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The path that led Furyal Hussain, ’25 JD, to a Royal Society of Canada’s Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella Prize — which is presented to a graduating student from each of Canada’s 24 law schools most likely to positively influence equality and social justice — began when she was 12 years old.

That year, Hussain and her family moved from Saudi Arabia to Calgary for her father’s job as an engineer in oil and gas. Despite her family’s fascinating history (their ethnicity is Pakistani but Hussain was raised in the ocean-side city of Dhahran amidst ex-pats from Asia, the Middle East and Africa), she immediately became conscious of how unjustly immigrants are often treated.

“As a child, hearing a lot of other students in Grade 6 who were noticing our differences and pointing them out, I very quickly felt like an outsider,” says Hussain. “So I got involved with community organizations.”

At the Calgary Public Library she helped other recently emigrated children with reading and writing: “I think that was really eye-opening for me, to be able to relate to those kids.”

A Grade 8 teacher noticed Hussain’s avid interest in current affairs and steered her to a week-long trip to Ottawa through Encounters With Canada. The now-shuttered youth program operated by the Canadian Unity Council brought thousands of students to Ottawa annually to learn about national history, culture and institutions. Captivated by tours of Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court and learning about Canada’s Indigenous heritage, Hussain doubled down on equity-minded activities.

In Grade 11, she founded the Khushi Refugee Foundation, a charity that supports the education of children from a village in Pakistan. Still flourishing, Khushi recently teamed up with another charity to provide portable heaters to a rural Afghanistan community. While at the University of Calgary, earning a bachelor’s degree in law and society with a minor in political science, Hussain volunteered with the Elizabeth Fry Society, helping people navigate court appearances. In 2023, she received the Lou Hyndman Edmonton Glenora Award for her history of helping.

Hussain chose the ºÚÁϲ»´òìÈ’s Faculty of Law partly because of “its robust Student Legal Services program.” As a volunteer with its criminal, civil and family law and human rights projects, she again found satisfaction helping immigrants. “Being able to support people to navigate our legal system, which is pretty complex, was really meaningful to me.”

Her seemingly indefatigable zest for volunteerism continued. Hussain helped found the U of A’s Muslim Law Students Association and served as its president. She was the director of wellness for the Law Students’ Association and served on the faculty’s equity diversity and inclusion committee.

Now an articling student at Blake, Cassels and Graydon LLP in Calgary, she is a member of , a grassroots organization of legal professionals and community leaders advocating for social justice in the province.

Her prolific engagement as a volunteer from such an early age has taught her to never make assumptions, says Hussain. “I like to hear people out, give them the benefit of the doubt and really hear their individual story. That’s something I really developed in law school and working with SLS — taking everyone’s ideas and opinions into account.”