Ottawa, June 5, 2026 – Each year, the Canadian Bar Association’s Awards of Excellence honour members of the legal profession whose contributions merit special recognition. This year’s honorees, listed below, received their awards at an event in Ottawa on Thursday, June 4, 2026.
President’s Award
The President’s Award is given to a member of the Canadian legal profession whom the CBA President selects personally for special recognition. This year, CBA President Bianca Kratt has chosen to honour retiring Supreme Court Justice Sheilah Martin.
Justice Martin has an impressive record of achievement and service, including in academia, private practice, and community engagement, as well as on the bench. After serving as Dean of the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Law, she practiced in criminal and constitutional litigation, with particular focus on advancing the rights of women, the wrongfully convicted, and residential school survivors. In 2000, she was invited by the Assembly of First Nations to participate in the work that led to the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement. Beginning in 2005, she served on the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, the Courts of Appeal of Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, and the Supreme Court of Canada. And she is renowned for retaining her warmth and humility throughout her rise to the upper echelons of Canadian legal practice.
Touchstone Award
The Touchstone Award celebrates excellence in promoting equality in the legal profession, the judiciary, or the legal community in Canada. This year’s recipient is Antoine Collins.
Antoine’s efforts are helping make Ontario’s legal profession a more inclusive space for Black and LGBTQ2S+ legal professionals. He has improved hiring practices and created more access to opportunities for BIPOC employees at the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, and he was instrumental in establishing the Canadian Association of Black Lawyers’ LGBTQ2S+ mentorship program. Antoine devotes significant time to Pro Bono Ontario, where he uses his expertise to assist low-income and self-represented Ontarians. Throughout his career, Antoine has remained steadfast in his pursuit of meaningful and lasting change, grounded in the conviction that genuine progress requires confronting root causes rather than surface-level solutions.
Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law
This award for outstanding contributions to law reform, legal scholarship and legal research, has been presented to Professor Roderick J. Wood from the University of Alberta.
Professor Wood is an energetic law reformer who has worked throughout his career to bolster Canada’s commercial legislation, and has made significant contributions to insolvency law in Canada and internationally. He is a founding member of the Canadian Conference on Personal Property Security Law and has developed recommendations at the Law Commission of Canada on electoral reform, the role of conjugality in federal and provincial laws, and the role of public police and private security. He has also written extensively on insolvency and taxation laws and regularly provides legal education to members of the profession.
Douglas Miller Rising Star Award
The Douglas Miller Award honours lawyers in the early stages of their careers who exhibit professional excellence, service to the profession, and outstanding dedication in their involvement with the CBA. Connor Bildfell is this year’s honoree.
Recognized for his skill and versatility, Connor has built a successful practice as a partner in the Litigation Group at McCarthy Tétrault, representing clients in private arbitration and before courts at all levels, including the Supreme Court of Canada. He is one of the youngest lawyers ever to become First Vice President of the CBA’s BC branch. He has also represented the CBA as pro bono counsel in multiple proceedings, including a recent challenge of BC’s Legal Professions Act that resulted in the recognition of the independence of the bar as an unwritten constitutional principle. Connor’s exceptional contributions to the field of law were honoured with the 2024 President’s Medal from CBABC, and he is ranked as a “Future Star” by Benchmark Litigation.
Jack Innes Award
The Jack Innes Award recognizes an outstanding contribution to the CBA by a staff member who has exhibited creativity, innovation, leadership and commitment. This year’s award goes to Nicola Reynolds.
As Executive Director of the CBA’s PEI branch, Nicola demonstrates strong and steady leadership as the only person on staff in PEI supporting a small but mighty network of 150 members. She has consistently shown how to bring people and organizations together in a cooperative, solutions-focused way, such as spearheading a partnership between the Branch and the Law Society of Prince Edward Island on a joint weekly newsletter for members. Her willingness to collaborate across organizations benefits members and strengthens the broader legal community.