Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - May 2009 - Index

When she walks down
a corridor and court
clerks stand up and
lawyers bow, she feels she has
to live up to this deference, says
Justice Manjusha Pawagi.
Assigned to the Ontario
Court of Justice in Brampton,
she is the only female South
Asian judge in Toronto family
courts and possibly the youngest.
She was selected for the
position from among 10 lawyers
who were shortlisted from
150 applicants.
The 19-member Judicial
Appointment Advisory Committee
was looking for academic
and professional excellence,
community awareness, a commitment
to public service,
Manjusha Pawagi
JUDGE,
ONTARIO COURT OF JUSTICE
awareness of social problems
that give rise to cases coming
before the courts, sensitivity to
changes in social values, interest
in methods of dispute
resolution, alternatives to formal
adjudication, communications
skills, an ability to listen,
respect for the essential dignity
of all regardless of their circumstances,
moral courage,
high ethics, patience and
empathy. They found them in
Manjusha Pawagi.
At her swearing-in, her
friend, Katherine Kehoe, senior
advisor, National Judicial
Institute, said Justice Pawagi
would make a great judge. “I
think of qualities like a commitment
to public service, a will-
GRANT’S COMMUNITY ACHIEVERS
GRANT’S IS PROUD TO PRESENT THIS
SERIES ABOUT PEOPLE WHO ARE MAKING
A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY
ingness to take on challenges, a
belief in the potential of everyone
to change, and compassion...
Those who know Justice
Pawagi know that she embodies
these characteristics.”
Having been called to the Bar
AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
in 1997, Justice Pawagi has
practised family law; worked as
counsel for the Children’s Aid
Society; designed and delivered
training for social workers,
foster parents and CAs counsel;
served as counsel for the Office
of the Children’s Lawyer and
also mentored University of
Toronto law students.
Neither gender nor ethnicity
ever came in the way of her success,
she says.
“Each time, in every meritbased
process, I made it.”
She concedes it may at least
be partly due to the fact that
having come to Canada at the
age of three, she may look different,
but doesn’t sound different
and certainly doesn’t feel different
from mainstream Canadians.
“I assimilated. All the credit
for which goes to my parents.
They welcomed my friends – of
all religious backgrounds and
ethnicities – and, unusually for
Indian parents, let me do my
under-grad in English Literature!
They let me pursue my
passion, whether it was studying
law at UofT, journalism at
Stanford, or writing children’s
books. And the only way I could
repay my parents is by instilling
the same belief in my own
children and by doing my very
best to remove the obstacles
that are preventing the children
in the cases that come before
me from realizing their full potentials.