Cheryl Milne, Executive Director of the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights at U of T's Faculty of Law has been named a recipient of the Chancellor’s Leadership Award.
Recipients of the Chancellor’s Leadership Award demonstrate outstanding leadership and significantly advance the University’s mission to foster an academic community in which the learning and scholarship of every member may flourish. There are three categories of the Chancellor’s Leadership Award: Influential Leader; Distinguished Leader; and Emerging Leader.
As a Distinguished Leader, Cheryl has dedicated her career to advocating for access to justice and the human rights of marginalized groups, particularly children. She was a pioneer in children’s human rights advocacy long before it gained widespread recognition. At Justice for Children and Youth, Cheryl handled numerous high-profile constitutional cases, many reaching the Supreme Court of Canada. Cheryl’s career progressed to David Asper Centre, where she became its inaugural Executive Director. This unique role allowed her to excel as a constitutional litigator and innovative legal educator. The centre is the only clinic in Canada that integrates constitutional research, policy, teaching, and practice. Cheryl was instrumental in shaping the centre’s mission to advance constitutional rights through advocacy, education, and research. She developed its objectives to contribute significantly to constitutional advocacy, serve as an expert resource, and increase awareness and acceptance of constitutional rights.
Recognized as a leading constitutional lawyer, Cheryl is also a respected legal educator. Her teaching approach combines classroom theory, practical training, and critical and ethical reflection opportunities, exemplifying modern experiential legal education. Her "Constitutional Litigator-in-Residence" program enhances the Centre’s advocacy and educational goals by pairing students with leading practitioners in an immersive environment. In 2019, Cheryl received the Law Society of Ontario Medal for her contributions to the profession, including her advocacy for children’s and marginalized communities’ rights, groundbreaking constitutional litigation, innovative legal education methods, and volunteerism.
Cheryl was nominated by Brittany Twiss, Assistant Dean, JD Program, Faculty of Law.
The Chancellor’s Leadership Award is one of three awards the Division of People Strategy, Equity & Culture presents each spring: alongside the President’s Excellence Awards and the Ludwik & Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize. These awards are aligned with the University’s broader Awards of Excellence Program – U of T’s most distinguished awards program.
Professor John Borrows, The Loveland Chair in Indigenous Law, was named a recipient of the Ludwik & Estelle Jus Memorial Human Rights Prize.
