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.

2021 Award Recipient

Justice Andrea Himel

Justice Andrea Himel received her B.A. from McGill University (1993) and her joint LL.B./M.S.W degree from the University of Toronto (1998). She was a student and an associate following her 2000 call to the bar at Smith Lyons LLP (now Gowling WLG).   From her early days as an articling student, Andrea had a laser focus on practising family law.  Smith Lyons’ loss was Torkin Manes’ gain when Andrea moved to Torkin Manes LLP.  While there, she joined the legal panel of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Prior to her judicial appointment, Justice Himel was a sole practitioner with a focus on family law, mediation, child protection and children’s law. As a member of the Child and Family Services Review Board, she adjudicated and mediated cases involving school expulsions, adoptions, secure treatment, and other Children’s Aid Society matters.

In 2020, Jusice Himel was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, Family Court Branch in Newmarket.

Along with her very impressive work career, Justice Himel was among one of the founding members of the AFCC-Ontario chapter.  During her tenure on the AFCC-O board, Justice Himel was chair of the conference committee for several years, chair of the research committee, and member of several other committees. She was always involved in outreach and promoting a strong membership.   She subsequently became president of AFCC-O where she continued to instill these values into her leadership style.

In addition to all of this, Justice Himel was a major contributor to the development and marketing of AFCC-O’s Parenting Plan Guide (the “PPG”) and Template. She recently published an article with former board member and colleague Prof. Nick Bala on the use of the PPG.

Justice Himel was and remains one of AFCC-O’s greatest champions.