Kevin Wiener, Law’15, and Ian Moore, MPA’14/Law’16, are among seven Queen’s students being inducted into the Tricolour Society this year for significant contributions to the university and to student life. The Agnes Benidickson Tricolour Award, the highest tribute given to students for extracurricular, non-athletic activities, is presented at Convocation.

“We received nominations that covered a diverse range of life-changing individuals from every corner of the campus,” says Rector Mike Young, ConEd’15, who chaired the selection committee. “Though each nominee's contributions are incredibly diverse, there exists a common thread – each and every one of the individuals we interviewed has left an incredible imprint on Queen's that will be seen, heard, and felt for generations of students to come.”

Kevin Wiener, who has worked with other Tricolour honorees since he first began undergraduate studies at Queen’s in 2008, calls the award a “fantastic honour.” He is “humbled” to be among their company and, with them, to be joining a group of past recipients who have gone on to lead distinguished careers. “Queen's University provides so many opportunities for students to get involved in a way that leaves a lasting impact on this campus,” he says. “It's only by giving back that we are able to maintain and improve that student experience for the next generation.”

That’s what he has done as President of the Society of Graduate and Professional Students. As a result of his drive to expand Queen’s University’s anti-harassment policies to cover instances when harassment is neither discriminatory nor against a university employee, the university has created working group to draft policy changes and create new resources. Delegates of the Canadian Federation of Students, who represent more than 500,000 university and college students, unanimously endorsed his motion to draft an appeal guide that will help graduate research assistants apply for rights under employment standards, health and safety and labour legislation.

In 2013, when Kingston City Council decided to exclude post-secondary students from the ward boundary count, Wiener applied his training as a legal advocate to file an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board. His appeal was successful. “It's rewarding to put in that work knowing that the result will affect students for years after I've graduated.”

Ian Moore, elected Law’s Student Senator in 2014, began serving the Queen’s community in his first year of the combined MPA/JD degree program. “In many ways,” he says, “Queen’s giving me this award is more about recognizing the phenomenal teams I’ve had the privilege of working with than anything I’ve done.”

His peers certainly value the importance of his contributions. As Student Senator, he represents students by contributing to decision-making on a number of bodies, including the Queen’s Senate, the Law Students’ Society of Ontario, the Queen’s Law Students’ Society (LSS) Core and the Queen’s Law Faculty Board. The co-founder and publisher of the school’s student-run newspaper Juris Diction, he has helped develop relationships with stakeholders such as the Faculty’s administration and the Canadian Bar Association in order to ensure long-term success. He is also founder and chair of the LSS Sustainability Committee, which is creating a toolkit to assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of the school’s operations and policies, and to make recommendations for improvements. Further, as a happiness advocate, his Open Door Brunch Club provides regular mental health breaks for Queen’s students looking to take a few hours off from their busy schedules.

A second-year student, Moore is looking forward to contributing further to the school in his final year. “I’d like to not only continue helping Queen’s Law students get engaged and have a platform for their opinions,” he says, “but also remind my classmates that being in law school and in university in general comes with a responsibility to give back to the communities we benefit from being a part of each and every day.”

Kevin Wiener and Ian Moore are the latest in a long line of Law students to win the Tricolour Award.

Past Law Tricolour Winners include:

Naheed Yaqubian, Law’14
Erin Smith, MBA’11/Law’12
Jillian Burford-Grinnell, Law’14 (Artsci’08)
Patrick Welsh, Law’10 (Artsci’06, MA’07)
Bindu Dhaliwal, Law’02
Lisa Stevenson, Law’02
Kathleen Cowick, Law’01
Maureen Brioux-Jollymore, Law’97
Malini Moorthy, Law’94
Bill Holder, Law’94 (Artsci’87, MA’93)
Lucy McSweeney, Law’93
David Pick, Law’92 (Artsci’89)
Charis Kelso, Law’91 (Artsci’87, Ed’06)
Ian McCowan, Law’91 (Com’88)
Ian Smith, Law’89 (Artsci’86)
Kelley McKinnon, Law’88 (Artsci’87)
Fred Singer, Law’88 (Com’85, Artsci’85)
Rick Powers, Law’86 (Artsci/PHE’78, MBA’83)
Mary Ann Higgs, Law’85 (Mus’73)
Carman Overholt, Law’84
Robert de Pencier, Law’84 (Sc’59) 
Jeremy Freedman, Law’82
Sheila Murray, Law’82 (Com’79)
Hugh Christie, Law’81 (Artsci’78)
Paul Steep, Law’80 (Artsci’77)
John Koopman, Law’80 (Com’79)
John Ronson, Law’79 (Artsci’75)
Laurent (Larry) Rossignol, Law’79 (Artsci’75)
Patti Peppin, Law’78 (Arts’68, MA’73)  
Morris Chochla, Law’78 (Sc’74)
Ian Nordheimer, Law’76 (Com’73)
Marvin Bloos, Law’75 (Arts’72)
Walter Palmer, Law’73 (Sc’70)
Rodney Follwell, Law’71 (Arts’65) 
Brian Scully, Law’71 (Arts’68)
Robert S. Martin, Law’70  
Gordon McCay, Law’70 (Sc’67)
Scott Wilson, Law’70
Rob Nelson, Law’69
Guy Potvin, Law’68 (Sc’65)   
Douglas Belch, Law’67 (Arts’64)  
Raymond Ostiguy, Law’66
Harry Thorsteinson, Law’66
Don Gordon, Law’65 (Arts’62)
David Hill, Law’65 (Arts’62)
Stanley Sadinsky, Law’63 (Arts’60) 
Bernie Calder, Law’62 (Arts’59)
Donald Fraser, Law’62
Bob Little, Law’61 (Arts’58)
Doug Munro, Law’61 (Arts’59)
The late Merv Katzman, Law’60 
Bob Sowden, Law’60 (Arts’57, Artsci’84)

The Queen’s community will celebrate this year’s Tricolour Award recipients at a reception on March 28.