Awards

DENA MOYAL AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICES

In 2020, the AFCC-O President’s Distinguished Services Award was renamed the Dena Moyal Award for Distinguished Service, to honour the memory of one of AFCC-O’s most dedicated supporters. 

Dena began her career as a childcare worker with the Huntley Street Services group home for teenage girls estranged from their families.  In 1980, she obtained her LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1982.  In 1986, she was invited to join the Office of the Official Guardian (now the Office of the Children’s Lawyer).   After many years representing children in custody/access and child protection cases, Dena rose to become Legal Director of the OCL’s Personal Rights department in 1996.  In this role, Dena oversaw the OCL’s child representation program across the province for many years, developing policies, best practices and training programs for child’s counsel, and directly supervising the work of OCL panel lawyers and in-house counsel.

Dena wrote and spoke extensively about issues pertaining to the representation of children in family law and child protection matters, and presented papers at numerous national and international conferences – including those organized by the AFCC.  When the Ontario Chapter was formed in 2008, Dena was one of its first members and was instrumental in shaping the organization from the outset.  She travelled extensively across Ontario with the AFCC-O banner, forms, and general information, participating in community events and conferences to help spread awareness of AFCC-O.  She and the outreach committee developed two presentations featuring interviews with adult children of divorce and incorporating the perspectives of other family members and professionals.  These presentations were recorded so that they could be made available for local community outreach events, and are still used today as a tool to promote awareness of how children are impacted by family conflict.   Dena and her fellow outreach committee members received the President’s Award in 2012 to recognize their tremendous efforts to promote the AFCC-O organization and its vision for children and families in Ontario. In 2013, Dena served as President of AFCC-O.

Throughout her career and after her retirement, Dena maintained strong connections with members of family law bench and bar, as well as clinical colleagues, both in Ontario and oversees.  She was deeply committed to supporting children’s involvement in family law decision-making, and finding creative ways to shield children from family conflict and thereby nurture their healthy growth and development.  Dena is remembered for her calm and gentle leadership style, and her tireless efforts to promote positive outcomes for children and families.  She is also remembered for her close relationship with her family, and could always be encouraged to share a story about her grandson.

The Dena Moyal Distinguished Service Award is an annual award that honours a member for their exemplary contributions to the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts – Ontario Chapter over a sustained period of time.  Past recipients of the award have made significant and voluntary contributions to AFCC-O objectives through committee participation, education, leadership and mentoring.  Through their contributions to AFCC-O and to the greater family justice system in Ontario, candidates for this award must have demonstrated a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to serving the needs of children and their families.  Nominations should be submitted to info@afccontario.ca and should include the candidate’s C.V. and a letter of recommendation outlining the reasons for nomination.