Inspiration was served in heaping portions at the 6th annual McGill Toronto Excellence Awards, which honoured an outstanding global citizen, two trailblazing lawyers, and an industry leader committed to access to education.
A crowd of 200 people attended the luncheon at Arcadian Court in Toronto on June 13. Held annually, the awards celebrate outstanding achievements of McGill alumni and friends in the Greater Toronto Area, which is home to nearly 30,000 McGill graduates and counting.
For the second consecutive year, Dave D’Oyen, BA’13, deftly handled the emcee duties with grace and humour.
Lindsay Glassco, BA’87, the president and CEO of Plan International Canada who has devoted her career to social justice, received the Distinguished Leader Award.
Distinguished Leader Award recipient Lindsay Glassco (left) with Lisa Shapiro, Dean of the Faculty of Arts
Dominique Hussey, BSc’97, LLB’97, an accomplished lawyer and leader in the profession as well as the first Black woman to be managing partner of a Bay Street law firm, was honoured with the Impact Award.
Jonathan McGillivray, BCL/LLB’16, one of Canada’s leading climate change lawyers, was the recipient of the Rising Star Award, while Brian J. Porter, former president and CEO of Scotiabank, received the McGill Friend of Education in Toronto Award. Throughout his 40-plus-year career at Scotiabank, Porter was committed to making education and opportunity available to more people.
The celebration was also an opportunity for McGill’s thriving alumni community in the GTA to get to know new Principal Deep Saini, who told the crowd that he was “thrilled to be at the helm of an institution he has long admired.”
Principal Deep Saini
Saini praised the important contributions to society made by McGillians in the GTA and also talked about the powerful role that educational institutions like McGill play.
“McGill’s role in social mobility is a unique and remarkable achievement that lifts people up here and around the world,” said Saini, who also spoke about his own humble beginnings growing up in India.
In one of the touching moments at the luncheon, the crowd gave a warm welcome to future McGill student Abigail Ralph, from Rexdale, who is part of the new cohort of McCall MacBain Scholars at McGill and plans to study neuroscience.
McGill graduate Dave D’Oyen acted as emcee for the ceremony.
The ceremony culminated with the Distinguished Leader Award being presented to Glassco, who touched on the power of collective action.
At McGill in the mid-1980s, Glassco joined the student movement calling on the University to divest from companies with financial interests in apartheid South Africa, and also served as a student representative on a parliamentary commission on the quality of education in Quebec.
“When I think back now and even when I look at issues [you wonder], what can I do as an individual that’s really going to make a dent? But looking back, McGill University was the first university [in Canada] to actually divest from South Africa as a university and that commission on the quality of education made significant changes. What I learned was you can make a difference,” she said.
In accepting the McGill Friend of Education in Toronto Award, Brian Porter spoke about ScotiaRISE, a 10-year, $500-million initiative by Scotiabank to promote economic resilience among disadvantaged groups. Partners play an important role in its impact, suggested Porter, who thanked McGill for “standing shoulder to shoulder with us in the pursuit of a common goal: that is to give even more people in the community a better chance of a better life for themselves and their families.”
Meet our winners and check out the photo album from the awards ceremony:
Distinguished Leader Award
Lindsay Glassco, BA’87
Lindsay Glassco is an outstanding global citizen who has devoted her career to social justice. Her passion for making a difference in the lives of people has taken her to over 45 countries.
Since her time at McGill – when she was engaged in student politics, social causes, and athletics – Lindsay has been driven by a relentless desire to make a positive impact on the world around her. Throughout her career, her people-centred leadership has left a lasting impression around the globe. Lindsay is known for her unique ability to put others at ease while addressing some of the world’s greatest challenges.
She is currently president and CEO of Plan International Canada, a global organization dedicated to advancing children’s rights and equality for girls. Prior to joining Plan, Lindsay held executive roles developing and managing social policies and programs at CARE, a leading humanitarian organization, the International Olympic Committee, Special Olympics Canada, and Right to Play International. Earlier in her career, Lindsay worked for the Canadian government and the United Nations.
Thanks to Lindsay’s advocacy, a UN International Day of Sport for Development and Peace was established.
Lindsay was honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for significant contributions to community development in Canada.
Impact Award
Dominique Hussey, BSc’97, LLB’97
Since she graduated from McGill with Bachelor of Science and Law degrees, Dominique Hussey has built a stellar career as an accomplished lawyer and leader in the profession. After working at firms in Ottawa and New York (where she also earned a master’s from Columbia Law School), Dominique joined Bennett Jones in Toronto. She is now the firm’s Vice Chair and Toronto Managing Partner and leads its Intellectual Property Litigation group.
Dominique has earned many accolades for her work, including the Law Firm Leaders Award in 2021 at the inaugural Chambers Canada Awards for her role as managing partner – a position she took on the year before in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. It highlighted her leadership skills, her work as an IP litigator and her commitment to her community. She received the Managing IP’s “Outstanding Practitioner in Patent Law” honour in its 2020 Americas Awards and was a finalist in 2022.
Dominique is the first Black woman to be managing partner of a Bay Street law firm. She serves on the board of the BlackNorth Initiative, a not-for-profit that aims to remove anti-Black systemic barriers. Her impressive volunteer board service also includes The Advocates’ Society, the leading national association of litigation counsel in Canada, which is dedicated to helping advocates become leaders inside and outside the courtroom. She is currently the Society’s vice-president and will take on the role of president in June 2023.
Rising Star Award
Jonathan McGillivray, BCL/LLB’16
As a student in the Faculty of Law, Jonathan McGillivray focused his talents and energy on the study of climate change and clean energy law. This rapidly evolving field calls for legal practitioners to have expertise across a wide breadth of practice areas, including corporate law, litigation, regulatory law and municipal law, among others.
Today Jonathan is one of Canada’s leading climate change lawyers and widely recognized for his groundbreaking work. He regularly attends and advises on the annual United Nations global climate negotiations and serves on the board of directors of GreenPAC, a non-partisan, non-profit organization working to elect and support environmental leaders running for public office across the country.
While at McGill, Jonathan was deeply involved in the Law community, working as a tutorial leader and a research assistant. He also edited the McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law & Policy and co-chaired the Faculty's Green Law Committee, sharing expertise he acquired in the climate science and policy program at Columbia University.
Beloved and respected by his Law School colleagues, Jonathan was selected to receive the Patricia Allen Award for Participation. To this day, he remains a keen promoter of his alma mater and the Faculty of Law. He regularly participates in McGill activities in Toronto, while mentoring recent graduates who are pursuing legal careers in the city.
McGill Friend of Education in Toronto Award
Brian J. Porter, Former President and CEO, Scotiabank
Throughout his 40+ year career at Scotiabank, Brian Porter has been committed to making education and opportunity available to more people.
Under his leadership, Scotiabank launched ScotiaRISE, a 10-year, $500-million initiative to promote economic resilience among disadvantaged groups. At McGill, as part of ScotiaRISE, Scotiabank made a $2-million community investment to the School of Continuing Studies to launch an experiential training and professional development program to help members of underrepresented local communities and newcomers to Canada, including refugees, build essential career skills.
Brian currently serves on the first-ever Board of Governors at Huron University College at Western University and is Chair of the Board of Trustees of Toronto’s University Health Network. He played an integral role in Dalhousie’s Bold Ambitions fundraising campaign.
Last year, in recognition of Brian’s achievements as an industry leader and his commitment to the future of responsible business, he received a Desautels Management Lifetime Achievement Award from undergraduate commerce students at McGill.
Brian earned his Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He was awarded an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from both Dalhousie (2008) and Toronto Metropolitan University (2018).