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When she was a child, Carline Petit-Homme’s Indigenous-Canadian mother and Haitian-born father impressed upon her that she would need to work doubly hard to prove herself to the parts of Canadian society that maintain prejudices.

She did that, and more. Now aged 27, Petit-Homme, ’25 JD, is graduating from the Faculty of Law at the 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø with a striking range of accomplishments at university, in her community and in the military. Consequently, she is the recipient of this year’s Violet King Henry Law School Award, which commemorates a Black alumna who achieved extraordinarily, while being dismissed by those who believed she was presumptuous for attempting law school.

Even though seven decades separate their experiences, King Henry’s history resonates with Petit-Homme who has recent memories of people in her hometown of Regina telling her that, “I’m just there to fill a quota, or I’m there for visible minority representation.” As a young girl on a bike ride with her father she was shocked to be abruptly accosted by a woman demanding that they, “go back where you came from.”

King Henry, ’53 LLB, one of just four women in her class, was the first Black graduate of U of A’s Faculty of Law; the first Black woman to practise law in Canada; and the first Black lawyer admitted to the Law Society of Alberta. She practised criminal law in Calgary for several years, was a senior administrator with Canada’s department of citizenship and immigration, and was both the first woman and first person of African descent to hold a senior management position with the national YMCA in the United States.

The $20,000 award in her name, supported by Miller Thompson LLP, was established in 2024 to honour a Faculty of Law student of African descent who identifies as Black, African-Canadian, African-American, or of Afro-Caribbean or Afro-Latinx heritage and who demonstrates leadership and commitment to the advancement of equity, diversity and inclusion while also maintaining good academic standing.

“To receive an award about someone so influential and such a pathway maker, it shows me that I have to continue to be that pathway maker for the people that come after me,” says Petit-Homme.

She’s well on her way.

Petit-Homme was just 14 when she received a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, which honoured service by Canadians to their communities to mark the Queen’s 60th year on the throne. She was recognized for her volunteerism with such agencies as Hope’s Home, which supports children with complex medical needs; her fundraising for Haiti after its 2010 earthquake; and for her leadership role in the Royal Canadian Army Cadets, where she was the youngest-ever regimental sergeant major, a role responsible for other cadets. Petit-Homme again credits her parents for instilling in her the desire to make a difference in her community.

“As long as I can remember, we were involved in bottle drives, soup kitchens, always doing some sort of fundraising,” she says.

Before starting law school, she earned two undergrad degrees (in police studies and psychology) and worked as a sheriff for four years. For 11 years, she has been a member of the Canadian Army Reserve. She’s currently teaching new recruits basic military qualifications, while training to be a sergeant, herself.

At the Faculty of Law, she volunteered as a mentee for vulnerable youth at the Big Sisters/Big Brothers program, with Student Legal Services and with the Indigenous Speaker Series.

As president of the Black Law Students’ Association, she mounted a Black History Month event that connected prospective and current law students, lawyers and alumni, featured Alberta Criminal Court Justice Olugbenga Shoyele, ’03 LLM, as its keynote speaker and launched its first Black History Month award.

Her first-hand experiences in the court system as a sheriff and as a volunteer have strengthened her interest in criminal law. After a clerkship with the Alberta Court of Justice this summer, she’ll complete her articles with Bottos Law Group.

“I think that what you symbolize as a defence lawyer is the balance of the systems,” she says.

“One side has infinite resources, prosecutors, police, money, new testing equipment. The other side, criminal defence, represents the balance. That's so important in terms of maintaining access to due process.”