Toronto, October 25, 2017<\/em> \u200b \u2013 On Thursday, October 26, 2017 in Toronto, over 600 professionals from the legal, business, labour and academic sectors will attend \u200bLEAF\u2019s Annual Persons Day Evening Gala\u200b. \u200bThe \u200bsold out<\/strong>\u200b event at Arcadian Court in downtown Toronto will feature a special performance from celebrated writer and performer, Sandra Shamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms. Shamas, who began her career with her original theatrical show, My Boyfriend\u2019s Back and There\u2019s Gonna Be Laundry in 1987, is headlining the Gala and is a strong supporter of one of Canada\u2019s pre-eminent feminist legal organizations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s an honour to be speaking at this year\u2019s Persons Day Evening Gala, in support of LEAF. The important work that LEAF does on behalf of the rights of women and girls in Canada on issues of wage disparity and reproductive rights, has my endless respect. As a performer, I\u2019m happy that I can contribute to LEAF\u2019s continuance,\u201d Shamas said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This event is LEAF\u2019s largest fundraiser and the funds raised directly support the organization\u2019s vital work in advancing substantive equality rights for women and girls in Canada through litigation, law reform and public education. LEAF\u2019s interventions in countless high-profile cases before the Supreme Court of Canada since 1985 have not only shaped the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms \u2013 they have shaped the national conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Persons Day Evening Gala is held annually to commemorate October 18, 1929, when the British Privy Council (then Canada\u2019s highest court of appeal) ruled in \u200bEdwards \u200b v. \u200bCanada, known as the Persons Case, that women were to be considered persons under the law and should be eligible to sit in the Canadian Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLEAF commemorates, rather than celebrates, Persons Day because the 1929 Persons Case excluded Indigenous women, racialized women, and many other women as persons under the law. Persons Day reminds us that women are still not equal in Canada and there is work to be done,\u201d LEAF Executive Director, Hailee Morrison, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n