Western Law student wins Koskie Minsky LLP Diversity Moot
(l-r) Omar Ha-Redeye, Judge Jean Whalen, Judge Corrine Sparks, Justice Valerie Miller and first-year Western Law student Keri Wallace at the Diversity Moot in Halifax.
Law students from across Canada gathered in Halifax this weekend for 2nd Annual Koskie Minsky LLP Diversity Moot.
The competition, which featured law students from different schools, was held at the 18th Annual Black Law Students Association Conference.
Competitors discussed a theoretical appeal of a real case decided by the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal where a black man was escorted off the premises of the City of London and claimed it was because of his race.
Second-year Western law student Omar Ha-Redeye represented the City in the case and was the winner of the competition. He argued that as important as fighting discrimination in our society was, there are still procedural rules regarding evidence that must be followed and the decision of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal should be upheld.
Ha-Redeye was awarded the Patricia DeGuire Trophy for Best Oralist in the competition, which was evaluated by Hon. Justice Valerie Miller of the Tax Court of Canada, Hon. Judge Corrine Sparks of the Family Court of Nova Scotia, and Hon. Judge Jean Whalen of the Provincial and Family Court of Nova Scotia.
He thanked the especially strong academic support he received from the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law. "This case centered primarily on principles of Administrative Law and Evidence, which I took last semester," said Ha-Redeye. "Professor Randal Graham taught me in both of these courses, and I attribute my success in no small part to his highly effective instructional style."
The Black Law Students Association of Canada was founded in 1991, when the Ontario Provincial Attorney General's Office held a meeting with African Canadian students regarding employment options within the government's various legal services branches.
