A lawyer with the federal Department of Justice and volunteer hockey coach, W. Dean Smith, KC serves on the Hockey Nova Scotia Board of Directors as chair of diversity and inclusion, and is the president of the Black Ice Hockey and Sports Hall of Fame Society. In 2016, Dean was appointed a commissioner to the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children Restorative Public Inquiry, before serving as chair of Hockey Nova Scotia’s Diversity and Inclusion Task Force from 2019 to 2021. In recognition of his dedication to diversifying hockey in Nova Scotia, Dean was awarded the Tom Miller Human Rights Award in 2022 and the NHL’s Willie O’Ree Community Hero Award in 2023.