Teen recognized for youth career initiative
18-year-old organized campaign to help women of colour pursue law
A Calgary teen working to give women of colour an opportunity to pursue a career in law has received a British award for youth who make significant contributions to their community.
Eighteen-year-old Jolie Gan received the Diana Award last week, an honour established by the British government in 1999 following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Gan was recognized for creating the Youth Leaders in Law non-profit in 2018 alongside friends while she was a high school student at Sir Winston Churchill High School.
“For kids interested in sciences or math there were so many career opportunities to explore, but if you were interested in social sciences or law, there really wasn't anything,” Gan said.
“It's about diversity and representation and giving youth opportunities they wouldn't typically get as a high-schooler.”
The Youth Leaders in Law started with a focus on Calgary youth, running a conference attended by 150 Calgary high-schoolers.
But Gan said while the COVID -19 pandemic could have been a setback, it also presented an opportunity to reach young people, particularly women of colour, living farther afield.
“At first we just wanted to reach other regions around Canada, but we actually had a lot of interest from places like England and Singapore,” Gan said.
Historically, law schools and the law field have underrepresented people of colour. It's a trend that led the University of Calgary's Faculty of Law to alter its admission process last year in a bid to attract and admit more Black students to the school.
Gan said she has seen her own friends discouraged from pursuing law because they didn't see themselves represented in the discipline.
“I'm a woman of colour and I've always wanted to pursue law since I was eight years old, but ... in media and TV shows, you don't see people of colour in those roles,” she said.
“I just wanted to show that you don't need to have a set family background or a set family income or a set race to succeed at a certain field. You can be anyone in the world, and as long as you work hard, you can get to where you want to be.”
Gan graduated from high school this spring, and starts at the University of Toronto in the fall, with eyes on law school down the road.
This past Thursday marked what would have been Princess Diana's 60th birthday.
More than 300 youth aged 25 and younger living across the Commonwealth received the Diana Award in 2021, including 19 Canadians.
In addition to Gan, two other Albertans won the award: Raman Sawhney, 25, of Calgary, and Maryanne Leathwaite, 17, of Okotoks.
I just wanted to show that you don't need to have a set family ... income or a set family race to succeed at a certain field.