Women's Legal Education and Action Fund

Women's Legal Education and Action Fund

Abbreviation	LEAF
Formation	1985
Founder	Susan Tanner
Type	Women's rights
Legal status	active
Purpose	advocate and public voice, educator and network
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Region served	Canada
Official language	English, French
Website	leaf.ca

Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, referred to by the acronym LEAF, is a women's rights organization based in Toronto, Canada.

History

Canadian Lawyer magazine describes LEAF as a "non-profit organization that works to advance gender equality and human rights through litigation, law reform, and education".[1] The founding chair of LEAF was Susan Tanner,[2] and author Judy Rebick wrote in her book Ten Thousand Roses: The Making of a Feminist Revolution that other founders had included both lawyers and non-lawyers, such as Nancy Ruth, Pat Hacker, Linda Ryan Nye, Kay Macpherson, Kay Sigurjonsson, and even former Chatelaine magazine editor Doris Anderson.[3]

Books written about the organization

In 1991 Sherene Razack wrote the book Canadian Feminism and the Law: The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund and the Pursuit of Equality just a half decade after the creation of LEAF.[4] A book by Peter Manfredi was later written on the various results of the advocacy pursued by LEAF entitled Feminist Activism in the Supreme Court: Legal Mobilization and the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund.[5]

Interventions

• R. v. Ryan[6]
• Little Sisters Book and Art Emporium v. Canada (Minister of Justice), [2000] 2 S.C.R. 1120
• British Columbia (PSERC) v. BCGSEU [1999] 3 S.C.R. 3
• M. v. H., [1999] 2 S.C.R. 3
• Eldridge v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1997] 3 S.C.R. 624
• Weatherall v. Canada (Attorney General), [1993] 2 S.C.R. 872
• R. v. Butler, [1992] 1 S.C.R. 452
• Canadian Council of Churches v. Canada (Minister of Employment and Immigration), [1992] 1 S.C.R. 236
• Norberg v. Wynrib, [1992] 2 S.C.R. 224
• R. v. Sullivan, [1991] 1 S.C.R. 489
• Brooks v. Canada Safeway Ltd., [1989] 1 S.C.R. 1219
• Andrews v. Law Society of British Columbia, [1989] 1 S.C.R. 143
• R. v. J.A., 2011 SCC 28

References

1. "Join the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund at an Evening for Equality". Canadian Lawyer. May 9, 2023.
2. Penney Kome (June 14, 2022). "Women's issues topped philanthropist Shirley Greenberg's quest for justice". Globe and Mail.
3. Judy Rebick (2005). Ten Thousand Roses: The Making Of A Feminist Revolution. Penguin Canada. p. 155.
4. Sherene Razack (1991). Canadian Feminism and the Law: The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund and the Pursuit of Equality. Second Story Press.
5. Manfredi, Christopher P. "Feminist Activism in the Supreme Court: Legal Mobilization and the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund". Ottawa Law Review: 378. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 2014-09-30.
6. "Supreme Court of Canada - SCC Case Information - Search". January 2001.

External links

• LEAF website