Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - May 2009 - Index

“But I understand that things
are not always easy for newcomer
immigrants. My mother
did her PhD in Biochemistry at
UofT. Her advisor said she was
the top student, but she didn’t
get tenure. I can’t say this definitively,
but she was older, a
woman, a South Asian with an
accent...the first generation always
makes the sacrifices. At my
swearing in, my mother said,
‘Everything was worth it.’”
Her husband, Simon Farley,
is a teacher and a stay-at-home
parent, and without his unstinting
support, Pawagi acknowledges
she wouldn’t be able to
do what she does. “Simon believes
I can do anything. His
belief in me is so buoyant and
his love for me is so joyful that
he makes everything easy and
anything possible. He is the reason
there won’t be any father’s
rights groups picketing my
courtroom, because I get to see
every day what an incredibly
fantastic primary caregiver a
dad can be.”
Justice Pawagi is also a published
author of children’s
books. One of her books, The
Girl Who Hated Books, has been
translated into 14 languages, including
Gujarati, Marathi,
Bengali, Urdu and Tamil.
“And named by the Globe as
one of the top ten children’s
books of 1998,” adds Kehoe.
Made into a National Film
Board animated short, it was
also given to every Grade One
child in Canada in 2003.
Justice Pawagi is committed
to encouraging reading in her
birth place, Amravati, in India,
says Kehoe. “She has been active
in fundraising for a network
of children’s libraries. The
charity’s aim completely accords
with Justice Pawagi’s values:
to inspire the love of reading
and enhance literacy at an
early age in order to help children
fulfill their potential and
break the cycle of poverty.”
The self-described morning
person likes to be in her chamber
early, reading cases by 7:30.
She’s in court from 10 to five,
and usually home in time for
dinner and to put her twins,
Rajiv Jack and Anna Supriya,
to bed. They both love books.
At six, Jack is reading the Narnia
books and Anna is immersed in
Little House on the Prairie.
“You won’t find too many
homes in which the parents tell
the kids to put away the books
and come watch television!”
laughs Justice Pawagi.
She doesn’t know if she will
find the time to write another
book any time soon.
“But I love writing,” she says.
“I loved writing my speech for the
swearing-in ceremony; I love every
second of writing judgements.
Stories and children and stories
about children have been the defining
themes of my life for as
long as I can remember, and as I
sit in court and listen to the life
stories of different people, it all
comes together for me.”
As a family court judge, Justice
Pawagi will be hearing cases
related to child protection, custody
access and child support.
She has been a strong advocate
“At my swearing-in,
my mother said,
‘Everything was worth it.’”
of children’s rights ever since
she was gifted an abridged, illustrated
edition of David
Copperfield by her parents when
she was all of seven.
“I remember being horrified
at David’s stepfather’s treatment
of David, at the inability
of David’s mother to protect
him. It was the first inkling I
had that a child could be anything
other than the centre of
their parents’ universe. I’ve felt
that sense of horror and disbelief
afresh at every case I’ve
dealt with where a child has
been mistreated. And while that
is emotionally draining, I find
it useful because it’s accompanied
by a real sense of urgency,
a sense that we must do something
about this right now. And
I’m so grateful to be given the
opportunity to do something
right now for these children.
And I’m so honoured to be
entrusted with that responsibility,”
she said in her speech at the
swearing-in ceremony.
“Tolstoy said every happy
family is the same, but every
unhappy family is unique, and
I want to hear those unique stories
and help those parents and
especially those children, since
it is the children who bear the
brunt when families fall apart.”
Someone wrote to Justice
Pawagi, telling her that her
appointment had renewed his
faith in the judicial system.
“He was commenting on the
fact that this was not a political
appointment, that it was possible
for anyone with the right
qualifications to reach here. And
that made me feel wonderful.
Justice Pawagi was brand
new at the court at the time of
the interview.
“This has been the most
amazing month of my life. But
thanks to Jack and Anna, I will
never catch ‘judgeitis’. In the
first few days after my appointment,
when I was still bouncing
off the walls, I remember at one
point turning to Anna and saying,
‘I’m a judge!’ and she just
looked back at me and said, ‘You
said that already.’ Enough said!”
– SHAGORIKA E ASWAR