Our Sister’s Keeper
Mini Protocols for Checking-in
Master Sherlanne Pierre, IAWJ Regional Director
“Time to a judicial officer is like the light at sunset that so quickly fades away. There is just never enough of it.”
Justice Kimberly Cenac-Phulgence, St. Lucia
God is great. On the mend and will be back on my feet soon.
So read the last message from my friend and colleague, Master Sharlene Jaggernauth of Trinidad and Tobago. Two weeks later, Hon. Mme. Justice Jade Rodriguez telephoned to say that our dear Sharlene had passed on.
Sharle, as I called her, (she called me Sherle) was a vibrant and active member of Trinidad and Tobago Association of Women Judges (TTAWJ) and International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) and part of the Caribbean delegation that attended the 16th IAWJ Biennial Conference in Morocco. Yet, when she passed, so many women judges acknowledged that it had been a long time since we had actually checked in. Checked in with her or, for that matter, with each other. One woman judge asked a poignant question, Are we really being our sister’s keeper?
The reality is that judges are invariably always busy. They are held to high standards of judicial conduct: independence, impartiality, integrity, propriety, equality and competence and diligence. As such, the practice of checking-in with one other can slip through the cracks. It is easy to assume that if you hear nothing, all is well. Sharle’s case taught us differently.
The Nauru Declaration on Judicial Well-being has brought sharply into focus, the relationship between Judicial well-being and an ethical and inclusive judicial culture: ‘Collegial connection is a key predictor of judicial well-being. All judges should have an equal opportunity to experience well-being in their work…’
“Collegial Connection is a key-predictor of Judicial Well-being”
Our judicial well-being is enhanced and we are better able to cope with the potentially deleterious aspects of our job by being part of a community: a community that checks-in, that is. Women Judges Associations are meant to be such a community. Women Judges who work together on human rights issues and issues which disproportionately affect women and girls should check-in with one another. As women judicial officers with a unique bond acquired through shared experiences, we know, first-hand, what are some of the basic needs of our sisters.
Women judges can adopt personal mini protocols for checking-in which are neither onerous nor impractical. Here are two of my favourite. I schedule my ‘check-in.’ I put intermittent reminders on my virtual calendar to message such and such colleague, right alongside my other action items. My second practice is to send a message which I hope goes straight to the heart of the matter without being unduly intrusive: On a scale of 1 to 10, how are you today? It was what prompted me to escalate my messaging with Sharlene to a telephone call. We ended, what proved to be our final conversation, with a prayer. Hon. Mme. Justice Charmaine Pemberton said, ‘Some things are out of our control. All we can do, is change our reaction.’ I could not agree more. As we mourn the loss of our dear sister, let us let it serve as a reminder to be kind to one another by consistently checking in with one other.
Women Judges of the Caribbean, on a scale of 1 to 10, how are you today?
I hope you enjoy this Kindness Edition of Madam Justice!
“Being a Judge may be a lonely journey but as you travel along, stop and embrace the flowers of friendship.”
Her Honour Tonette Beecher, Jamaica
Master Sharlene Jaggernauth (in the foreground) with Madame Justices Pemberton, Donaldson-Honeywell, Lambert-Peterson, Gonzales and Rodriguez, all of Trinidad and Tobago at dinner in Morocco.