The Honourable Marion Buller – Doctor of Laws, honoris causa

The Honourable Marion Buller, the first Indigenous woman to serve as a provincial court judge in BC, has long been recognized as a tireless advocate for the legal rights of Indigenous people in Canada. Her contributions to equitable administration of justice for Indigenous people have been described by many as monumental.

Buller earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology in 1975 and a law degree in 1987 from the University of Victoria. Called to the bar in 1988, she practiced criminal, administrative and human rights law. A member of the Mistawasis Nehiyawak, a Cree First Nation in Saskatchewan, she was the first female First Nations judge in BC when she was appointed to BC’s Provincial Court in 1994.

In her 22-year career as a judge, Buller created BC’s First Nations Court in 2006. These criminal courts use restorative justice and traditional ways in sentencing those who elect to have their cases brought there. She presided in the First Nations Courts until her retirement. As well, she provided the foundation for BC’s Indigenous Family Court.

Buller’s most significant contribution to the advancement of equitable justice for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples was serving as Chief Commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls from 2016 to 2019. The 1,200-page final report of the inquiry is regarded as a critically important examination of the complex racial, social and systemic factors that have led to disproportionately high rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and two- spirit people in Canada.

Buller has also served as the Commission Counsel for the Cariboo-Chilcotin Justice Inquiry and as president of the Indigenous Bar Association. She has received numerous awards in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of Indigenous and human rights.

Marion Buller’s devotion to the pursuit of justice for Indigenous people exemplifies the commitment to Truth and Reconciliation that TRU strives to foster in its students.

Norman Daley – Doctor of Letters, honoris causa

Norman Daley is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Founding Partner of Daley & Company LLP, Kamloops’ largest independently owned and operated accounting firm, which recently merged with Grant Thornton LLP.

In addition to being recognized as a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of BC (FCPA) and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (FCA), Norman is well known for his community advocacy through volunteerism and his efforts to enhance the city of Kamloops for residents and visitors alike. His personal ethic and values are at the core of his accounting business, founded in 1991, which is built in part on the premise of providing guidance and mentorship to new university graduates motivated to grow their skills and knowledge base.

Norman began his own journey in accounting when he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta in 1983. Six years later, he obtained his Chartered Accountant (CA) designation from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia (ICABC), which merged with two other national accounting organizations in 2015 to become the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC). Throughout his career, he has focused his practice on First Nations organizations and multi-generational independent and family-owned companies. He is further committed to supporting a balanced and healthy life, which is demonstrated in the time and passion he has committed to his volunteerism in local sport, arts, and culture.

An avid sports fan who has coached both minor baseball and hockey and a fan of the arts, he has a long list of service in Kamloops. Norman has also given back to the community by volunteering as: President of the Kamloops Centre for the Arts Society; Director of the Kamloops Blazers Advisory Board; Co-Chair of the 2016 IIHF Women’s World Hockey Championship; Chair of the 2014 Tim Hortons Brier; member of the Mayor’s Committee for the Performing Arts Centre; Secretary Treasurer for the TRU Foundation and The Sports Legacy Fund; local media Chair for the World Junior Hockey Championships; President of the World Curling Championships; and President of the Canada Cup of Curling Society. In 2012, he also led a successful campaign to complete the construction of the “Field of Dreams” indoor training facility for Kamloops Minor Baseball Association.

Norman has been recognized with many awards for his volunteerism and commitment to the Kamloops community. He has received the Kaizen Award from Sport BC for Innovative Leadership; Community Service Award from ICABC; Pioneer Spirit Award from the Kamloops Mayor and City Council; the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce Businessperson of the Year Award; and has twice received the Sports Person of the Year from the Kamloops Sports Council.

Norman Daley’s business acumen, community contributions and passion for volunteering epitomize the values of service to society and leadership that TRU strives to foster in its students.

Maria Klawe – Doctor of Letters, honoris causa

Maria Klawe is a renowned computer scientist and scholar who has devoted much of her life to both the improvement of science and mathematics education for K–12 and the proliferation of women in STEM.

Born in Toronto, Ontario, Maria left Canada at age four, spending her early years in Scotland before returning at age 12 to spend the latter half of her youth in Edmonton, Alberta. She completed her Bachelor of Science and her PhD in Mathematics at the University of Alberta in 1973 and 1977 respectively.

From there, Maria set forth on her decades-long journey into academia, contributing significantly to research in several areas of mathematics and computer science. In 1977, she began her first academic appointment at Oakland University in the mathematics faculty as an assistant professor. A year later, she pursued graduate studies in computer science at the University of Toronto (U of T), which she completed in 1979. She left academia to pursue a profession in STEM, working for eight years at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California. Transitioning back into academia, she returned to Canada and spent 15 years at the University of British Columbia (UBC) teaching and serving as head of computer science, vice president of student and academic services and dean of science. From UBC, she joined Princeton University in 2003 to serve as dean of engineering and professor of computer science.

Manifesting her intentions to further advance female leadership in STEM, Maria left Princeton University in 2006 to become the first female president of Harvey Mudd College, a private institution based in Claremount, California. Over her tenure, she has helped triple the national average of female computer science and engineering graduates, in part by reimagining the school’s prestigious computer science program as a centre for aspiring female developers.

While she is currently focusing her studies on discrete mathematics, her most cited research includes algorithms for solving distributed leader election and the art gallery problem, geometric optimization problems and studies of the effects of gender on electronic game-playing. Maria is also well known for founding the Aphasia Project, a collaboration between UBC and Princeton that studies aphasia and develops multimedia technologies that serve as cognitive aids for aphasia sufferers.

A renowned speaker presenting over 240 lectures and the author of approximately 84 publications, Maria was awarded the 2014 Women of Vision ABIE Award for Leadership and was ranked 17 on Fortune’s 2014 list of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.

She has received numerous awards including the: Nico Habermann award; Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Association of Computer Science, American Association of University Women Achievement Award, and US News STEM Solutions Leadership Hall of Fame Honoree; Computing Research Association Distinguished Service Award; Carnegie Corporation Academic Leadership Award; Epiphany Science Inspiration Award from the Novim Group; and Women in Tech Athena Award.

Dr. Maria Klawe has made outstanding contributions to enhance the diversity of science and engineering at all levels in her research and personal efforts. Her achievements exemplify the values of inclusion and diversity that TRU strives to foster in its students.

André Picard – Doctor of Letters, honoris causa

André Picard is an award-winning journalist and best-selling author who has devoted his career to ensuring a safer, more transparent health care system for all Canadians. Contributing more than 7,000 stories and columns throughout his 30+ years at The Globe and Mail, he has distinguished himself as one of the country’s leading voices on health policy.

A Franco-Ontarian from North Bay, André now resides in Montreal, where he continues to advocate for health care reform through his highly acclaimed writing. While his contributions to The Globe and Mail as a general assignment reporter, editorial writer, national correspondent, Quebec bureau chief, public health reporter and health columnist have garnered him great success, writing was not his original plan. He graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa in 1984 and studied accounting, but his passion for music inspired him to write record reviews for the student newspaper, The Fulcrum. His flair for writing and interest in the newspaper process resulted in his advancement to arts editor and editor-in-chief. From there, he worked at the Canadian University Press as a field worker, student journalist trainer and president. He later completed a Bachelor of Journalism from Carleton University in 1987 while working as a media monitor and analyst for the private firm Media Tapes and Transcripts.

André’s fame came quickly, a result of his coverage on the AIDS crisis as a summer student at The Globe and Mail in 1987. AIDS–a subject most reporters avoided and one with many negative and detrimental social misconceptions–was reimagined through his humane focus on the people suffering from the disease. His reporting challenged social views on AIDS and evoked changes to public policy. Further far-reaching effects of his public service journalism came three years later when he exposed the Canadian tainted blood scandal, prompting a complete overhaul of the national blood system. He later exposed the conspiracy of Canadian provincial governments to deny compensation to the victims of tainted blood transfusions, which lead to a change in policies and almost $5 billion in victim compensation. His most recent work, “Neglected No More,” offers solutions to the long-term care crisis and examines why Canada has accepted mass institutionalization of older adults.

In addition to being a best-selling author, the two-time recipient of the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service in Journalism and 10-time finalist of the National Newspaper Awards (Canada’s version of the Pulitzer Prize), André has received the Canadian Policy Research Award and the Atkinson Fellowship for Public Policy Research. His list of accolades is extensive–he has received the Centennial Prize of the Pan-American Health Organization and was named Canada’s top newspaper columnist in 2010. In 2012, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his role in improving Canadian health care.

André Picard’s longstanding advocacy of health care reform in Canada exemplifies the value of scholarship in service to society and leadership that TRU strives to foster in its students.

Marvin Storrow – Doctor of Laws, honoris causa

Marvin Storrow is one of Canada’s leading litigation lawyers and is widely recognized for his profound impact on Canadian law and society. Specifically, his landmark cases involved the development of law in Aboriginal title rights and fiduciary duties of Aboriginal people.

Upon graduating in 1962 from the University of British Columbia Law School, Marvin began articling with Cowan Twining & Collins in his hometown of Vancouver. Shortly after being called to the BC Bar in 1963, he became a prosecutor for the City of Vancouver. Three years later he became a partner at local practice Dumoulin, Storrow & Company. In 1971, Marvin left Vancouver for four years to serve as Senior Counsel for the Department of Justice in Ottawa. In 1975, he returned to Vancouver to join Davis & Co. In 1988, he helped to form Jordan, Gall & Storrow, the predecessor firm of today’s leading national law firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon. He is a partner emeritus at the firm and practices arbitration, mediation, civil and criminal law.

Throughout his 58-year career, Marvin has made over 40 appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada. During the 1980s and ’90s, he successfully litigated several ground-breaking cases regarding Aboriginal constitutional rights and land titles, three of which have been ranked by Canadian legal scholars as among the top 15 most important cases in the history of Canada. His cases have been cited approximately 500 times in various legal reports.

He has served as director of numerous organizations including the BC Epilepsy Society, Greenpeace Canada, the West Coast Environmental Law Association, Cambie Surgery Centre, the Justice Institute of British Columbia Foundation, the BC International Commercial Arbitration Centre, the Arbutus Club, the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation and was a 2010 Olympic Ambassador.

His passion for sport began at a very young age when he was the first stick boy for the very first Vancouver Canucks hockey team. In addition to playing and enjoying sport personally, he has served as a board member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum for over 15 years and as chair of 12 of the Board’s annual Gala Award Dinners. Marvin has also been legal counsel for the NHL in Western Canada, Director of Tennis British Columbia and was appointed to the International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland.

A Life Bencher of the Law Society of British Columbia, Honorary Director of the Justice Institute of British Columbia and Honorary Member of the Canadian Bar Association, Marvin has also been recognized for his support of higher education through mentoring, membership and philanthropy. His efforts and volunteerism have been recognized extensively through the receipt of a multitude of awards including the Anthony P. Pantages QC Award; Georges A. Goyer QC Award for exceptional contribution to the legal profession in BC; Jack Poole Award for Volunteerism; 2012 Law Society Award; Lifetime Achievement Award from the Allard Law Alumni Association; National Lexpert Zenith Award for being a change agent in law for over 40 years; and UBC Alumni Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Marvin Storrow’s personal and professional advocacy of equity, Indigenous rights, creative thought and his contributions to advancing the rights of marginalized peoples exemplify the pursuit of justice and equality that TRU strives to foster in its students.