreau de Montréal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In March 2013, Université du Québec à Montréal's Département des sciences juridiques founded the Juanita Westmoreland-Traoré scholarship.<ref name=UQAM>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The $3000 scholarship is to be awarded annually to a single undergraduate law student who uses their training to promote human rights, social justice and equality.<ref name=UQAM/> Sameer Zuberi, a human rights advocate of ten years, was the bursary's first recipient in April 2014.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Westmoreland-Traoré received honorary doctorates from University of Ottawa in 1993, Université du Québec à Montréal in 2001, and McGill University in 2018.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Spring 2018 Convocations Honorary Degree Recipients https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/spring-2018-convocations-honorary-degree-recipients</ref>

External links

• Criminal Justice Firsts