Before entering law school in 2017, Dr. Irene Cybulsky had been Canada’s first woman to head a cardiac surgery division. Starting with her fellowship training at Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) in 1990, she worked in a field dominated by male physicians. Upon her 2009 leadership appointment, she hoped to become a role model in a male-dominated field. Instead, she faced gender discrimination and was removed from her role in 2016. That would lead to the start of a new career in law. 

In September 2016, Cybulsky prepared and submitted an application to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. The purpose, she stated in the application, was to “restore process and accountability to the hospital administrative work environment, so that physicians like myself can be treated with dignity and respect they are entitled to and that their rights are respected.” 

She then focused on her applications to law school and was excited about studying at Queen’s, where she completed her MPA degree in 2010.

Cybulsky also represented herself in hearings before the tribunal. Hearings were held in two- or three-day segments over the course of her first and second year of law school and the summer between second and third year, with final written and oral closing argument submissions taking place during the fall term of her final year. She waited 16 months before the decision was rendered in March 2021, when she learned she had won on the liability aspect of her case. She now faces a hearing process to achieve desired remedies. These could include systemic public interest remedies that the Tribunal can impose on HHS with the goal of preventing similar discrimination from occurring in the future. 

“Over the years I shared bits of my legal saga with people in the Queen’s Law community,” says Cybulsky. “It was nice to be able to talk about my past experiences and sometimes get new insights. I value the education I received at Queen’s, from my teachers and my fellow students.”

One notable class was Administrative Tribunal Advocacy taught by lawyer Melissa Seal, Law’07, and Rory Fowler, PhD candidate. “Their class was instrumental in assisting me in how I proceeded in my own case,” says Cybulsky. 

She also wrote an independent study research project examining the jurisprudence related to gender stereotyping in leadership for Professor Beverley Baines. “She gave me guidance in my project and helped me organize my thinking. Her enthusiasm and energy were, and continue to be, uplifting.”  

Cybulsky’s performance also stood out in other courses, like International Humanitarian Law taught by another “valued teacher,” Professor Ardi Imseis. “Irene wrote a thoughtful paper examining detention in the context of non-international armed conflict, using the post-9/11 war in Afghanistan as a case study,” recalls Imseis. “It was not until late in the semester that I learned of her own private legal battle confronting gender-based discrimination in the workplace, and of her role as a pathbreaking member of the college of cardiac surgeons in Canada. 

“I am so pleased that she has finally been able to secure a modicum of justice for what she went through,” Imseis continues. “That she had the fortitude and energy to represent herself in her own case – all while undertaking a JD ‘on the side’ at Queen’s, immersing herself in new areas of inquiry – is demonstrative of the intellectual acumen and self-discipline required for meaningful change in the world. She is a leader par excellence, and Queen’s Law School counts itself lucky to have had the benefit of her presence and membership within our community.”

For more information on Irene Cybulsky’s victory, read the article, “‘A male world’: The story behind the ouster of Hamilton Health Sciences’ first female head of cardiac surgery,” published in the Toronto Star.