Famous 5 Foundation Speaker Series Sarnia Lambton - October 2024

Join us for an inspiring lunch with Debbie Austin, Sarnia’s first female judge and active member of our local community!

The Speakers Series profiles successful women who speak candidly about their careers and the challenges and triumphs in their personal journey towards successful leadership.

Judge Austin grew up in Markham, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Toronto ( BA) and Osgoode Hall Law School ( LLB). Her life and husband’s job with Dow brought her to Sarnia-Lambton, where she articled,  practiced Family Law,  and made Sarnia Lambton her home. When she started to work as a lawyer, she was the only Sarnia female lawyer among many male lawyers dealing with Family Law cases. At the age of 27, during her first year of law practice, her husband was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer that caused his death within three months, leaving her a single parent and sole support for her 3-year-old son and 9-month-old daughter. She continued to practice law in Sarnia, eventually remarried and by the time of her appointment as a Judge ten years later, she was a 37-year-old mother of four children between the ages of 2 and 13.

She was the first female Judge appointed in Sarnia, presiding in both Family and Criminal cases and for many years, was the Local Administrative Judge. By the time she retired to become a per diem ( part time ) Judge, the Ontario Court of Justice had changed significantly, with much more diversity, gender balance and women in leadership positions, both as lawyers and as Judges.

While a full-time Sarnia Judge, she worked with other justice participants to start a Mental Health (Wellness) Court and the Walpole Island First Nation Court, which offer restorative justice, community-based alternatives to incarceration in appropriate cases. She is an active member of the Sarnia-Lambton community through Rayjon Sharecare and the Sarnia Community Foundation and a proud mother of three adult sons and one daughter, and grandmother to 5 boys!
 

NOTE:

If you require a vegetarian meal please email Vicky Ducharme at famous5sarnialambton@gmail.com by October 10th. No meal substitutions will be made day of the event.

Unless you have registered for a table of 8 or 10, there is no guarantee that you will be sitting with your friends or colleagues