Rebecca Sutton

As a teen, Rebecca Sutton spent six years in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, where she earned her pilot's licence. For her undergraduate studies, she attended the University of McMaster's Arts and Science program as a national laureate of the Canadian Millennium Scholarship Foundation. Rebecca spent her third year as an undergraduate on exchange in Ghana, West Africa, before completing a combined honours degree in peace studies. After graduating from McMaster, Rebecca lived and worked as a youth worker on two Aboriginal reserves in Alberta. She next completed an MSc in violence, conflict, and development from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England, before spending several years working in the field of humanitarian aid and development. More specifically, she consulted for the Human Security Department at Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Development and for the Canadian Centre for Treaty Compliance, and she served as the manager of international programs at the Toronto headquarters of the nongovernmental organization War Child Canada.

Rebecca next attended law school at the University of Toronto, where she volunteered on the Emergency Team in the Refugee Division at Downtown Legal Services and was engaged in several International Human Rights Program (IHRP) working groups. As part of an IHRP summer internship in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rebecca investigated the detention and deportation of illegal migrants. She then took a two-year leave of absence from law school in order to work for War Child Canada in Darfur. Rebecca served as War Child's Sudan country director from 2009 to 2011, in which capacity she oversaw the organization's humanitarian programming in Darfur. Upon her return to law school, Rebecca led a student working group in international humanitarian law and continued clinical work with low-income clients. She spent one summer working at a leading litigation boutique and she conducted a multi-year research project on Canada's treatment of female prisoners with mental health issues. Rebecca graduated from the University of Toronto's JD program with honours and received the Dean's Key as well as the Goodman's Prize in Administrative Law. In 2014, she is clerking at the Ontario Court of Appeal for completion of her articles. She will be called to the Ontario Bar in June 2014.

Rebecca is also a jammer for the Death Track Dolls, a Toronto Roller Derby home team!