Thanks to her interdisciplinary training, varied professional experience, and acknowledged expertise on the “material reality” of racism, Esmeralda Thornhill holds to her credit a solid track record of public service wherein she moves seamlessly among and addresses with equal ease sectors that are judicial, legal, academic, government, public, institutional and grassroots.

Public service

Local

Montreal
Commission Commission de la Ville de Montréal 1990 – 1996
Ville de Montreal – Declaration Against Racism Advisory Committee – 1989
Comité de budget de Centraide 1981 – 1983

Quebec

Barreau du Québec, Member 1981- Present

• Conseil général du Barreau 1981-1984
• Comité des communautés culturelles
• Let`s Meet the Lawyers Project Coordinator 1994-1996

Conseil du statut de la femme 1987-1991
Conseil supérieur de l’éducation 1978-1991
Comité Interconfessionnelle et interculturelle 1979-1981
Committee on School and Cultural Communities (1981-1983)
Resource Person for “Some Missing Pages” Quebec Ministry of Education Project

Nova Scotia

Law Foundation of Nova Scotia Board of Governors 2000-2003
Nova Scotia Barristers` Society Member 1998 to Present

• Race Relations Committee 1996-1998
• Race and Law Essay Competition Selection Jury 2008-2016

Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission 1996-2003

• Panel of Board of Inquiry Chairs 1999-2003

Nova Scotia Psychiatric Facilities Review Board 2005 – 2008

Kidney Foundation of Canada (Nova Scotia Branch) 2009-2011
National Film Board of Canada 2004-2007
Matthieu Da Costa Award National Advisory Board 1996-1997
Canadian Bar Association Advisory Steering Committee for Racism in the Legal Profession 1994

International Defense and Aid for Southern Africa 1988
International Resource Network for Women of African Descent 1982-1985

• Founding Member 1982

National Conference of Black Lawyers 1985-1989; 2007

• Coordinated Quebec Delegation to International Conference, Toronto (1986)
• Member of Conference Organizing Committee, Washington, D.C. (1987)
• Conferee, Philadelphia 2007

National Council for Black Studies 1980
National Human Genome Project 2000-2006
Journal of Black Studies Editorial Board 2008

Social Involvement

A critically conscious product of the Quebec Education system, Esmeralda Thornhill has been engaged in advocacy work since early adolescence. Her social involvement has always been driven by a strong belief in organizational building and collective mobilization for Community Empowerment. Advocating both ‘International Strategizing’ and ‘Diasporic Literacy’ as global solutions for Peoples of African Descent, she is a founding member of a wide variety of organizations at local, national and international levels, covering such areas as social justice, education, law, youth, women’s rights, and anti-racist pedagogy.

Congress of Black Women of Canada 1974 to Present

• Quebec Regional Representative and National Secretary 1976-1980
• Founding Member 1980
• National President 1989-1991

Black Women’s International Cross Cultural Studies Institute 1982, 1998, 1999
Black Nurses’ Association of Quebec 1992-1996

Quebec Board of Black Educators 1972-1985
Afrocentric Learning Institute Steering Committee NS (1999)
Chair, Black Community Task Force on Education, of Quebec Ministry of Education 1977-1979
Canadian Access to Legal Education Group (CALEG) 1994-1997
African Canadian Scholarship Foundation , National Board 1997
Committee for the Welfare and Development of Black Children 1974

Congress of Black Lawyers and Jurists of Quebec – Founding Member 1985 – Present
Rogest Delos Davis Association 1979, 1984
Black Lawyers’ Association of Nova Scotia 1996-1998
First Congress of Black Writers – Registration Coordinator – McGill University 1968
Committee for the Welfare and Development of Black Children (1972)
Quebec Council on Black Aging Advisory Board (1989-1990)
La Maisonnée 1979

International Defense and Aid for Southern Africa -IDAFSA (Canada)1988
International Resource Network for Women of African Descent 1982-1985
International Black Women’s Cross Cultural Studies Institute 1983-1995
National Conference of Black Lawyers 1985-1989; 2007
National Council for Black Studies 1980
National Human Genome Project 2000-2006
Journal of Black Studies Editorial Board 2008