Today is ‘Persons Day’ – a day that commemorates Edwards v. Canada (Attorney General) case also known as the Persons Case, which dates back to October 18th, 1929 when the British Privy Council (then Canada’s highest court of appeal) ruled that women were to be considered persons under the law and therefore those women that were then eligible could sit in the Canadian Senate.
As an organization, LEAF is committed to challenging all forms of discrimination against women and girls through legal action, public education, and law reform under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, most notably section 15. In doing so LEAF has and will continue to challenge laws, policies and practices that discriminate against women and girls across Canada.
Today, LEAF continues to build upon our proud history with a continued and tireless focus on challenges faced by marginalized women and girls in our society.
There have been significant advances for women in Canada in relation to health, education and employment over that past two decades. However, the incidence of violence against girls and women, the continued discrimination in women’s employment, infringements of LGBT, racialized and disabled women’s rights, the persistent lack of access to justice in family law (especially regarding property rights and spousal support for common law couples), the missing and murdered indigenous women, refugee and immigrant women’s status, the detention of women with mental health issues, the increasing economic insecurity of elderly women, human trafficking, combating HIV/AIDS, limited access to affordable childcare, and many other challenges remain barriers to full equality.
LEAF is needed more than ever to work toward addressing those challenges! Help LEAF to improve the lives of Canadian girls and women in the years to come.
