Students surprised at Kim Brooks’ Order of Canada appointment

The appointment of Kim Brooks to the Order of Canada has drawn mixed reactions from Dalhousie University students.

Brooks, president and vice chancellor of Dalhousie, was inducted into the order alongside Dr. Patrick Croskerry, the director of Dalhousie’s critical thinking program in the faculty of medicine. They were two of 80 new appointments announced by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on Dec. 31.

Brooks is the third Dalhousie president to receive the Order of Canada, joining Tom Traves and Henry Hicks.

The Dalhousie Gazette’s multiple requests for comment from the university regarding the appointments went unanswered by Brooks and Croskerry prior to publication. 

Rose Silivestru, a first-year law student, created the @dallockedout Instagram account to platform student perspectives during the university’s lockout of the Dalhousie Faculty Association.

Dalhousie students missed the first three weeks of most fall semester classes after the university locked out nearly 1,000 faculty members on Aug. 20. The university’s board of governors and its faculty ratified a collective agreement ending the lockout on Sept. 17. Suspended classes resumed on Sept. 23.

Silivestru says she’s happy to see Nova Scotia and Dalhousie be represented at the federal level with these appointments, characterizing Brooks as a lawyer with strong work in tax law who has supported minority communities within Canada.

“She’s done really wonderful things for Canada, and that shouldn’t be discounted because of one event in her life,” says Silivestru. “However, it does seem suspect to me that you would give her the award following one of the most substantial events of her recent career history, which is so anti-labour, so against the values present in Nova Scotia communities.

“That, to me, indicates that you are not taking it seriously.”

She says the context of the faculty lockout makes the appointment feel “out of place.”

“[Either] the work that went into deciding who was going to be appointed was not done very thoroughly because this information was very available, or, it was done very thoroughly, but it was done before the lockout, and nobody thought to double-check before these appointments went out,” Silivestru says.

“Or, they’re well aware of what happened with the lockout, and they still think that Kim Brooks deserves this award for other reasons.”

The Order of Canada Appointees announcement, released on Dec. 31, 2025, states that Brooks “has advanced equity, accessibility and freedom of gender expression in higher education. As president of Dalhousie University, she champions Nova Scotia and is a thoughtful voice for inclusive leadership, transformative education and research that builds Canada’s future.”

Ingrid Wasuek’jij (Little Flower) Kassem is a member of the Sipekne’katik First Nation and an engineering student at Dalhousie. She’s the co-president and co-founder of the Dalhousie Indigenous Student Society.

She was “surprised” when she heard that part of the reason for Brooks’ appointment was because she “advanced equity” in higher education.

“Being one of only a handful of Indigenous students in engineering, I myself have found it [to be] a huge struggle,” says Kassem. “The consensus is that [Indigenous people] still don’t have equal access to STEM or higher education in general.”

Maren Mealey, president of the Dalhousie Student Union, says Brooks’ appointment showcases a disconnect between how students and the public view university administration. 

“It doesn’t do much to inspire confidence in students when their experiences are at odds with some of the reasoning for this award.”

Mealey says the appointment shows the difference between students’ expectations and the university’s national reputation.

“We measure it by if the leadership is benefiting us as students, if they’re listening to us, if they’re taking care of us, that’s not necessarily what’s happening at the moment,” she says. 

“We feel like student needs are being swept underneath the rug.”