Canada Adds Retired Judge to Diversity Advisory Council

The Canadian government appointed retired judge Corrine Sparks to its Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion on Friday. Sparks, the first Nova Scotian of African descent appointed to the provincial judiciary, retired from Nova Scotia's Family Court in December 2021 after more than three decades of service.

The Canadian Heritage department said in a news release that she will join a body tasked with fighting racism and hate. The council was announced in February after the government dissolved the Offices of the Special Representative on Combatting Islamophobia and Special Envoy on Preserving Holocaust Remembrance and Combatting Antisemitism.

Earlier this month, officials released the names of the first members.

Black advocates criticized the initial membership for not including anyone from their communities. " Amnesty International's representative for English-speaking Canada, Ketty Nivyabandi, said the decision indicated fighting racism was a lower priority than under the previous government.

Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller's office responded that consultations on membership were ongoing and the council was not finalized.

the government also added Donald Bolen, the Archbishop of Regina, to the council. The news release did not directly mention combatting anti-Black racism. An action plan cited in the release stated that Black people were the targets of the greatest number of police-reported hate crimes targeting a race or ethnicity, accounting for 37 per cent in 2023.

Sparks was also named an officer of the Order of Canada on Friday.