‘We’re Here for Others’ — Emmanuel College’s 2023 Alumni Award Winners

By Joe Howell

Rev. Dr. Robin D. Wardlaw spent his nearly 40-year career in ministry fighting for justice both at home and overseas. His conviction started as an undergrad at Victoria College, where he studied in the early 1970s before doing his MDiv at Emmanuel College.

“I discovered in the Department of History at U of T that history always took sides and that you could take the side of the disadvantaged—that one reading of history was coming at it from the point of view of the underdog,” said Wardlaw. “At Emmanuel, I realized that’s a way to read the Bible too. We’re not just here for ourselves; we’re here for others, especially the disadvantaged.”

Wardlaw was recognized for his decades of service championing the underrepresented during the 2024 EC Alumni Day dinner on May 13. The Emmanuel College Alumni Association named him as the recipient of the 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award. Wardlaw was cited for “his profound support of people and causes both close to home and afar,” said Deb Walker Emm 9T7, president of the ECAA.

Hae-Bin Jung Emm 0T4 and Adele Halliday Emm 1T7 were also honoured at the event, receiving 2023 Service Awards. Halliday was recognized for “her dedication to leading the United Church in its important work of becoming anti-racist,” said Deb Walker, while Jung was cited for his leadership with the Korean United Church community.

Hae-Bin Jung Emm 0T4 and Adele Halliday Emm 1T7 were also honoured at the event, receiving 2023 Service Awards. Halliday was recognized for “her dedication to leading the United Church in its important work of becoming anti-racist,” said Deb Walker, while Jung was cited for his leadership with the Korean United Church community.

This support of people and causes includes the roughly five years Wardlaw spent as the chair of the Toronto Southeast Presbytery’s Justice and Outreach committee. The committee was comprised of “people from different congregations interested in justice issues,” he said. “We had people interested in racial justice, economic justice, environmental justice and freeing the world from nuclear weapons.” The aim was bringing these issues “to the United Church of Canada as a whole.”

While a minister of Trinity United in Newmarket, Wardlaw also helped rally his church community and beyond to raise more than $1 million dollars for the Stephen Lewis Foundation. That effort came after Wardlaw visited Africa in 2002 and witnessed firsthand the devastation of HIV and AIDS. “When I got back, I wanted to raise $60,000 to build a school in a particularly disadvantaged suburb in Zambia,” he said. As the campaign spread, the team set a loftier goal. “That looped in the Barenaked Ladies with their classic hit ‘If I Had $1,000,000.’ They came and played at the big gala that closed it out.”

Wardlaw retired from ministry in 2017 and completed his DMin at Emmanuel in 2019, officially becoming Rev. Dr. Wardlaw. He encourages others to nominate a deserving EC alum for next year’s awards. “It gets us thinking about one another in that vein: Who is doing good service? Who is contributing to the profession, the denomination, humankind?”

Has someone in the EC community inspired you? It’s a quick and easy process to honour an Emmanuel College alum making a significant contribution to the world around them. Learn more about the two awards and submit your nomination today! All nominations are due by Dec. 31, 2024.