Planning to make your annual donation to United Way?  How about considering Women’s Legal Action Fund?

Simply contact your Employee Campaign Coordinator (ECC) and ask your donation be designated to LEAF.

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Thank you for attending the 2011 Persons Day Breakfast Gala!

One of the opening remarks made by the new Executive Director of LEAF, Sheryl Hoshizaki was how wonderful it was to see so many people who had left their cozy beds to come early in the morning to celebrate Persons Day at the 2011 LEAF Breakfast. Hosted by artist Heather Bishop, it was an event full of insightful thoughts, song,  good food and a celebration of the ongoing work LEAF does.

In the keynote address Dr. Avis Glaze spoke of the trailblazing work of the Honourable Beverley McLauchlin, Honourable Rosalie Abella and Michele Landsberg before speaking of the role of justice and equity in education. Great strides have been made in the last few years within education, in large part to policy initiatives and law reform. Dr. Glaze’s acknowledgement of past contributions and hope for the future generations of women spoke to the range of women in the audience.

Standing just outside the gathering one would see the coming together of women with a shared history of struggle but a collective energy for justice.  For over 100 young women that were sponsored by LEAF and OJEN, the breakfast was a kickoff for a day long educational opportunity entitled Trailblazers: Meeting Women in Law.

Longtime LEAF supporter Marilyn Roycroft was honoured by the board as she steps down from her role on the board to take on work with the foundation. It was her parting words to the young women to find an organization and contribute time that was a good reminder of how and why LEAF is able to do the work it does.

Watch the video footage from the Toronto event

We recommend listening to Sally Armstrong on the New Revolutionaries on the CBC program Ideas. This amazing program documents women’s grassroots strategies around the world. The critical role of the Ad Hoc Women’s Committee in the drafting of the equality provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the creation and work of LEAF are discussed as pivotal in the advancement of women’s rights in Canada.

On Wednesday June 1, LEAF celebrated and honoured a special group of women and showcase the lives and work of eight amazing women who have created “substantive equality” by demonstrating that woman can thrive in non-traditional roles.

More >

May 31, 2011, Toronto - Equal Voice (EV) and the Women’s Legal Action and Education Fund (LEAF) have joined forces to explore new avenues for increasing the number of elected women at the highest levels of government in our country.

On June 2, the two organizations are hosting a reception where the Rt. Hon. Kim Campbell, Hon. Anne McLellan and Hon. Frances Lankin will speak to senior players in the women’s movement in Toronto.

On June 3, political scientists and constitutional lawyers from across the country will meet with the three politicians in a closed roundtable discussion regarding strategies to put more women on the ballot at all levels of government.

“The June events are a response to Kim Campbell’s urging that we ‘stop asking and start demanding’ women’s rights as full partners in the political process” says Rosemary Speirs, Founding Chair of Equal Voice.

Joanna Birenbaum, LEAF’s Legal Director, explains that “LEAF is committed to achieving substantive equality for women in Canada.  This includes a meaningful right to democratic and political participation and decision-making.”

On June 2, Ms. Lankin, will discuss the long struggle to get more women nominated and elected;  Ms. Campbell will explain why it is so important to elect a ‘critical mass’ of women; and Ms. McLellan will urge us to get tougher in advancing the cause.

All three women are winners of Equal Voice’s EVE award for leadership in the cause of electing more women. Their discussion will be moderated by well-known writer Michele Landsberg.

Today there are 76 women in the House of Commons, or 24.6 per cent of the 308 members. While this is an increase of 7 female MPs over those elected in 2008, only the New Democratic Party with 40 elected women, or 39 per cent of the NDP caucus, has exceeded the one-third target which experts call “critical mass”.

The Conservatives elected 28 women or 17 per cent of their majority caucus, and the Liberals 6 women, or 17.6 per cent.  Elizabeth May became the only elected MP for the Green Party, and one woman was elected for the Bloc Quebecois.

At the June 3 in-camera roundtable, “Equal Voice and LEAF are asking the experts to put their heads together to discuss how to guarantee that women achieve fairer representation in the seats of political power,” said Ms. Birenbaum.  They’ll be considering redress under certain sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or the Canadian Human Rights Act.

“In both organizations we are acutely aware of the obstacles, but we will be asking the experts to think outside the box and to take into account changing times, including the adoption by many other countries of pro-active measures to ensure better representation of women,” added Ms. Birenbaum.

Equal Voice is a national non-profit organization created to push for the election of more women to all levels of government in Canada. Its volunteers have been pressing party leaders for the last 10 years to nominate and elect more women.

LEAF has won key battles for women in its 25 years of  existence – and  is working with Equal Voice to determine how women’s constitutional rights to equality and “effective representation” are compelling instruments to speed the pace of women’s advancement in political office.

Media wishing to cover the speakers at the reception on June 2 should please contact: Joanna Birenbaum, j.birenbaum@leaf.ca, (416) 595-7170 ext. 223 or (647) 500-3005; or Rosemary Speirs, rosespeirs@equalvoice.ca (416) 577-2777.

The 2011 election resulted in the election of 76 women to the House of Commons.  This is a step forward and represents a quarter of all seats available.  The Official Opposition contains about 40% women and the Governing party shows women in 17% of elected seats.  Clearly, work remains ahead.

But, congratulations Canada for this positive move toward a greater representation of all Canadians.

The Ontario Bar Association will honour LEAF at the OBA’s annual awards gala on May 5th.

Sheryl Hoshizaki , LEAF’s Executive Director, will accept the President’s Award on our behalf.  We are thankful to the OBA for its recognition of LEAF’s work.   Our accomplishments over the past quarter century have only been possible due to the support we have received from the legal community, and many members of the OBA.  Together with the ongoing support of the legal community, we look forward to continued success in our goal of achieving substantive equality for the women and girls of Canada.

Details of this event can be found on our Events page

LEAF has recently joined the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality and Human Rights.  Please click on the links below to be taken to their great fact sheets on these important issues facing Canadian women:

LEAF’s Board of Directors invites you to join us in welcoming Sheryl Hoshizaki as our new Executive Director.  Sheryl is a lifelong feminist and advocate for the rights of women and children.  She comes to us from the international humanitarian organization Right to Play, where she serves as Deputy Director of Educational and Aboriginal Initiatives. Sheryl brings to LEAF a history of innovative and successful management in diverse roles including as President of the Federation of Women Teachers’ Associations of Ontario, school principal, Member of the Premier’s Council on Race Relations and many roles within the York Region District School Board.

As we near the end of our 25th Anniversary year, we look to our future and are excited by the experience and energy Sheryl brings to implement LEAF’s vision.  This year has been eventful, successful and challenging.  Our litigation is at an all time high:  we intervened in 6 cases, received positive decisions in 3 cases and await judgment in 2. Law reform efforts are equally busy and we have commented or submitted briefs on 4 pieces of federal and provincial legislation, as well as participating in many public forums.  We continue to roll out our new Education Program: LEAF at Work. Our Youth Commission report will be released later this spring.  We’re holding an Equality Day Celebration in Toronto on June 1st.  We’re organizing a symposium on the under-representation of women in federal politics with Equal Voice in Toronto on June 3rd.  And, of course, many hundreds will again attend our Person’s Day Breakfasts across the country this fall.

We have achieved all this during a year of transition in our national office, and we thank all staff, volunteers and supporters for their invaluable assistance and patience.  We take this opportunity to bid farewell to Mary Wells, Tamar Witelson and Audia Johnson, and we thank them for their service.

Sheryl Hoshizaki began working with LEAF on April 8, 2011.

Contact Sheryl:
e-mail:                s.hoshizaki@leaf.ca
toll free phone:     1 (888) 824-5323, ext. 225
local phone:         1 (416) 595-7170 ext. 225,

Many thanks to the YWCA Canada for their useful information on the long gun registry and the upcoming election.  For more information about their letter writing campaign click YWCA Open Letter