Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue winner says award ‘could not be more perfect’ for life’s mission

When Abby Abinanti, the Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe in California, found out she was the 2024/25 recipient of the Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue, her first reaction was surprise.

But after the initial shock wore off, “Judge Abby” – as she’s affectionately known – felt a deep connection with the spirit of the award, bestowed by Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.

“It’s one of those times where you go ‘this could not be more perfect’ because it’s so on message for me,” says Abinanti. “We, humans, need dialogue with each other and we need to learn to dialogue with the environment that we’re in. That’s what makes the award really meaningful to me, it is one of my primary responsibilities.”

With the presentation of the Jack P. Blaney Award for Dialogue, Simon Fraser University honours Judge Abby Abinanti’s transformative approaches in providing a model for criminal-justice reform, and recognized her unparalleled dedication to reinstating Indigenous and Yurok cultural values of respect, community support and responsibility, and collective healing for victims, perpetrators and the circle of lives they touch.

The first woman from a California tribe to be admitted to the State Bar of California and then the first to serve as a judicial officer in the state, Abinanti has been at the forefront of tribal justice practices for decades.

As the Chief Judge of the Yurok Tribe since 2007, she has presided over several firsts, including agreements with the tribe’s neighbouring counties to divert its residents from their criminal courts to the tribe’s own, where systemic issues that disproportionally affect Indigenous communities could be better addressed in an environment where Indigenous values and practices are part of the justice system.

“We have to look after our members,” she says. “One of the things that I appreciate is when we create these models and it goes well, then the state starts following what we’re doing and develop pilot projects that mirror us. It means, first of all, listening and secondly reflecting back and supporting the person.”

Abinanti’s work has made a lasting impact on both her community and the broader justice system. 

Aftab Erfan, the executive director of the Centre for Dialogue, says that Abinanti’s work has many parallels with British Columbia, which grapples with many of the same issues in its own justice system.

That connection is reflected in Abinanti’s plans in B.C. while she visits to accept the award Nov. 19.

An eventful schedule includes participating a National Restorative Justice Week gathering of practitioners, attending the Vancouver Indigenous Fashion Week’s Red Dress event, meeting with the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and visiting the Kwìkwèxwelhp Healing Village – a minimal security facility for Indigenous men grounded in traditional teachings.

She will also visit SFU to meet with the community’s Indigenous students, Elders, faculty and staff.

“I think the amazing thing is that Judge Abby’s visit is getting us to look at ourselves with fresh eyes. We’re finding people whose work is similar and it’s really a bringing together of people who are inspired but also supported by each other,” says Erfan. “What most excites me about Judge Abby’s work is that it illuminates the possibilities of dialogue as a fully relational activity, where the end goal is the increased growth, well-being and connectedness of individuals in the context of families and communities.”