The Keen, Uncompromising Acumen of Kelly Serbu
Former hockey star and newly appointed NS Provincial Court Judge Kelly Serbu BA’93 hasn’t let his blindness cloud his otherwise perfect vision for leading a good, productive and inspirational life.
Photo: Kelly Clark
By Alec Bruce
“It’s not that big a deal.” Except, of course, it is.
Halifax lawyer and newly appointed NS Provincial Court Judge Kelly Serbu BA’93 just doesn’t see what the fuss is about. He’s blind. So what?
“I ran into a tough time, but other people run into tough times too,” he says. “It’s not that big a deal.”
Except, of course, it is.
Other people with his condition (he’s had a degenerative eye disease since his second year of university) may not have graduated from post-secondary institutions with terrific marks (Saint Mary’s University, BA’93; Dalhousie Law, LLB’96). Other people who couldn't see a puck may not have played successive Junior A and national championship hockey (Halifax Jr. Canadians, 1990-91; Halifax Mooseheads, 1991-92).
Last spring, Judge Serbu resigned as president of the Canadian Blind Hockey Association, partly because individuals are expected to step back from public life when they become judges, but also because of the expectation that his June appointment as a magistrate would monopolize more of his already busy schedule. Even so, he’s continued to captain the national men’s team and help organize development camps for blind hockey players at the Saint Mary’s Dauphinee Centre. In October, they were back at the Dauphinee Centre asking members of the public to give Blind Hockey’s Learn to Skate and Try it Blind programs a spin around the rink.
“The ultimate goal is to provide all partially sighted and blind children as well as adults across Canada with the opportunity to play hockey, with only a few adaptations. We are still focused on having the sport featured at the Paralympics, hopefully as a demo in 2030.”
How he’s dealt with his blindness is a big deal for hundreds, if not thousands, of visually impaired people both in and out of hockey, for whom inspiration and leadership have often been hard to find.
“Kelly is a born leader, and he leads by example,” said Mark DeMontis, a two-time gold medalist with the National Blind Hockey Team and member of the Canadian Blind Hockey Hall of Fame. “With him, there are no excuses.”
For Judge Serbu, it’s a birthright. When he was a kid growing up in Shearwater, military-family strong, he was “toughness distilled,” writes Gare Joyce in Sportsnet.
“You can see it in the scrapbook photos and clips from old videotape. On all his teams … all the way up to Jr. A, he was the guy you didn’t want to mess with and the guy who wasn’t about to let you mess with his teammates. When matters escalated—a raised elbow, a loose slash—he arrived as if by appointment and bearing the unwritten but wholly understood rules of etiquette and engagement. He entered into contracts signed with glares and nods at faceoff. Gloves dropped and then instinct, fury, flurry, all a blur, but no fear in the mix, none at all”, writes Joyce.
Challenges in the classroom and on the ice
Truthfully, there was some fear in the mix that day when he got the bad news from the ophthalmologist. People with Stargardt disease most commonly lose their central vision, and there is no treatment. Judge Serbu was 19. “I wasn’t happy,” he quips. “I’d been having trouble seeing the notes on the board in class. At night, I’d be trying to read and it was too frustrating. It was almost like the page had a watermark on it. But I just figured I needed new contacts.”
A trip to the Canadian Institute for the Blind on Almon Street in Halifax confirmed the severity of the diagnosis. “They set me in front of the eye chart and told me to keep my contacts in,” he says. “All I could read was the big ‘E’. They said my vision was 20 over 200. I said I had no idea what they were talking about. They said perfect vision is 20 over 20. So, what those people could see at 200 feet, I could only see at 20. Technically, I was already legally blind.”
That spring of 1991, his team, the Halifax Jr. A Canadians, made it to the Centennial Cup, the national championship for Jr. A. Serbu, a forward, played left wing. His job was to assist and score. “I couldn’t really see much ahead of me, but my peripheral vision was pretty good. I’d been skating since I was three, I knew where I should be on the ice. I could still pass the puck and put it on someone’s stick.” Though they lost the Centennial Cup to Sudbury in the semifinals, he says “it was an amazing hockey experience.”
His studies raised separate challenges. He’d ended his first year at SMU on academic probation. “My marks were bad,” he says “I’d partied a little bit too much, played a bit too much sports. But I was suddenly very mindful of my eyes. I had no clue about what I could do for work, or what I should be. At the same time, I knew I wasn’t going to let my vision define me. I was just going to push forward with my classes.”
He began by lightening his course load and hitting the books hard. “In high school, I used to read for fun,” he says. “Looking back, though, I think it was my failing vision that stopped me. It just wasn’t something I wanted to engage in anymore. That wasn’t an option now … now, it was about time. How was I going to get the knowledge I needed to succeed? I'd be in the library with my nose literally buried in a book. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t easy. But that’s just what I did.”
Kelly Serbu and his daughter Maya
Kelly Serbu and teammates at Saint Mary's Camp of Champions in 1979
Kelly Serbu in 1991-92
"Law school’s tough at the best of times, but … holy! … this was tough.”
Law, it’s safe to say, wasn’t Serbu’s next logical step. His father was in the armed forces and he grew up on the base in Shearwater. “When I was in grade two or three, my mom and dad made it clear to my sister and me that education was very important and we were going to university,” he says. “At the age of 8, I began going to SMU Camp of Champions hockey school, which I loved. I’d always heard good things about Saint Mary’s and I wanted to stay local. For me, for whatever reason, I had my head set on going into business. So, I said, ‘okay, I’m going to SMU.’”
Even before his diagnosis, Serbu never had any illusions about achieving stardom in the NHL. He was an all-rounder, a player a coach could trust to get the job done from any position. In fact, the academic contest at SMU taught him he was tougher and more resourceful than even he had thought. Self-reliance was now his top priority.
"I’m still kind of surprised at myself,” he says of his acceptance into Dalhousie’s Schulich School of Law. “But I figured that if I became a lawyer, then I could be independent. I could have a career working for myself and not be dependent on anyone else. Law school’s tough at the best of times, but … holy! … this was tough.”
Learned to cope, carry on and thrive
All things considered, he says, he made the right choice. The court of public opinion would concur. From private practice in Cole Harbour, defending everyone from alleged shoplifters to accused murderers, he moved to the Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat, adjudicating survivor’s claims across Canada. Says Serbu, whose heritage includes Métis: “so many survivors with stories of the abuse they endured as children had no one to hear them back then. I wanted to hear them now and be part of the reconciliation process.”
In 2017, he was appointed to the Queen’s Counsel and, a short while later, as senior counsel to former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Michel Bastarache, for whom he assisted in evaluating a class action settlement case involving gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment experienced by women at the RCMP. Throughout, he says, he’s learned to cope, carry on and thrive.
“What I’m doing now as a judge, is somewhat similar to what I would do at Provincial Court as a defense lawyer [dealing with blindness]. I make my own notes that are a bit bigger with darker ink. I have a screen reader, and if I can’t read something, I lean on the amazing team of judicial assistants at the court to assist me. As a judge, I am still in the process of figuring things out and how I can make the court fully accessible for me as a legally blind Judge. I know I will get there, I always do, but it will take a bit of time, some patience I appreciate is required.”
“Not that big a deal.” So what is a big deal to Serbu?
This steadfast optimism is one his friends and colleagues like to poke good-natured fun at, from time to time. NS Supreme Court Justice Josh Arnold recounts a story of a misunderstanding between a close friend and Kelly, when the judge’s infamous sanguinity shone bright.
“Years ago, a very good friend of mine, a defense lawyer in Halifax, called me up and said, ‘Look, I know you’re friends with Kelly, but I think he’s stuck up and snotty.'" says Arnold. "He said, ‘I go into court all the time and wave at him and nod, and he doesn’t even acknowledge me.’ To which I said, ‘You do know the man is blind, right?’ To which he said, ‘No, he’s not.’ Later, the guy phones me back and says, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so embarrassed. After I introduced myself, we had a great conversation.”
It was, as Serbu might say, “not that big a deal.”
So what is a big deal to Serbu?
Somewhere between managing court dockets, leading his teammates, running training camps and plotting for the next Paralympics—he also managed to join Mark DeMontis in the fall of 2021 on a 1,000-kilometer inline skating trek from Windsor to Ottawa to support Blind Hockey. The initiative raised $120,000.
Giving in, giving up, quitting? Not doing that? To Serbu, that would be a big deal.
Saint Mary’s Alum Shines in the Field of Astrophysics
Tiffany Fields BSc'17 MSc'19, Burke-Gaffney Observatory (BGO)
Photo: Ryan Williams/Unbound Media Inc.
It's a story university recruiters dream to tell. A student pursues their academic interest, graduates with two degrees, begins working at the university and gives back to students and the community through her passion for what she does.
For Tiffany Fields BSc'17 MSc'19, it's no dream. It's her life story.
Fields has been a familiar face at Saint Mary's Burke-Gaffney Observatory (BGO) since 2014. Still, her curiosity about the vastness and mysteries of space began long before she arrived in Halifax. Thinking back to her high school days, Fields recalls a metaphorical aligning of the stars, which nurtured her interest in space and provided her with the skills to pursue it.
Rushing directly from school to a city an hour and a half away, Fields and her family attended a public talk by American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Fields can only describe her recollection of that day by using the cliché "it was life-changing." Hearing what could be explored in the field of astrophysics and what hypotheses had yet to be solved, Fields knew that she wanted to be a part of it. And while her fondness for deGrasse Tyson has changed, her passion for space has only expanded.
As a high school student, Fields enjoyed math and physics classes. She took advantage of her school's advanced placement (AP) program and took university-level courses offered at school by the local community college. With AP courses well in hand, it was soon time to consider her next move.
Originally from the Midwest United States, Halifax's coastline captivated Fields during multiple visits to the region. After researching university options, she was thrilled to learn that she could live in Halifax and study astrophysics at Saint Mary's. She made her first Saint Mary's connection at a recruitment open house.
"I got to chat with Dr. Adam Sarty, who was a first-year physics professor at the time," says Fields. "And, once I started at SMU and was in his first-year physics course, I felt like I knew him already."
Space exploration at Saint Mary’s
With her natural aptitude for problem-solving and her interest in physics, Fields excelled in her coursework. Outside the classroom, she worked a short stint as a library assistant and tutored her peers as a member and, later, coordinator of the SNAP Centre (Science, Numeracy & Academic Proficiency).
She participated in undergraduate research starting in her second year with Dr. Marcin Sawicki and later with Dr. Rob Thacker. Through her research, she found her north star, guiding her along a path of space exploration and academia. When speaking to the benefits of students participating in undergraduate research, Fields is unwavering in praising the value of these opportunities.
"There are so many benefits of being able to do research as an undergraduate student here at SMU. There are a lot of hard and soft skills that can be learned. From analyzing data to learning how to run simulations and code effectively, or thinking about how to analyze data and then consider how much you trust your results, these are different skills I learned while researching."
As Fields matured into a senior honours student, so did the connections and relationships she made across the university and the astrophysics community. Working with professors and graduate students, she experienced first-hand the wide range of astrophysics research at Saint Mary's.
With graduation day approaching, it was a given for Fields that she would continue her time at Saint Mary's by applying to the master of science program. Her master's research focused on computational astrophysics, where she would study the properties of galaxies by simulating galaxy evolution over billions of years to try and figure out how the mixing of gas and stars on a small scale related to the overall properties of a galaxy.
As Fields describes her graduate research, one can only be in awe of her natural ability to express her complex work in a way that the average person can understand—and her ability to do so humbly and confidently.
Getting to know the BGO
Throughout her time as an undergraduate and graduate student, the BGO played a pivotal role in her career aspirations. Included in one of her many on-campus jobs, Fields worked as a tour guide at the observatory throughout her studies.
"In my second year, a couple of graduate students were working at the BGO. I knew they were graduating and weren't going to be working there anymore. I thought, 'I should just ask to see if I can work there; why wouldn't they want to hire an interested person? I can be that person that opens it [the BGO] for students and leads tours.'"
And with that motivation, Fields landed the job.
She became a BGO teaching assistant, the telescope operator for first-year astronomy students and led public tours of the observatory. After spending many nights 24 stories high above Halifax's South End, Fields affectionately shares how she understood the "personality of the telescope" and became well-versed in its operations.
After graduating with her MSc in 2019, Fields was one of only a few people who thoroughly knew the Dr. Ralph Medjuck telescope and the operations of the BGO. Staying involved and helping when needed, Fields was well positioned to join the observatory full-time as its fourth technician, the second woman to hold this role.
With an increasing representation of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), she is optimistic about where astrophysics and science are headed. Working with groups such as WISEAtlantic (Women In Science and Engineering), she empowers and educates girls and young women on how they can participate and find their way in STEM.
"I feel like there's a lot of work going on to help girls become interested in STEM or to show that there are options if that's something that they decide they want to pursue. More importantly, I want them to know there are people that look like them in these fields."
Crediting role models like Dr. Katie Mack, an astrophysics researcher at the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo, ON, Fields knows first-hand how female representation in astrophysics is not just inspirational but has real impacts on research and space exploration.
Tiffany Fields and Saint Mary's astrophysics students looking at data captured at the Burke-Gaffney Observatory
Tiffany Fields conducting observation
Regarding her day-to-day life at the BGO, Fields works closely with Dr. Vincent Hénault-Brunet, the observatory's director, as part of the team leading the way for a new generation of astronomers, astrophysics researchers and stargazers at Saint Mary's. Whether it's students and faculty members conducting research or leading a sold-out public nighttime tour, Fields attributes the observatory's success to its outreach and communication.
The BGO telescope is one of three worldwide that can be remote controlled via social media. After a quick account set-up, Twitter users can tweet the name of an object in space, and the telescope automatically tracks and sends photos and data back to the requester by tweet.
Five decades of stargazing
This year, the Burke-Gaffney celebrated its 50th anniversary. The exciting milestone was marked with public tours, an anniversary event and the observatory being featured in the university’s 2022 Report to the Community video series.
Fields has many hopes for the next 50 years of the BGO.
"I would love to see our outreach program expanded. Whether that's bringing more people in, more frequently, or offering our students more opportunity to come in and talk to experts or more programs to allow the broader community to come in and look up at the stars."
Fields expresses her sincere thanks for the philanthropic gifts and support the BGO has received, including Dr. Ralph Medjuck and his family whose donation allowed for the upgrade to the current telescope and the opening of the observatory’s observation deck, and the Faculty of Science who funded a new state-of-the-art telescope mount.
When asked what she would say to anyone considering joining the astrophysics community, Fields offers heartfelt advice.
"Physics can be hard. Learning astronomy can be hard. Going through an astrophysics degree can be hard, but that doesn't mean it's impossible. Just because you find something hard when you start does not mean it will always be hard. The practice of things makes you better, so practice math and keep looking up. Capture your passion for astronomy, and don't forget to enjoy the skies along the way."
The Race of a Lifetime for Two Saint Mary’s Alumni
Cassie Day BComm’13 and Jahmeek Murray BA’14
Photo: Submitted
By Gail Lethbridge
Imagine being dropped into a world where you are pushed to your physical, mental and emotional limits. You don’t know what’s coming. You’re cut off from your phone, friends, family and everything you know. For six weeks, you’re racing from place to place across Canada, carrying a 40-pound backpack with all of your belongings. You’re traveling on foot and in trains, buses and cars, not knowing where you’ll end up the next day or what challenges await.
It sounds like a late-night dystopic movie about surviving armageddon. But it’s not.
It's The Amazing Race Canada on CTV and a glimpse into what alumni Cassie Day BComm’13 and her partner, Jahmeek Murray BA’14, endured in this year’s season 8 of the popular show.
The Amazing Race is part road race, part orienteering, part math test, part people skills and part survival in isolation. Competitors are challenged to dig deep and find personal resources they never knew they had.
“You have to get comfortable with the uncomfortable,” said Cassie. “You lose control and push your limits beyond what I thought possible.”
After graduating from Saint Mary’s, Cassie headed to Toronto, where she became a personal trainer and fitness entrepreneur who started a gym studio.
With a background playing competitive hockey in her hometown of Moncton, NB, she also understands the value of teamwork and overcoming hardships, including finding purpose in life after the death of her little brother. She decided that the best way to cope with this loss was to dedicate her life to helping others live healthy, body-positive lives. She also says she competed in the show in memory of her brother.
Jahmeek has also overcome challenges. He came to Canada from Kingston, Jamaica, to play for the Saint Mary’s Huskies football team and was later signed by the Hamilton Tigercats. He then went to Toronto, where he became a personal trainer and firefighter.
Recently surviving a near-death experience (he was caught in a riptide and pulled underwater), he credits his relationship with Cassie as the main reason he survived the incident. Their special bond and mutual respect motivated each of them to support one another through the race challenges.
Cassie Day and Jahmeek Murray on The Amazing Race
Cassie Day and Jahmeek Murray on The Amazing Race
Being a professional firefighter, Jahmeek understands the challenges of living with the unknown and trusting his teammates. He deals with fires in high-rises, car accidents and medical emergencies daily. He never knows what’s coming next.
“My favourite part of the whole experience was living in a state of not knowing day after day,” said Jahmeek. “You never know where you’re going the next morning, and you get to see Canada as you’ve never seen before. I liked the Okanogan Valley and Canmore.”
As big fans of The Amazing Race, they applied to be contestants three years in a row. When they finally hit the jackpot and received an invitation in 2020, they faced their first challenge: the COVID-19 pandemic. It put the race—and everything else in the world—on hold for two years. But in early 2022, they finally achieved their goal of participating in April and May.
They did things they never imagined themselves doing, including paragliding, climbing a ferris wheel, burlesque dancing, competing in a biathlon and racing an arm-only bicycle in an Olympic-sized biking arena. Each of these challenges only brought the couple closer together.
“There's no one who brings out a better me,” said Cassie. "Jahmeek is optimistic, open-minded and encouraging. He's the peanut butter to my jelly.”
Jahmeek is equally inspired by Cassie’s enthusiasm and outlook on life.
“Cassie is the definition of a go-getter,” he said. “She's the hardest working person I know. Not only will she never give up, but she'll also have a smile on her face the entire race, guaranteed.”
One challenge they didn’t anticipate was re-entering normal life after the intensity of the six-week race when they were isolated from their friends, family and lives.
“The Amazing Race is an experience that no one else will ever understand unless you’ve been through it,” said Cassie. “For six weeks, you’re just racing around with no connection to the outside world. You’re not allowed to talk to anyone. After that experience, just going to the grocery store is a surreal experience. We are forever bonded with one another and other groups in the race.”
With a sixth-place finish, Jahmeek and Cassie can agree that their experience was truly one amazing race.
Meet Barb Stegemann: Social Entrepreneur, Dragon Slayer and Women in Retail Keynote Speaker
Barb Stegemann speaking at Women in Retail: Impacting Our Communities With Purpose
Photo: Kelly Clark
By Sarah Vokey
When Barb Stegemann made her pitch on Dragon's Den, she reduced two of the Dragons to tears and came away with three investors, making her the first woman from Atlantic Canada to land a venture-capital deal on the CBC show. Ten years later, her company, The 7 Virtues Beauty, is an international leader in the cosmetics industry for its mandate to source organic, fair trade essential oils from countries experiencing turmoil (such as Afghanistan, Haiti, the Middle East and Rwanda).
On October 13, 2022, the best-selling author, social business innovator and entrepreneur shared her knowledge and experience as the keynote speaker of the Sobey School of Business’ fourth annual Women in Business event, Women in Retail: Impacting Our Communities With Purpose. The event highlighted and celebrated women in retail leadership roles like Stegemann, whose business started out of her garage in Bedford and has grown to an international powerhouse of social enterprise.
Raised in the Maritimes, Stegemann’s entrepreneurial vision began when her best friend was severely injured in Afghanistan while serving in the Canadian Forces. As her friend recovered in a Vancouver hospital, Stegemann began thinking about how she could contribute to stabilizing the region.
“I didn’t even set out to make perfume, I just wanted to help farmers in Afghanistan,” Stegemann shared when she sat down for an interview. Initially, she found that she didn’t fit the already-established paths to helping countries in turmoil.
“I’m not a soldier, I’m not a world leader. So, I created a new way.”
Stegemann began by writing a bestselling book, The 7 Virtues of a Philosopher Queen, which seeks to empower women to reach for their dreams. After her book, Stegemann began making contacts with essential oil merchants in Afghanistan, Haiti and Rwanda, and realized this was her way to carry on her mission of peace. The company The 7 Virtues was realized, and through the ups and downs of launching and running a social enterprise, Stegemann has been trailblazing as a woman in retail ever since.
“There was no word for social enterprise when I started,” Stegemann told attendees at the October event on Saint Mary’s campus. The 7 Virtues is now an award-winning social enterprise and is the only Canadian brand to be sold through Sephora’s “Clean at Sephora” fragrance space across the US, Canada and in 13 countries across the EU.
A conference attendee wins a copy of Stegemanns's book
Barb Stegemann (middle) speaks with entrepreneurs, Veronica MacIsaac (left) and Chanda 'CeeCee' Chilanga BComm'11
Women in Retail conference panel, Beyond Barriers: Leading in Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship: Panelists (left to right) Hilary Patterson, Melanie Myers, Tara Wickwire, Crystal Garrett and Amber Grosse
Barb Stegemann and her daughter Ella Webster BA'22 at Spring Convocation
Stegemann’s connection to Saint Mary’s does not stop at simply being from the Maritimes. Her daughter, Ella Webster BA’22, is a recent graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy. Ella and her brother Victor work with Stegemann at The 7 Virtues, a fact that is very meaningful to her.
“The most rewarding part of owning a business is that I get to work with my two children. I’m so grateful that I created something out of thin air that lets me be around my family and gives me the freedom to decide what I want to be, what I want to do. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it.”
Stegemann’s keynote speech didn’t just bring her wealth of experience as a woman entrepreneur in the retail space to Women in Retail: Impacting Our Communities With Purpose. She captivated the room with her wit, charisma and, most importantly, sincerity. Attendees were rapt as Stegemann shared her message of overcoming adversity and empowering women to embrace their inner disruptors.
“It’s very important to design and live the life you want,” she told the room, walking confidently across the stage and seemingly speaking to everybody individually and as one. “We’re only here for a short time, so while we’re here, we should live life with meaning and purpose. Entrepreneurship gives you that.”
Although Stegemann and the other speakers of Women in Retail came from diverse personal backgrounds and business focuses within the retail world, four common themes emerged from their experiences: nerve, balance, community and boldness. These themes united Stegemann and the other speakers and the entire room of attendees. The feeling of support and togetherness was palpable, with attendees and presenters sharing experiences, advice and stories throughout the day. By the end of the event, a community of women in retail and their allies had formed in the Loyola Conference Hall, with Stegemann’s presence spearheading the event.
