'Thanks for the chance to serve your communities and for inspiring me with your perseverance'

I would like to start by thanking the Toronto Lawyers Association for this honour. I am grateful for your recognition of my hard work. It is an amazing feeling to be awarded for doing work that I believe in.

I think when people come to this stage, they don’t come so on their own. They come with the love, faith, support and sacrifices of their community of friends, family and colleagues. It would be hard for me to name all of them here so I apologize for that in advance but I do want to start by thanking the William Treaties First Nations.

Williams Treaties Settlement Agreement is one of my proudest achievements in life and I am thankful to Karry Sandy who is here with us and Mel Jacobs,  negotiators for the Williams Treaties Settlement Agreement for recognizing my skills and knowledge and recommending me as lead legal counsel to Williams Treaties First Nations for the settlement negotiations. It was an honour and privilege to work with you. Thank you for judging me on the content of my character and my work and thank you for your mentorship, friendship and support.  I also want to thank the Chiefs, Councillors and citizens of the Williams Treaties First Nations, namely Alderville First Nation, Beausoleil First Nation, Curve Lake First Nation, Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation, Hiawatha First Nation, Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation and Rama First Nation. Thank you for your trust in me, for giving me a chance to serve your communities and for inspiring me with your perseverance. Miigwetch to Councillors Jeff Loucks, and Cynthia Gray-Brady from Hiawatha First Nation and Ted Williams from Rama First Nation who are here with us tonight for driving all the way to Toronto to celebrate with me. It is an honour to work with you.

I also wanted to thank all my colleagues at my former firm Hutchins Legal. I experienced tremendous growth as a lawyer in a short period of time working with a wonderful group of smart, hard-working, talented, and devoted lawyers. Leslie Ross, Mary Eberts, David Kalmakoff, Jessica Labranche, Bill Henderson, Keiran Gibbs, Robin Campbell, Kathryn Tucker, Nancy Bono and last but not least Peter Hutchins – thank you all for your hard work and for making me a better lawyer. It is an honour to have worked with you all.

I also want to thank my friends whose support I rely on daily. We all know how challenging and taxing law school and the legal profession can be on our emotional, physical and mental health. I am so grateful to have the friends that I do some of them whom are here. Efe, Betül, Başak, Jesse, Magda and Adele, thank you for being there for me at my worst and at my best. I am so lucky to have you all in my life.

I also wanted thank Maggie Wente for thinking of me for the award, and a huge thank you to my friend, colleague and mentor the Leslie Ross for orchestrating my nomination, putting the application together and writing my nomination letter, to my friends, colleagues and mentors Karry Sandy, Mel Jacobs and Mary Eberts for taking the time and effort to write letters of support for my nomination.

I also wanted to thank my mentors. My list of mentors increase, one of them is here with us tonight, I also wanted thank Derek Ground for your open door policy, I appreciate it.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family at home and I will do so in Turkish with your indulgence since most of my family does not speak English. Anneciğim, babacığım, kardeşlerim, kuzenlerim, halalarım, amcacığım, Nisacığım bütün kuzucuklarım bana her zaman elinizden geldiği kadar destek olduğunuz için çok teşekkür ederim. Hepinizi çok seviyorum. Keşke burada olsaydınız.

Thank you all, this is such a great honour.