Commissioners

Commissioners are appointed by an Executive Order of Executive Council. Their responsibilities are described within the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act. They include responsibility for the strategic direction of the Commission as well as for making decisions on human rights issues including referrals of complaints to Boards of Inquiry. 

Commission Meetings

Commissioners meet six times annually. Often these meetings take place at the Halifax office of the Commission. However, Commissioners meet in a community outside of the Halifax Regional Municipality at least twice a year.

Current Commissioners

Cynthia Dorrington, Chair

Cynthia Dorrington, Halifax, is the President of Vale & Associates Human Resource Management and Consulting Inc. She was first appointed to the Board of Commissioners in 2018, reappointed in 2022, and appointed as chair in June 2024. Her work specializes in areas such as organizational strategy, people strategy, equity, diversity and inclusion, supplier diversity, change management, governance, performance management, as well as HR advisory services.

She is a member of the Board of Governors of St. Francis Xavier University, Chair of the Black Business Enterprise and is a board member with the Canadian Urban Institute, VON Canada and Halifax Hospice. Cynthia is a Life-Time Member of the Board of Governors for the Halifax Chamber of Commerce.

Jenifer Tsang, Vice-chair

Jenifer Tsang, Halifax, was appointed to the commission in 2022.   She has a degree in Land Use Planning which is a multidisciplinary profession that seeks to improve the quality of life for people and communities in an efficient manner with respect for the natural environment.  She has extensive experience in public outreach and consultation as both a public servant and a private consultant.  Her planning work ranges from balancing the rights and needs of indigenous farmers with development pressures in the State of Hawaii to volunteering for an Acadian community.   She recognizes the importance of writing policies and laws to be inclusive and having them be interpreted and administered fairly.  She has volunteered with the Atlantic Conference of Independent Schools (ACIS), Big Brothers Big Sisters and has a background in martial arts.  She is a professional member of the Canadian Institute of Planners, the Atlantic Planners Institute and the Licensed Professional Planners Association of Nova Scotia.   Having grown up in both the United States and Canada, Jenifer became a Canadian citizen on Human Rights Day in 1994.

Diana Brothers

Diana Brothers is originally from Greenwood, Nova Scotia in the Annapolis Valley and has extensive experience in Race Relations. Throughout her career she has worked closely with the general public, all levels of government and a wide variety of organizations across the country. She served on the first fully elected school board in Kings County and was later elected as a councillor, deputy warden and eventually as the first female warden of the Municipality of the County of Kings.
 

While Diana was Warden the Kings County Council joined the Canadian Coalition of Municipalities Against Racism.  This was the beginning of the Race Relations and Anti-Discrimination Committee in the Annapolis Valley.  On December 10, 2014, under her leadership a proclamation was approved by the Municipality of the County of Kings to declare December 10th Human Rights Day in Kings County.

Diana worked with the Department of Education to ensure that 185 copies of the  “The Journey Continues – An Atlantic Canadian Black Experience” was distributed to all Grade 8 and 11 classrooms throughout Annapolis Valley.  The book was used in association with the provincial curriculum for Social Studies and African Canadian Studies.

Diana describes herself as a problem solver and is proud to have united seven villages and three towns in a committee to adopt an action plan to end racism in the Annapolis Valley.

Diana currently lives in Bedford.

Dr. Fola Adeleke

Dr. Fola Adeleke is a privacy lawyer and member of the Nova Scotia Barristers Society. He is currently a data privacy subject matter expert at CGI having previously worked in Nova Scotia Health as a freedom of information and privacy specialist. Fola’s human rights experience spans across multiple jurisdictions.  In South Africa, he was the Head of Research of the South African Human Rights Commission where he led the monitoring and report on South Africa's compliance with its human rights obligations at various UN bodies. He holds a PhD in International Law and is currently a Global Atlantic Fellow on social and economic equity at the London School of Economics. He conducted his post doctoral work as a Fellow in the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School and Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Fola has published widely in the area of corporate accountability, open government and human rights in the marketplace. He is based within Halifax Regional Municipality.

Julien S. Matte

Julien S. Matte is a resident of Head of St. Margarets Bay and an experienced litigator and adjudicator, with longstanding interest in assisting self-represented individuals. He possesses more than 15 years of diverse legal experience as counsel for the Federal Department of Justice and more recently as a sole practitioner and workplace investigator.  In his role as workplace investigator, Mr. Matte investigates allegations of discrimination and harassment.  Mr. Matte also has experience as an adjudicator on the Income Assistance Appeal Board, the Motor Vehicle Appeal Board and the Nova Scotia Small Claims Court.   In 2014, he drafted a guide to assisted self-represented individuals and through the Legal Information Society of Nova Scotia, turned the guide into short videos. More recently he helped LISNS, in conjunction with the Commission, develop bystander training for workplace sexual harassment.  His efforts toward increasing access to justice were recognized in 2018 when he received the Canadian National Pro Bono Distinguished Service Award. 

Sharon Brown Ross

Sharon Ross retired from the Federal Public Service as senior manager and subsequently relocated to Nova Scotia in 2010.  Her lifetime services touched Canadians in all walks of life in Nova Scotia, Ontario and across Canada either through her chosen career path or voluntary services to numerous non-governmental organizations.  Her contributions as a public servant with the Public Service was at regional and national levels in a number of portfolios in several departments and central agencies, as well hosting and coordinating community television for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and serving as Executive Assistant at the Halifax Infirmary. Many of Sharon’s career endeavours and voluntary efforts demonstrate her commitment in connection to championing social advocacy for a more representative and inclusive Canadian Society including enabling racial minorities to gain their rightful place of integrity and wholeness in Canadian Society for which she has received a number of community recognitions.  For example, Sharon is recipient of the 2002 Queen Elizabeth 11 Golden Jubilee Award Metal for voluntary community services and the 2012 Queen Elizabeth 11 Diamond Jubilee Award Medal for public service.  She earned a Business Administration Degree in 1980 from Mount Saint Vincent University and a Graduate Diploma in Christian Studies in 2020 from Acadia University and serves on the Advancement and External Relations Committee of the Board of Governors Mount Saint Vincent University.  Sharon resides in Halifax.

Monica Paris

Monica Paris, Halifax, has been an Information Technology Systems Analyst with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) since 1998. She was a member and co-chair of the CRA Employment Equity and Diversity committee for twelve years and has been on the Board of Directors and a Union Steward with the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada since 2009. Ms. Paris was first appointed as a Commissioner on November 1, 2019.

Robin Thompson

Robin Thompson is Cree Métis from Treaty 1 Territory and a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation. Robin holds a business diploma, an Advanced major in Social and Criminal Justice from St. Francis Xavier University and a Juris Doctor from the Schulich School of law. She is a practicing member of the Nova Scotia Barrister Society. In 2015 she was one of the ten participants chosen world-wide for the Indigenous Fellow Progamme with the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in Geneva Switzerland. Robin has 20 years of senior management experience developing governance capacity within Indigenous communities and is a strong advocate for First Nation self-determination. Robin is currently the Governance Manager for the Union of Nova Scotia Mi’kmaq.  Robin also serves on the non profit board of the Centre for First Nations Governance and a Gladue writer with the Mi'kmaq Legal Support Network.

Theodore Morrison

Theodore Morrison, Glace Bay, is a retired schoolteacher of 35 years, a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal, a Schwartz Spreading Cheer Award, and a volunteer for 18 years as a cook at the Glace Bay Food Bank Society. Mr. Morrison has faced many challenges as a person with a physical disability. His goal is to help students with disabilities overcome challenges they encounter and to continue advocating for accessibility rights of Nova Scotians. Mr. Morrison was first appointed to the Human Rights Commission in 1999.
 

Blair Eavis

Blair Eavis, Halifax, has a Juris Doctor in Law and has worked as a naval reserve officer with the Department of National Defence for almost twenty years where he instructs officers in the areas of international law of the sea, naval operations, intelligence, and performs operational planning. He is on the Board of Directors of the Cobequid Cultural Society and the Sackville Rivers Association. He was a caseworker with student legal assistance at the University of Calgary for three years.

Natasha Pearl

Natasha Pearl, Halifax, has worked as a legal assistant with Patterson Law and the Nova Scotia Legal Aid Commission where she coordinated and scheduled appeals, collaborated with African Nova Scotian and Indigenous social workers to provide support for clients, and administered and facilitated after-hours counselling. She is currently working at Nova Scotia Legal Aid’s Appeals Office, serving as a legal assistant for Criminal and Family appeals.

John Boddie

John Boddie , Halifax, is a seasoned legal professional and dedicated community volunteer with more than 17 years of combined legal and adjudicative experience. He holds a Bachelor of Law from the University of Wales and a diploma in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. He is currently pursuing a part-time master’s degree in international relations and War Studies at King’s College London, and has completed a certificate in Adjudication for Agencies, Boards, and Commissions from Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) and fulfilled his National Committee on Accreditation requirements at Dalhousie University. His academic and practice interests span Administrative Law, Health Law, Human Rights Law, and International Humanitarian Law.

Mr. Boddie’s adjudicative experience includes serving as a Legal Board Member for the Nova Scotia Motor Vehicle Appeals Board from 2018 to 2021, and for the past 15 years, as a legal member of the Nova Scotia Involuntary Psychiatric Review Board. He also currently chairs the Halifax Regional Municipality Taxi Licensing Committee.

In addition to his professional roles, Mr. Boddie is actively involved in volunteer work serving as a Board Member on the Saint Mary’s University Research Ethics Board and the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society Finance Committee. He previously chaired the Military Law Section of the Canadian Bar Association. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Boddie further demonstrated his commitment to community service by volunteering with the Nova Scotia Health Authority's pop-up COVID testing clinics and is a lifelong patron of the Museum of Wales.