Hülya Genç

Osgoode JD| Criminal Defence | Prison & Police Abolitionist | Kurdish Liberation | she/her

Hülya Emmanuelle Genç was born 1st September 1986 in Toronto, the improbable crossroads of her Kurdish/Turkish and Scots/Irish/Canadian parents. She arrived with the bravura that characterized her whole life -- radiant, strong, iron-willed, loving and curious, tender and observant towards the human and natural world around her. She was indominable! When not two years old she had figured out how to spring herself from her crib before anyone else woke and silently patrol the house, free to explore – always one step ahead of her parents’ attempts to anticipate and minimize risks. Enforcing bans was futile; the only effective route was to engage her huge peace-loving soul.

So she approached the world:  she didn’t recognize barriers.  Diagnosed at 10 with Type 1 diabetes, she quickly adapted to the regime this development enforced without allowing it to cramp her style.  Still, she respected the limitations it brought: when once at summer camp she protested against joining an overnight hike unaccompanied by the registered nurse promised, wild horses could not persuade her.  The camp eventually relented, provided her an alternative activity, and in the end recognized and commended her for her caution and resolve.

With her sister Elif she shared complex and challenging family circumstances -- encompassing at once a life in Toronto and extensive periods of time and experiences in Turkey with extended family.  The “girls” depended on each other as comrades and soulmates in negotiating the emotional and practical -- plus linguistic and cultural -- richness and demands of this complex terrain, including the very difficult long illness and early death of their father when they were still teenagers.

After high school, Hülya leap-frogged through years of studying and working in various settings in which she distinguished herself as MVP.  But what claimed her focus and heart was the plight of the socially marginalized, over-incarcerated and underrepresented, on whose behalf she passionately wanted to work. This passion led her to volunteer at a Toronto criminal defence firm, where she quickly was put on staff.  She then set her sights on law school – quite a reach without a BA.  Again, against the odds, she prevailed and was accepted at both of the only two schools she applied to.

Enrolling in law school was a realization of Hülya’s dream to have the means and credentials to defend the generally undefended.  Abruptly pivoting from the working world she was attuned to, she was determined and again prevailed.  With a couple fellow Osgoode students, she envisioned opening a criminal defence firm devoted to social justice, including, more recently, refugee issues. Anyone who worked with her recognized she would make a great lawyer.  

The past year presented Hülya with unprecedented challenges:  Covid in early 2021; lingering Covid complications;  stresses of work and school ; pandemic isolation – all threatening the regularity and,  critically,  the  guarantee of a safety net  for the inevitable emergencies essential to  anyone living with TiD.  Hülya generally managed her condition very well, but in a last tragic development, her determination to be independent and insistence on her autonomy proved fatally risky. 

That she was within reach of her goals when torn from the world is an incalculable loss to her, to all of us who loved her and to those she hoped to serve. We shall profoundly miss her radiant being.

She is predeceased by her father Kenan Genç, grandparents Margaret and Robert Lee McComb and Melek and Mahmut Genç and aunt Bonnie McComb Kreye and uncle Yusuf Sever, aunt Günül and uncles Emin and Hikmet Genç.  She is survived by her mother Brenda, sister Elif, uncle and aunt Robert McComb and Ann Minnis,  uncle Don Kreye, aunt and uncle Sheila and Hrant Alianak, aunt Hülya Sever, cousins Elif, Firat and Süleyman Sever, Volkan Genç;  David, Stephen and Tom McComb, Sarah Marcotte and Zoe Kreye, Angie Angier and second cousins Michaela, Victoria and Aiden Angier.