Biographies, National Steering Committee Members 2011 - 2012

Jane Bailey is an Associate Professor of law at the University of Ottawa, where her research focuses on the intersections of law, technology and equality.  She has been a member of NAWL's NSC since 2009 and also sits on the editorial board of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law.

Raphaëlle Laframboise-Carignan  As an articling student at Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne & Yazbeck LLP/s.r.l., Raphaëlle Laframboise-Carignan conducts legal research and drafting, in both English and French, in the areas of labour, employment, administrative, human rights, and constitutional law.

Raphaëlle graduated from the Programme de droit canadien at the University of Ottawa, a three year program in both Civil law and Common law. Raphaëlle has had a varied interest in social justice and human rights, particularly through her work with the University of Ottawa Community Legal Clinic.

Prior to law school, Raphaëlle worked with the Organization of American States (OAS) in their Cultural Program Department in Washington DC and also participated in 2007 electoral process in Guatemala as an international electoral observer as a representative of the OAS.

Lisa Cirillo is a feminist lawyer who has practiced in the areas of human rights, education, housing and family law in a wide variety of social justice organizations.  Lisa is currently the Executive Director (Acting) of Downtown Legal Services, the University of Toronto Faculty of Law Community Legal Clinic.  Lisa was a staff lawyer at DLS from 2001 – 2006, during which time, she established the “Child and Family Advocacy” division at DLS.  DLS is the only student legal clinic in Ontario to offer services in family law.  She has also worked as litigation counsel at ARCH (Advocacy and Resource Centre for Persons with Disabilities) and as counsel to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Lisa has extensive experience in public legal education and community outreach.  From 2007 – 2010, she served as the legal and project coordinator of Family Law Education for Women (FLEW), developing and launching a provincial public legal education project which provides plain language information materials to women to assist them in understanding their rights and responsibilities under family law.  She also acted as project coordinator of CLEO’s Your Rights. Your Language project, another multi-partner, multi-lingual public legal education project aimed at assisting newcomers in understanding their legal rights in high priority areas of law.  

Lisa believes passionately in lifelong learning and recently completed her LL.M. in family law.  She lives in Toronto with her spouse and three teenaged children.

Alison Dewar is a long time member of NAWL is the Chair of the National Steering Committee.  Alison is a lesbian and feminist.  She is also a partner at Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne and Yazbeck LLP, an Ottawa based bilingual, union-side labour and employment law firm and practices in the areas of labour and employment law, human rights and public law on behalf of unions and employees.   Alison is committed to feminist advocacy and activism and believes that it is possible to work hard for social change and have fun at the same time.

Samantha Henrickson is a young and enthusiastic policy analyst interested in issues relating to women's equality rights, human rights and social justice. She is currently working on employment equity issues for the Government of Canada's various departments and agencies in British Columbia. Recently, Sam completed a two-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) degree at Simon Fraser University (June, 2010). She also has an undergraduate degree in Human Rights and Women's Studies from Carleton University. According to Sam, using an intersectional approach to develop sound public policy is necessary to help drive substantive equality forward for all Canadian women.

Martha Jackman, B.A. (Queen’s), LL.B. (University of Toronto), LL.M. (Yale), specializes in the area of constitutional law, with a particular focus on issues relating to women and other marginalized groups. She joined the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa in 1988. She has held various positions within the law school: Director of Graduate Studies in Law; co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law; Vice-Dean of the French Program; and Shirley E. Greenberg Chair for Women and the Legal Profession.  She publishes primarily in the areas of socio-economic rights, equality and the Canadian Charter. She appears regularly before law reform bodies, lawyers, judges and parliamentary committees. She has acted as legal counsel in a number of important Charter cases, including before the Supreme Court of Canada in the Eldridge and Chaoulli cases. She is a member of the National Steering Committee of the National Association of Women and the Law and a former member of Equality Rights Panel of the Court Challenges Program of Canada and of the Board of Directors of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. She is the Academic director of the “Reconceiving Human Rights Practice” Community-University Research Alliance, a five-year million dollar research project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. In 2001, she was awarded the Augusta Stowe-Gullen Affirmative Action medal in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of women’s equality. In 2007, she received the Law Society of Upper Canada Medal, which is awarded each year to selected lawyers who have made important contributions to the profession.

Anne Levesque is an associate at Champ and Associates where she practices in the areas of human rights, employment, and disability law.  She has also been involved in matters before the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. She is fluent and practices law in both official languages. Anne is presently a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Council of Canadians with Disabilities and the board of the Court Challenges Program. She also serves on the board of directors of several not-for profit organizations aiming to promote the rights of members of disadvantaged communities such as tenants and people with disabilities. Anne also volunteers with Pro Bono Canada as a supervising lawyer.

Anne is frequently asked to provide training in the community regarding human rights and accessibility. She writes about law and human rights issues and is published in the Ottawa Law Review and the Bulletin de la Ligue des droits et libertés. Anne teaches a course in equality litigation in the French common law program of the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa.

NAWL Contract Staff

Pamela Cross is an accomplished feminist lawyer who has dedicated her life’s work to improving women’s access to justice.  Pamela has been a tireless and committed advocate for abused women and community agencies.  She is well known and respected in legal reform circles, and among isolated women experiencing violence. She is particularly known for her expertise on family law issues as they relate to violence against women.

She is presently a consultant working with a number of women’s organizations. She has been the Director of Advocacy and Public Policy with YWCA Canada, the Executive Director of the National Association of Women and the Law, the Legal Director of METRAC, a community agency committed to ending violence against women and children, where she led the development of the Ontario Women’s Justice Network.

Pam Mayhew is a lesbian eco-feminist who has over 40 years experience working in the non-profit sector – including Aboriginal Rights Coalition, Planned Parenthood of Canada, Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies, Interval House of Ottawa-Carleton, and NAWL.   She has been working on the front lines of a local homeless women’s shelter for the past 15 years.

Leslie Robertson is currently the project director for NAWL’s Ontario-wide public legal education project that promotes women’s economic security within the family. She is a lawyer with Galldin Law, a feminist legal practice in Ottawa, and also works as a harm reduction outreach worker for Ottawa’s Needle Exchange Program. Leslie contributes to the work of local queer, anti-poverty, pro-sex work, and sex positive feminist activist groups.

Julie Shugarman is a feminist lawyer who has practised in the areas of human rights law, labour and employment law and Charter litigation. She has provided policy analysis, research, and advocacy support relating to equality seeking groups for several organizations including Pivot Legal Society, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Ticket Defence Program. Julie has been involved in grass-roots law-reform as well as public legal education campaigns relating to women’s rights, with a particular focus on the rights of women who live and work on the street. She is currently NAWL’s National Director.