Joseph Chedrawe

BA '02, LLB '05

Joseph Chedrawe graduated from Dalhousie with a BA in French in 2002 and an LLB in 2005.  A winner of numerous in-course awards and scholarships, including the Marcelle Cendres Sandhu Memorial Prize and the Prix de l’Alliance Francaise, he combined his academic pursuits with a keen involvement in the French Society. After being elected President, Joseph and his Executive reinvigorated student life within the French department, organizing a well-attended trip to Quebec City for the annual Carnaval de Quebec, numerous wine and cheese socials, multiple pub crawls, a book drive, and even a dictation competition.  For their efforts, the French Society was honoured with the Dalhousie Arts and Social Sciences Society “Society of the Year” Award and was a finalist for the Dalhousie Student Union’s Society of the Year (Academic) Award.  Upon graduation, Joseph was honoured with a DSU Honour Award and the Dalhousie Board of Governors’ Award.  His involvement with the French Society was cited on both occasions.

“There are many things that make Dalhousie’s French department a wonderful place to learn: its small class size, its diverse course offerings (I took courses in literature, grammar, writing, linguistics, translation, cinema, poetry, and more), and the ongoing (free!) support from French tutors in the Cercle Francais. But what truly makes the French department so special at Dalhousie is its staff and professors.  They are passionate about their subject matter.  They are ready, willing, and able to help at any time.  And they genuinely care about the students’ education and general well-being.  More than a decade later, I still feel a profound sense of gratitude to Dalhousie’s French professors for their passion, their support, and their guidance.”

After graduating with his law degree, Joseph worked for a Francophone judge at the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa and was an associate with a law firm in Halifax, following which he attended the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, first as a graduate student, and then as a lecturer in law.  After working in international human rights law with the Legal Resources Centre, an NGO in Johannesburg, South Africa, Joseph moved to Dubai where he currently practices international arbitration law.

“The beauty of a French degree extends beyond the usual skills one gains from a liberal arts education: analysis, critical thought, problem solving, research, communication.  You gain a practical skill!  As a lawyer, my French language education has given me the ability to work on French-language cases and, throughout my career, I have been called upon to assist because of that ability.  If I were to go back in time and re-choose my major at Dalhousie, I would choose French all over again.”