Person's Day Breakfast

Person’s Day Breakfast

Person's Day Breakfast 2007

Friday, October 19 at 7 am

Great Hall, Laurentian University

Tickets $25

Available at the Apollo Restaurant, Black Cat Too, Helvi's Flower House, Paris Natural Foods, the bookstores at Laurentian University and Cambrian College, or call Tina Junkala Associates at 674-6130.

LEAF - with Lorna Marsden

The LEAF Fall tradition continues as Sudbury looks forward to welcoming Dr Lorna Marsden on Friday, October 19 to celebrate Person's Day with us. Person’s Day is the anniversary of that October day in 1929 when the Privy Council of Great Britain declared that Canadian women must be deemed "Persons" and therefore allowed to vote. The Women's Legal and Educational Fund - LEAF to it's many friends - celebrates in every major city in Canada. As usual, the LEAF Breakfast will be dark and early - 7 a.m. - at Laurentian University. Our Keynote Speaker is best known now as the most recent President of York University and before that as President of Wilfred Laurier University.

Marshall Cohen, Chair of York University’s board of governors describes meeting Lorna first when he watched her in her garden. "She attacked the weeds with ferocity, cradled her flowers with loving care, wasted no time, she planned her garden, she got results and she worked at it till she was exhausted". Her leadership York University, and before that at Wilfred Laurier, could be described in the same way. She saw the stereotypical problems of a university, disparate groups protecting turf with no overall vision on which to build a strong funding campaign. She set to work as she set about her garden - trimming the weeds, watering and nourishing the seedlings till a Foundation began to bloom.

Lorna Marsden came to her Presidency along the standard academic administrative road. She was a Sociology Professor and became Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto more than 20 years ago. But her career, like that of the most successful of her peers, did not begin and end with the ivy tower. Dr Marsden is a former Liberal Senator. She knew the intricacies of politics and used that knowledge to effect as she lobbied for the extension of the Spadina subway line.

She headed the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. As she arrived at York University the School of Women’s Studies opened and has flourished as the world’s largest. Access to University increased with a partnership with Seneca College at a time when Alberta was the Canadian leader in such important initiatives. Accessibility at York was honoured by the Canadian Foundation for the Physically Disabled. Under Lorna Marsden leadership there were difficulties but when she saw principles at stake, she held firm. As Marshall Cohen says, ""her [achievements} can be seen as examples of leadership and vision, but ... they are also examples of something which sets Lorna apart from the crowd. That characteristic is courage".

Today there are many women leaders of our Colleges and Universities. When Lorna stepped into the field of academic leadership, very few were there. It was a minefield of potential disasters with few genuine supporters. Many who tried it served a single term and left. Lorna persevered and always supported other women who ventured into the territory. We rarely suggest a topic to the Sudbury LEAF Breakfast keynote speaker, but was ask them to speak from the heart.

Lorna’s heart told her that she will speak on "Unlocking the Talents of Women", a fitting topic for this very special woman leader and for the occasion when we celebrate Person’s Day. We are hoping that many business people and processionals will not only attend the breakfast but will support the event and LEAF by adding their names to the list of sponsors by buying Table Markers.

LEAF is a national organization non-profit organization that promotes equality for women and girls through legal action and public education. LEAF has challenged discrimination against women by intervening at court cases on workplace and work issues, family issues, and the disadvantaged women. It has supported Francophone rights, intervened in the "Rape Shield" Law and the Privacy of Personal Records. LEAF reinforced that "No Means No" in 1999, and has been there to help ensure that in Canada we have a clear definition of "consent" in criminal law, and that disclosure of therapists' record are not relevant evidence in sexual assault cases. LEAF is an organization that sponsors interventions on a range of human rights. Many of the decisions LEAF has "won" are being challenged again, and the Court Challenges Program on which LEAF depended makes even more crucial fund-raising events like the breakfast.

Starting in 1989 the Sudbury LEAF Breakfast is the longest running, most successful fund-raising event. Locally there are two spinoffs. Some of the funds raised are offered for books, magazine subscriptions and videos dealing with women's issues at the Greater Sudbury Public Library branches. With the YWCA and Canadian Federation of University Women, LEAF has worked locally to develop the annual "Celebrate Women" event that brings a female author to Sudbury to give a talk and to meet the public.

Lorna Marsden joins an impressive list of speakers at the LEAF Breakfast which this year falls on Person’s Day..

Tickets - $25 each - can be picked up at the Paris Natural Foods, Black Cat Too and at Helvi's Flowers downtown, at the Apollo Restaurant on the Kingsway, and at the bookstores at Laurentian University and Cambrian College. Tables of 10 are available by calling Tina or Laurie at 674 6130. Those wishing to sponsor the event with a Table Marker at $150 - Call 674 6130 and we will send you the order form. Mark the date: Friday, October 19, dark and early at 7 a.m., at Laurentian University Great Hall. We'll be done in time for the start of the work day.

Dr Chris Nash, Positive Parenting Institute

Person's Day Breakfast 2005

"Sudbury LEAF committee with Dr. Nancy Olivieri, Guest Speaker and Audrey Johnson, Executive Director LEAF National"

Dr. Nancy Olivieri is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at the University of Toronto. Dr. Olivieri received her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in 1975, and her MD at McMaster University in 1978. She received postgraduate training at McMaster, University of Toronto and Harvard University, returning to Canada in 1986 to take up a position as a researcher and clinician in medical and pediatric hematology at the University of Toronto. Dr. Olivieri has focused her research in the fields of thalassemia, sickle cell disease, iron overload, and transfusion medicine, and was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1996. The recipient of continuous grant support from national and international peer-reviewed agencies, Dr. Olivieri continues to focus efforts on the development of new therapies for sickle cell disease and thalassemia, collaborating with scientists throughout Canada and internationally; and on the development of safe treatment for patients with these hemoglobin disorders in the developing world, particularly in Sri Lanka, where she and co-workers have expanded the care of patients and have recently established and built a new village hospital for the care of patients with thalassemia. Over the last eight years, Dr. Olivieri's struggles with a drug company and with the administrations of Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children and the University of Toronto have provoked a public controversy between those who oppose, and those who support, the increasing commercialization of research and of medical care. As part of the first settlement from the University of Toronto in which she was provided with a years' sabbatical, in 2003, Dr. Olivieri received her Masters of Medical Law and Ethics from the University of London, UK. During that year (and as a result of the experience of the recent years in Toronto) she has developed an interest in the ethics of clinical trials, and in examination of the conflicts-of-interest arising in industry-sponsored research. Dr. Olivieri has been a recipient of several honors, including an Ontario Ethics in Action Award; the US Nader Foundation's Joe Callaway Award for Civic Courage; a Civil Justice Foundation Award from the American Trial Lawyers Association; the Milner Memorial Award from the Canadian Association of University Teachers; and most recently, an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Windsor.

PERSON’S DAY BREAKFAST 2005

Here we are again, for the 16th time, celebrating the anniversary of October 18th, 1929, the day on which Canadian women were deemed "persons" by the court. This year's event will be held on Friday October 21st 2005. The Sudbury LEAF Person's Day Breakfast, one of Sudbury's longest standing, and most successful annual fundraisers, will be held at Laurentian University's Great Hall at 7:00am.

Sudbury LEAF has had continuous, outstanding and relevant events since 1989, bringing speakers on wide-ranging topics to enlighten and amuse us over breakfast: such "persons" as Ann Medina, Hon. Hilary Weston, Hon. Margaret McCain, and Ann Dowsett Johnson.

This year's speaker is Dr. Nancy Olivieri, researcher at the Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Olivieri has been a proponent of ethical research and has shown a long-term dedication to the treatment and healing of sick children.

Please join us once again, with your purchase of a tablemarker/sponsorship ($150) and or tickets ($250 for a table of 10) Our prices have not increased in 16 years!! To purchase tickets, tablemarkers or make a donation, please fill in the enclosed form and send it to the address at the bottom of the form.

With the funds raised, we will again give a portion to LEAF to support taking their equality cases through the courts, and we will continue to give a portion to the Greater Sudbury Public Libraries for the purchase of books/videos/subscriptions on women's issues.

Click here for more information

PERSON’S DAY BREAKFAST 2004

The guest speaker for the 2004 was CBC journalist Yvette Brend.

Early in the last century, five women challenged the law that prevented women in Canada from being appointed to the Senate. On October 18th, 1929, in what is now known as the Person’s Case, the “famous five”—Judge Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Irene Parlby, Louise McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edwards—brought about changes in the law that not only enabled women to be appointed senators, but also reinforced the right of women in Canada to participate in all aspects of public life.

Every year, across Canada from Victoria to St. John’s, LEAF branches organize Person’s Day breakfasts. Sudbury LEAF had its first breakfast in 1990, filling the Caruso Club with 700 “persons”. Since then, we have had a variety of fine speakers, ranging from our own Sandra Shamas and Sonja Smits, to Anne Medina, to Doris Anderson, Hilary Weston and Margarita Papandreou.

Our purpose is to inform our guests about LEAF and its cases, to provide them with thought-provoking speakers and to have fun in fundraising. Over the years, we have raised over $200,000 for LEAF’s work and given funds for hundreds of books and videos on women’s issues to be purchased for regional high school libraries, in both English and French. In the last few years, our book project has funded the City of Greater Sudbury area public libraries.

SUDBURY PERSON'S DAY BREAKFAST 2003

The 14th annual Sudbury LEAF Person’s Day Breakfast was held on Saturday November 15th at Laurentian University’s Great Hall. A crowd of 250 gathered to hear Judy Feld Carr speak of her incredible efforts in freeing 3500 Jews from Syria. The audience was mesmerized by this amazing woman’s courage and determination, rewarding her with a prolonged standing ovation, and, in many cases, remaining after the breakfast to share a brief word with her.

Margaret Denike from the LEAF National Board, reminded the audience of the important legal work being done by LEAF across Canada. The breakfast concluded with the Sudbury committee honouring long-time supporter and volunteer, Joanne Kelly. “Joanne is a committee member that we can always count on, is always willing to go that extra mile, and has an incredible capacity to motivate others;” stated Tannys Laughren Chair of LEAF Sudbury.

Ten thousand dollars was raised this year, with a portion of the proceeds staying in Sudbury to furnish the City of Greater Sudbury Public libraries with resource materials for women and girls. The remaining monies will be directed towards LEAF’s legal equality work. The success of this event is shared not only by the hard-working committee members, but also by over fifty generous local sponsors.

Diane Massicotte, a volunteer member of the organizing committee states, “We are indebted to those local businesses that time and time again support LEAF Sudbury. These businesses have never waivered in their support of LEAF Sudbury, and we could not have our continued success without them.”

The 2004 committee is already looking forward to next year’s breakfast, and hopes to have a speaker confirmed in the New Year. The Sudbury Person’s Day Breakfast continues to be a reminder to all women of not only how far we have come and how crucial it is that we never forget the steps that have been taken to get us here, but of the work that has yet to be done to achieve lasting substantive equality.

See pictures taken at the event!

Happy New Year!

The members of LEAF Sudbury would like to thank the following individuals and businesses for their support of this year’s Person’s Day Breakfast. The Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund is a national, charitable, non-profit organization that undertakes constitutional litigation, law reform, and public education to promote and protect the equality rights of women and girls in Canada.

A special thank you goes to our major sponsors: GLOBAL TRAVEL DESTINATIONS LTD., JOURNAL PRINTING, MILLER MAKI BARRISTERS AND SOLICITORS, PERSONA INTERNET, and NORTHERN LIFE.

The LEAF Committee also wishes to thank Toula and the APOLLO RESTAURANT for their generous hospitality.

Acknowledgements

Laurentian University and Dr. Judith Woodsworth

Helvi’s Flower House Limited

Pit’s House of Treasures

JoAnne Wohlberg, Laurentian University

Travelway Inn

Access Table Donors

Mary Lue Hinds

Lougheed Family and Staff

Diane Marleau MP