Speaker Biographies for s. 15 Conference, "Equality: The Heart of a Just Society: Looking Back, Looking Forward", October 27-28, 2005, Toronto, Canada.

RAJ ANAND

Mr. Raj Anand is a partner with WeirFoulds LLP where he practises in the areas of human rights, constitutional and administrative law, labour relations, civil litigation, professional negligence and discipline.

He is a former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission and presently acts for complainants and respondents before the Ontario and Canadian Human Rights Commissions. He has acted as a Board of Inquiry under the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Police Services Act,and as Co-Chair of the University of Toronto Tribunal and has acted as counsel to a number of administrative tribunals. Mr. Anand has spoken and written on diverse subjects including trial, appellate and administrative advocacy and human rights.

He graduated with the Dean’s Key in 1978 from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. He served in 1986-1987 as a Task Force to the Ontario Government on the Law Concerning Trespass to Publicly-used Property as it Affects Youth and Minorities.

In 1997, he was the first recipient of the Advocates’ Society Award of Justice.

In 2000, Mr. Anand taught “The New Administrative Law” in the LL.M. programme at Osgoode Hall Law School. Mr.Anand chairs the Minority Advocacy and Rights Council and acts for a variety of nongovernmental organizations in public interest litigation. He is a member of the Equity Advisory Group of the Law Society, the Equality Rights Panel of the Court Challenges Program, the Board of Directors of the Advocates' Society, the Income Security Advocacy Centre and ProBono Law Ontario,the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, andVice-President of the University of Toronto Law Alumni Council.

In 2003, he received the Law Society Medal, the highest honour awarded by the governing body of the legal profession in Ontario.

DORIS ANDERSON, C.C.

Doris Anderson was raised and educated in Calgary, Alberta. After graduating from the University of Alberta she bought a one-way train ticket to Toronto to try her hand at journalism. After a number of jobs copywriting, radio script writing and advertising, as well as one year in Europe writing short fiction, she returned to Canada and landed a job at Chatelaine magazine. Within seven years she was editor, a position she held for twenty years, during which she established Chatelaine as a leading voice for Canadian feminism – well in advance of comparable U.S. magazines.

In 1979 she became President of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women in Ottawa. Her resignation in 1980 sparked what became known as the “Ad Hoc” conference and resulted in an entirely new clause in Canada’s Charter of Rights – Section 28 – confirming the equality of women and men in the Charter.

From 1982 to 1984 she was president of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women, Canada’s largest volunteer lobby group, representing over 700 women’s organizations.

For ten years she was a regular columnist for the Toronto Star. She is also the author of three novels and two non-fiction books, including her autobiography entitled “Rebel Daughter”.

She has served on many boards and commissions including the National Conference on Confederation, the Canadian Institute on Public Affairs, the Canadian Film Development Corporation, the Board of Governors of York University, the board of Macmillan Publishing, Maclean-Hunter Publishing, the Metropolitan Children’s Aid Society, the Institute on Public Policy Planning, the North South Institute, Women’s College Hospital, the Judicial Council of Ontario, Harbourfront, as well as a founding member and president of Fair Vote Canada.

She also served as Chancellor of the University of Prince Edward Island and is just completing a term as Chair of the Press Council of Ontario.

She is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Order of Ontario, as well as the News Hall of Fame, a 1991 recipient of the Persons Award, the 1983 Y Awards for Women of Distinction, the Constance E. Hamilton Award for the City of Toronto and the Canadian Journalism Foundation’s Life Time Achievement Award.

BEVERLEY BAINES

Beverley Baines is a Professor in the Faculty of Law at Queen's University where she has taught Public Law, Constitutional Law, and Law Gender Equality. Currently she is the Head of the Department of Women's Studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, as well as teaching Law and Public Policy in the School of Policy Studies. Her most recent book is The Gender of Constitutional Jurisprudence (Cambridge University Press, 2004), a study of women's constitutional equality jurisprudence in twelve countries, which she co-edited with Professor Ruth Rubio-Marin of the University of Seville.

Professor Baines was a constitutional advisor to women's groups seeking to entrench women's equality rights in the Charter in the early 1980s and has continued to take an avid interest in the Supreme Court of Canada's interpretation of these rights.

THE HONOURABLE MICHAEL J. BRYANT

Michael J. Bryant was elected to his midtown Toronto riding in 1999 and re-elected in 2003.

Michael was appointed Attorney General of Ontario on October 23, 2003. He has also served as Ontario's first Minister Responsible for Democratic Renewal and Minister Responsible for Native Affairs.

Michael previously served as opposition critic for the Attorney General and as energy co-critic. He also served on Ontario's Standing Committee on Justice and Social Policy.

Prior to his election, Michael obtained a B.A. and M.A. at the University of British Columbia, an LL.B. at Osgoode Hall Law School, and an LL.M. at Harvard University. He clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for the current Chief Justice of Canada and practiced litigation at McCarthy Tétrault in Toronto.

Michael has also served as Lecturer in Law at King's College, University of London (U.K.) and as adjunct professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Toronto. He has published articles and books on public law and criminal law.

Michael, his wife Susan Abramovitch, an entertainment lawyer, and their two children, live in midtown Toronto.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOE CLARK

The Right Honourable Joe Clark was elected eight times to the House of Commons of Canada, and served in Parliament for 25 years, retiring in June 2004. He was Prime Minister of Canada in 1979-80, Secretary of State for External Affairs (Foreign Minister) from 1984-1991, Minister of Constitutional Affairs from 1991-1993, and Acting Minister of both National Defence and Justice. He served twice as Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition, and as National Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.

He chaired the Canadian Cabinet committees on Foreign and Defence Policy, Security and Intelligence, the Free Trade Agreement with the USA, and the constitutional renewal process that led to the Charlottetown Accord. Internationally, he was the first chairman of the Commonwealth Committee of Foreign Ministers on Southern Africa, which led the Commonwealth campaign against apartheid, chaired the first-ever joint meeting of members of NATO and the Warsaw Pact, and participated actively in eight G-8 (or G-7) Economic Summits. At his direction, Canada assumed its full role and responsibilities in the Organization of American States, recognized the Palestinian right to self-determination, and maintained ODA contributions at their highest levels in recent history.

Mr. Clark was a founding board member of the Pacific Council on International Policy and, before returning to active politics in 1998, served on the boards of international NGOS and Canadian and international companies. He has been a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and American University in Washington, DC, and was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 2004. Mr. Clark is a member of the Council of Presidents and Prime Ministers of the Americas, and served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cyprus.

He is president of Joe Clark and Associates, an international consulting firm based in Canada, and active in Asia and Africa. He is author of the book “Canada: A Nation Too Good To Lose”.

Mr. Clark is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Alberta Order of Excellence and l’Ordre de la Pleiades, and has been awarded several honourary degrees. He was the first recipient of the Vimy Award. Joe Clark is married to the Canadian author and lawyer Maureen McTeer, who specializes in law and public policy respecting health, science, and reproductive technologies. Their home is in Ottawa, Canada.

THE HONOURABLE PETER CORY, C.C., C.D., Q.C.

The Honourable Peter Cory was a pilot in the RCAF and served overseas with the 6thBomber Group.

The Honourable Peter Cory received a B.A. from the University of Western Ontario (Assumption) in 1947. He graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1950. He was called to the Ontario Bar in 1950. He was appointed Q.C. in 1963. He practised law with Holden, Murdoch. He was elected a Bencher of the Law Society of Upper Canada in 1971. He was President of the Advocates’ Society; Chairman of the Ontario Civil Liberties Section of the Canadian Bar Association; President of the County of York Law Association; and a Director of the Canadian Bar Association. He was appointed as Chancellor of York University in June 2004.

He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Ontario High Court in 1974; appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1981. He was appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada, February 1, 1989 and retired in June, 1999.

The Honourable Peter Cory is Honorary Colonel of 426 (T) Training Squadron and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

The Honourable Peter Cory is currently mentoring at the Federal Department of Justice and conducting arbitration and mediation work at the Osler ADR Centre.

Since 1999 the Honourable Peter Cory has been appointed and is continuing as a member of the DNA Data Bank Advisory Committee. He was appointed Commissioner for the Province of Ontario to conduct a study regarding paralegals. He was appointed Commissioner to study the qualifications, salary and pensions of Military Judges. He was appointed Commissioner by the Province of Manitoba to investigate the reasons for the wrongful conviction of Thomas Sophonow for murder and to fix the compensation payable to him arising from his wrongful conviction and imprisonment. He was recently appointed Commissioner by the governments of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland to investigate and report with regard to six high profile murder cases which are significant to all the parties involved in the peace process in Northern Ireland. He recently completed a study for the Province of Ontario pertaining to the best method of auditing the medical service accounts of the doctors of the Province.

MARY DAWSON, Q.C.

Mary Dawson retired after a long career with the Government of Canada on June 23, 2005. As Associate Deputy Minister in the Department of Justice since 1988, she oversaw a wide variety of legal issues.

Mrs. Dawson has throughout her career played an important role in relation to constitutional matters. She drafted the patriation package (Constitution Act, 1982) and has drafted, and provided the legal advice for, all Constitutional amendments since that time, including the Meech Lake Accord and the Charlottetown Accord. In recent years she led the legal team on the Quebec Secession Reference and was responsible for the legal advice on, and drafting of, the Clarity Act. She has advised extensively in the area of aboriginal rights throughout her career. Recently she managed the Supreme Court Reference on same sex marriage for the Department of Justice as well as the preparation of the draft legislation relating to same sex marriage.

Mrs. Dawson was a Skelton-Clark Fellow at Queen’s University in 1999/2000 where she lectured in several faculties. She has also published several articles on various subjects.

From 1986 to 1995, Mrs. Dawson was the head of the Department’s Public Law Sector, including the traditional public law areas of constitutional, administrative and international law as well as human rights law, native law, judicial affairs, access and privacy law and regulatory affairs.

She was Associate Chief Legislative Counsel from 1980 to 1986 and Chair of the Statute Revision Commission through most of the 1980’s. She joined the Legislation Section of the Department of Justice in 1970 and drafted such laws as the Access to Information Act, the Privacy Act, the Canada Health Act, the Official Languages Act, the Competition Act, the Customs Act and the Young Offenders Act.

Mrs. Dawson has also been involved in a number of international activities as well as a number of outreach activities in Canada. She has held executive positions in the International Bar Association and was a Canadian member of the Joint Steering Committee of the Joint Canada-Russia project on Public Administration Reform in Russia.

Mrs. Dawson holds a BA (Honours Philosophy) and a BCL (Civil Law) from McGill University, an LLB (Common Law) from Dalhousie University and a Diplôme d’études supérieures en droit (droit public), from the University of Ottawa. She is a member of the Quebec, Nova Scotia and Ontario Bars.

MARY EBERTS

Mary Eberts graduated from the University of Western Ontario and the Harvard Law School and is a member of the bar of Ontario. She is a partner at Eberts Symes Street Pinto & Jull, a Toronto firm; her litigiation practice includes equality cases at all levels of court and in many different jurisdictions in Canada. She was counsel to the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women in 1981-82 in connection with the drafting of s. 15. A co-founder of the Women's Legal Education and Action Committee, she was the first chair of its National Legal Committee. She has received numerous awards for her equality work, including the Governor-General's Gold Medal in Honour of the Persons Cases.

R. DOUGLAS ELLIOTT

Douglas Elliott is a partner in the Toronto law firm of Roy Elliott Kim O’Connor LLP, where his practice includes plaintiffs’ and defendants’ class actions, as well as constitutional and human rights law. He received his LL.B. from the University of Toronto in 1982, and was called to the Bar in 1984. He was certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Civil Litigation in 2003.

Douglas is perhaps best known for his work on high profile cases involving social justice issues. He represented the Canadian AIDS Society (CAS) at the Krever Inquiry into the blood system, and in interventions by CAS in the Supreme Court of Canada in Vriend v. Alberta, Latimer v. The Queen,Little Sisters Bookstore v. Canada and Hodge v. Canada. Douglas also acted as co-counsel for EGALE in its intervention at the Supreme Court in Trinity Western University, and for the Foundation for Equal Families in M. v. H. Douglas was senior counsel representing the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto in the Ontario same sex marriage case. Most recently, Douglas was the leader of a national team of lawyers who won a multimillion class action judgment for a group of gay and lesbian Canadians seeking CPP survivor’s pensions in Hislop v Canada.

Douglas has been an active volunteer with his profession. He was the founding co-chair of the Ontario Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Committee (SOGIC), and the Canadian Bar Association’s national SOGIC. He was co-founder and first president of the International Lesbian and Gay Law Association. Mr. Elliott has served on the Standing Committee on Equality of the CBA and the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Equity Advisory Group. He is currently on the Board of the Ontario Bar Assistance Plan.

Douglas has been recognized with a number of awards, including the Leadership Award of the Canadian AIDS Society, the Founder’s Award from the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, the Hero Award from the Canadian Bar Association’s Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Conference, the “Lawyer of the Year” award from the Advocacy Resource Centre for the Handicapped and the Community Service Award from the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto.

ELIZABETH GOLDBERG

Elizabeth Goldberg was Chief Constitutional Counsel with the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario from 1991 to 2005. She has advised the Government of Ontario on constitutional issues, including proposals respecting partriation, enactment of the Charter, and the Charlottetown Accord. She has also represented the Attorney General in all levels of court in cases involving fundamental issues of interpretation of the Charter. As Chief Constitutional Counsel her work included monitoring and co-ordinating all advice and representation in civil constitutional matters for the Ontario Government. She was a Trustee of the Law Foundation of Ontario from 1993 to 2002, a member of the Class Proceedings Committee from 2000 to 2004, and on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Justice Education Network from 2002 to 2005. She is on the Board of Directors of the Osgoode Society. She is currently Executive Lead of the Public Service Legislation Reform Project for the Government of Ontario.

PETER W. HOGG, Q.C.

Peter W. Hogg, C.C., Q.C., L.S.M., F.R.S.C., is scholar in residence at the law firm of Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.