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=Marilou McPhedran=

Marilou McPhedran is a Canadian lawyer and human rights advocate. She is currently the Principal (dean) of the University of Winnipeg Global College in Manitoba, Canada. In 1985, McPhedran became the youngest lawyer to be named a Member of the Order of Canada in recognition of her co-leadership of the Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women on the Constitution. The Ad Hoc Committee was a grass roots movement for strengthening equality rights during the drafting of the Constitution of Canada. In 2001, McPhedran was named one of Canada’s 10 most influential women’s rights activists by Homemaker’s Magazine.

Biography
McPhedran was born and raised in rural Manitoba. She graduated with a law degree from Osgoode Hall, York University and was called to the Bar of Ontario, Canada in 1978. She was granted an honourary Doctorate of Laws from the University of Winnipeg in 1992 and completed her Masters in Law (LL.M) in comparative constitutional law at Osgoode Hall in 2004.

McPhedran's work has focused on the promotion of human rights through systemic reform in law, medicine, education and governance in Canada and internationally. She has co-founded several widely recognized non-profit systemic change organizations, including the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF), which has conducted constitutional equality test cases and interventions for over 25 years; the Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC); the “always open” Gerstein Crisis Centre for homeless discharged psychiatric patients in Toronto; and the International Women’s Rights Project, which is based on two of her intergenerational models: “evidence based advocacy” and “lived rights.” McPhedran is also affiliated with the Women, Peace and Security Network.

Prior to taking her current position as Principal of the University of Winnipeg Global College, McPhedran was the Chief Commissioner of the Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission and was the Ariel Sallows Chair in International Human Rights, University of Saskatchewan College of Law in 2007.

McPhedran has held positions as a part-time member of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, and as a consultant providing legal and strategic counsel on ethical conduct and systemic change to public and private sector clients. Between 2001 and 2003 McPhedran held the position of Co-Director and Co-Investigator for the Centres of Excellence for Health’s National Study of Rural, Remote and Northern Women in Canada. In 2000, McPhedran was the Executive Coordinator of the National Network on Environments and Women’s Heath, based at York University, which facilitated a cyber research network that linked women’s health and human rights. McPhedran has devoted much of her career to issues of health and sexual abuse. In 2000, McPhedran was appointed by the Minister of Health for Ontario to chair the Special Task force on Sexual Abuse of Patients by the Health Professionals in order to to review the impact of the Regulated Health Professionals Act, and its related codes and policies, in the response of health professionals to situations involving sexual abuse of patients by regulated health professionals in Ontario. Between 1996 and 1997, McPhedran held the position of Strategic Counsel with the Friends of Women’s College Hospital. From 1994 to 1996, McPhedran was Corporate Director of Health Partnerships and International Liaison at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto, where she negotiated the College’s designation as a World Heath Organization Collaborating Centre in Women’s Health in the Pan American region. McPhedran has also held positions as the Corporate Director of Healthy City Toronto (1991-1994), Chair of the Independent Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Patients conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (1991-1992), and as the Health Advocate for the City of Toronto (1982-1984).

Between 1980 and 1982, McPhedran acted as legal counsel for the Ad Hoc Committee of Canadian Women on the Constitution. In this role, McPhedran assisted the Ad Hoc Committee in securing protections for women in the Canadian Constitution, and in particular in sections 15 and 28 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. For her work with the Ad Hoc Committee, McPhedran was named a member of the Order of Canada in 1985.

McPhedran has helped lead and organize a number of national and international conferences and summits, including Chairing the Forum on Women’s Activism in Constitutional Democratic Reform held in the Parliament Buildings of Canada in 2006; Executive Coordinator of the Summit of Women Leaders of the Americas for Mental Health in Washington D.C. in 1996; and Co-Chair of the International Multidisciplinary Teaching to Promote Women’s Health Conference at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto in 1996.

Selected Works
“Women’s Constitutional Activism in South Africa and Canada” in International Review of Constitutionalism (2009) “A Truer Story: Constitutional Trialogue” in Supreme Court Law Review (2007)

“The Fight for the Charter” in Canadian Woman Studies (2007)

“Impact of S. 15 Equality Rights on Canadian Society: beacon or laser?” in National Journal of Constitutional Law (2006)

Engendering the “Responsibility to Protect” Doctrine (2005) a strategy paper for Canada’s ambassador to the United Nations

Preventing Sexual Abuse: A Legal Guide for Health Care Professionals (2004) with Wendy Sutton

National Study on Rural Remote and Northern Women’s Health in Canada (2003)

“What about accountability to the patient?” in The Final Report of the Special Task Force on the Sexual Abuse of Patients (2001, ISBN 0-7778-9917-5)

The First CEDAW Impact Study: Final Report (2000, ISBN 1-55014-397-2)

Final Report of the Independent Task Force on Sexual Abuse of Patients, Chair (1991) – Cited in the Supreme Court of Canada decision in Norberg v. Wynrib (1992)

Selected Awards and Recognition
Elizabeth Fry Society of Saskatoon Rebel with a Cause Award for Community Service (2008)

Governor General’s 2003 Person’s Case Medal (2003) – Highest civic award for women in Canada

Queen’s Jubilee Medal (2002)

Named as one of Canada’s ten most influential women’s rights advocates by Homemaker’s Magazine (2001)

Women Who Make a Difference: Business and Professional Leadership Award, from Toronto Life Fashion Magazine (1996)

Canadian Women Who’s Who – first entry (1994)

Merck Frosst Award for Building Healthier Communities to Healthy City Toronto (1994)

Woman of the Year, B’Nai Brith Women (1993)

Doctorate of Laws, honoris causa, University of Winnipeg (1992)

Canada 125 Commemorative Medal, Government of Canada (1992)

Canadian Who’s Who – first entry (1991)

‘Women on the Move’ Award, Toronto Sun Publishing (1988)

Order of Canada, Government of Canada (1985) - Canada’s highest civic award

YWCA Women of Distinction – Special Citation for Constitutional Equality Work (1981)