The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) would like to extend our sincere congratulations to Elizabeth Sheehy, Professor, University of Ottawa and a long time LEAF volunteer for receiving the Canadian Bar Association 2013 Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Law for outstanding contributions to the law and legal scholarship in Canada.
Professor Sheehy has been involved in many law reform activities around equality rights and social justice issues and was a co-counsel for LEAF in its intervention in R v JA (“advance consent” to sexual assault) (2011 SCC 28).
Diane O’Reggio remarks, “On behalf of LEAF, I would like to congratulate Professor Sheehy for being recognized with such a prestigious award in the legal profession. I salute her efforts for addressing discrimination against women in the criminal law and for continuing to be women’s advocate in the justice system.”
There have been significant advances for women in Canada. However, the persistent – and in some cases increasing – incidence of violence against women, challenges for women’s empowerment and gender equality, persistence of discriminatory laws governing employment, marriage, land, property and inheritance remain our key challenges. Even in areas where progress has been made, there is still much room for improvement and LEAF looks forward to working with Professor Sheehy to enable a positive and systemic change.
For more information visit: www.cba.org
