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LEAF National will host a speaker series in lieu of the in-person gala that we traditionally hold to commemorate the Persons decision, which gave certain women in Canada broader legal recognition.
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Although LEAF has celebrated the Persons Case in past years, many women were not included in that decision and were not considered ‘persons’ under Canadian law until decades later. There are still those whose ‘personhood’ is challenged or excluded today. This speaker series will give us the chance to openly discuss what makes a ‘person’ and whose voices need centering in conversations about gender equality in 2020.
Join us on October 26, 2020 for our first panel discussion: “What Makes a Person? A Critical Look at the Persons Case and its Legacy.” This series will bring together a diverse group of esteemed speakers to help unpack the longstanding obstacles to achieving ‘personhood’ for so many women.
LEAF National’s annual Persons Day Gala is our biggest annual fundraiser. The funds raised through our speaker series will continue to support our work to advance substantive equality rights in Canada through litigation, law reform and education.
This event is only possible with the generous support of our sponsors! Thank you to CUPE National, UFCW Canada, Goldblatt Partners LLP, The Law Society of Ontario, Stockwoods LLP, Lax O'Sullivan Lisus Gottlieb LLP, Kastner Law, Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) and Madame Premier.
For more information about LEAF’s Persons Day event, please contact Megan Cameron at 416.595.7170 x2004 or [email protected].
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Local LEAF branches are also hosting their own Persons Day events, with incredible speakers addressing critically important questions of personhood in 2020. Thank you so much to all of the LEAF branch volunteers who are organizing these essential fundraisers, and a huge thank you to all of their sponsors!
This year, all of the LEAF branch events are online, which means that you can tune in from anywhere in the country – though to get the hot breakfast that LEAF Thunder Bay has arranged for delivery, it’s probably best to be living in Thunder Bay :)
Below are the different branch events being held this October:
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LEAF Edmonton’s Breakfast webinar: October 19, 2020, 7:30 – 9:00 a.m. (MDT)
Dr. Val Napoleon is the keynote speaker at LEAF Edmonton’s Persons Day webinar breakfast, “Contested Legal Personalities: Indigenous Women.” In her talk, she will explore how the combined conditions of violence as well as the various responses to sexualized, gendered violence have shaped the present day legal personhood of Indigenous women and girls from an Indigenous legal perspective and from a Canadian legal perspective. Dr. Napoleon will address the agency of Indigenous women and girls, meaning their capacity of will, mind, spirit, and humanity. This is personhood in its fullest possible conception, and it is societal denial of that agency that fosters and enables their relentless sexist dehumanization. Dr. Napoleon is the Law Foundation Professor of Aboriginal Justice and Governance at the University of Victoria Faculty of Law. She is from northeast British Columbia (Treaty 8) and a member of Saulteau First Nation. She is also an adopted member of the Gitanyow (Gitksan) House of Luuxhon, Ganada (Frog) Clan.
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LEAF Thunder Bay Breakfast: October 22, 2020, morning (time tbd)
LEAF Thunder Bay is excited to announce that our 2020 Annual Persons Day Breakfast via Zoom, sponsored by Thomson Reuters, will be held October 22, 2020 this year. We have lined up impressive panelists, Kate Brindley, Gillian Hnatiw, and Sarah Molyneaux, to speak to this year’s topic: COVID-19’s Disproportionate Impact on Women. We have partnered with URide Services and Daytona’s, two local gems, to deliver hot breakfasts to all of our Thunder Bay participants. We are working on obtaining LSO certification for 1.5 EDI hours for the event.
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LEAF Windsor Panel: “Intersectionality and Personhood”: October 21, 2020, 12:00 – 1:30 pm (EST)
Please join LEAF Windsor as we host our annual (now virtual) panel celebrating Persons Day. This year at Windsor Law our goal is to re-center the discussion on intersectionality and personhood. Our hope is to have panelists share their valued and valid experiences, successes and challenges in the legal field with our viewers.
The Windsor Law LEAF branch has partnered with several groups at Windsor Law including the Black Law Students Association, the Shkawbewisawg Law Society, OUTLaws (LGBTQIA), the Disability Student Law Society and the Women of Colour Legal Alliance to ensure our panel is reflective and inclusive.
This event is generally open to Windsor Law faculty and students. But this year, we are opening it up to the interested public, legal professionals and more!
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LEAF Ottawa Panel: “Personhood in the 21st Century”: October 20, 2020, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m EST)
This year the Ottawa branch’s Persons Day event is entitled “Personhood in the 21st century” and we are focussing on systemic discrimination in the present day as it targets BIPOC women and women of colour. The panel will also involve a discussion around policy changes that might be implemented towards eradicating this, especially in the areas of mental health and healthcare, as well as emergency responses for these issues. It will be a panel of academics as well as community members and will take place on Tuesday October 20th from 6:00 - 7:30 p.m EST.
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