Professor Sharry Aiken, an immigration and refugee law scholar and advocate, has received the Law Society of Ontario’s J. Shirley Denison Award for her significant contributions to access to justice.
Professor Sharry Aiken, an immigration and refugee law scholar and advocate, has received the Law Society of Ontario’s J. Shirley Denison Award for her significant contributions to access to justice.

Professor Sharry Aiken is the 2025 recipient of the Law Society of Ontario’s (LSO) J. Shirley Denison Award, bestowed annually in recognition of significant contributions to access to justice and/or poverty issues.

Aiken, who joined the full-time faculty at Queen’s Law in 2002 after a decade working in the community legal clinic system in Toronto and Sioux Lookout, has made exceptional contributions to advancing social justice, human rights, and access to justice for individuals and communities across Canada throughout her career.

“Having known Sharry for two years as dean and long admired her reputation as an outstanding social justice advocate and legal scholar, I am thrilled that she is receiving this recognition,” says Dean Colleen M. Flood. “It is clear that Sharry’s extraordinary dedication and outstanding contributions to advancing access to justice — particularly for immigrants and refugees facing some of the most challenging and distressing circumstances — are truly exceptional.”

For more than 30 years, Aiken has been a steadfast advocate for human rights and access to justice for the most marginalized members of society — in her scholarship, the classroom, the courtroom, and the public square.

A gifted teacher and mentor, Aiken is the founding academic director of Queen’s Law’s Graduate Diploma in Immigration and Citizenship Law (GDipICL) program. Launched in 2021, the program has raised the bar for entry into the immigration consulting profession while ameliorating a serious access-to-justice problem for a particularly vulnerable community. Aiken has been the architect of the program’s innovative online curriculum, and continues to oversee and manage the program.

A pioneer in legal education for refugee judges internationally, Aiken has developed judicial and tribunal training materials to ensure decision-makers understand the realities refugees and migrants face in navigating the legal system.

As president of the Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR) from 1995 to 1997, she helped bring public awareness to the plight of refugees in Canada and around the globe, and she continues to play a pivotal role in support of the CCR’s strategic litigation. Aiken has served as counsel for the CCR in numerous interventions before the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC), bringing the perspective of the CCR’s member organizations across the country before the court. She currently serves as president of the FCJ Refugee Centre, a refugee- and migrant-serving agency that earned the City of Toronto Community Champion Award in 2023.

Aiken provided input and advice to the Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic’s class action lawsuit for Head Tax redress and the Charter challenge to the low-income cut-off requirement for the sponsorship of parents and grandparents. She has also played a key role in the constitutional challenge to the Canada-US Safe Third Country Agreement, which reached the SCC in 2023. As it returns to the Federal Court for a determination of its impact on equality rights, she continues to support this litigation.

Letters supporting Aiken’s nomination for this award attest to her generosity as a leader and mentor.

“From graduate studies, legal practice, academia and public interest advocacy, Sharry has been a trusted advisor, guide and supporter in fostering, inspiring and encouraging my pursuit to advance rights and freedoms for the most vulnerable and marginalized people with an equity and access to justice lens,” wrote Harini Sivalingam, Director of the Equality Program at the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and an adjunct professor with the GDipICL program. Through collaborative research with Aiken, Sivalingam describes “… the passion and dedication that Sharry undertakes in all of her projects to highlight the voices and perspectives of individuals and groups whose voices are seldom heard.”

Alex Neve, Canadian-based international human rights advocate, lawyer, and academic who served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada for 21 years, first worked with Aiken in her role as CCR president.

“Beyond her remarkable substantive knowledge and perceptive strategic insights, which she shared generously with others, what impressed me above all was her determination to ensure that the voices and perspective of refugees themselves were central to the work of refugee advocates,” Neve wrote. “Her approach was to listen and learn from those whose rights were on the line, and then collaboratively advance strategies that were responsive to those needs and led by rights holders and community representatives. What I learned from Sharry’s example has stayed with me ever since.” Neve regards Aiken as “the very embodiment of the values the J. Shirley Denison Award seeks to honour.”

As Aiken reflects on this recognition of her work, she humbly states, “This award is not ‘my’ award. It is rather a testament to all the incredible people, campaigns, and organizations I've had the great privilege of working with and supporting over the course of my career.” She views the award as a testament to her late mother, “who was a fierce and courageous advocate herself and the best possible role model.”

Aiken will receive her award, established in 2015 in honour of LSO former treasurer John Shirley Denison, at the annual Law Society Awards ceremony in May.

Read more about Aiken’s many contributions in the LSO’s announcement about the J. Shirley Denison award.

By Tracy Weaver