Guthrie Award

About

Nomination process

Reception event

Guthrie Award Medal

About

The Law Foundation of Ontario created the Guthrie Award in 1996 to honour H. Donald Guthrie, QC who served as a Foundation trustee for 21 years, including 13 years as Chair. The Guthrie Award recognizes outstanding individuals for their contributions to access to justice for the people of Ontario.

A Guthrie Award recipient joins the legacy of the Guthrie Award and becomes a member of an esteemed group recognized for their achievements in improving access to justice. Recipients have come from many directions – the judiciary, private bar, community legal clinics, and nonprofit organizations. They saw a chance to make a difference and took it.

Guthrie Award recipients have:

Built bridges between youth and the justice system
Advanced justice for Indigenous peoples
Strengthened the community clinic system to assist people with low-incomes
Launched the country’s first law-and-justice themed high school program
Helped to understand and address the consequences and causes of violence against women
Contributed to legal education in Ontario
Advocated for freedom of speech and expression
Modernized the running of law libraries
Provided hands-on poverty law experience to law students
Strengthened legal protections of people with disabilities
Promoted a more just and humane immigration system
Protected the rights of trans and gender-diverse youth

Nomination process

The Foundation welcomes and encourages nominations of individuals who have a significant and proven track record of furthering access to justice for people living in Ontario. The Foundation wishes to recognize a champion who is actively engaged with the challenges and opportunities in today’s justice landscape – someone who has made a difference in the past and is also focused on the future.

The Foundation welcomes nominations for an individual - not for an organization or for a group please - that can speak to the qualities and achievements of the nominee. Nominations for the Guthrie Award must include the following:

A letter of nomination
Two or more letters of support from other parties

Nominations will be accepted until February 27, 2026

Please submit nomination documents to:
guthrieaward@lawfoundation.on.ca

Guthrie Award
c/o The Law Foundation of Ontario
110 Spadina Avenue Suite 800
Toronto, ON M5V 2K4

For more information, please contact Emily at ENaylor@lawfoundation.on.ca or 416-598-1550 x 206.

Reception event

As part of the award, the recipient is presented with an engraved medal and, when COVID-19-related public health guidelines allow, the Foundation organizes a reception in the recipient’s honour. The reception is attended by guests of the recipient, as well as by Trustees of The Law Foundation of Ontario and notable members of the bar and the justice sector. Additionally, the Foundation announces the award recipient in media outlets, including print and social media.

Guthrie Award Medal

The Guthrie Award Medal was sculpted in 1996 by Kenneth Jarvis, Q.C., RCA,. Mr. Jarvis was a lawyer and an artist who held several staff positions at the Law Society of Ontario, including Secretary.

On the front face of the Guthrie Award Medal, a gowned lawyer is sowing seed by letting it fall from one hand to be spread by the other onto fertile ground. The symbolism of the Medal is that the harvest of interest is sown like seed to grow and multiply so that the objects of The Law Foundation of Ontario and the mandate of advancing access to justice will be realized as widely as possible.

A round, bronze medal with the words "The Guthrie Medal" embossed on it.