It’s a long way from Sunnidale Road to Vancouver Island.
But former Barrie resident John Borrows, a world-renowned law professor at the University of Victoria (UVIC), is still a Barrie boy at heart.
Now his accomplishments — which are many — are being recognized by having his name included on the city’s municipal naming registry.
Borrows, an Anishinabe/Ojibway and a member of the Chippewa of the Nawash First Nation in Ontario, has written and spoken extensively on Indigenous legal rights and traditions, storytelling, treaties and land claims, and constitutional and environmental law, according to the UVIC website.
“Dr. Borrows has received many honours and awards for his work with and for Indigenous peoples in many countries,” the website states, adding that includes the Aboriginal Achievement Award in Law and Justice.
He is a fellow of the Trudeau Foundation and a fellow of the Academy of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (RSC), Canada's highest academic honour. Borrows was also the 2012 recipient of the Indigenous Peoples Counsel from the Indigenous Bar Association, for honour and integrity in service to Indigenous communities.
Borrows, who has also written extensively, is the 2017 Killam Prize winner in Social Sciences, the 2019 Molson Prize Winner from the Canada Council for the Arts, the 2020 Governor General’s Innovation Award and the 2021 Canadian Bar Association President’s Award winner.
And he was appointed as an officer of the Order of Canada in 2020.
We’ve probably left a few other accolades out.
His career has taken him across Canada and places around the world, and the city by the bay gave him a good start, he says, adding there were a few places he called home when he was living in and around Barrie.
“I lived on Sunnidale Road when I was a kid and went to Hillcrest Public School until Grade 4," he tells BarrieToday. "I had a great experience in that setting. I used to walk to school across the old golf course in what is now Sunnidale Park.”
A rural farm life in Essa Township near Thornton called while he went to Barrie Central Collegiate for grades 9 to 13.
“I was sad to hear it shut down,” he muses of the former Dunlop Street West institution.
Post-law school then saw him in a couple of different digs in the city and from there, the world was waiting.
“It was a surprise,” he says of city councillor Mike McCann’s sponsoring of a motion to add his name to the registry, with the opportunity of it being used for a new street sometime in the future.
“I didn’t have any inkling or expectation. It’s an honour,” Borrows says from his office at the University of Victoria where he is chair of Indigenous Law.
“I always give first credit to my mom (Jean) and dad (Joseph),” he says of his journey. “And living that farm life was a big part of it, both the freedom there — living in the country — but also the discipline that is there.
“And I have to say I had great teachers at Central, in particular Miss Turner and Mr. Higgins, both history and English teachers, who instilled in me a love of learning and curiosity. And the good friends,” he adds of why Barrie memories still remain with him out on Vancouver Island.
Some day, there could be a street corner with his name on it.
“I’ve always been a Barrie boy at heart, so to have that feeling of a further connection is a good, warm feeling,” Borrows says.
