Award recognises women who have achieved professional excellence and inspired others to do the same
Daphne Dumont won the 2019 Canadian Bar Association’s Cecilia I. Johnstone award. She will receive the award in a ceremony on Oct. 19, the second day of the CBA’s Leadership Conference for Professional Women.
Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Dumont is one of the pioneering women lawyers in the province. She was also the first female president of the CBA branch in PEI and served as national CBA president from 2000 to 2001. She was also a member of the original Touchstones Report committee that examined discrimination against women and minorities in the legal profession.
In October 2018, Dumont spoke at the joint event between the CBA’s Women Lawyers Forum and the Ontario Bar Association, which commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Touchstones Report.
“I believe that the most important thing for the selection committee to know about Daphne Dumont is that she has devoted her entire legal career, which now stands at over 40 years, promoting equality, promoting and supporting the advancement of women in law and in society, promoting access to justice and often doing so without appropriate financial recompense,” one of Dumont’s nominators said.
The Cecilia I. Johnstone award, established in 2007, recognizes “women who have achieved professional excellence in their field and influenced other women to pursue legal careers, supported other women in career advancement or opened doors for women lawyers in a variety of job settings that historically were closed to them.” The award honours former justice Cecilia I. Johnstone, a former CBA president, who passed away on April 15, 2006.
