Each year, AV俱乐部鈥檚 Aurum Awards celebrate outstanding alumni who are making contributions to the social, cultural and economic well-being of society. This year鈥檚 winners鈥攁 dentist, a lawyer, a musician, a judge, and a nurse practitioner鈥攅ach share a dedication to their communities, a commitment to justice and a passion for change. We are proud to honour them and share their stories with you.
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Dr. Nada Haidar
Paying it Forward
Halifax-based Dr. Nada Haidar (BSc鈥�93, DDS鈥�97) says dentistry isn鈥檛 just her career, it鈥檚 her passion鈥攐ne that stems from the influence of her hardworking, immigrant parents and her own desire to give back. Following some international volunteer work in recent years, Dr. Haidar was inspired after COVID struck to find new ways to help others locally, including her year-round work at the North End Community Health Centre鈥檚 dental clinic.
Q. What鈥檚 one thing you really enjoy about your work?
A. 鈥淚 love how artistic dentistry can be. I鈥檓 artistic by nature, I think because both of my parents were hairstylists. Art filters into my work every day, whether I鈥檓 recreating a tooth, a smile, or just getting to work with my hands.鈥�
Q. What鈥檚 the most important lesson you鈥檝e learned?
A. 鈥淥ver our lives, we accumulate 鈥榯hings.鈥� I鈥檝e learned it鈥檚 not about what you have. It鈥檚 about what you鈥檝e done, and how you can give back and help others. It鈥檚 your legacy. For me, this was quickly realized after I began volunteering.鈥�
Q. What鈥檚 the greatest challenge you face, and how do you strive to overcome it?
A. 鈥淚t鈥檚 incredibly challenging for me to see people who need something but can鈥檛 afford it. Volunteering is how I overcome that鈥攖o help give them what they need. It started a few years ago when my daughter, Mya, and I went on a health mission to Honduras through Global Brigades. We visited different villages where I treated patients. When all travel came to a halt in 2020, I knew I had to focus my efforts more locally, and so began my work with the North End Community Health Centre here in Halifax. My volunteering has since bloomed into a passion. I鈥檝e built trust with these patients, who just needed someone to help them out, to give them their smiles back.鈥�
Q. What motivates you to carry forward?
A. 鈥淚鈥檓 easily motivated by my time at the North End Community Health Centre, just from the appreciation alone. When I can give someone their teeth back, for free, it鈥檚 profound; it鈥檚 life changing. I know I was put on this planet to help make that life change.鈥�
(Daniel Abriel, photo)
Igor Yushchenko
Bridging Gaps
Halifax-based lawyer and Ukrainian native Igor Yushchenko (LLM鈥�12) understands immigration law and the work required to move people to a new country. But in February of 2022 when Russia invaded his native country, things really hit home. It sparked a personal mission to apply his legal expertise to help fellow Ukrainians鈥攊ncluding his own family鈥攕eek refuge in Canada. On the one-year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, Yushchenko had personally helped with the immigration applications for over 200 families fleeing war. With the uncertainty of the future, he says his work to help fellow Ukrainians is just getting started and he is ready.
Q. How did your time as a student help shape your career?
A. 鈥淲hen I came from Ukraine to go to Dal, I wasn鈥檛 sure what to expect of a new university experience coming into it. But quickly I learned how great Dal would be. The professors are so open, and they really want you to succeed. They care about your opinion, like there is no right or wrong answer. It helped build a confidence for me as I stepped into my career in Canada.鈥�
Q. What aspect of your work do you most enjoy?
A. 鈥淚 genuinely like to help people. It brings me joy. That鈥檚 why I enjoy immigration law, real estate law, and corporate law, because people can gain something from it. I want to see others succeed in life. When a client calls and says, 鈥楾hings are going well now thanks to you,鈥� I know I鈥檝e done my job.鈥�
Q. What do you want others to learn from your story?
A. 鈥淎nything is possible. As an immigrant myself, I didn鈥檛 think I would stay once I finished my degree. Then someone told me that I couldn鈥檛 practice
law here, and something inside of me said to prove them wrong. That鈥檚 a difficult thing鈥攄enying that it鈥檚 impossible, accepting that it won鈥檛 be easy and facing the challenges that may lie ahead. Immigrants need to know that; living your ideal life is not a club for only blessed and chosen people. Everyone has the right to shape their future.鈥�
Q. What鈥檚 next for you?
A. 鈥淟ike so many of us, I hope the war in Ukraine will finish soon. There will be a massive amount of work to do to rebuild Ukraine and to compensate people for their losses. I hope to be part of that team.鈥�
(Cody Turner, photo)
Jeremy Dutcher
Lighting the Way
Jeremy Dutcher (BA鈥�13) is a classically trained composer, performer, musicologist, and activist. As a member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, he has had a fundamental impact on the way the traditional tribal language of Wolastoqiyik is shared, transforming our understanding of Indigenous cultures and communities. A two-spirit individual, he serves as a role model for Indigenous peoples who identify as LGBTQIA2S+. Dutcher鈥檚 2018 debut album, Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, was awarded the 2018 Polaris Music Prize and the 2019 Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year.
Q. What鈥檚 the most important lesson you鈥檝e learned?
A. 鈥淪o often in life, we鈥檙e asked to play it small. To dull the flame for the comfort of others. What I鈥檝e witnessed, as a composer and a performer, is that when I truly let it out, it pays off. People receive it. There鈥檚 an understanding that each person is unique and brings something new to the family of humanity. It鈥檚 our responsibility as people to have it uncovered.鈥�
Q. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?
A. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 pin my personal value to receiving awards. It comes down to the intention of what you do. My culture is 鈥╥n the fight of its life right now, with less than 500 speakers of our language left. My biggest accomplishment has been taking the songs of my ancestors and performing them for my people, in my language, with the orchestra. Lifting our songs up to the highest level and having them received. Having my elders come out, weep, and give thanks. It鈥檚 the feeling of connecting people back to what鈥檚 been taken and what has been lost. There is urgency in the work, and the moment to do it is now.鈥�
Q. What do you enjoy most about music?
A. 鈥淢usic cuts right to the heart. It cuts past all the things that are weighing on us鈥攖he sonic vibrations bypass all of that. Music comes from understanding. It鈥檚 not just entertainment, it鈥檚 a means of healing. A concert hall, then, is a healing space. It鈥檚 a place where we can see a shared witnessing and through that, find a collective way of thinking and speaking. In concerts, we often see crowds sing together. It鈥檚 the feeling of, 鈥榳e are together and music has brought us here.鈥� As Indigenous people, more broadly, we haven鈥檛 had enough of that shared experience. Growing up, it never felt impossible for me. My mom is an Indigenous woman, and my dad is not. But they love each other. If they can, why can鈥檛 others? We need to be comfortable asking about things we don鈥檛 understand and embracing what makes us different.鈥�
(Cody Turner, photo)
Honourable鈥� Justice Mona Lynch
Pathfinding for Justice
In 2021 when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan, the Honourable Justice Mona Lynch (LLB鈥�85) quickly joined forces with other women judges from around the world to help their 250 female colleagues in Afghanistan find a way out. As a regional director of the International Association of Women Judges, Halifax-based Justice Lynch says it鈥檚 her mission to ensure they all leave safely and find new homes in free countries. 鈥�
Q. What鈥檚 the most important lesson you鈥檝e learned?
A. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e never wrong to do the right thing. By doing your best, staying true to your values, and doing what needs to be done to help others, we can all make the world a kinder, fairer place. It鈥檚 always been important for me to make a difference. Part of that work with the women judges in Afghanistan included a 24-hour Zoom call with members of the International Association of Women Judges where we worked around the clock to get the Afghan women judges evacuated. 鈥疭o, I suppose another important lesson I鈥檝e learned is, 鈥榥ever underestimate the power of a group of determined, old women in their pajamas.鈥欌�� 鈥�
Q. Who has been your greatest role model?
A. 鈥淢y mother. She was generous, altruistic, and overall, a wonderful person. I learned a great deal from her and try to apply that to my own life every day.鈥�
Q. Why have you focused your efforts in law?
A. 鈥淢y passion for law started in high school. I took a course in Grade 12 and really enjoyed it. I eventually came to Dal to study commerce and soon after, applied to law school. Once I became a lawyer, I spent a lot of time in courtrooms and always wondered what it would be like to be a judge, to be the one sitting on the other side of the room making the decisions.鈥� 鈥�
Q. What is your next big goal?
A. 鈥淎s part of the work we鈥檙e doing with the women judges from Afghanistan, we鈥檝e committed to work with them until they鈥檙e all out of the country. There are 54 left to go. It鈥檚 challenging now because there are not a lot of pathways out of Afghanistan, but we鈥檙e working to find the best solutions for each of them. We鈥檒l continue this work until it鈥檚 done, until they鈥檙e safe.鈥�
(Cody Turner, photo)
Athanasius Sylliboy
Finding Common Ground
Just eight years into their nursing career, Athanasius 鈥淭anas鈥� Sylliboy (MN鈥�20) has become a leader in their community, advocating for improved health outcomes for Mi鈥檏maq by breaking down barriers and lifting their voices. Particularly during the early days of the pandemic, Sylliboy placed a great focus on finding ways to keep their home community of Eskasoni (Cape Breton) safe. Their determination to bridge gaps between Indigenous peoples and the health-care system has resulted in other recent accolades, including the 2019 Nova Scotia Rising Star Award from the College of Registered Nurses and the 2021 Dr. Robert Strang Community Hero Award.
Q. What impact do you wish to make in your community?
A. 鈥淚 want to strengthen the relationships between Indigenous communities, health care and society. I want Indigenous peoples to be treated with dignity, love, and respect. I see a lot of Indigenous patients coming into the emergency room who鈥檝e already exhausted all other options before coming in. I want to provide care and build an awareness that helps Indigenous people know that they are worthy and safe. And I want this awareness to not just be felt in today鈥檚 generation, but for the next seven generations and beyond.鈥�
Q. What motto do you live by?
A. 鈥淚n my language there鈥檚 an expression that goes 鈥榤awi鈥揳poqnmatultinej鈥�. It means 鈥榣et us help one another, together.鈥� Whenever I work with anyone鈥攚hether a fellow nurse, a community member or advocate鈥搈y grounding principle is that we need to work together. My views and expertise are equally as important as anyone else鈥檚, so let鈥檚 use both of our strengths to work together, to benefit others and to find a solution. Whether it鈥檚 improving the management of diabetes, improving blood pressure, or anything else, I don鈥檛 believe in telling or talking at someone. I want to come together for that solution. I look at my personal relationships the same way鈥攚e need to meet in the middle.鈥�
Q. What does this award mean to you?
A. 鈥淎s a two-spirit person, I feel I have a responsibility to help transform spaces where minorities can be more visible, and to bring opportunities for people to learn and to see themselves in those spaces. I want to share my culture, its language, its beauty, its stories鈥攁nd to help rebuild trust. I need to be vocal to make change. Receiving this award is an honour and I hope to share my message and inspire others to know that anything is possible if you just stand up for what you believe in. I鈥檓 just getting started.鈥�
(Cody Turner, photo)
It is nothing short of inspiring to learn about the incredible work being done by our alumni to strengthen our communities, both here and abroad. Their stories are proof that it only takes one person to make a difference and to create lasting change.
We thank all members of our community who submitted a nomination for this year鈥檚 Aurum Awards program, as well as the AV俱乐部 Alumni Association Awards Committee who were tasked with narrowing down an abundance of incredible submissions.
If you know an alum who deserves to be recognized for their accomplishments, whether in research and innovation, community engagement and leadership, or for their contributions to the social, cultural, and economic well-being of society, stay tuned for , which will open this September.
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This story appeared in the DAL Magazine Spring/Summer 2023 issue. Flip through the rest of the issue using the links below.