Shayna Horvath, JD ’25, former president of the Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA), Ferdous Hasan, JD ’25, and Hanaa Ameer-Uddin, JD’25, former co-presidents of the Muslim Law Students Association (MLSA) and current student, Arjun Gupta, will receive the new the Abdalla Barqawi Bridge Builder Award from the Ontario Bar Association (OBA) in May.
The award is named after the highly regarded OBA Board Member and Equality Committee Chair who passed away in June 2025.
The student statement was initiated by law student Arjun Gupta, who is Hindu and was raised in both India and Canada. He brought together the leaders of groups representing Muslim and Jewish students at the law faculty.
The joint statement by the MLSA and JLSA highlighted their shared commitment to fostering an inclusive community where every voice is valued, every individual respected, and every soul welcomed.
It noted that both communities are grieving and urge them to focus “on what united us.”
“We urge all professors, lecturers, and students to understand the present context when exercising your freedom of expression and making your points: this is an exceptionally raw and difficult time. Members of our law school community have lost loved ones in this conflict. We call on you to show a commensurate level of sensitivity and tact. As leaders of our respective communities, we call upon our Ottawa Law family to focus on how our shared pain unifies us instead of letting hatred divide us. We ask that you listen to each other with empathy, dignity, and respect.”
The letter received international attention and inspired a public letter signed by nearly 1,000 members of the legal community, including retired chief justice Beverley McLachlin, urging a reduction in the level of emotion and anger in public comments on the war between Israel and Hamas.
The students later appeared before a House of Commons committee to repeat their message of unity.
According to the OBA, the Bridge Builder Award will be awarded to an individual or organization that has made significant contributions to reducing polarization in the profession or in broader society. The recipient of this inaugural award will have developed or implemented an initiative, strategy, tool, communication campaign, policy or program that created space for, encouraged respectful engagement in, or improved the civility of conversations on divisive issues through enhanced understanding of opposing positions. The chosen winner will have bridged divides in a way that was respectful to both sides – with an activity that stands out for its creativity, courage, effectiveness and lasting impact.
Barqawi, a lawyer at Conway Baxter Wilson LLP in Ottawa, was an advocate for equality and inclusion, admired throughout the legal community for his empathetic and insightful approach to building understanding and inclusion. Instrumental in the development of the OBA’s Peer Support Network for Lawyers Living with Disabilities, Barqawi, along with his colleague Mohammed Elshafie, received the OBA President’s Award in 2024 for leadership in creating spaces where all lawyers could thrive.
Horvath, who is currently articling in Vancouver, said receiving the award is an “incredible honour” because it recognizes the importance of maintaining respect and humanity even during moments of profound conflict.
“I am proud that we were able to stand together in a difficult moment and model the kind of respectful engagement that people within the legal profession and beyond should strive for. I hope this recognition encourages others in the legal profession—and beyond—to approach disagreement and conflicting views with curiosity, humility, and, most importantly, humanity.”
Added Hasan: “I am deeply honoured to have received the Abdallah Barqawi Award alongside such distinguished colleagues and friends. It is my sincere hope that I may continue to live up to the example he set and carry forward the values he so strongly embodied.”
This commitment to remain in conversation, even when emotions run high, has become an enduring thread in the Faculty of Law’s culture. Over the last two years, it has helped guide students, faculty, and administrators through complex moments, both within our classrooms and in the broader public sphere.
Dean Kristen Boon said she was "thrilled" that the students were recognized with this prestigious new award.
"I was very proud of these students for bringing our community together in a time of grief and much uncertainly. It has had a lasting impact, and it continues to offer guidance in these challenging times. We will be guided by their sage advice about the need to keep our spaces safe and open for dialogue and to focus on what unites us not divides us."
Alum Tom Conway, LLB 1987, one of the founders of the litigation firm, said the OBA made “an inspired and profound choice” and Abdalla would be overjoyed.
“In their joint statement, the JLSA and MLSA called upon the legal community "to focus on how our shared pain unifies us instead of letting hatred divide us. We ask that you listen to each other with empathy, dignity, and respect."
“This was how Abdalla lived his life. He suffered, but he lived his life with empathy, dignity and respect for those with whom he interacted, even those with whom he disagreed. He would be proud of the OBA and of his Jewish and Muslim colleagues for taking their stand, and for declaring in the face of unspeakable violence that they were for peace while others were for war. Now more than ever, we need more of their voices.”